The Coming Judgment

This week on Things Unseen, we’ve been thinking about the four last things. They used to be traditional themes preached on in the four Sundays of Advent to help Christians prepare for Christmas, help them see how much they needed the Lord Jesus. Yesterday, we were thinking about death, and today we’re going to think about judgment. And I’m sure a verse that comes to mind is Hebrews 9:27: “It is appointed to man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”

I wonder if you’ve ever heard anyone say, “I don’t believe in judgment.” Well, psychologists tell us, as the Bible did long before there was such a profession, that people can actually convince themselves to believe something that they knew wasn’t true. Whether that’s true or not, people certainly try to do it. Remember how Paul says in Romans 1:18–32 that we all know God? And so, we know there is a judgment, but sinners suppress that knowledge. They repress it. Eventually they deny it. It’s odd really, isn’t it? But Paul goes on to say that however hard we try to repress the knowledge that our lives will be judged, we can never finally do it.

But what is that judgment of God? It should be clear, don’t you think, that if God is the Judge of all the earth and does what is right, it ought to be important to us to know something about His judgment. And He doesn’t leave us in the dark. He tells us about this judgment in His Word.

One of the fullest passages is Romans 2:1–16, where the Apostle Paul makes a whole series of powerful points. Let me just list them for us today. The first is that God’s judgment is always righteous. When He judges, says Paul in verse 2, we know that He judges rightly. On the last day, he adds in verse 5, “God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”

Second, God’s judgment will assess what we have done. Paul says in verse 6, “God will render to each one according to his works.” That really does mean each and every one of us. As he says in 2 Corinthians 5:10, we’ll all appear before the judgment seat to receive what we have done in the body. The great Scottish church leader, Thomas Chalmers, I think was right to say there is a present justification for Christians according to grace and a future judgment or assessment according to works.

Thirdly, God’s judgment will be impartial, says Paul in verse 11: “God shows no partiality.” There will be no, “Don’t you know who I am?” before His judgment seat.

And fourthly, God’s judgment is also discriminating. It sees through our professions to our possession. It detects the difference between seeking His glory and honor and seeking our own.

And fifthly, God’s judgment, says Paul, will be fitted to the revelation we have received. Sometimes it’s said we’ll be judged according to the light that we have had, and in a sense that’s true, but it’s vital we notice Paul’s bottom line here. He says even people who have not had the special revelation God gave to Israel in the law are still people made as the image of God, and they still have the remnants of the law written on their hearts, and they will be judged according to the light that they’ve had, with only one possible verdict: guilty as charged and condemned.

And then sixthly, Paul says that God’s judgment has a norm, and that norm is the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, “God will judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus” (Rom. 2:16). His life is the standard. I think you’ll see what that means. It means it won’t be possible to say to God, “You didn’t understand,” or, “Your standards were inhuman,” or, “We had to face all kinds of difficulties that You don’t understand.” No, we won’t be able to say any of those things standing before the Lord Jesus.

And then seventhly, God’s judgment will result in glory and honor for those who are His but wrath and fury for others who have rejected Him. That’s sobering, isn’t it? And it underlines for me how foolish it would be to think that we could say to God, “I know You sent Your Son to die to save us from condemnation, but I found my own way to be counted righteous before You,” because there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved, and if it was necessary for the Son of God to die to bring us into the presence of God with joy, who on earth do we think we are that we can find our own way?

So, this is an enormously serious subject, but let’s thank God that He has found a way to bring the forgiveness of sins to us.