Louie Giglio - Do Believers Face Judgment?
The collection of talks is called, "A Matter of Life and Death". And the title we're coming under today is, "Do Believers in Christ Face Judgement"? And if I can, I'd like to just shift into teaching mode today. Be a lot less preaching and a whole lot more teaching because there's a lot of ground to cover and this might be the most important message you've ever heard in your life. And at the end of Revelation, "After Satan's doom is proclaimed," and we get a big amen on that. "The rider on a white horse has come in to save the day and save eternity". It says in verse 11:20, "The dead," this is a little header above the paragraph, "The dead are judged".
John said, "Then, I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from His presence and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life he was thrown into the Lake of Fire".
Obviously, the key in this paragraph, and this picture that God is kindly sending a messenger on ahead of us to take a snapshot for us and to bring back to us on Earth, is the Book of Life. And so, the question that we should be asking today is, "How do you get your name in the Book of Life"? And, "Is my name in the Book of Life"? And last week, we heard Jesus saying himself, "For God so loved the world, He gave His one and only Son that whoever believed in Him, would not perish, but have eternal life".
So, I know how my name gets in the Book of Life, it is by my full belief in Jesus, who He is, and what He has done. And personally, I know that I am currently, fully believing in the person of Jesus and what He has done. And I know my name is written in the Book of Life. And we all will appear before the judgement seat of Christ. It's not gonna change whether or not you're a Son of God. It's not gonna change whether or not you are sealed into eternity with God, but it is going to cause you to give an account of your life.
When I was working on this talk a few weeks ago, the first illustration that popped into my head was, the day that my dad and I had to go to the police station in Marietta, Georgia together. We'd received a phone call at the house, and they had requested that we come up there, because I'd been in an accident that I left the scene of, as a high-school senior going into my freshman year at Georgia State. And I know that sounds terrible, and it is terrible, and I am not making light of it today, but we had been at freshman orientation, downtown, which was a terrible idea. I don't know if they still do that or not. And we had stayed up all night on a Friday night.
Actually, I think it was a Thursday night. I think it was a Thursday night, Friday into Saturday morning thing and we'd stayed up all night, not doing anything super crazy, just been up all night. And, I'd taken... we decided not to stick around for the rest of it, 'cause we figured we can, you know, we can figure orientation to Georgia State. So, I took Andy home to Tucker, where he lived and dropped him off at his house and had to come all the way around 285 to Smyrna, where I lived, and it was a struggle. Boy, I had about halfway around that drive and I was just, like, fighting to stay awake. And we owned a old, a VW Beetle at the time, not the cool new ones, the super old ones. And, I'm driving around 285 in this thing and I'm just, like, dosing off, and trying to stay awake and I don't know what happened.
At some point, I just made a decision, I'm just gonna lay down on the passenger seat and go to sleep, and that's what I did. And I know it sounds crazy, but that's how, you know, you get to that point. So, I just laid over on the passenger seat, went to sleep. Right about the time I was coming towards the Chattahoochee River bridge, and my car is just going all over the road, apparently, and finally by the grace of God, instead of going into the river, I just hit into the railing on the bridge, right as the bridge starts and bounced right off the railing.
This guy in this pickup truck had been seeing all of this unfold, so he swooped in and got on this side of me, and so I came off the rail and hit him so that I wouldn't go careening over the other rail, and I hit the rail because I hit him, and then I hit him 'cause I hit the rail, and then I hit him, and the rail, and the rail and him, and the rail, the rail, and finally, were coming to the other side of the bridge and I'm awake by now and I'm trying to figure out what's going on and I pull immediately into the emergency lane he pulls into the other emergency lane, and I'm kind of a little bit in a fog, don't know what's going on. His car is damaged, and he actually can't drive his car anymore.
I don't know if I can or not, but I just put it in first gear and went home. And I know that's terrible, I'm not, there's a terrible illustration, I know all of that. Pull it off at Wendy Hill, you know, kinda pulled the fender out a little bit, cause it was rubbing on the tire, and burned my hands, cause it was on fire, cause it been rubbing on the tire. Went home, went to sleep. Praise God. I really was tired. And a few hours later, the phone rang. That was when the police called. So, my dad and I went down to the police station. He came home from work, got me, drove me up there, sat in the office of the policemen and that was awesome. And they were kind enough to understand that I really wasn't tryna to be malicious.
I was really disorientated, I didn't really know a whole lot of what was going on, and I was really sorry. And then we got in the car to drive home, was only like 15 minutes to our house from there, but wow, what a car ride. And I knew in that moment that I was still in the Giglio family. So that didn't change. But, boy, there were gonna be some consequences. And as I worked through the message and the days went by, I started realizing, because you got to really work hard at illustrations. But that is a terrible illustration for my message today.
So, basically just wasted a lot of your time and really scared a lot of you, and may have people leaving our church after this message. Because the point of it, in my illustration, at the first was, my relationship with my dad didn't change, the nature of me being a son was sealed forever. But yet, my action was gonna require some consequences. And the more I thought about it, prayed about it, work through this talk and let the word speak for itself I realized, that's not what's gonna happen when we appear before the judgement seat of Christ, because what my dad did was punish me. Make no mistake about it.
And this were all gonna appear before the judgement seat of Christ, is not about God punishing you for the sins that you've done in your life, He has already punished Jesus for the sins that you have committed in your life. This appearing before the judgment seat of Christ is for him to tear back everything that we can see and then understand what is your true heart's response to the grace of God in your lifetime, so that then, you can be recompensed for what you have done in this life. So that when you step into eternity, your eternity will be shaped by what you have done in this world. Heaven does not operate on socialism. You don't just pray a prayer, and then we all get there, and then we're all the same forever. Jesus does not teach that. We get there the same, all by the grace of God.
But you're your eternity looks like when you are there, is impacted by how you have lived on Earth. And this judgment seat, it's called, "The Bema Seat" if you've ever heard that. It's a Greek and a Roman term. It could either mean, "Stepping up to give an account before a Judge," or it could it could mean, "Stepping up to receive an award after a competition". But you are going to step up before Christ. And you are going to give an account. I'm going to give an account of my life, how I lived in this world, having received the greatest gift of all, the grace of God. There's some implications, and I'll to us quickly.
The first one is this, "No one skips out on this". It's not like getting a jury summons in the mail. And unless you're a model citizen, as soon as that thing shows up in the mail, you start looking for ways out. "I've got a business trip". "I got a Kid that's not feeling well". "I don't have transportation". And then you're calling the night before, and you're hoping that you're little lot number is not gonna be mentioned and you get released from that and it's not like that.
The scripture says, "It's appointed unto man," in Hebrews 9:27, "once to die, and then the judgement," and that's your future. If you are not in Christ, you're going to be before the great white throne of Almighty God. In Christ, you are gonna be before the great white throne of God, spared by the covering of the Blood of Jesus, but then you are going to appear before the judgement seat of Christ, the Bema Seat of Christ. You're gonna step up into that place, and no one is gonna skip out on this. Keith Green said, "All roads lead to the judgement seat of Christ".
The second implication I want us to see that, our motives are gonna be seen and judged. So, this isn't a thing for show. This isn't, "Hey, look, I went and served at the orphanage". This is, "What was the motive of our heart"? Paul writes it like this in 1 Corinthians 2, or 1 Corinthians 3, it says, "By the grace God has given me, I laid the foundation as a wise builder and someone else is building on it, but each one should build with care for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stone, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light".
So, this appearing before the judgement seat of Christ is about things being shown. Maybe some of the things that have been hidden, now being shown. Some of the things in the darkness now, being brought into the light. "It will be revealed with fire". So, there's a purifying, there's a testing. "And the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burnt up, the builder will suffer loss, yet will be saved, even though, only as one escaping through the flames".
One of my professors used to say, good translation to this, saved. Saved, eternally saved, by the skin of their teeth. Most saved by the Blood of Jesus, yes. But what is He saying? He's saying, "There'll be a time where things will be shown, things will be brought to light, things will be tested and things will be revealed, the quality, mostly meaning the motive in our heart. For all the things we've done as bearers and recipients of the grace of God, we'll be tested". There's nothing in this passage that Paul is saying where anyone's going to be punished, but people's work, their life, what they poured their energy, their time, their money, their intellect, their opportunity into is gonna be tested. And He's saying, "In a lot of people's life is gonna be burned up in that moment".
A third implication and this is, should get an Amen, haven't gotten one so far in this talk, but maybe this will get one. It's that, all wrongs will made right, when we all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. If you've been wronged in a business deal by a brother or a sister in the faith, and the way it all came down was that, it was you and it wasn't them but you knew and they knew it was them and not you. If there's something that's happened in your family where it all kinda went sideways, and you know what is right and your family member knows what is right, but some how it's all been purported as that you were wrong, and you haven't had a way to justify that on Earth.
Guess what, everything's gonna be shown, everything's gonna be revealed, everything's gonna come to light and everything will be tested by fire. And so, you can have confidence that if you are standing before the judgment seat of Christ, every wrong will be revealed and made right. This is why the scripture says, "'Vengeance is mine.' says the Lord". So, you keep being faithful because there's a day coming when everybody's motive is gonna come to light.
The fourth implication is kinda of another message, but it is that this changes everything about our perspective and purpose. At the end of 1 Corinthians 5:11 the paragraph changes. And it says, "Since then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try persuade men". And I want to encourage you to read from verse 11 down to verse 21. Verse 21 is our anchor, "God make Him, Jesus who knew no sin to be sinned for us, so that in Jesus, we might become the righteousness of God in Him". This is our reality, if we put our faith in Jesus. God made Him, Jesus, who knew no sin to become sin, so that we who were sinners could be made the righteousness of God in Him. He got made sin, we got made righteous. This is the joy of our salvation. And when you go from, "We almost appear before the judgment seat of Christ," to, "He made Him sin so that we could be made righteous".
You understand that your purpose in life completely changes. And we see all of that in the verses that come down. "We fear the Lord and we persuade men," I'll let you read the chapter later. We're crazy in our minds because of what He's done for us, but yet we're sane, so we can talk to people, and they can understand the Gospel. We're compelled by the love of God, why? 'cause we concluded that one died, therefore all died, so that those who lives, should no longer live for themselves, but live for Him who died and rose again for them. We're made new, and we see people new. We are reconciled, and so we have become reconcilers. We are ambassadors and we have an appeal. We know that God made Him sin and we know that God made us the righteousness of God, in Him.
The fifth implication is, and I mentioned this earlier, our eternal rewards are impacted by our lifetime decisions. Charles Stanley said, "The purpose of the judgment is not where we spend eternity, but how".
And then, the sixth implication is this, our goal, knowing this is our future, is to please God. All of a sudden, all of our ambition, all of our goal setting, all of our dreams for our lives, all of our plans and destinies, and all of our hope for our future, they all get wrapped up in one grand idea. And the grand idea is this, Paul says it right in the middle of verse 9, "For we're confident, I say". In verse 8, "And would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord". So, verse 9, "We make it our goal to please Him. Whether we're at home in the body, or whether we're away with the Lord".
Our new goal is that whatever I do in this life, I'm gonna make sure I do this, I want to please Him. We're all gonna stand, and give an account for our lives, what we have done in this life. Not for our eternity, if we're believers in Christ, but for the quality of our eternity. Because Paul said, he was running for a prize. He said in his last breath, "I'm already being poured out like a drink offering. The time for my departure is near, I fought the good fight, I've finished the race, I've kept the faith and now, there is in store for me, the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge".
Same concept, Bema Seat again. But from the idea of standing up on the platform, standing up on the podium, getting to stand up where they put a thing around your neck and maybe some flowers in your hands or, in this case, a crown on your head, He says, "I know now that there is in store for me, the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge", so you can just underline that again today. We're standing up for our righteous judge, not a crooked judge, we're standing up for a perfect judge, not some human imperfect judge who's trying to do their best. We're standing before a righteous judge and whatever happens in that day is gonna get done right. No grumbling in heaven. No grumbling in heaven. Because this judge is a righteous judge. And He will award to me, on that day.
And not only to me, but to all who have longed for His appearing. Not punishment, recompense. To say it a different way, this isn't punishment for sins, this is a reward for Godliness born out of grace. And Paul knew. He'd said in a different place of the Corinthians, "I'm running to win, I'm pushing away things in this world and I'm even buffeting my body because it can lead me to some crazy places and I'm running to win". And at His last breath, He says, "I've finished my race. I have finished this race. I a gonna step up on the podium of heaven and I know I'm going to get my reward". Might go, "That seems like a very selfish motive".
It does. I did all this, so that I could stand up on the podium and get a reward, at the end of the day, it sound like a selfish motive, I know. Except for this one thing, that the picture that we see in Revelation that John gives us of our future is that we are going to cast our rewards at the feet of Jesus. Because this is the craziest reward system of all time. This is the God who created us out of dust, knit us together in our mother's womb, gave up our first breath and every breath we breathe while we were on His planet, Earth. He gave us our faculty, He gave us our gifts, he gave us our abilities, He put us into the opportunities, He sheltered us, nurtured us, and He guided us along the path of our life, whether you believed in Him or not, you're still breathing His air.
Whether you've ever acknowledged Him or not, the brain that you're using to say that you do not acknowledge the existence of God is firing synapses right now that were given to you at birth by a creator. You didn't make your brain, He made your brain. And everything we are, and everything we have, and everything we will be is because of the grace of God. I didn't put a gift in me to proclaim God's word, He did. I didn't put a Holy Spirit in me to anoint that word, He did. I didn't choose to stand up on this platform, He did. I don't have natural abilities, He gave me what I have. And so, I am using what I have to try to tell the world about one who gave me what I have and gave them what they have. I am proclaiming that there is grace and not damnation in our future, if we just believe in the gift of the Son of Almighty God. And I am doing what you want to do.
I want to give God worship and I wanna please Him and I wanna glorify Him. In all of that I'm doing, He's doing. It's not I, but Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith and the Son of God who love me and gave himself for me. This is the mystery, it is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He who lives in me is greater than he who lives in the world. If we walked by the Spirit we'll do the things of the Spirit. And so, when we stand before Him, we should have a lot to bring.
And we should say, "You know what, I'm good on the reward side, I got you". And He says, "I know, but I'm a good God and I want to reward you for taking a stand. I want to reward you for facing persecution. I want to reward you for hanging in there when all your broken-down flesh told you to quit. I want to reward you for the way that you went out of your way and saw that person that no one saw. I want to reward you". And then, here comes whatever it is you have earned, a crown of righteousness being given to you by the righteous judge, Jesus himself. And revelation says, "And when we receive them," we don't strut around having... No, Revelation says, "We take these crowns, and we cast them at the feet of Jesus".