Salvation By Grace » Judgement

D.A. Carson “Our Broken World”

Harry — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:57:45 +0000

Things are never quite good as they might be. Or if for a brief moment they are as good as you can imagine them, if for a while you seem to suck in the nectar of life itself with every breath you breathe, you know as well as I do that such highs cannot last. Tomorrow you go back to work. You may enjoy your job, but it has its pressures. Your marriage may be well-nigh idyllic, but in a sour mood you may marvel at how much you cannot or will not share with your spouse. The warm west wind that tousles your hair metamorphoses into a tornado that destroys your home. One of your parents succumbs to Alzheimer’s; one of your children dies. There is so much around you to enjoy, yet just as you begin to chew on a filet mignon that your children have bought for you for your birthday, you remember the millions who starve every day. There is no escape from the brute reality that, however wonderful your experiences in this broken world, others suffer experiences far more corrosive, and you yourself cannot ever believe that what you are experiencing is utterly ideal.
That restlessness is for our good. It is a design feature of our makeup, of our nature as creatures made in the image of God. We were made to inhabit eternity; by constitution we know that we belong to something better than a world (however beautiful at times) awash in sin.
Paul understands this point perfectly (2 Corinthians 5:1–5). He anticipates the time when “the earthly tent” (our present body) will be destroyed, and we will receive “an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (5:1)—our resurrection body. “Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling” (5:2). It is not that we wish to “shuffle off our mortal coil” and exist in naked immortality: that is not our ultimate hope, for “we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (5:4).
Then Paul adds: “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (5:5). God made us for this purpose, i.e., for the purpose of resurrection life, secured for us by the death of his Son. Moreover, in anticipation of this glorious consummation of life, already God has given us his Spirit as a deposit, a kind of down payment on the ultimate inheritance.
Small wonder, then, that we groan in anticipation and find our souls restless in this temporary abode that is under sentence of death.

Carson, D. A. (1998). For the love of God : A daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. Volume 2 (25). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.

Reward, Judgement

Harry — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:44:18 +0000

1 Cor 3:14-15

14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, a he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, b but only as through fire.

From ESV Study Notes:

See also v. 8 and 4:4–5.
Although those who have believed in Jesus have already been justified by faith (Rom. 5:1) and will not face condemnation on the final day (John 5:24; Rom. 8:1, 33), God will still judge their works (Rom. 14:10–12; 2 Cor. 5:10) and reward them accordingly (Matt. 6:1–6, 16, 18; 10:41–42).
Paul’s point applies not just to church leaders but to anyone who contributes in any way to building up the church (1 Cor. 12:7, 12–31; 14:12).

Romans 14:10-12, 2 Cor 5:10

Harry — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:19:38 +0000

10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”

12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

ESV Study Notes:

The strong should not despise the weak, and the weak should not judge the strong, for everyone will stand before God, who will judge all on the last day. The future day of judgment is prophesied in Isa. 45:23. Every person will give an account of his life to God at the judgment. Though justification is by faith alone, what Christians do will affect God’s evaluation of their service to him and the rewards they will receive (cf. 1 Cor. 3:10–17; 2 Cor. 5:10).

2 Cor. 5:10:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

ESV Study notes:

the judgment seat of Christ.

The “judgment seat” (Gk. be-ma) was the tribunal bench in the Roman courtroom, where the governor sat while rendering judicial verdicts.
Remains of such a be-ma exist in the Corinthian forum today (see Acts 18:12–17 and Introduction to 1 Corinthians: The Ancient City of Corinth).

In the coming age, Christ will judge as God the Father’s representative, ruling the kingdom the Father has given him (see Rom. 14:10–12; etc.).
so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done . . . whether good or evil.
This underscores the principle that present-day actions have eternal consequences.
All Christians will appear before the eternal judgment seat of Christ, to receive “what is due” to them for the deeds that they have done in their earthly life.
It is debated, however,

(1) whether the aim of this judgment is to determine the measure of reward that the Christian will receive in the age to come; or
(2) whether the aim is to provide demonstrative evidence regarding who is lost and who is saved.

Because the context of Paul’s statement refers back to both the believer’s hope for the resurrection (see 2 Cor. 5:1, 4) and to the reward of “glory beyond all comparison” (see 4:16–18), it would seem that both aims are in view.
Thus, with regard to the first case, many interpreters hold that the believer’s deeds will provide public evidence to indicate the measure of rewards that the believer will receive, corresponding to the believer’s “obedience of faith” (acts of service, love, and righteousness; cf. Rom. 1:5; 16:26).
In the second case, some interpreters hold that the believer’s deeds will also provide public evidence brought forth before the judgment seat of Christ to demonstrate that one’s faith is real—that is, public evidence, not as the basis for salvation, but as a demonstration of the genuineness of one’s faith.
Paul therefore makes it his aim to “please” Christ (2 Cor. 5:5–9), because the extent to which one does this corresponds to the measure of rewards that one will receive (see Matt. 6:20; Luke 19:17, 19; 1 Cor. 3:12–15; 1 Tim. 6:19; Rev. 22:12), likewise giving evidence for the genuineness of one’s faith.
Paul is confident that genuine believers will pass Christ’s judgment, since the new covenant ministry of reconciliation has brought them under the life-transforming power of the Spirit—based on the forgiveness of their sins through faith in Christ alone, all of which is the result of God’s grace alone (see 2 Cor. 1:12, 22; 3:6, 8–9, 18; 4:4–6, 15; 5:5, 14–15, 16–21; 8:19; 9:8, 14; etc.).

God’s Judgement and the Law

Harry — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 10:58:14 +0000

Romans 2:12 “For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.”

All will be judged according to the standard they had
The Gentiles will perish (i.e., face final judgment) because of their sin (cf. vv. 14–15) even though they are without the law (they don’t have the written laws of the OT)

Spurgeon – Lost

Harry — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:17:00 +0000

According to Spurgeon, a mother will not even have sorrow or pity for one of her own children who finds himself on the wrong side of Judgment Day. This is from a recent post at Pyro:

‘Mother!’ shrieks the son, ‘[Let me] not be separated from you forever, Save me! Oh, save me! Make intercession to the judge for me. He will hear thy cry, though he will not hear mine!’ ‘My son,’ she will reply, ‘I directed thy feet to God when thou wast young. On my breast you lay when my prayers went up to God for your soul. I taught you to lisp the name of Jesus, and your lips to utter his precious name. Do you not remember how, when you grew older, I taught you the way to heaven? But the time came when you scorned a father’s prayers and mocked a mother’s tears. But now your mother says, now, my son, it is changed. I can weep no more now, for I am glorified. I can pray no more for you now, for prayers are useless here. You are justly lost. You are damned, and I must say Amen to your condemnation.’” – C.H. Spurgeon

Truth be known, a scenario like this is one I truly dread, but one I will not be sad for if it ever comes, because where I will be there will be no mourning or crying or pain. That is why the time is NOW for me to make sure my children have every opportunity to respond to the true gospel of Jesus Christ!

Save my children, Oh Lord!