We all know that "God is Love". Sadly, many believers in this present instant gratification, I want to be entertained world have forgotten that this is only one of the many characteristics that shine out from our Creator's personality. Many believers have even begun to think of God as some great celestial Santa Claus, shoving Gifts out of His heavenly sleigh without regard for the recipient of that Gift. A whole denomination has formed based on the premise that God gives Gifts just because He loves me. The Gift wasn't given with any purpose in mind, just given because it was dictated by God's character. Another denomination has formed because, as the Bible says, "God so loved the world". Since He loves the world, all people will ultimately be saved whether they want to be or not. You see, God is controlled by Love.

What a misconception! God is Love, but He is also equally Justice. If He had only the characteristic of Love unfettered by Justice He would not be God, but instead a misguided but doting parent who tells the child "you can do whatever you want, for I love you". In fact, Love unfettered by Justice is not love at all, but some hybrid form of benevolence that does the recipient little if any good. In this study we're going to look at the Judgments of God, that is, at the working of His characteristic of Justice. When you understand that the Bible teaches that God isn't just Love, but that He is also equally Just in the dispensation of that Love, you come to understand how truly awesome our Creator is.

Genesis 2:16-17 "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

Adam heard this warning and heeded it for a time, but eventually (Genesis 3) gave in and took what was rightfully not his. He ate of the Tree, and on that day plunged the entire human race into the abyss of sin. If God were pure love without mixture of justice (as the sects would have us believe) He would have told Adam, "I see you did what I told you not to do. Oh well. Forget it. I love you, and it'll be fine. We'll work around it." Instead the True God did this:

Genesis 3:23-24 " Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."

Yet God's character isn't driven solely by justice, no more than it is driven solely by love. He loved His creation, and wanted to find a way to justly drag His creation out of the pit that Adam stupidly fell in. God's justice demanded that this act of rebellion be punished, but His love demanded that He find the perfect way to punish man without eradicating all humanity. God's love and justice found a way, centuries later, in a garbage dump called Golgotha that had a desolate hill called Calvary.

John 19:17-20 "And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:  Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.  And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.  This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin."

Golgotha was the garbage pit of the city, a place where things were thrown that were no longer needed or wanted. The place where Jesus was crucified was a little wasted hill in the midst of this dump nicknamed "The Place of the Skull" because it was a little knoll rounded by nature to look like a bare skull. Easton's Dictionary states "The hillock above Jeremiah's Grotto, to the north of the city, is in all probability the true site of Calvary. The skull like appearance of the rock in the southern precipice of the hillock is very remarkable.". Golgotha was not a good place to be at anytime, and it was certainly not a good place to die. Yet here is where the drama of God's judgment of our own sins would be played out.

I have met and talked with people from all walks of life that tell me they think God was entirely too harsh on Adam and the human race for eating a little fruit. Yet Adam's sin went much deeper than eating a fruit. It was a sin of disobedience, an initial "starter sin" that introduced sin as a way of life into the human race. The sweetest, most beautiful baby born is born spiritually dead because of Adam. In this state even the most precious and seemingly innocent child has a predisposition toward sin rather than righteousness.

You don't think so? If not, you've never been a parent. When my children first reached the point where they could understand the word "no", they started pushing the envelope of disobedience. In fact, I discovered that the fastest way to get the child to disobey would be to tell him "no" right off. You might find it cute to see a chubby little child raid the cookie jar and, upon getting caught, hide the cookies behind his back. And in a way it is cute. Yet it is also indicative of the fact that Adam brought sin as a way of life to all of us, even to the smallest baby.

God is perfect, and as a perfect Being cannot stand to look on sin. God promised Adam that, in the day that he ate of that forbidden fruit, he would surely die. This sin barrier that Adam introduced and forced on humanity effectively separated us from a real relationship with our Creator.

Numbers 23:19  "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? "

In order to re-establish the relationship man would have to atone, or make amends, for introducing sin into the Garden and hence into humanity. Yet we were all under the curse of sin, and while under the curse unable to make a pure atonement to the Creator. So the Creator Himself atoned for our sins by becoming perfect Man, and by being obedient even unto the judgment of the Cross of Calvary.

1 Peter 2:24-25 "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls."

Jesus Christ, the Creator in the Flesh, went to Calvary and suffered and died to atone for our sins. Very few Christians (or anyone else, for that matter) understand how difficult this feat was for the Godhead, and for Christ in particular. I have never had the skin peeled from my body, though I know the experience is, to say the least, undesirable. Yet this crude illustration might help you understand how excruciating Christ's experience was. The nails through His feet and hands were terribly painful, yet not nearly as painful as that time from the sixth to the ninth hours when God the Father poured out the sins of the world on His Son. Jesus had lived His life in the flesh sinless: He knew sin only by seeing it in others, but never in Himself. Yet during these three hours the Father placed every sin that man had ever committed, and every sin that man would commit, on the sinless Son. Once these sins went on the Savior the Father turned away, and for the first time in all eternity Jesus was outside of that intimate relationship with the Godhead. The pain of this new experience dwarfed the pain of the nails, as Jesus screamed in agony, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34). Eventually Jesus murmured, "It is finished" (John 19:30), and commended His soul to the Father. The Work of atonement was done, our sins were paid for. Yet what a horrid payment!

1 Peter 3:18  "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit"

Jesus' atonement was complete, and for this reason needed to be done once. So many Christians want to add in their own perspective to the salvation story, so many feel that they need to put forth their feeble works in order to make salvation complete. In God's judgment of man Jesus alone was the medium of that judgment. He alone paid the penalty, and he paid that penalty in full. One day all those who felt that they could work their way to Heaven will stand before God's throne and ask, "Well, what about..". You know the drill. "Well, what about that time..." and God answers, "But My Son paid for that". "Well, what about when I said..." and God answers, "He paid for that, too". After all the "What abouts" are finished the Father will ask, "But did you accept what He did for you?". If you didn't, you'll be the next object of Judgment. But for man's salvation, Jesus alone was the object of our payment. What He did was complete.

Galatians 3:13-14 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:  That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

Christ, the object of our Judgment, paid our penalty and brought us to God. He also redeemed us out from under the curse of the Mosaic Law. From Adam to Moses God tried to show man that he couldn't be good enough on his own, that he needed God's redemption. Yet time and time again man tried to do it on his own. So God said, "Fine, you think you can do it on your own. Well, if you're going to be good enough on your own, you must keep this Law perfectly.". Enter the curse of the Law.

The Law was good, for it was from God. Yet it was impossible for man to keep because of our predisposition toward sin. When the Law said, "Thou shalt not" we, like the little child, went ahead and did it anyway. We did it because it was our nature and, upon being caught, we hid the cookies behind our back. Written into the Law was the provision that, each year, every person under the Law would go and sacrifice an animal on the Day of Atonement. Every single Jew went to sacrifice on this Day, for every single person  under the Law broke the Law. This was not a surprise to God. He didn't look down from Heaven and go, "Wow, they really can't live by the Law!". He knew it even as He gave it. It was man who needed the lesson. It is man who still needs the lesson. Once I visited a Church (I won't mention the denomination) and, after a nice service, I went out to thank the Pastor. I asked him about the basic beliefs of this denomination. He told me, "We're purists. We believe that the true Christian will obey all of the New Testament, and be able to keep the Old Testament Law as well." . I left that place wondering if this man had ever read his Bible, read the Law, or read the above verse. Believers, we are not under the Law because Christ has already satisfied the justice of God on the Cross. On another occasion I met a group of misguided Christians who proudly told me that they kept the Law perfectly (at least, that part of the Law that they considered applicable to the Church). On departing I wondered if they understood that their very pride and self righteousness was sinful, in effect a breaking of the Law. Jesus redeemed us out from under the curse of the Law.

Hebrews 9:26-28  "For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. "

2 Corinthians 5:21  "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. "

Because the believer is in him, that is, in Christ, we are righteous. I want you all to pay close attention to what I'm about to say: The Christian should be a more moral person because of his new found relationship with God. Yet morality does not save. The only difference between a Christian and a non Christian in the Father's eyes is that the Christian has accepted what the Son did for him. The Christian is still just as human (and prone to sin) as the non Christian. Christians are fallen people living in the land of mercy and Grace. Any righteousness that we have that counts is that righteousness which we possess because of our association with the Son. We have the righteousness of God because we are in him, in Christ. We have righteousness by association to Christ. Within ourselves we are nothing, but in Christ we are everything.

Once a believer understands that his righteousness comes because of his position in Christ (Positional Truth), self righteousness and pride seem to fall by the wayside. Too many believers are walking around today with a "superiority complex", feeling that they are better than those within their periphery. Christians, the Bible teaches that God chose the trash of the world to bring to righteousness in order that He none would be able to be boastful in His sight. Does that offend you? Well, it's Biblical.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29  "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:  That no flesh should glory in his presence."

Christians, it's time we got off our high horse and back into reality. If you've ever read, I mean really read the 1 Corinthians text, you'd see that God chose us because we were foolish, weak, trashy, despicable, and of no substance. Take the blinders off and read it. Quite frankly, if I were God (which I'm not!) I wouldn't have touched us with a ten foot pole. Yet God, in His infinite Love and Judgment did touch us with a ten foot pole. Not only that, He crawled on that pole, and allowed sinful creatures to nail Him to it. By judging and delivering man from sin on the Cross Jesus Christ brought us to the place where we could borrow His righteousness like a robe, and drape it over our sins so that we can enter into the presence of the Father.

Hebrews 1:3  "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high"

Jesus didn't just put a balm on our sins. He didn't stick a Band-Aid on the gaping wound of our evil. He purged our sins on the Cross. He did this by himself.There was and is nothing left for us to do toward our salvation other than to believe on Him. The work was complete, and Jesus showed this by sitting down at the right hand (the place of honor) of God the Father. It is finished! You can't add to it.

Romans 8:1-2  "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. "

John 5:24  "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ you are free from the condemnation of the Last Judgment (which we will study shortly). You will never see hellfire because you accepted the Judgment of God in Christ. You accepted what Jesus did for you, and you were saved. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and you die before you do so, you will see condemnation . This is a reality, my friend. Yes, God is Love, but He is also Justice. You have a way out from under the law of sin and death if you only believe. I recently had a good Christian woman tell me that it's better to underemphasize Hell in presenting the Gospel. Such concepts scare children and even older people. Besides, she said, it's better for someone to accept Jesus Christ as Savior because they love Him. My friend, no one "loves" Jesus who is unsaved. The unbeliever is an enemy of God, and by his or her actions hates God. Hell is a harsh reality, the alternative truth that those who reject Christ will see. I was saved under the preaching of a Godly pastor who was preaching the Doctrine of Hell. Yes, it scared me. Yes, it should scare you if you're lost. Yes, I repented and accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, and now I'm not scared anymore. If more pastors preached the truth of Hell and condemnation our Churches would be packed with repentant believers. Jesus' action in suffering judgment for our sins brought us from the reality of Hell and into the peace of eternal life, if we only believe.

1 Corinthians 11:29-33 "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another."

An excellent illustration of God's chastisement to the wayward believer can be seen in Paul's letter to the Corinthians. The Corinthian Church was a group of believers who, once saved, allowed the world to get into their fellowship. These people were something else! Nearly every chapter in this book deals with sins that these hedonistic believers were getting into. In Chapter Five a young man was in an incestuous relationship with his own stepmother. In another chapter the Corinthians were dallying with prostitutes. They were taking one another to the legal civil courts over trivial matters. And, perhaps the worst of all, they were mocking the Communion of the Lord.

When the Corinthians got together to take Communion, they didn't hold the sacrament in honor of our Lord Jesus. Instead, they used Communion as an opportunity to party down. They brought food, drink (hard liquor, according to the context), and let the good times roll. In fact, it got so bad that the world that they should have been evangelizing used the Corinthian Church as a reason not to accept Christ as Savior. After all, these people were Christians, and were deep into sin that the average moral unbeliever wouldn't touch.

Yet their sins didn't go unnoticed by the Father. God punished the Corinthian believers on two levels for their open disobedience. First, many are weak and sickly. God disciplines the wayward unrepentant believer by bringing sickness and trial into his life. He did it then, He does it today. When we sin and fail to repent, but keep on sinning, we introduce something unnatural into that newborn relationship we have with the Father. To weed out the sin God started allowing sickness to come on the Corinthians. Second, if this lesser chastisement fails, God resorts to harsher measures. Paul said and many sleep, that is, many Believers in Corinth we meeting their Maker under the sin unto death. God, as any good parent, warns us when we fall into disobedience. If we ignore this warning, He chastises us through sickness or calamity. If we continue to ignore His warning He takes the punishment a step further and calls us home. This is the sin unto death.

Though believers don't like to hear the harsh reality of God's discipline, it is clearly taught throughout Scripture:

Hebrews 12:5-13 "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.  Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;  And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed."

It is human to begin to think that that which we do in secret remains in secret. Yet, as Believers, there is nothing we do in secret that our Heavenly Father doesn't see clearly and openly. The writer of Hebrews clearly emphasizes that the justice that God uses in dispensing chastisement to us is driven by His love for us. He doesn't punish us because He enjoys seeing us suffer. No, His punishment comes because He sees those whom He loves falling into the entrapment of sin. If that sin is left unchecked the believer will fall deeper and deeper into the world, farther and farther from the relationship that brought such peace at the moment of salvation. Just as no parent would willing allow his or her child to do that which is harmful to themselves, our Father forbids us to fall into persistent sin. If we do, and if we are children of the Kingdom, we will be punished.

1 Corinthians 5:1-6 "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.  Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?"

The Corinthians, God Bless them, again teach us much about God's family discipline. As our Churches have grown (often to epic proportions, hundreds of members per assembly) we have slowly moved away from the reason that we attend Church in the first place. Church was never meant to be a place where we just went to hear the Pastor preach (though that is a valid reason for going to Church). Nor was it just meant to be a place where we went to display our own spiritual gifts once or twice a week. Again, this is a valid reason for going, but not the main reason. Jesus Christ, when He established the assembly of the Saints, did so because He knew that we are still all too human. If you would be totally honest with me you'd also admit that sin, though we know it is wrong, is pleasurable. I know that may shock some to see it in print, but it's the truth. Though we are saved by faith in Christ, we still have a sin nature within us that constantly beckons us to fill it's needs. If you disagree with me you just aren't human, or are blind to your own sin. When believers get together in private too often we start talking about someone else's shortcomings almost with an attitude of glee. Though we cloak it in fake holiness we are doing no more than gossiping, and we're doing it because it makes us feel superior to that slacker. It's sin, it's open, but we don't recognize it.

Jesus established the fellowship of the Saints because He knew that, together, we could help encourage one another to growth and away from sin. It's a lot like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. We all go knowing that we're sinners trying to live as sinless as possible in this ungodly world. We should be going to Church to encourage one another to growth. We should also be encouraging one another away from sin. This is where the Corinthians were missing the boat.

They had a young man (I assume a Believer) in their midst that was in grievous sin. He was, by the context, in an incestuous relationship with his stepmother (have his father's wife). When a believer starts openly sinning, and it becomes known within his assembly, the assembly is commanded by God to censure these sinful actions. This censure should be both immediate and public. Had the Corinthian Church done this, the young man would have been encouraged away from sin. They didn't do this, so Paul rebuked the entire assembly. Had the Corinthians mourned this man's actions, Paul says that the man would have been taken away from among you. That is, he would have seen the folly of his way and stopped his actions. Instead the Church was puffed up, preoccupied with themselves rather than the wayward believer in their midst, and the problem persisted to the detriment of the whole assembly. The gathered assembly of believers, the Church, has the family responsibility to warn and chastise believers who step outside of the Biblical norm. Are we doing this today? In many instances, no. When we become more interested in numbers than in the spiritual state of our fellow believers we walk away from God's plan for the Church, just as the Corinthians did two thousand years ago.

1 Timothy 1:18-20  "This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;  Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:  Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme."

Believers, we are commanded to look out for one another, to keep one another for falling into the trap of sin. If we fail in this one thing, what good is our huge Church buildings? What merit our large operating budgets? To turn a blind eye to another believers fall is to turn a blind eye to the Family of God, and this must not be. We must all rediscover the essence of the New Testament Church if we are to effectively grow as the Body of Christ. We must not be like Corinth.

When the believer walks away from God, Our Father doesn't cast him aside as a piece of garbage. God is eternally concerned about our spiritual state because we are in an eternal relationship with Him. When God told King David that Solomon (his son) would build the temple in Israel, He told him:

2 Samuel 7:13-16 " He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.  I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:  But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.  And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. "

In God's message we see another way that the Father chastises the wayward believer. Not just through sickness and (ultimately) death, but with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men. God can use others, not necessarily believers, to inflict chastisement on the sinning believer.  If you are being persecuted by the world it may just be the natural persecution that Jesus told us to expect. If our Lord suffered for righteousness sake, then it is only natural that His Children suffer in many of the same ways. The persecution may also be sent from God if you are in a state of unrepentant sin. God punishes His children to correct their spiritual state in the way best designed to bring about their repentance. If He decides persecution from the world is an effective means of causing us to rethink our disobedience, He will use that method.

2 Samuel 12:13-15  "And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.  Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick."

Another method of chastisement the Lord uses is to take away that which stands between us and Him. King David decided in his heart that he would possess Bathsheba (Uriah's wife) no matter what the cost. At the moment he made this decision he started wallowing in the mud pile of sin, getting dirtier and dirtier. What started out as "peeping" at a naked woman turned into adultery, and adultery eventually turned into murder. Yes David, in his authority as King, has Uriah murdered in battle. David thought he had gotten away with his sin because he was King over Israel. After all, who would condemn the King? The Father, that's Who. God looked at David's heart and saw that David felt that his relationship with Bathsheba was justified because she bore him a child. David was using this new birth as a means to excuse his evil and sinful actions against the Believer Uriah. What David failed to understand was that his sin wasn't just effecting him, Bathsheba, and Uriah. His sin was broadcast among all the nations Israel was meant to evangelize, making the nation's premise that "There is One God, and He is YHWH" seem ludicrous. As the Lord told David, by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme. What God did may seem shocking to you, but you must understand that the Father holds our relationship to Him (as well as our mission to evangelize the nations) in the absolute highest regard. God decided that David would repent and stop making excuses if He took the child away from the King.

"How could He do that? That child was innocent!". Yes, that's the human response. And if death was truly an end to all life, then you'd be just in making this determination. But death is only an entrance into a new eternal life, and this child entered this new life once he left this one. God took the child away from David and Bathsheba, removing the barrier that kept them from truly repenting of their many sins. That David's heart was changed is evident in his actions following the death of his child:

2 Samuel 12:21-23 "Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.  And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?  But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. "

Once the child died David put that part of his life behind him. He knew that the child had gone to be with the Father, and that one day he would go to him. By removing the barrier God restored a good relationship between Himself and David. God also restored Israel's ability to effectively evangelize the nations around them, thus His plan was put back on track.

What barriers have you set between yourself and God? Do you have a pet sin, one that you won't let go? Perhaps apathy, or laziness? Sometimes the things we think are harmless are just as openly harmful to our relationship with the Father as are the "greater" sins of murder and adultery. Alan Smith (a Pastor with the Church of Christ - NOT the IOCC) wrote: "Upon entering the little country store, the stranger noticed a sign saying "DANGER!  BEWARE OF DOG!" posted on the glass door.  Inside he noticed a harmless old hound dog asleep on the floor beside the cash register.  He asked the store manager, "Is THAT the dog folks are supposed to beware of?" "Yep, that's him," he
replied. The stranger couldn't help but be amused. "That certainly doesn't look like a dangerous dog to me.  Why in the world would you post that sign?"  "Because", the owner replied, "before I posted that sign, people kept tripping over him."

Believer, if you aren't actively serving God then you're serving the world. And if you're serving the world, you're due a little chastisement from the Father. These are His promises, not mine. It's time to get busy my friends. If your life seems exceptionally hard, if you seem to be getting spanked on a daily basis, it's time to get back into the Word and back on the pathway of purpose that God has set for your life. As Jesus said:

Matthew 6:19-20 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:"

If you're immersed in the world you not only bring chastisement from the Lord on yourself, but you also rob yourself of Heavenly reward. Which brings us to the next Judgment of God, the Judgment Seat of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:9-10 "Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

I was teaching on the Judgment Seat of Christ one time, explaining how we receive reward for all worthy works that we did in this life, when an old gentleman piped up at the back of the room. He said, "If  you're a believer and really love the Lord, you'll do what He asks expecting no reward". Well, yes, that is true. But it's also true that the Apostle Paul considered a "good report" at the Judgment Seat of Christ a driving force to spur the believer to obedience while in this life. So many self righteous believers have forgotten the fact that they, like I, are still human. God knows this and, following His principle of Loving Grace, established the Judgment Seat of Christ to give us incentive to draw ever closer to Him in this life. I want to do good for Christ because I want Him to say, "Well done, David". If He gives me a crown for the efforts I made for Him in this life, then I want to be able to place that crown at His nail scarred feet. The praise of men should not drive the Christian (though sometimes it does). Power over others should not drive the Christian (though it sometimes does). What should drive the Christian is the knowledge that we did well for Christ on this earth, and that He will recognize those works and thus receive glory. We should all want to be accepted of him.

Romans 14:10-13 "But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.  Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. "

When Paul warned the Roman Christians against judging one another, he was not saying that we should not judge and censure open sin in our midst. Believers are under obligation to watch and help their fellow Christians from falling into the traps of sin. Rather, he was warning us against judging another believer's works as unworthy for the Lord. I must admit, I am very guilty of this sin. At times the Pastor may preach a message that seems weak, out of sync, or just too far out for me. And I complain that the message was poorly prepared and spiritually weak. Yet on polling other members I find that, much to my amazement, other believers in the assembly were astounded by the depth and sensitivity of the sermon. God was not speaking to my heart that day, or else I had tuned the message out. Paul asks me, "Who are you to judge the Pastor, David? Will God not judge this work before the Judgment Seat of Christ? Will it not be weighed to determine it's fitness or unfitness at that time? Stop judging!". Forgive me, Lord.

We will all stand before Jesus one day and give account of himself to God. On that day we will not be judged as to determine our eternal state with God. That issue was settled on the Cross of Christ. We will be judged, however, to see how many of our works were worthy and viable within the Plan of God. Paul details the Judgment in:

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."

All of our works will fall into one of the following categories: gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. What's interesting about this is how Paul parallels the quality of our works to what the refiner's fire will do to it. Gold and silver, if placed in fire, will become more precious as any small impurities (slag, sin) burn out and the metal purifies. Precious stones will not necessarily burn up in the fire, but they will not necessarily increase in value as they undergo tempering. Wood, hay, and stubble will all burn up in the fire, though wood will burn slower than stubble (which is small bits of hay) which will literally flash away.

Works that were done entirely for the glory of God would be gold. Works done for God that were, perhaps, done with some of self involved might be silver. And so on until you get to the works that were done purely to glorify the self (stubble). Jesus takes each and every work we did for Him and places them in the refiner's fire. As the Holy Spirit first appeared to man in the likeness of fire (Mat. 3:11), and His work on the Day of Pentecost was symbolized with fire (Acts 2:3), I suspect that the "fire" alluded to in Corinthians is the work of the Holy Spirit in sifting and weighing our works. Matthew Henry eloquently states:

"Those who spread true and pure religion in all its branches, and whose work will abide in the great day, shall receive a reward. And how great! how much exceeding their deserts! There are others, whose corrupt opinions and doctrines, or vain inventions and usages in the worship of God, shall be made known, disowned, and rejected, in that day. This is plainly meant of a figurative fire, not of a real one; for what real fire can consume religious rites or doctrines? And it is to try every man's works, those of Paul and Apollos, as well as others. Let us consider the tendency of our undertakings, compare them with God's word, and judge ourselves, that we be not judged of the Lord."

Matthew 16:27  "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. "

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18  "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

Luke 14:12-14 "Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:  And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."

The Judgment Seat of Christ occurs immediately after the Rapture of the Church. There is a reason for this. As believers, we are all considered part of the Bride of Christ. Prior to any marriage (even in our present day) the Bride always gets herself cleaned up and dressed up prior to meeting her groom at the altar. In the same way the Church, each and every member, will go through a "cleaning up" before we stand prepared before Christ as our Groom in Heaven. All of our works will be judged as either worthy or unworthy. The unworthy works will be utterly destroyed, for no stain of unworthiness needs to be left on the Bride as we stand before our Groom. The worthy works will be our fine dress, bringing honor and glory to the Groom. John the Revelator saw a vision of this great future Feast, and wrote:

Revelation 19:6-9 "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God."

This is God's Grace in action, His eternal Love and Justice in One. We were without hope, sinful, destined to Hell, yet He gave us life through Christ. We were unworthy but He made us worthy. Our works, which though feeble sometimes brought glory to Him, He purified so as to cause the Bride to be ready and cloaked in glory. She is clothed in  fine linen, clean and white, symbolic of freedom and purity from sin. The Judgment Seat of Christ weighed and cleansed our works, rewarded though we deserved no reward, and made us fit to bring glory to God forever.

Joel 3:1-2, 12-14 "For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,  I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.  Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.  Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. "

Matthew 25:31-34 "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:  And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:"

In all the talk of the Church, let us not think that God has forgotten His promises the Abraham, Moses, and David concerning Israel. At the beginning of the Millennial reign of Christ Jesus shall sit down in the valley of Jehoshaphat (the name means "The Lord is Judge"), gather all the nations before Him, and judge them for their harsh dealing with Israel. Israel as a nation will be fully restored, all lands promised by God returned to her, and peace shall be the rule after this judgment. There is no literally named valley of Jehoshaphat that we know of.  God uses this terminology to emphasize that this gathering will be a time of metered justice to the nations who so inflicted Israel with pain. Jehoshaphat as a Biblical figure was the son and successor of Asa, king of Judah. He reigned during the civil wars between Northern and Southern Israel over Judah. After fortifying his kingdom against Northern Israel (2 Chronicles 17:1, 2), he cleansed the land of idolatry (1 Kings 22:43). He also sent out priests and Levites over the land to instruct the people in the law (2 Chronicles 17:7-9). Since Jehoshaphat was a King over Judah, and Jerusalem (the capital city) was kept in the heart of Judah, we can speculate that this judgment will actually take place in Jerusalem. Yet this is only speculation, and unimportant when weighed against the purpose of the judgment.

During the judgment of the nations Jesus exonerates Israel before the heathen, and restores prosperity to her people. The judgment of the nations has a greater impact, though, in that it removes all excuse from mankind for it's sinful estate. Too often we try to blame our shortcomings on our "environment" that we were raised in. The murderer in the courtroom has a mother or psychiatrist who stands up and says, "But he was such a good boy! He lived under such horrible circumstances, this is surely the reason he turned out to be so bad". Under Jesus Christ the nations are judged, Israel is restored, and the world enters a thousand year period of peace unknown throughout history. Even the animals, who used to naturally war with one another, are made to be at peace:

Isaiah 11:6  "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them."

Isaiah 65:25  "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD."

God removes the liberal objection of "but the environment made me do it" and man still messes up, a thousand years later, at Armageddon. God's judgment of the nations gives mankind one last chance to accept the risen Savior. All those who continue to reject Christ have one Last Judgment to attend, a Judgment of Damnation called the Great White Throne.

Revelation 20:6-10 "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
 

Revelation 20:11-15 "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

At both the Judgment Seat of Christ and the Great White Throne man's works were judged. But this is where the parallel ceases. At the Judgment Seat of Christ the believer's works are judged to determine whether they merit reward or not. At the Great White Throne the unbeliever's works are judged to determine whether he is worthy to enter Heaven or not. If the Believer at the Judgment Seat loses all reward, the Bible says that he still retains his salvation (1 Corinthians 3:15 "If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."). If, on the other hand, the unbeliever's works are unsatisfactory, he is cast into Gehennah along with Satan and the fallen angels.

For millennia God has been telling mankind that his own feeble works were insufficient to earn him a place in Heaven. Those who appear at the Great White Throne are the scoffers, the self righteous, the ones who felt that they were good enough on their own without the provision of the Cross. No one is exempt from this Judgment. John said that he saw both small and great, that is, important people of distinction and the average person on the street. These people are called to individually stand before God and present their cases, while the Righteous Judge weighs the evidence. These people stand before God in resurrected form. None are exempt. Did you die when you were washed overboard while at sea? No problem, for the sea gave up the dead which were in it. Did you die thousands of years before this moment, long since departed into dust? No problem, for death and hell (the grave) delivered up the dead which were in them. None escape!

Your entire life you rejected Christ and the Church, believing that you were good enough to enter Heaven on your own. In fact, if God were to cast you into Gehennah without this Judgment you'd probably be screaming "unfair" all the way. You thought you were good enough, so God said, "Fine, prove it", and with that started judging according to their  works. God actually looks in two different sets of books: The Book of Works, and the Book of Life. For each person He finds their works in the First Set, shows how the works were insufficient for salvation, and then looks in the Second Set. Time is of no consequence, for God is infinite and time no longer exists. Only judgment after judgment, one unbeliever after another, until all admit conviction and are cast  into the lake of fire which burns forever and ever. Though horrible, it is justice and it is love. Heaven would not be Heaven if Satan and His followers (which the unbeliever is) were allowed into it. God would not be Just if He allowed unbelievers to spurn the beautiful sacrifice of the Son for their own feeble works. Hell is a reality. Do you know Jesus?

The worst thing that any person can do is to characterize God as Love without regarding His Just nature. Unbelievers who have done this have went on to (sadly) become Unitarian/ Universalists, and are as lost now as they ever were. The greatest indictment leveled against a Pastor is when the parishioners all say, "He doesn't preach hellfire and brimstone, but he sure preaches a God of Love". Such Pastors are misleading their flock and the world. God IS love, but He is also perfectly Just in the disbursement of that Love. Once you understand that both characteristics are equally powerful in our Creator, you begin to understand what motivates His every action. When you understand He is also just, you begin to have a little reverential awe (fear) of Him. Too few have this awe in our modern day society.

Psalms 111:10  "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever."

Proverbs 1:7  "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. "

Proverbs 9:10  "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. "

The prophets and apostles never overemphasized the love of God while underemphasizing His justice. They understood that both were essential to His character, both flawlessly operating for the higher good of man. This knowledge gave them a healthy fear for His immensity. This knowledge also brings peace to the believer. I know that, because God loves me and is at the same time just, He will never do anything to my detriment. If He punishes me, it will be that punishment necessary to get me back on track. If He allows trials in my life, they will never unfairly tax my faith. God is my Rock and Fortress. In Him alone do I trust and believe, because He alone loves justly. God Bless you all!