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The Final Judgment

(Matthew 25:31-46)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
This morning,
We considered how the Father has honored His Son
For His work of Redemption
By giving Him the ability to raise the dead spiritually
To give the Spirit to those the Father has chosen
And to raise them physically
One day He will speak and empty the tombs.

B. Preview.
Tonight, we want to consider
The Father not only gave Jesus the right to grant these two resurrections
He also has given Him the honor of judging all mankind at the last judgment.
The purpose of these resurrections is two-fold:
Physical resurrection is meant to gather us all for judgment,
While spiritual resurrection is meant to deliver us from being condemned at that
judgment.
We must all stand before the Lord
To give an account of our lives on that day.
But if we have experienced the first resurrection
Which we can know we have,

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If we have trusted Jesus and have turned from our sins
We will not be condemned.

This evening, I want us to consider the final judgment:


1. That there is only one final judgment.
2. That at that judgment, Jesus will examine our works.
3. And that after it, will come the final separation and eternal state.

II. Sermon.
A. First, there is only one final judgment.

Here is another area where we disagree with the majority of churches today.
This morning, we saw most believe in three or four resurrections,
Whereas Jesus teaches only one.
Most churches also believe there are at least three judgments:
What they call the Bema Seat Judgment
Which is a judgment for believers,
For those who have trusted Jesus during the church age
Who died prior to the rapture,
Or were caught up in the rapture
The Sheep and Goat Judgment
Which will be a judgment for those who survive the Tribulation
To see who may go into the Millennium
And the Great White Throne Judgment
Which will take place after the release of Satan,

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And the final war at the end of the Millennium,
And which will be for exclusively for the wicked
For all who have ever lived throughout the centuries
Who never trusted Jesus Christ,
Whose names were not written in the Lambs Book of Life.

Im not sure if Ive seen anything that explains


When the righteous Jews who lived before Christ came
Such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
And those Jews and Gentiles who believe, but die during the Tribulation,
Or those that live and die during the Millennium
Are going to be judged
But they must stand before the Lord as well
Since all must give an account of their lives to Him.
Mankind judged Him,
Now He will judge mankind.

Why do these churches believe there are at least three judgments?


There are many reasons, but mainly,
Its because each of the three judgments seems to be different from the others
And appears to take place at different times.

On first blush,
It looks like theres only believers present
At the so-called Bema Seat Judgment of Christ:

Paul writes, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that
each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he
has done, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10).
They tie this judgment with the rapture of the church
And so believe it takes place before the Tribulation.

The Sheep and Goat Judgment appears to follow a time of Tribulation


And seems to include only the nations that are living at that time.
Jesus says, But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with
Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered
before Him (Matt. 25:31-32).

The Great White Throne Judgment appears to follow a thousand year period on
earth
And seems to include only those who are dead in sin,
John writes, Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose
presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I
saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books
were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the
dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to
their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades
gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them
according to their deeds (Rev. 20:11-13).

They may appear to be different, but are they really?


We do need to see they have several things in common:

Jesus is clearly the Judge in the Bema and Sheep and Goat Judgment.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10).
But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He
will sit on His glorious throne (Matt. 25:31).

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He must be the judge in the Great White Throne Judgment as well,
Because as weve seen in John, For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has
given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor
the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent
Him (John 5:22-23).

In each judgment, those present are judged according to their works.


The Bema Seat: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that
each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he
has done (2 Cor. 5:10).
The Sheep and Goat: Then the King will say to those on His right, Come, you
who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I
was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you
invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was
in prison, and you came to Me (Matt. 25:34-36).
The Great White Throne:
John writes, And they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds
(Rev. 20:13).
There are several other passages in Scripture
That tell us that it is our works that the Lord will judge,
Such as where Jesus says to His disciples, For the Son of Man is going to come in
the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY
MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS (Matt. 16:27),
Or where Paul writes to the Romans, Or do you think lightly of the riches of His
kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads
you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you
are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the
righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON
ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good
seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are
selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath
and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man
who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and
peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For
there is no partiality with God (Rom. 2:4-11).

At each of these judgments, both the righteous and the wicked appear to be present:
The Bema Seat: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that
each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he
has done, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10).
The word bad here means wicked,
And believers will not be judged for their sins.
Jude writes, Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make
you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy (Jude 1:24).

Sheep and Goat:


There are those who inherit the kingdom,
And those who go into eternal punishment.

At the Great White Throne, we read, And if anyones name was not found written
in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15),
Which implies there are some there whose names are written in that book.

Besides all these similarities,


The writers of Scripture speak about this judgment
As though there is only one.
Jesus said to His disciples, before He sent them to teach and preach in Israel,
Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that
house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be
more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than
for that city (Matt. 10:14-15).
He said to the cities that rejected Him, Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you,
Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred
in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless
I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment
than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you?

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You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which
occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I say to you
that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than
for you (11:21-24).
He said to the Pharisees, But I tell you that every careless word that people speak,
they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment (12:36).
Peter writes, For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into
hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not
spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with
seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He
condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them
to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives
thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of
unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while
living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their
lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation,
and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment (2 Pet.
2:4-9).
And John writes to his readers, We have come to know and have believed the love
which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in
God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may
have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this
world (1 John 4:16-17).

If there were three judgments,


Jesus, Peter and John would need to distinguish
Which one they were referring to
But they dont, because there is only one.

Finally, notice at the end of the Sheep and Goat and Great White Throne judgments
That there is a final separation of the righteous and the wicked.
Then the King will say to those on His right, Come, you who are blessed of My
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world
(Matt. 25:34).

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Then He will also say to those on His left, Depart from Me, accursed ones, into
the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels (v. 41).
And in case were unclear as to what Jesus means by this,
He says, These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into
eternal life (v. 46).
John writes regarding the Great White Throne Judgment, And if anyones name
was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire
(Rev. 20:15),
And then goes on to tell us about heaven.

This final separation isnt explicitly mentioned in the Bema Seat Judgment,
But it is strongly implied, Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade
men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest
also in your consciences (2 Cor. 5:11).

When you add to this the fact that the rapture also takes place at the same time,
As Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4,
So that all who are alive at Christs return will also be judged,
Then you have the final disposition of everyone:
After this, there can be no more judgments
Because there will be no one left to judge.
All thats left is the eternal state.

B. Now, Ive already touched on every point


That there is one judgment,
What we will be judged for our works
And what will happen after that judgment the final separation and eternal state.
So lets make a couple of applications from what weve seen:

First, from the fact that we will be judged by our works.

This may cause us some concern


Because we know Gods salvation is a free gift,
Given by His grace, through faith in His Son;
Clearly, Paul tells us, it is not of works, so that no one may boast (Eph. 2:9).

And yet, its equally clear in each of these judgments


That all are distinguished by what they have done:
E.g., in the Sheep and Goat Judgment
The sheep performed acts of love and mercy towards their brethren,
While the goats did not.

Jesus is not teaching that were saved by our works,


But He is saying if we have savingly trusted Him
We will be distinguished by our works
We will repent and follow Him;
Our lives will be marked by love and good deeds;
Others will be able to look at us
And know we are His disciples
Because of our love for each other (John 13:35).
Those who havent savingly trusted Jesus
Wont have this love, and so wont have these works.

Since believers and unbelievers can be distinguished in this way,

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You can know right now which of the two you are:
You dont have to wait for the Day of Judgment to find out.
John writes, We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love
the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his
brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in
him. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to
lay down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:14-16).
If you love your brothers and sisters
Because they are Christians
Because they are becoming more like Jesus
And if that love moves you to go beyond
Just wishing them well,
To really helping them in their needs,
Then you are a believer.
If you dont love them,
Then you have what James calls a dead faith.
He writes, What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no
works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in
need of daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and
be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what
use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself (2:14-17).
If this is the case with you,
At best you need to repent and renew the Lords love in your heart,
But at worst, you need a saving faith,
One that works by love,
One that reaches out to meet the needs
Of your brothers and sisters in Christ

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Not to mention the greatest need of your neighbors not in Christ


Bringing them the Gospel that they might be saved.

May the Lord help us to examine our hearts


And respond as the evidence dictates.

C. Second, let the fact that only the righteous will inherit the kingdom motivate you to
examine your heart.
Jesus will say to you if you are a believer, Come, you who are blessed of My
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world
(Matt. 25:34).
But if you are not a believer, He will say, Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the
eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels (v. 41).

After the resurrection and rapture take place


Then comes the final judgment.
At that point, it will be too late
To do anything about the state of your soul
The same is true about death.
There are no second chances.

If you die without Christ,


He will cast you into hell, and eventually into the lake of fire,
Where you will be punished for your sins forever.

But if you die in Christ,


He wont bring up any of your sins praise God!

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But will receive you into His kingdom,
Reward you for the things youve done for Him,
With blessings that will last forever.

If you havent trusted Jesus,


I invite you to do so now.
Theres still time to escape judgment,
If you will only turn from your sins and believe in Him.

If you have trusted Him,


I would encourage you, in light of what weve seen this evening,
To do as much as you can for Him,
In loving and serving your brethren,
And by reaching out to your neighbors in mercy
To try and bring them to Christ
Because this is what the Lord will be looking for in you
On the Day of Judgment. Amen.
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