Okay, we're back for the second installment of the Judgment Seat of Christ.
We've got a lot to cover today.
Sorry for not doing this last week.
I think that's what I had promised, but we put our home up for sale and it went under contract within the first 48 hours, so let's just say I've been a bit busy.
But here we are today to take you further into the study of the Judgment Seat of Christ, clearing up some of the misinformation that's been put forth.
A couple of episodes back, we addressed who's in the little flock.
We put some of those false arguments to bed.
With Scripture, verse by verse, we exposed its fallacy.
Then we moved on to address some of the wrong things being said concerning the Judgment Seat of Christ.
And again, we did so with Scripture, not conjecture, not opinion.
But with Scripture, verse by verse, we did the same thing.
That's just what happens when you approach strawman arguments with the sword of the Spirit.
God's Word wins out every time.
And that's how it goes when you just open the book and read it.
The way to miss it is to let someone skip around and interject their own personal thoughts.
That's how it gets messed up.
But when you do a thorough, honest, verse-by-verse study, you cannot help but see the truth.
And that's what we've been doing.
And hearing from others who are seeing the truth now that had previously fallen for the shiny new doctrine about the Judgment Seat and the little flock and Paul preaching the kingdom gospel in the book of Acts, even though, even though when you go to Acts chapter 13, if you read it in its entirety, actually you don't have to read it all, but go ahead just for good measure, read it in its entirety.
You will see Paul preaches the gospel of the grace of God right there.
You see the death for all our sins.
You see the burial, the tomb.
And Paul states that he has risen for our justification that the law of Moses could not take care of.
The gospel of the grace of God right there in the book of Acts chapter 13 and somehow there are a few that just look past this.
But it's a joy to see the correspondence coming in for those who have had their eyes open to the truth.
I recently said that I have a real knack for explaining things, for breaking them down and making them easy to understand.
And I do appreciate that.
But again, just read the verses on the page without adding anything, and it becomes clear.
God is the one with a great ability to make things easy for us, his children to understand.
I try, but I fall short, but he has spoken very frankly and very candidly.
His presentation of the truth is so perfect.
And when we decide to stop adding personal conjecture, when we decide to stand with God, to agree with him right there on his word, well, we realize that his word is really not hard to understand as some try to make it.
You see, if I can get you to believe that God's word is deep, mysterious, it might mean this, and it might mean that.
It means this to me, but it means that to you.
Don't worry about it.
Just be fully persuaded.
You see what happens, don't you?
This is how religion has crept into the back door of grace.
The new flavor of the month for some is, there is no absolutes.
That's the new comfy place where I want to lay my head.
And don't you come along and disturb me with the truth.
No, no, that's not showing grace.
Well, these folk who are falling for this, they've not actually dug in and done a thorough study of what Paul's epistles actually say.
And if they have, well then they've chosen to overlook a lot of his words.
So it's either on purpose or they're just lazy.
That I'm not sure.
Now, last time we were here with you, we explained what doubtful disputations are.
We also exposed how that some are misusing Romans 14:5, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind, to mean that it's okay to fall for just whatever you believe.
If it's a false doctrine, well it's okay, it's just if you believe it.
They have this misguided belief that as long as you believe 1 Corinthians 15:1 to 4, nothing else matters.
Which could not be further from the truth.
That's just more made up conjecture that comes from man's vain imagination.
Paul don't teach that, not at all.
Not to mention that the fact that the ones who say this about 1 Corinthians chapter 15 have a very weak interpretation of what it actually means anyway.
If you listen close, they put trust in their own belief for forgiveness of sins.
That's dangerous territory.
Last time we covered Paul's mention of the judgment seat of Christ in Romans 14.
Hang on, in a bit we're going to tackle the other mention of it.
We'll examine 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
First, we're going to let you hear some of Preacher Rodney's teachings from his own mouth.
No need to tell you about it when we can simply let you hear it for yourselves.
You don't understand means that you're probably the illegitimate offspring of religious activity.
The Bible would call them spiritual bastards.
You have to be a moron to believe that.
You just have to be sick to believe that.
Now that was the quote, Really nice guy.
The quote, Brother in Christ.
If you believe you will be at the judgment seat of Christ, now listen, if you believe you're going to be there, you are the illegitimate offspring of religious activity.
Did you hear that?
I know you didn't know that, but you're the illegitimate offspring of religious activity, for simply believing God's word without this man's personal conjecture.
If you don't believe him, you're a moron, spiritual bastard.
If you believe in the judgment seat of Christ, you have to be sick, he says.
He's such a nice guy.
These people who preach this, I'm telling you right now, I'm telling you right now they're enemies of the cross.
It is not normal to be preaching this.
Now that's how you show grace.
He said, quote, These people who preach this, I'm telling you right now, they are enemies of the cross.
Now wait, some who follow you say all you've got to do is believe 1 Corinthians 15 verses 1 to 4, but you say that those of us who teach we're going to the judgment seat are enemies of the cross.
So which is it?
Talk about confused.
There's clearly a great divide within this new movement.
If you're going to have a successful movement, you've got to first decide which way you're going to move.
But this should be expected when everyone is just to be persuaded in their own mind they're going in all sorts of directions.
Why don't preachers use biblical language when talking about salvation?
For example, the word of God does not say that people go to hell because of unbelief.
There is not one verse in your Bible that says that.
Not one.
What?
Why would a preacher use that phrase when talking or speaking of someone's eternal destiny?
It's not even scriptural.
What Bible is he reading?
People don't go to hell because of unbelief.
Like unbelief is a sin.
Unbelief is not a sin.
Unbelief is a state of Adam's fallen children.
That is a state of mind.
That is a state of being.
He said there's not one verse in the Bible that says unbelief is a sin.
Or that people go to hell for unbelief.
Oh, really now?
What about Romans 14:23?
For whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Oops.
Or Revelation 21:8.
But the fearful and unbelieving, don't miss this, unbelieving, shall have their part in the lake of fire, that second death.
But you know, why go to the scriptures when we have man's own private, personal conjecture to rely on?
Okay, let's get into this and look at Paul's other mention of the judgment seat of Christ.
Our apostle, our pattern, the apostle Paul mentions it again in his second epistle to the Corinthians.
Second Corinthians 5:10.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Now as we most often do, let's read the whole chapter.
Why?
For context.
Verse 1. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Tabernacle.
Big study going on about this word.
Tabernacle is not a Jewish word.
It's just a word.
We can go through the Hebrew and Greek words that were translated as tabernacle in English, but there is one thing that we need to realize.
Tabernacle is an English word that already existed when the King James Bible was translated into English.
It isn't a creation of Hebrew minds and is not considered part of a specific lingo used by the little flock.
That's error.
And this same rule applies to most every other word in the scriptures.
There are a few that are transliterated words, such as variants of the word baptize.
And that's only because an English word did not exist at that time, which would encompass the direct meaning of the word in the language it was translated from.
A tabernacle is quite literally a tent or a hut.
A tabernacle is movable, not set in a fixed place.
Tabernacles don't have foundations.
It is quite fitting that Paul, who was a tent maker, would use this analogy.
A tabernacle is made of perishable material.
Our corruptible flesh is like a tabernacle.
But we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
The building of God and house not made with hands is our new heavenly body.
Romans 8:23, And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
OK, moving on, verse 2, For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
These verses are a clear reference to 1 Corinthians 15 verses 35 to 58.
Mark that down and study those out.
A chapter which deals with the resurrection and the catching away, what we call the rapture, which we will go into in more detail on a future podcast.
You know, since the truths of the catching away have also been compromised and corrupted, by this so-called new revelation of truth.
OK, verse 5, Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing as God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit, therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in this body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight.
This is talking about physical presence with the Lord.
Verse 8, We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
This is often, you know, it's one of those verses that's often misquoted.
I've heard people say, and no doubt you have too, they say, Paul says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Not exactly.
That's not exactly what we see here.
Read the verse again.
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
That does not say to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
That's not what it says.
Let's get some context.
Verse 7 says, We walk by faith, not by sight.
Verse 6, That while we are at home in this body, we are absent from the Lord.
Verse 5, That God has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
We walk by faith, not being physically present with the Lord.
Not by sight.
We can't see our spiritual presence with the Lord.
And Paul was yearning to be in the physical presence of the Lord in his new body.
Therefore, he was willing instead to be absent from his physical body in order to be present physically with the Lord.
We are not absent from the body spiritually.
If we're saved, we're in Christ and Christ is in us.
How can you be absent from Him?
You can't.
Not if you're in Him and He's in you.
We are spiritually present with Him at all times and He with us.
So, we need to pay closer attention to what we are saying here and be sure to keep it in its context.
And yes, I'm being picky.
God is also picky.
Picky about His own words.
So picky that He puts His word above His very own name.
So if He's picky, we should be also.
Verse 9, Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him.
Now here's the verse, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in His body according to that He hath done, whether it be good or bad.
This is not a verse to struggle over.
I'm not sure why so many seem to fear this.
Maybe it's because of a misinterpretation of the next verse.
Verse 11, Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciousness.
The terror of the Lord sounds scary if you say it dramatically, as if you're acting, pathos.
But when you just read it as it is, no emotion or play acting involved, and just leave it alone right there smack dab within its context that it's written, you'll understand that it's not speaking of any terror for members of the body of Christ.
No, we persuade men because we know the terror of the Lord.
The terror here in its context would be going to hell.
Persuading men would be preaching the gospel and compelling the lost to believe it so they will not go to hell.
This is not about a saved person being terrified.
Verse 12, For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God, or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
Now Paul here, he's given his audience this information in order to be able to answer the gainsayers.
He has important information to share here regarding the ministry of reconciliation.
Verse 14, For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead.
Now this is important.
This is the state of the entire world, with Israel included, due to their fall.
All were concluded under sin, all were dead.
Verse 15, And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again.
You see, if you're saved, you're no longer part of the, "all," who were dead.
You are now part of the, "they," which live.
You're alive.
Your life is hid in Christ, Colossians chapter 3.
Okay, verse 16, Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
Because of this, that's what he's saying here, because of what is written in verse 15, because of this, from now on, we don't know each other after the flesh, furthermore, we don't know Christ after the flesh.
Why?
Because of what the next verse says.
Verse 17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.
Because we are new creatures, we are members of the body of Christ, which was a mystery hid in God, kept secret since the world began.
Verse 18, And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
God reconciled us to himself, thank you, thank you.
He reconciled us to himself by his son's payment on the cross for our sins.
But this is not only just for those who believe, keep reading.
To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Verse 19, You see God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.
So let's clear something up.
I've seen some of the most delusional twisting of the English language and basic grammar rules for this portion of the verse in order to try and make the verse say something it does not.
So let's park here a moment.
Remember diagramming sentences?
We did that in elementary school.
Since this is a complex sentence, let's just look at it one part at a time.
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.
So let's find the subject here, which is a noun.
The subject of this sentence is the word, God.
Now, let's find the verb without tense.
The verb is the word, reconciling.
What is the object?
The object of the sentence is the word, world, world.
We could leave right here and make the claim, as others have, that the word reconciling is present tense.
Still going on, still happening.
That would be the faulty conclusion that we could go away with.
That God's reconciliation is ongoing, presently still happening, and will continue to happen for each and every person at the moment they believe the gospel.
That might be a fair argument if we stopped right there and didn't look further.
Reconciling.
That doesn't have an absolute tense all by itself.
You could definitely say that the word is present tense if the word, "is," were used as a helping verb.
But the word, "is," just isn't here.
But there is a word here that indicates the verb tense of reconciling.
Let's read it again.
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.
So, if we diagram this part of the sentence, in order to do so correctly, we would have to include the word, "was," with the word, "reconciling."
That's the complete verb in the diagram.
If we stripped the sentence down to the bare minimum, without the modifiers, it would read simply like this.
God, the subject, was reconciling, the verb, the world, object, unto himself.
This is subject-verb agreement, and the proper way to read this sentence in our English language.
This is basic language, a basic language arts lesson from school, and it's the proper way to dissect a sentence and determine what is being said.
So, what's the conclusion?
Reconciling is past tense.
And no, it's not past tense because Paul is talking to already saved people.
Oh no, the very verse tells you when it happened.
It happened when God was in Christ doing so.
What event could this possibly be?
It was the cross.
There is no other point in time when blood was shed to pay for the sins of the entire world in order to make reconciliation to God for mankind.
One event in the history of the entire world that could be the point in time when God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.
One.
One event in history that could have caused God to determine that he would no longer impute the world's trespasses unto them.
And for us who are saved members of the body of Christ, that word, that message of reconciliation has been committed unto us.
This is an instruction to share the gospel of the grace of God, to preach reconciliation, to tell the world that God is not holding their sins against them because his son paid the price for those sins.
Your sins were forgiven at the cross.
Your sins were forgiven at the cross, by the cross, through the cross.
However you want to slice it, it doesn't matter.
It happened because of what Christ did for us on the cross.
Not because we believed it.
It happened before we were even born.
It is truth that no amount of belief or disbelief can validate or make void.
It's true.
It's true whether you believe it or not.
This isn't subjective.
This is absolute truth.
How do we know this?
Because God said so.
Because Christ rose from the dead, we can know that his payment for our sin was accepted by God.
Okay, let's move on.
Verse 20, Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
This totally annihilates any question of whether or not everyone who is forgiven is automatically reconciled to God.
Why the argument that if everyone is forgiven, then everyone must be saved, even exist in light of this verse, I have no clue.
This verse also destroys the claim that Paul only wrote to and for saved people.
Have you ever heard that one?
Oh, I have, many times, but it's in error.
Listen, read the verse again and just think.
Saved members of the body of Christ do not need to, quote, Be ye reconciled to God.
Why would saved members need to be reconciled to God?
If you haven't reconciled yourself to God, you're not saved.
So, if Paul is only writing to and for saved people, why is he telling this saved only, members of the body of Christ only, audience to reconcile themselves to God?
He wouldn't.
That's silly.
So let's move on.
You see, the King James Bible isn't hard to understand.
It's written on a sixth grade reading level.
That means Jethro Clampett could understand it.
Don't get me wrong.
I don't think these people are dumb.
It's doubtful that they read the encyclopedia with the same preconceived notions that they read the Bible with, and I bet they don't come away with the same errors and strange interpretations from an encyclopedia that they seem to get from the scriptures.
Maybe that's because some people take the encyclopedia more seriously as absolute truth that needs no further interpretation than they do the Bible.
They don't add to the encyclopedia.
But some make scriptural understanding subjective to the reader.
They do that, but will accept the encyclopedia as absolute truth.
That is the opposite of believing the Word of God.
So, in keeping with the context in which both instances of the judgment seat of Christ is addressed by Paul, our apostle, we can now conclude that doubtful disputations with others are of no eternal consequence and are self-serving and not Christ-serving.
You see, only the things done which are of service to Christ will be rewarded.
And also, we can conclude that the judgment seat pertains to the judgment of our labor in the gospel.
This isn't about your sins.
This is about your labor in the gospel.
We are to be ambassadors for Christ.
His representatives.
We've been given the ministry of reconciliation and are expected to preach that, to preach the word of reconciliation that God committed unto us, so that others can hear it, believe it, and be saved.
Be ye reconciled to God.
That's the other part of it.
As members of the body of Christ, this is our job.
This is our labor.
This is the basis of the reward there at the judgment seat of Christ.
What did you do with what you knew?
What did you do with what you knew?
Did you keep it to yourself?
Did you compromise and dilute it in order to make it easier to swallow for your denominational friends or perhaps your family?
Were you so distracted by the rabbit trails of the shiny new doctrines that you allowed the ministry of reconciliation to be pushed aside?
Pastors, elders, bishops, or whatever you want to call yourself, did you present it clearly and represent it strongly and boldly, or did you allow it to be added to, twisted, and turned into another gospel which is not another?
Was your presentation effective and successful, or did you allow yourself to become an ear-tickler to gain more members in your congregation, more Facebook and YouTube subscribers?
Are you in it for the fame?
Is preaching sort of Hollywood for you?
What did you do with what you knew?
That's what standing before the judgment seat of Christ will be about.
It will not be about you having to answer for your sins that Christ already paid for.
You only get two educations, the one you're given and the one you give yourself.
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