Foundations of the Christian Life. Chapter 36 Eternal Judgment# 1. The Guilt of Mankind.

Foundations of the Christian Life.
Chapter 36 Eternal Judgment# 1. The Guilt of Mankind.


DEFINITION.

Judge:
1. To judge, rule, arbitrate.
2. To separate, choose, discern.
3. To collect and evaluate evidence, pass a verdict and carry out a sentence.

1. Judgment is a basic doctrine, necessary for us to know and experience if we are to grow to maturity.

Hebrews 6:1--3.
“Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.”

2. Judgment is the function of kings. It is part of the essence of rulership.

1 Kings 3:7-12.
"Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?"
The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.”

Hence a king must judge fairly and with wisdom. To judge fairly and righteously is to be wise.

This has implications for us as Christians. We are called to be Kings and priests.

Revelation 1:6.
“…and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father- to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.”

An alternative translation of this is “…to be kings and priests…”
This is a restoration to mankind of what God gave Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, that we should be king over the earth.

Genesis 1:26.
“Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

As it is an inherent part of the job of king to judge we are therefore called to judge and exercise judgment. To be wise is to judge correctly. Hence we must learn to judge if we are to grow in God, i.e. become a king--priest.

3. What then are we to make of the commandments not to judge?

Matthew 7:1--5.
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”

James 4:11-12.
“Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you- who are you to judge your neighbour?”

Clearly these cannot be a total ban on the function of judgment. Rather they are a command not to negatively criticize or condemn people. We should not be judgmental. Such judgment not only brings a curse on the person we judge, it also brings a curse on us. We become what we criticize.

Unfortunately Christians often come across as judgmental when they take a moral stand. It is hard to see how this can be avoided in modern society where there are claimed to be no moral standards. The old adage to “Love the sinner but hate the sin” sounds good but, in practice, it doesn’t work. This is because of the simple reason that most people are unable to distinguish between themselves and their actions. So often we are what we do in terms of our self-identity so to criticise the actions is seen to be criticising the person, i.e. being judgmental.

4. How can we overcome the problem of judgmentalism while still taking a clear moral stand?

I don’t have any final answers but here are some pointers:

1. We need to understand why Christians are opposed to sin. It is not only because of a moralistic stand but is it because we understand that sin causes destruction in our lives.

Galatians 6:7,8.
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

One key to lessening the attitude of judgmentalism is to allow God to reveal to yourself the extent of the damage sin has caused in your own life and then allow God to restore the damage (i.e. sanctification). Until we have squarely faced sin in our own lives and been broken by our own sinfulness we will always come across judgmental.

2. We need to come to feel how God feels about the effects of sin. God is looking for people who have a heart like his, and one aspect of that is his heart attitude towards sin. This is clearly spelled out in:

Genesis 6:5,6.
“The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.”

When our heart begins to feel as his heart does about sin and its effects, when we feel the pain of sin, then – and only then, can we speak about sin in others.

3. We need to understand that the Gospel message, and how we present it, is not about criticising sin, or people in their sin, rather it is about rescuing people from sin and its effects. Our attitude should be the same as God’s:

John 3:17.
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

4. We need to recognise that God does not give us the job of being moral crusaders in the world. Our mandate does not give us that right.

1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside.”

Our mandate is to preach salvation to those outside, but the functions of judgment, or discipline, we have is limited to those already in the church.

5. We are commanded several times in the Bible to judge things in the church:

a. We are to judge morals and legal issues in the church.

1 Corinthians 5:1-5, 9--6:6.
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
…I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people- not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
…What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."
…If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother goes to law against another- and this in front of unbelievers! …”

In this passage Paul clearly lays out the function of judgement in the Church and its limits:
* Firstly, we have a right – in fact we have an obligation – to make moral judgements inside the church so that the moral standards of the Church community are maintained. Those that continually break the moral standards of Christ are to be excluded from the church fellowship. This has to be balanced by the teaching of the Bible that we can come with repentance “70x7 times” and be forgiven for sin. So this is not a permission for us to exclude any believer who falls into a single act of sin. Rather it is referring to those who call themselves Christians but are living an obvious lifestyle of sin and are not willing to change. With such people we should not fellowship – not even eat with them.
* Secondly, we have no right to make the same sort of moral judgments about people outside the church. We cannot expect them to live by the standards we adopt as Christians.
Some groups in the Church apply this wrongly to non-Christians. Paul does not say, "We should not fellowship/eat with non-Christians". In fact later, in 1 Corinthians 8, he covers the question, “What do we do when we are invited to eat at a non Christian neighbour’s feast?” Rather we should fellowship with non-Christians, befriend them, with a view to bringing them to Christ.
* Thirdly, we should not put ourselves in the position where the non-Christian world can judge us – even at a level of legal disputes. It seems that our ability to judge wisely here may affect how well we will judge (rule) angels in the coming age. We should try to get such disputes resolved in the church community. There should be enough wise people in the church who can judge such cases.

2. We are to judge prophetic words.

1 Corinthians 14:29.
“Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.”

1 Thessalonians 5:20,21.
“…do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good.”

Just because it appears to be an prophetic word, unspired by the Holy Spirit, that does not mean that it is - it coiuld be inspired by a demonic spirit, or even by our own excitement and imagination. Such words need to be judged and there are criteria that can guide us in this process, but that is beyond the scope of this series. Sufficient here just to note that we are commanded to judge such prophetic words.

3. We are to test the spirits.

1 John 4:1.
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

This has a reference to teaching and prophetic words.

4. We are to judge ourselves.

1 Corinthians 11:27-31.
“Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.”

Learning to judge ourselves in relation to sin and the kingdom of God is the process of learning wisdom, and hence of growing in our relationship with God. We have fellowship with him only as we do as he commands, so there needs to be a constant, and growing, understanding and walking in his words if we want our relationship with him to grow. There are some steps in this;

* We come to recognise that, in some area of our life, we are not fellowshipping with God, he is not Lord there.
* We search out the scriptures to find his commands for that area of life.
* We repent of doing our own thing and commit to living according to his word.
* Then we go through the process described in Chapter 5 of the word becoming flesh in us.

Other instances where we are to judge could be found. Clearly we are to judge in certain instances and the church has been given authority by Christ to do so. In fact, in the final analysis:

6. The people of God are the ones who are going to the judgment of God on the world.

Psalm 149:5--9.
“Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds. May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them. This is the glory of all his saints. Praise the LORD.”

But this is not yet.

7. Why is judgment eternal?

Because God's kingdom is eternal. It already exists in the realm of eternity. From there God is now exercising judgment, he is discerning, ruling, passing sentence. He has always been and always will be king. It is part of God's nature as king to judge.

God's kingdom is run on strictly moral and legal lines, with Justice and equity. Hence whenever someone does wrong, or is wronged, God must judge. However this process of judgment culminating in the executing of a sentence, takes time. It takes all of time in fact. But in the final analysis God will be seen to be just. The wicked will be seen to have been condemned, and the righteous to have been rewarded.


GOD THE JUDGE.

1. God, the Father, is the Ultimate Judge.

Hebrews 12:22--24.
“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, those names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”

Genesis 18:25.
“Far be it from you to do such a thing- to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

1 Peter 1:17.
“Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.”

2. God is reluctant to judge.

God, in his essential nature, is a God of love. The function of judgment is forced on him because of the fact of sin. Sin distorts truth and reality. Because of this distortion there must be a restoration. Hence God is forced to Judge, Justice and fairness demand it. This tension is shown in a certain reluctance on God's part to judge. It is only when the best, most loving thing to do for all concerned is to judge that God judges. Judgment is a final option.

(a) It is said to be his "Strange work".

Isaiah 28:21,22.
“The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon- to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task. Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; the Lord, the LORD Almighty, has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land.”

(b)He tends to put off judgment until there is no other possible option. Judgment then only comes after careful examination of the facts.

Three illustrations in history show this tendency of God.

(i) Genesis 19. Sodom and Gomorrah.

Genesis 18:20,21.
“Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

(ii) Ezekiel 9. Judgment on Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 9:4.
“…and (God) said to him (the angel), "Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it."

This was with a view to coming judgment on all those who had no heart-grief over sin.

(iii) In the Exodus we see many signs given to Egypt to allow them opportunity to repent.

(c) This putting off of judgment is so that man has a chance to repent.

2 Peter 3:9.
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

1 Timothy 2:3,4.
“This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

(d) Repentance, even on the part of the basest sinner, will cause God to stay his hand in judgment.

We see this time and again in the OT where God threatened to judge Israel or Judah but repentance changed his mind. The clearest example is in:

Jonah 3:5-10.
“The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."
“When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.”

(e) However judgment need not be something we fear. Paul says that the coming judgment is good news, gospel.

Romans 2:16.
“This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.”

It is good news because:
(i) The Christ event shows us that God is already at work, and has judged sin in Christ.
(ii) The injustices done in this life will be corrected.
(iii) The rewards due to those who did good will be presented.


THE BASIS OF JUDGMENT.


Five main principles of judgment will be used by God to judge mankind.

1. Judgment will be according to our own judgment of others.

Romans 2:1--5.
“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.”

Matthew 7:1,2.
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”


The judgment we have passed on others will be the first standard God judges us on. Can we even match up to our own exacting standards? The critical standards we apply to others will also be applied to us.

2. Judgment will be according to truth.

Romans 2:2.
“Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.”

This has two aspects:
* The truth of God's word will be made a standard for us.
* We will be judged on the facts, not on our own opinions and memories. The facts will be measured against God's standards of truth, not ours.

3. Judgment will be according to our works.

Romans 2:6.
“God will give to each person according to what he has done."

1 Corinthians 3:10--15.
“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”

This is the consistent teaching of the Bible. All men, Christian and non-Christian will be judged according to their works.

Works are not just our external actions, but includes our internal attitudes.

Matthew 5:21,22,27,28.
"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, `Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment…
…"You have heard that it was said, `Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”


4. Judgment will be impartial.

God has no favorites based on supposed special relationships. All men--Jew, Gentile and Christian--will be judged.

Romans 2:11.
“For God does not show favoritism.”

The only privilege of relationship is one of priority. The closer the relationship to God, the sooner the judgment will come.

1 Peter 4:17--the Church First.
“For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

Romans 2:9,10--Jews before Gentiles.
“There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”

Derek Prince says this: “In this passage we see two principles:
(i) A principle of blessing--God normally blesses the Gentiles through the Jews, but blesses the Jew directly.
(ii) A principle of judgment--God normally judges the Jew through the Gentile, but judges the Gentiles directly.
In the last days God will punish Israel through the Gentiles, then he will directly judge the Gentiles."

5. Judgment will be according to light.

I.e. according to what we know about God and has will. We are to be judged according to our response to revealed truth. God does not expect obedience to truth which we do not know.

Romans 2:12-16.
“All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.”

In the last days the gospel will be preached to every person alive on earth. Thus every person will have light and thus is liable to judgment.


ALL MEN ARE GUILTY.


By the standards of judgment above, all men are guilty. This is the argument of
Romans 1:18--3:20.

1. None of us match up to our own standards.

We are all hypocrites. This is especially true of religious people, who have a tendency to become self--righteous and then judge others harshly.

2. All of us have done things which we know are essentially wrong--and we knew it at the time. We have all acted against conscience.

3. All of us have a revelation available to us which we could have responded to in faith, if we had wanted to.

We all have a revelation.

a. The Gentiles in:
-- nature. Romans 1:18--20.
-- Conscience. Romans 2:14--16.
-- Intuition. Romans 1:31.
-- A basic revelation of God's redemptive plan in the stars (Genesis 1:14). This revelation was given to Adam (Genesis 3:14--19) so is the possession of all his seed (Deuteronomy 29:29). All of the ancient mythologies and astrology were based on a corruption of this original revelation. See also Ps. 19, Romans 10:18.

b. The Jews--in the Old Testament.

c. The church--in Christ and the Bible.

d. So called "Christian countries"--in and through the church.

e. Christian leaders have a stricter judgment because they have a greater gift of understanding (James 3:1).

It follows, therefore, that every man is guilty before God because he could know God if he wanted to. The knowledge is open to anyone who wants to see it. Failure to see it is proof of rebellion, hence of guilt, as one has to choose not to see it--it is so obvious. This guilt is then known in conscience as the final proof of God.

The fact of judgement implies two things:
1. That there is a universal ethical code that holds true for all men in all places at all times.
2. This code can be readily known.


QUESTION: WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO HAVEN'T HEARD?

Two groups of people are normally thought of here--the heathen, and infants or mentally retarded people.

1. The heathen.

This is answered above. They have a revelation of God, his purposes, and sin. Paul says that if they were to respond to the revelation they have they could be saved. They did not need to know about Christ as we do, but need to respond in faith to a God who lives, and to walk by conscience.


2. Infants and the mentally retarded.

The evangelical church, in general, believes that the five principles of judgment answer this question.

Infants, and those unable to understand and respond to the gospel, are exempt from judgment. Hence they go straight to heaven when they die. In general we believe that a child has to reach an "Age of Responsibility" before they have to make their own decision in faith.

There are two views on when this "Age of Responsibility" is:

(i) It is individual, depending on personal factors in the person concerned. I.e. God deals with us according to who we are. By this approach the age of responsibility is usually thought to be somewhere between 4--8 years of age.
(ii) It is when the age of responsibility, i.e. adulthood, was reached in Jewish Society, i.e. about 12 or 13 years of age.

We do not know for sure, but we can be sure God will decide on the side of mercy.

With those who are mentally incapable of responding we believe that judgment is according to light, and this means the capacity to receive and respond to God's revelation. Hence those who are unable to receive or respond go straight to Heaven.

There is an OT story that illustrates this:

2 Samuel 12:15--23.
“After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. On the seventh day the child died. David's servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, "While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate."
David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realized the child was dead. "Is the child dead?" he asked. "Yes," they replied, "he is dead."
Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
His servants asked him, "Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!"
He answered, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, `Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.' But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."

The child had died, but David--sure of his own salvation--was sure he would go to the child.

If we are all guilty, how can we escape the judgment?
By accepting Christ as Saviour, and living according to his will.

TRANSFORMER VERSE.

Judgment.
Hebrews 9:27.
“It is appointed for man once to die, and after that the judgment.”