The word meaning "to judge" appears many times in the original language in the New Testament and in a number of contexts. Jesus frequently mentioned things pertaining to judgment at the end of time. He did this because His purpose for coming to earth was to save men from God's condemnation of them because of their sins and God's final judgment of them. Most of the Lord's references to the judgment are brief and Arnie and Fred will discuss these including His longest one in Matthew 25. We will discuss what the New Testament tells us about the final judgment that we all will face. Take about 30 minutes to learn what the Bible says about the final judgment at the end of time.
The word meaning "to judge" appears many times in the original language in the New Testament and in a number of contexts. Jesus frequently mentioned things pertaining to judgment at the end of time. He did this because His purpose for coming to earth was to save men from God's condemnation of them because of their sins and God's final judgment of them. Most of the Lord's references to the judgment are brief and Arnie and Fred will discuss these including His longest one in Matthew 25. We will discuss what the New Testament tells us about the final judgment that we all will face. Take about 30 minutes to learn what the Bible says about the final judgment at the end of time.
Fred 0:00
This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. We meet for worship on Sunday at 10:30am, 5:30pm. We meet for bible study at 9:30am on Sunday, at 7pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson you may email them to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc-i.net or to Arnie Granke at agranke440718@twc.com.
Arnie 0:33
Good afternoon. This is Arnie Granke and Fred Gosnell with Woodland church of Christ. This is What Does The Bible Say? At the conclusion of our program, we'd like to give you our email addresses so that if you have a question or something that you'd like to discuss with us by email, you can send that to Fred or myself. But let's talk about let's talk about a word that has various forms that appear. In the New Testament. Various forms of the word to judge appear more than 160 times in the original language of the New Testament, Jesus frequently mentioned things pertaining to the judgment at the end of time because His purpose in coming to earth to redeem mankind related to God's condemnation of sin and the judgment. Most of the Master's references to it were brief. His only lengthy discussion on the subject fills all of Matthew, chapter 25. What are some of the things the New Testament teaches about it?
Fred 1:41
Well, well Arnie, the word Jesus uses the word and He warns us about it. The fact that there's a judgment coming in Matthew 5:21 and 22. And what He says there He says that, Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall Kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother worthless, shall be in danger of the Council. And whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of Hellfire or Gehenna.
Arnie 2:18
Yeah, and that's an appointment that no one's going to be able to avoid. In Second Corinthians five Paul was comparing there our earthly tabernacle with our eternal home, at least the eternal home of the righteous. And he said, he said, beginning in verse 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. Knowing therefore the terror the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. So here, here it is, it's the Lord's going to be there. He's going to be on His judgment seat. And we must all appear before it even unbelievers will appear before atheists don't know that, but won't believe that they're going to appear before but they will.
Fred 3:23
Exactly and and we don't know when that's going to be you know, people set dates all the time. You know, we're having a lot of grasshoppers and over in Africa, there's there just swarms of them and and some of them say that that's a biblical proportions. And that kind of looks like it's going to be the end well, there's there's not going to be any warning for us. Peter deals with that and Second Peter three, seven through 12. And Peter says, But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved to fire against the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing that one day is with the Lord as 1000 years and 1000 years as one day. That just means the Lord is not limited by time. And then he says, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing, then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought you to be, in all holy conduct and godliness looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the element shall melt with fervent heat? It's going to come as a thief in the night. We're not going to have any warning whatsoever of when the Lord is going to return for judgment.
Arnie 4:56
Yeah. If you've ever been broken into your house ever was broken into Perhaps at night or while you were gone, for some time you I'm sure you weren't expecting that you would have probably Jesus use that illustration. In fact, once that the strong man would have been there to prevent that from from happening, Jesus is going to be the judge he is going to be seated on on the judgment seat. John is one of the places where Jesus mentioned that on. in John chapter five, Jesus had healed an invalid at the pool of Bethesda on the on the Sabbath day, and the Jews were angry about that. Him having worked on the Sabbath day, I mean, he worked really hard to take up the bed and walk. Of course, the man did probably roll up his palate or whatever he had there and and walked away but certainly they didn't take into consideration. The fact that this was someone with unique powers, maybe they should listen to Him about being the Son of God. Jesus says in Matthew five, verse 22, For the Father judgeth, no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father, which hath sent Him. So Jesus in that passage certainly is, is the Judge. Looks like you're open to Acts chapter 17 there.
Fred 6:40
Yes, Arnie there. Luke writes, and he says there, That forasmuch, Paul's doing the speaking here, Luke's doing the writing. And Paul says, Forasmuch than as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given us assurance to all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead. Of course, he's talking about Jesus was raised from the dead and He was, He is going to be the judge. And we will not be able to avoid that.
Arnie 7:25
There are all kinds of formulas that people use to reassure themselves that they're okay. You know, that my priest has forgiven my sins, I've had absolution things of that sort. Maybe I just, I'm a Christian, so I'm going to be okay. We ought to think about that a little bit because there are a number of things that are going to be taken into consideration. In in as a matter of fact, in Matthew chapter 25, one of the things Jesus does not mention when He talks about who will go go into everlasting life who will go into eternal fire is He doesn't mention the word Christian. In in there, one's words, one's deeds. One, even one's thoughts are going to be under consideration on the on the Day of Judgment. I'm looking in Revelation chapter 20. And And in verse 12. And just you know, if you happen to be a student of the book of Revelation, this is after the angel had bound Satan with with a great chain and in that part of the vision that John received, and beginning in verse 12, 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 are written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, death and Hades delivered up the dead which were in them. They were judged every man according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Whosoever was not found, written in the Book of Life, was cast into the lake of fire. At, now notice what what the Book of Life contains in it. I suppose besides names there from from verse 12. The dead were judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works. So whether you're a Christian or not, what you do what you say what you think, is going to be a consideration on the Day of Judgment.
Fred 9:54
As a matter of fact, Jesus Jesus deals with a what we say in Matthew 12:34 through 37. And He's speaking I believe, to the Pharisees here and He says, Oh, generation of vipers, He calls them snakes. How can ye being evil speak good things. For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man of the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment. For by thy words, thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. We ought to consider the things that we say we're going to be held accountable for it at some point. We don't have the freedom to just say whatever we want to say, well, we have the freedom to do it, but we don't have the freedom to do it and not be held accountable for Jesus says He's going to hold us accountable for every idle word that we use. "Would that include lies?" I would expect it for sure, "Gossip?" Yes, sir. "How about profanity?" Exactly? I'm sure that Yeah, yeah.
Arnie 11:06
So So there are a lot of Bible words and and we want to be thinking about the things that we say and and think about whether there's some changes that we need to make. Excuse me, in the way that we speak. I'm looking in Hebrews chapter four. It's just amazing to think about the fact that God has no restrictions on His, on His ability. And in verse 12 of Hebrews four, the Hebrew writer says, The word of God is quick, in other words, alive and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight. But all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. God sees all, He hears all, He knows everything that we do. And and He's a discerner of the thoughts and and even our intents of the heart. He knows, for example, if we're struggling with a sin. He knows if we've given into it, or if we're really trying to combat it, He knows the good and the bad about us. We need to take that into into consideration, because all of that's going to be looked at on the Day of Judgment.
Fred 12:43
Well yeah, yes. And Jesus tells us in John 12:48, He tells us the standard of judgment, He says there, He that rejecteth me and receiveth not in my words, hath one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken the same show judge him in the last day. And of course, we live under the New Testament, and that's the last will and testament of Jesus Christ. And Paul said in First Corinthians 14:37, he says, The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. So all of the New Testament comes from the Lord ultimately, and and we will be judged by what is in the New Testament. We won't be judged by what's in the Old Testament, because we didn't live under that time. We live under the New Testament age, and the words that Jesus has said, and the words that has been written are His words. And that's the standard of judgment that we will be held to when we face the Lord, someday,
Arnie 13:40
You know, we read in the papers and and online and and hear on the radio and TV of various individuals that are that have been in court, perhaps they've been found guilty and and or maybe they've been found not guilty. And and there there are always those on both sides of that issue that are that either think that the an individual got off from doing something that that he shouldn't have done violation of the law. Maybe he maybe he's of a different political party, maybe he's of a different company or something that you compete with or whatever. And so you're you you disagree with that somebody else might disagree from the other other side of that. Jesus' judgment is is going to be fair, it's going to be just for several reasons. And one of those is is in John chapter five and in verse 28. When, when he says, Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life. And they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. I can of Mine own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge and My judgment is just because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me. So, so Jesus doesn't, doesn't think in terms of, of being unobjective, I don't like this fella here because because he did such and such a thing since it's such a thing and and I'm just going to take care of that. He certainly would be objective, in his consideration there. My judgment is just because I seek not My own will. But the will of the Father that sent me
Fred 15:50
Yes. And Peter Peter says something about that in First Peter 1:17. And he says Now, if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. So God doesn't look at people. Well, I think I'll give this one a favor and I'll, I'll punish this one. No, He says that with, it's without respect of persons that He's going to judge, and he's going to judge every man according to their work. So,So we have one standard of judgment. We have it written down in our New Testaments. So it's no mystery. Anybody wants to know how the judgment is going to be done. Check your New Testament out and you'll know the standard. It's all there for us to read and we will we will have to give account for those, what it says and how we have behaved in our life on this earth. We're going to be held accountable at the judgment.
Arnie 16:51
How many of us have ever met an individual who perhaps would say I'm an evil person. I'm just as wicked As I can be, you know, and mostly people think that they're righteous, and no matter how you know what they've done, they've lied if they stolen if they if they're always getting into fights if they use a lot of profanity and profanity if they've committed adultery or you know being immoral and in other ways what It's okay. I'll be okay because you know I'm a Christian or, or whatever it is that they that they think because a lot of people have opinions concerning their own righteousness. Let me just tell you, our opinions about our own righteousness will not matter. On the, in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter chapter seven and in verse 21. Jesus had been warning about false prophets and And after He said some things about that He says in verse 21, Not everyone that sayeth unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. And he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Let me just pause for a moment and and mention the word doeth. The word the word, doeth, with the eth, on the end all eth ending words are of a tense that shows ongoing action. We keep doing that thing if it says that it that he doeth it. So, so here He's He's speaking about continuous activity of doing the things that are the will of of His Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto me, Jesus said, Many will say unto Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? Lord aren't we wonderful people? Aren't we really righteous individuals? Verse 23 says, And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from Me ye that work iniquity.
Fred 19:21
It's a, it's an amazing thing sometimes the things that people think and the things that people do. And in Hebrews 10:26 to 31, the Hebrew writer writes about people who are disobedient and wicked, and they ought to be concerned. For he says that beginning in verse 26 of Hebrews 10, If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. For we know Him that sayeth, hath said,Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense sayeth the Lord, and again the Lord shall judge His people, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of living God. So those are those are words that ought to concern us that seeing that sin is bad, and sin, of course, it's transgression of God's law, and we're under the law of Christ. In the law of Christ in the New Testament, it tells us, those things that are bad for us those things that the Lord doesn't want us to do those things that are sinful, and it's ways, if we sin, then we are basically just stepping on the Blood that the Lord shed in order to save us. And it's a bad thing because it's a fearful thing. It says to fall into the hands of living God, we ought to be concerned.
Arnie 21:09
Yeah, I'm impressed by that, that terminology there. And I'm also impressed by the statement that that the thing to look forward to is a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the the adversary. That's a scary thought. It certainly makes us conscious of expressions like the fear of the Lord. Matthew 25 follows Jesus having said in in the middle of Matthew chapter 24, that heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And then He speaks about that day and and that hour going into chapter 25. He gives three illustrations with regards to the to the judgment scene, and and the first illustration is the one not the first one. But the third one is the one that that deals with the sheep and the goats. Beginning in Matthew 25 and verse 31. 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, He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. That's what I was referring to when I said that a moment ago, And He shall set the sheep and set the sheep on His right hand but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say to them, on his right hand, come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, they, they asked why and, and He tells some things that that they had done. And when they had done those things they had they had done it to the least of these His brethren and they had therefore done it unto Him. Down in verse 41 He speaks to the other group, Then shall say unto them, on the left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed unto everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Well, they respond the same way as if Why me, you know, because, and He gives the reason behind that. That result, verse 46, tells us, These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. So, the point of of that is that then on the Day of Judgment, everyone's eternal destiny is going to depend upon his spiritual state, what is his spiritual state at, at that, at that particular time and, and and his eter, eternal abode is going to be assigned. And and both the righteous and the wicked are going to enter them that day right then and there because remember the Lord is not governed by time, you know, this could be just as quickly as we snap our fingers that all of this comes comes to pass.
Fred 24:38
Of course, yes and and our eternal destiny is going to depend upon our spiritual condition when when we leave this earth because as you said, once we leave this earth, we're not subject to time anymore. And but but the next thing is, is the judgment and in Second Thessalonians, one, six through 10. Paul writing there to the Thessalonians he says, Seeing It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And they were Christians, the Thessalonians. And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. When He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe because our testimony among you was believed in that day. So there are two groups, there's the group that obeyed the gospel, and they will be with the Lord. And then there's the group that did not obey, they were disobedient and they're going to be separated from God forever. And and that's the judgment. That's the problem that we're going to have.
Arnie 25:50
Yeah, I would. I would point out here that, that He said, when He shall come to be glorified in the saints and to be admired in them that believe In that day is is there's a parenthetical statement in the middle there probably would seem a little a little easier to understand if that was at the end of that statement when He said, because our testimony among you was believed. So we would probably say it a little differently than the way it's written in, in the King James Bible now. But the point still, still certainly certainly there. The duration of our earthly life is is absolutely uncertain. We, we all have friends that have died very early in life. We've probably been shocked when someone has wound up with cancer at a very early age or some other life destroying disease or an accident or, or something along that line. And we just don't know how long a life that we that we had. Fred you did you ever think we would live to be this age?
Fred 27:09
No! I'm a whole lot older than I thought I'd ever be.
Arnie 27:12
Yeah! We won't tell them how old we are but but we're up there and and we never had any idea but we know people people that were our age have died pretty early, didn't they? And so in in James chapter four, James reminds us about the uncertainty of life. He says, Go to now it'd be sort of like it like saying listen to what I'm about to tell you. Ye that say today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue there and buy and sell get gain. Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.
Fred 28:05
Yeah. And and of course, the Hebrew writer tells us that it in Hebrews 9:27, As it is apointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. So there's going to be no, no wait. We die and then the judgment.
Arnie 28:21
So, Paul's words in Second Corinthians five beginning in verse 20. If we can just adapt those to ourselves and say, 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. For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, and we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. We then as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the the day of salvation have I assisted thee: behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation. I didn't get a chance to give you our email addresses but we'll pass that on to you, hopefully next Lord's Day. And we wish you a pleasant week. Thank you for listening