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Chapter 109

The Conviction of Judgment

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” (John 16:7-11)

Judgment Finished

Looking upon my own heart, in the light of God’s Word, I am thoroughly convinced of my own depravity, quilt, and sin before God. I know that I deserve his infinite wrath. Looking upon that Man in heaven who is God, who was once made to be sin for sinful man, and is now freed from sin, I am thoroughly convinced that his righteousness is infinitely meritorious and sufficient to give all who trust him eternal, immutable acceptance with the holy God. And looking upon Christ’s conquest over Satan by his death upon the cursed tree, I am thoroughly convinced of judgment, convinced that judgment is finished for all for whom this great and glorious Savior died at Calvary. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. When he saves a sinner, he convinces him of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. This conviction of judgment is threefold.

1.    God will judge all sin (Acts 17:31). As the Lord God judged Satan for sin, casting him out of heaven, binding him by the cross of Christ and sentencing him to everlasting destruction in hell, so he will judge the sins of all men and women in the last day. None shall escape the justice and wrath of almighty God. — “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20; John 3:36; Romans 6:23).

2.    God’s judgment of men for sin is just. Sin is more than an act. It is enmity against God in the heart of every man (Romans 8:7). It is treason against the King of heaven and malice against our Creator. The goodness and justice of God demand that wickedness be put out of the earth and that sinners be punished with everlasting destruction (Psalm 11:4-7). Should God punish me forever in hell, he is perfectly just to do so. Should he punish you forever in hell, he is just. We deserve eternal damnation.

3.    But, blessed be his name forever, for God’s elect, judgment is over! The Lord God judged the sins of his elect in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He made his dear Son to be sin for us and punished us for sin, to the full satisfaction of his holy justice, in his darling Son (2 Corinthians 5:18-21; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18).

            The proof that judgment is over for the believer is the fact that Christ has taken Satan into captivity, delivering us from the fear of death (Hebrews 2:15). If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you have nothing to fear from God, his law, or his justice. Your sins are forever forgiven. You have been made perfectly righteous in Christ. You are complete in him. And for you, judgment is over. Because Christ died, “there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared!” Because Christ is risen from the dead and seated in heaven, we are assured that he has obtained eternal redemption, even the forgiveness of sin for all his chosen. Believing him we are assured that this blessed forgiveness is ours. Behold the risen Savior, and rejoice (1 Peter 4:1-2). Judgment is over because Christ died in our stead and judged the prince of this world as our Substitute (Revelation 20:1-6; Romans 8:1-4, 33-39).

            Who shall charge us with sin? No one can. Nothing can. Satan cannot, he is defeated. The world cannot, it is condemned. The law cannot, it is honored. God in justice cannot. Justice is satisfied. — “It is God that justifieth” (Romans 8:33). The word “justifeth” is in the present, linear tense, not because justification is continually being accomplished, but because it is forever efficacious and continually revealed and applied to our hearts as we look to Christ (1 John 1:9). God declares that we are perfectly righteous in Christ continually. He will never charge us with sin. — “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin!”

            Who shall condemn us? No one can. Nothing can. — “It is Christ that died” (Romans 8:34). It is impossible that one of Christ’s sheep should ever perish, because Christ died in our place. He was raised again for our justification. He finished the work of our redemption and sat down in heaven. Christ himself intercedes for us in glory (1 John 2:1-2).

            Who shall separate us? No one can. Nothing can. No power, no being, and no act of men, of Satan, or of the demons of hell can separate us from the Savior’s love. Read Romans 8:35-39 and rejoice! No earthly trouble can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus; and no spiritual trouble, nothing in heaven, nothing in earth, nothing in us, nothing in time, nothing in eternity can do so! The purpose of God must stand. The blood of Christ shall never lose its power. The seal of the Spirit cannot be broken. The promise of God cannot fail. — Blessed security!

Future Judgment

When God the Holy Spirit gives us faith in Christ he convinces us that judgment is finished, that Christ has satisfied all the justice of God as our Substitute. Still, because we are all constantly subjected to the notions of false religion, because we are constantly bombarded with works religion by family, friends, foes, and preachers, questions about judgment still arise and sometimes trouble God’s saints.

·      What about the judgment seat of Christ?

·      What about the Great White Throne Judgment?

·      What about our sins after God has saved us?

            Because these things trouble many, I must directly address the matter of future judgment. Here are two specific passages that are troubling to some of God’s saints (2 Corinthians 5:10-11; Revelation 20:11-15).

(2 Corinthians 5:10-11) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 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 consciences.

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

            Some time ago I received a letter from one of God’s saints that expressed a concern and a matter of much confusion to many. She asked, “Will there be one judgment or two? Will we be judged first by Christ for our sin and second for our works as believers?” Understand the Word of God. — Judgment is finished because Christ Jesus our Lord, in his death and resurrection as our Substitute, crushed the serpent’s head forever.

            While the Word of God constantly warns the wicked of the terror of divine judgment and the everlasting wrath of God, the Day of Judgment is never described as a terror to the believer, or even a thing to be dreaded by us. Rather, for the believer, the Day of Judgment is always set forth as a matter of anticipated joy and glory.

            On this earth God’s saints are constantly misjudged. His servants are maligned and slandered by reprobate men. But in that last great day, God almighty will vindicate his people and he will vindicate his servants (1 Corinthians 4:3-5). I do not dread that day. I’m looking forward to it; and I do so with peace. If, as a believer, a sinner saved by God’s free and sovereign grace, through the sin-atoning blood and perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, you understand what the Bible says about that great day, you will look forward to it, too. With those things in mind, let’s see what the Bible teaches about the Great White Throne Judgment.

A Gospel Revelation

First, here is a gospel revelation: — The Lord Jesus Christ is coming again. Do not concern yourself about the signs of the times and those things that men imagine are indications of the last days. There is very little, if anything, of spiritual value to be gained by studying all the books ever written on prophetic issues. They all have to be rewritten as soon as the predicted events have failed to come to pass. We are never commanded to look for signs of our Lord’s coming. We are commanded to be looking for him to come. Get this one blessed fact fixed in your mind — Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior, the Son of God, is coming again!

            The Son of God is personally coming again to this earth (Acts 1:9-11). That very same God-man who was born at Bethlehem, who lived as our Representative, and died as our sin-atoning Substitute on the cross is coming to this earth again. He said, “I will come again!” (John 14:3). The Apostle Paul wrote, “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven!” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). He said, “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven!” (2 Thessalonians 1:7).

“I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” (Job 19:25-27)

            He came once in weakness. He is coming again in power. He came once in humiliation. He is coming again in glory. He came once to be despised. He is coming again to be admired. He came once to suffer. He is coming again to conquer.

            The second coming of Christ will be sudden, unannounced, unexpected, and climatic. — “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). — Our Lord said, “I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee” (Revelation 3:3). The Lord does not tell us to look for the tribulation, or the regathering of Israel, or the rebuilding of a Jewish temple. He tells us to look for him. If you look for signs, and times, and seasons, you will be shocked when Christ comes. The only thing mentioned in the Book of God that will announce the Lord’s coming will be “a shout, the voice of the archangel and the trump of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).[1]

            Our Lord Jesus may appear at any moment. — “Behold, he cometh!” (Revelation 1:7) Always look for him on the tiptoe of faith and expectation. All will be taken by surprise except those who are expecting him to appear. Like those Thessalonians who believed God, we must constantly “wait for his Son from heaven” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). Faith is ever “looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). Christ is coming. Soon he shall appear. When the Son of God appears, he will bring with him a crown of righteousness, immortality, and life for all who love him and look for his appearing (2 Timothy 4:8; James 1:12).

A General Resurrection

Second, when Christ comes, there will be a great, general resurrection of all who have ever lived upon the earth (Revelation 20:13; John 5:28-29). I offer no argument or proof for what I am about to state. I simply declaring to you the plain facts, as they are revealed in Holy Scripture. Those who rebel against them, mock them, despise them, or ignore them do so to their own eternal ruin. But I assure you that the Son of God is coming again; and when he comes, there will be a resurrection of the dead.

            First, all who have died in faith shall be raised from the grave. All will be raised; but the saints of God will have distinct priority in the resurrection. — “The dead in Christ shall rise first.” The bodies of God’s saints (all the Old Testament saints, all the martyrs, all who have died before the Lord’s second coming) shall be raised from their graves and reunited with their souls (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

            Then, immediately after the sleeping saints arise, all believers living upon the earth shall be changed and caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Corinthians 15:51-58). As our Lord descends in the brilliant glory of his second advent, we shall go out to meet him and return with him, as he comes with all his saints to burn up the earth, destroy the wicked, and make all things new. — What a day that will be!

            Then, after the Son of God has gathered all the ransomed bodies of his elect from the earth, after he has destroyed all the wicked with the brightness of his coming, all the wicked shall be raised. Yes, there is a resurrection for the wicked, too. But, for those who believe not, there is no music in the resurrection. The Lord himself shall issue a summons they cannot resist. They will stand in terror before him whose grace they have despised, against whom they have sinned.

            Their bodies and souls, now united in sin, shall be united in horror. There is not one word of comfort for you who will not bow to the claims of Christ. If you die without Christ, you die without hope and without peace. Your resurrection shall be a resurrection of damnation!

A Great Reckoning

Third, immediately after the resurrection, we must all be judged by God according to the record of our works (2 Corinthians 5:10-11; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 20:12-13). The Judge before whom we must stand is the God-man, whom we have crucified (John 5:22; Acts 17:31; 2 Corinthians 5:10-11).

            We will be judged out of the books, according to the record of God’s strict justice. When the books are opened, what shocks of terror will seize the hearts and souls of those who have no righteousness and no atonement before the holy Lord God! With the opening of the books, every crime, every offense, every sin you have ever committed, in mind, in heart, and in deed shall be exposed to your fully awakened and utterly terrified conscience. This is what Daniel saw in his prophetic vision. — “Judgment was set; and the books were opened” (7:10)

            I realize that this is figurative language. God does not need books to remember man’s sins. However, as John Gill wrote, “This judgment out of the books and according to works, is designed to show with what accuracy and exactness, with what justice and equity, it will be executed, in allusion to statute-books in courts of judicature”.

            In the Scriptures God is often represented as writing and keeping books. And according to these books we all shall be judged. What are the books? — The Book of Divine Omniscience (Malachi 3:5) — The Book of Divine Remembrance (Malachi 3:16) — The Book of Creation (Romans 1:18-20) — The Book of God’s Providence (Romans 2:4-5) — The Book of God’s holy Law (Romans 2:12; Exodus. 20:3-17) — The Book of the Gospel (Romans 2:16) — The Book of Conscience (Romans 2:15)

            But, blessed be God, there are some against whom no crimes, no sins, no offenses can be found, not even by the omniscient eye of God himself! — “In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve” (Jeremiah 50:20). Their names are found in another book, a book which God himself wrote and sealed before the worlds were made. It is the Book of Life. In this book there is a record of divine election, the name of a divine Surety, a record of perfect righteousness (Jeremiah. 23:6; 33:16), a record of complete satisfaction by blood atonement, and the promise of eternal life.

            The question is often raised, “Will God judge his elect for their sins and failures, committed after they were saved, and expose them in the Day of Judgment?” — The only reason that question is ever raised is because many try to retain the threat and fear of the Roman doctrine of purgatory, by which they hope to hold over God’s saints the whip and terror of the law.

            But there is absolutely no sense in which you who trust the Lord Jesus Christ shall ever be made to pay for your sins. Our sins were imputed to Christ and shall never be imputed to us again (Romans 4:8). Christ paid our debt to God’s law and justice; and God will never require us to pay. God who has blotted out our transgressions will never write them again. He who covered our sins will never uncover them. And the perfect righteousness of Christ is our righteousness.

            On the Day of Judgment, God’s elect are never represented as having done any evil, but only good (Matthew 25:31-40). The Day of Judgment will be a day of glory and bliss for Christ and his people, not a day of mourning and sorrow. It will be a marriage supper, at which Christ will glory in his Church, and our triune God will display the glory of his grace in us. At that great day, at that marriage supper, we will glory in God our Savior.

A Glorious Reward

Fourth, those who are found perfectly righteous, righteous according to the records of God himself, shall enter into eternal life and inherit everlasting glory with Christ. They that have done good, nothing but good, perfect good, without any spot of sin, wrinkle of iniquity, or trace of transgression, shall enter into everlasting life. It is written, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Revelation 22:11).

            Who are these perfectly righteous ones? None are so by nature, and none are made righteous by any works of their own. These righteous ones are all God’s elect, all the redeemed, all the called, all the justified, all who trust the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:1, 32-34)

            Though there shall be degrees of punishment for the wicked in hell because there are degrees of wickedness, there shall be no degrees of reward and glory among the saints in heaven because there are no degrees of redemption and righteousness. Heaven was earned and purchased for all God’s elect by Christ (Hebrews 9:12). We were predestined to obtained our inheritance from eternity (Ephesians 1:11). Christ has taken possession of heaven’s glory as our Forerunner (Hebrews 6:20). We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17). Our Savior gave all the glory he earned as our Mediator to all his elect (John 17:5, 20). And in Christ every believer is worthy of heaven’s glory (Colossians 1:12). Glorification is but the consummation of salvation; and salvation is by grace alone!

            That means that no part of heaven’s bliss and glory is the reward of our works, but all the reward of God’s free grace in Christ. All spiritual blessings are ours from eternity in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). And that with which God blessed us in Christ before the world began, he will not take from us when this world is no more (Romans 11:29). God will do all that's necessary to bring us to Heaven; and when we get there, he will say to us, “well done good and faithful servant!”

            That is the conviction of judgment set before us in the Book of God. May God the Holy Spirit give it to you by the might and mercy of his irresistible grace.

A Grand Restitution

Fifth, I must warn you who are yet without Christ, if you will not trust Christ, you must be forever damned! All who are found guilty of sin in that great and terrible Day of Judgment shall be cast into the lake of fire and there be made to suffer the unmitigated wrath of almighty God forever!

            One by one the Lord God will call you before his throne and judge you. As he says to you, “Depart ye cursed!” He will say to his holy angels, “Take him! Bind him! Cast him into outer darkness!” There will be no mercy for you. There will be no pity for you. There will be no sorrow for you. There will be no hope for you. There will be no end for you.

            To hell you deserve to go! To hell you must go! To hell you will go! Unless you flee to Christ and take refuge in him, in that great day the wrath of God shall seize you and destroy you forever! I beseech you now, by the mercies of God, be reconciled to God by trusting his darling Son. — “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” Come to Christ now. Eternity is before you. Behold his infinite love (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Behold his finished atonement (2 Corinthians 5:21). Behold his amazing, almighty, saving grace (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 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. 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. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 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. 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; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

            In that great and terrible day I hope to be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, but having his righteousness. How will it be for you in that day?

Don Fortner

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