In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the concept of the judgment seat of Christ. He emphasizes that all believers will appear before this judgment seat and receive rewards or consequences based on their actions in their physical bodies. The preacher reassures the congregation that their sins have been forgiven through Christ, but emphasizes the importance of the service and dedication they have shown to God. He promises to further explore the different aspects of the judgment seat in future sermons.

In the past few weeks, here in the Bible class, we have been looking at the moment of Christ's return. The moment, that marvellous, mighty moment, when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with his child. And we looked at it, that it would be the moment when the saints would go marching in. What a blessed moment that would be. It would be the moment when we shall see him as he is, in all his wonder, in all his grandeur, in all his greatness, in all his glory. We shall see him as he is. And you remember that I underlined for you some of the very precious titles that belong to Christ when he comes to the air to meet his people. You remember that the men in white said to the apostles and disciples on the Mount of Olives as he went up, they said, why stand ye gazing into heaven? The same Jesus will so come. It will be the very same Jesus. The one that walked upon the Tree of Galilee, the one that touched the leper, the one that raised the dead, the one that hung on the cross, the one that lay in the tomb. The same Jesus. You remember we looked up the title, the Master of the House will rise and shut through the door. You remember we looked up the Lord himself, shall descend. You remember we thought about the chief separate, shall come. Now there's another title that we need to look up tonight, because it leads up to a subject. When Christ comes, here's another title. It's 2 Timothy, and it's chapter 4. Paul's second letter to Timothy, and it's the fourth chapter. And as Paul tends these words, he's about to be led out, to place his head upon the block, and to become a master for Christ. Nero commanded his beheadment, and he was beheaded. Here's what he said here to Timothy, quoting the letter at verse 6. 2 Timothy 4, verse 6. He says, For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is made up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. You see what Paul is saying to Timothy. He's just saying, you know, when I meet the Lord in the air, I shall meet him as the righteous judge. Not only this same Jesus, not only the master of the house, not only the Lord himself, not only the savior of the body, not only the chief shepherd of the sheep. We're going to meet him as the righteous judge. I think we need to take a breath with this. You notice that Paul says, Henceforth there is made up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. Not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. He's talking about that day of his appearing as the righteous judge. But remember, he's not meeting us in the air as a judge to condemn us, or to bring us in guilty. It's a judge who's giving away rewards. That's quite different, you know. He's giving out rewards. He's giving crowns. He says, I'll get the crown of righteousness. You know, there's a tremendous connection here, and I'm off to start preaching it. If you really love Christ's appearing, I believe this, that you'll fight a good fight. That you'll run right along the course. You see, Paul can see the whole Christian life like a great competition. And he says, I have fought a good fight. I have run the whole race. I've finished the course. I've kept the faith. Nobody knocked me down. Yes, you do that when you really love his appearing, because when you keep his appearing foremost in your heart, it helps you to walk in the path of righteousness. And then, of course, the righteous judge will give you a crown of righteousness when he meets you. But I want you to get the hold of that this evening, because he's coming of the judge. And we're going to stand, of course, at the judgment seat of Christ. But I want you to get it that he's looking at all the competitors. And he's not there to condemn. There's no condemnation for them that are in Christ. None whatsoever. He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation. I want you to get the hold of this. But we'll tidy it out as we get along. No, we're going to rise and meet the Lord in the air. What a moment we shall say love is. And then, of course, the next thing that will happen ahead for us will be that we shall go in to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. That's what we're going to think about tonight. Let's go over to 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, just for a moment. Paul's writing this letter to the believers, the chariots. And in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 10, he says this. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. It's a tremendous statement, remember. That everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. This will be the judgment seat for all who rise to meet him in the air. You know, I think it's a good thing that we'll take a moment or two tonight to just deal with all the major judgments. I've got quite a lot of young believers in this class, and we're very thankful for this. And I tell you this, young folks, that if you grasp the whole complete doctrine of judgment, then it will make the book live for you. And I want to take you through the major ones just now. Let's go back to John's Gospel, and the very first chapter, John, chapter 1, verse 29, here's a word you've known since your very early days. John 1, 29, the next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Now, this was the judgment of sin. This was sin being dealt with in its totality for all eternity. It was being taken away, judicially speaking. Yes, this was the judgment of sin. Now, note where it happened. It happened at the cross. And I'm forever teaching the young fellows who preach here, Don't be going out and joking it. The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. If you quote it like that, you can't teach me anything else but this. If the Lord Jesus took away the sins of the world, then they're gone. And you can't tell me that the rich man in hell is suffering for his sins, that Christ took them away. You'd need to come round and talk to me, wouldn't you? You don't tell me there's a man in hell to make proper God kind of payment twice demand. First at my bleeding surety's hand, then again at mine. Don't talk the verse wrong and you'll have no trouble. Know when we were born, all of us, there's a thing inside called sin. It's an old nature. And by that sin, that old nature, we were children of wrath, even as others. We were sinners when we were born. We were sinners not because we had said anything wrong, or thought anything wrong, or did anything wrong. We were sinners because a thing inside called sin was there. Of course, you know that babies die, don't you? Any time the mother thinks, if death could claim my little baby, death could only claim it because it was a sinner. Where is it? What's happened to it? The only reason that it was condemned here is because there was a thing inside called sin. But the thing inside was dealt with in all its totality for eternity by the Lamb of God. And because of that precious work of His on the cross, the baby goes to heaven on the work of the Lamb. Neither needs water nor priest. It's the blood of the Lamb. Precious, powerful, redeeming, saving blood of Jesus. Now, that's just one judgment. That's the judgment of sin. Do you know the sin question is settled? It's the son question you need to settle. But which I show you this, this is quite different. This is 1 Corinthians, and it's chapter 15. 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. Paul, writing here, says in verse 1, Moreover, brethren, and you can see that he's writing to believers, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. This is the gospel that he preached. Which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved. If ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which also I received, how that Christ died for our sins. Now, that's different, isn't it? In the first place, it's the Lamb of God bearing away the sin of the world. In this place, it's Christ dying for our sins. Who put my world in there? Oh, talking about believers here. Christ died for our sins. This is believers, this is a text that belongs to believers. Every believer here tonight can say, Christ died for my sins. You know, if a little baby could speak, if the mentally handicapped could understand, if those who are irresponsible in life because of some thing that happened, maybe at birth, or happened to their minds, they could say, the only thing that's against me is sin. Christ dealt with it at Calvary. Believers could say, Christ died for our sins. You know, you want to be very careful dealing with the word of God because you preach it upside down, if you don't. I saw a fellow preaching in a big open air meeting once with a thousand people, and he was talking to the whole crowd saying, Christ died for your sins. And a clever, argumentative, critical teacher came up and said, did you say that Christ died for my sins? Yes. Hard to take the fall. Now they all are. And he said, I can go on with them. The bookies were not like that. You want to be very careful. You preach the text the way it's written, or read it alone. Because God's not asking you to write a Bible. When we read, Christ died for our sins, this is a text that belongs to the family of God. An old believer said to me once, Willie, it's a family text. Yes, it's a family text. And you'll find it a whole lot of times in this book just like this. Have a look at this. It is 1 Peter. 1 Peter. And it's the 2nd chapter. 1 Peter chapter 2. And it's verse 24. He's talking about Christ. It says, who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree. And again it belongs to believers. Every believer here tonight, this is exactly what we believe, you know. We believe that he, his own self, bare our sins in his own body on the tree. What a wonderful thing. And the word bare is a very interesting one, because it means that he, his own self, bare our sins away. Never to be found no more forever. They're gone, you know. So you want to be very careful who you preach that to. You preach that sort of thing to the worldling. God help you. You're not preaching what this book preaches at all. You've changed it, man. Here's what Hebrews chapter 1 says. Hebrews chapter 1. Talking about Christ, it says in verse 3, Who being the brightness of God's glory, and the express image of God's person, and upholding all things by the words of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins. That's a big word, isn't it? Purged. Our sins. Do you know what that means? Look it up, if you like, in the Greek, you'll find it means that he blotted them out, destroyed the schoolmistress with all the letters on the board, and she kicked the doctor, and she blocked them out, and you can't find them again. Ah, that's all we have. Belongs to belief. He purged our sins. Yes, I want you to get that, you know. That's tremendous. Because I want you to get this, that this was the judgment on the believer's sins. My savior stood in the bridge. My sin. Oh, the breath of this glorious cross. My sin, not in part but the whole, was nailed to the cross. I dare it no more. I want to get it correct now. The judgment for sin. Genre at Calvary, it was the work of the man. The judgment of our sins, every believer. It was at Calvary, when he, his own self, bare our sins away forever in his own body on the Greek, purged. Now, just in case there's somebody and you're reaping up a verse that's always reaped up in this doctrine, it's 1 John, let's have a look at it. 1 John chapter 2. I want you to get this correctly. Save any arguments afterwards. 1 John 2, verse 1. My little children. Who's John talking to? He's talking to believers. In fact, he may be talking to believers that he led to the Lord himself. I've got maybe a hundred, or maybe nearly two hundred in this meeting that I led to the Lord, myself. They're my children in the faith, you know. Yes, my little children is what he is saying. They're all believers that he's talking to. He's saying, my little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not. This book, you know, if you really believe it and follow it and be guided by it, it will keep you from sin. And yet he says to these believers, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Now, he's not the advocate of sinners, remember. He's the advocate of the children of God. He's an advocate with the Father. God is my Father. I'm his child. And I have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. In heaven tonight, he's the great high priest of every believer. He's the advocate of every child in the family. He's the head of the complete church. And don't mix them up. Just keep them the way they're written. Now, he's saying, we have, and it's the little children he puts in, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins. It's the same phrase again. Christ died for our sins. Yes, when he had by himself purged our sins. Yes, he bared our sins. He was the propitiation for our sins. You ought to be careful with the word propitiation. Because it's a big word, which it simply means, that on the cross, he gave a satisfactory sacrifice to God. Yes, he gave that satisfactory sacrifice to God for our sins. But you know, it goes a little bit further here. And it says, and not for ours only. Now, some people have read more into that than they should. Because I'll tell you this, when John was writing this letter to his little children, he was writing to Jews that he had led to Christ. And just Peter and John and Paul were very careful that the Jews didn't get an exclusive view of the cross. Not for ours only! There were Gentiles from the world included in this. But what I want to show you is this. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And if you've got a good Bible, and you should have, you'll find the words, the sins of, are in italics. And when you find that these words anywhere in any verse are in italics, it means that they're not in the original. The word, the sins of the whole world are not in the original at all. He gave a satisfactory sacrifice for our sins, for every believer among the Jews, and for not for ours only, for every believer among the Gentiles. But at the same time, he gave a satisfactory sacrifice to God that would allow God to come and offer salvation for the whole world. If you mark it now, because so many come round with the text, and it's just a pity like that, but the italics tell us that it's not there. Now, this is the judgment of Finns. The judgment of Finns, and the judgment of Finns was at Calvary. Now, there's another judgment, it's the judgment of sons. Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And this is the chapter where he speaks about the Lord's table. How, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till it comes. That is what we do every Sunday morning here, and it's most important that on the first day of the week we should be remembering the Lord. He says, verse 26, 1 Corinthians 11 verse 26, For as often as you eat this bread, Of course, some people only do this once a month, or sometimes they only do it once in six months. Well, this book doesn't say, as seldom as you eat this bread. This book happens to say, as often as you eat this bread, drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he comes. Then he goes further, he says, Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself. So let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup, for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned of the world. You see, the moment that you are led to Calvary, to place your trust in the Christ who died, and to embrace this great fact, that Christ died for your sins, this is belief now. This is belief testifying. You know, the heart believeth and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And the moment you come to Christ and embrace him by faith and confess that he is your everything, your all in all, your saviour, your sacrifice, at that very split second, then you become a child of God. You become a child in the family. You become a son or daughter of the living God. Now, God won't let you do as you like. God will hit you. He is your father. And he was talking to these Corinthians. He said, you boys are coming to the table and you are... Yes, God deals with his children. He chastens every son. If you won't judge yourself, then God will judge you. You will be chastened. And this is the judgment of sons. It happens now in the church. I have seen men taken away to heaven before this, you know. I have seen them. I have to write a history book on this. Yes, well, the judgment of sins. And the judgment of sins was a calvary. And the judgment of sons. It just happens now. God will deal with every member of the church. And you will not just be allowed to do as you like or say as you like. Maybe you think you will. God will chasten you. Maybe put you on the broad of your back in weakness. Maybe you will be sick for a day or two. Maybe if that doesn't cure you, he will take you home altogether. Because there is a sin unto death for believing. Now, that's the judgment of sons. It's quite different, you see. Judgment of sins. Judgment of sins. The judgment of sons. Now, there is another judgment and sometimes young folks get it mixed up. I am calling it the judgment of subjects. Because it's the subjects of the millennial kingdom that's in view here. Let's go to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 25, please. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 25. Now, if we read this together closely and I make a few remarks, you will get it quite clearly, all right. We are at Matthew 25, verse 31. The Lord Jesus is speaking. And he says, When the Son of Man shall come in his glory. First thing I want you to mark is the title. It's called the Son of Man here. Now, when we watched him coming to the air, you know, it has always been this same Jesus, the Lord himself, the chief shepherd, the master of the house, the righteous judge, and quite a lot of others. But, you know, the Son of Man was a title that he held on earth. When he walked down here, he was always called, and mostly always, the Son of Man. The Son of Man has come to seek and to take. That is the law. And, you know, when we rise to meet him in the air and go to the judgment seat, as we'll see in a moment, you know, the tribulation period will begin down here. And the Antichrist will begin to deal with those field witnesses. But we'll come to all this. This tribulation, according to my calculations, will go on for seven years. And all that time will be at the judgment seat and then at the marriage supper of the Lamb. But then the Lord will come to the earth as the Son of Man. That's the bit he's talking about. It's not coming to the air, this one, you know. You'll see it in a moment. He's coming as the Son of Man and he's coming to the earth. 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. You know, when he was about to be born, the angel said to Mary, the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. Coming back, you know, to take that throne one day. Maybe Nazar never thought about this. I'll tell you he'll deal with Nazar when he comes. Yes, he's coming back and he's going to take the throne of his glory. Now, I want you to notice this bit very particularly and mark it in red ink if you can. Verse 32. And before him shall be gathered all nations. And hit it now. All nations. We're not talking about saints rising to meet us. He's got the word now. Because it reads all right, this music. It's not individual saints. It's not believers. It's nations. I want you to get that. That would tell you in a glance that it's on earth. This is not the same glory march. This is the Son of Man coming to the earth and gathering all the nations. And I want you to get the whole of this. And before him shall be gathered all nations. And he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. And he shall keep the sheep on his right hand and the goats on the left. Now, I want you to get this. When he talks about setting the sheep on his right hand, it's sheep nations. When he talks about goats, it's goat nations. He's not talking about individuals. You know, when the tribulation takes place down here and 144,000 Jews are let loose as the witnesses of Christ, you know there will be large and small nations who will defend them, who will try to help them in every way. Of course there will be nations that will help the Antichrist to kill them if possible. And it's these nations he's looking at now and he's going to divide them. He's dividing them right and left. Sheep nations on the right, goat nations on the left. Now, I want you to watch this word very carefully. Then shall the king say. Isn't that a marvelous word, the king? Mind you, we do talk sometimes wrong language. He's not the king of the church, sir. The king may be the head of the nation, but he's not the king of the queen. He's her husband. That's just a little bit different here. And the Lord Jesus is the bridegroom of the bride. Ah, but he's still the king of nations. And the king is talking to nations now. Because it's on earth, you see. And 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. Yes, he was always thinking about this great millennial kingdom. From the foundation of the world You ought to be able quickly to see a difference here. Do you remember when he stood with his dear believers in the upper room? He's about to go away. You know, he's putting his arms around them. He says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many luncheons. If it were not so, I would have told you. Surely the place. And this kingdom is prepared from the foundation of the world. Ah, but the home that he went to build for the bride is the home that he's going to prepare. I told you, you wouldn't mix it up if you took your time with it, would you? Now, watch again. Then shall the king say unto them on the right hand, Come ye, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was in hunger, and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited me. I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous, that's the nations on the right hand, these who had done something for them, then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger? They never had even seen him. And said they, Thirsty, and give thee drink. When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in on naked and clothed thee. When saw we thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall answer him, saying unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren. Now, who are his brethren now? Ah, this 144,000 are all Jews. They are his brethren. And you know they were having a rough time in the tribulation. And some of these nations gave them food, and some of these nations attended them, and some of these nations, yea, made them endure unto the end. You wouldn't like to start to tell me that's the way you get into heaven, would you? Because I would tell you, you're preaching another gospel. If you think that visiting sick folk and giving them clothes, or money, or food, will get you into heaven, you'll go to hell. Oh, no, you don't get in by works. That's works. That's a different discipline treating. You'll get it all muddled if you don't work. No, we're not saved by works. Praise the Lord, we're not. We're saved by grace. It's not of works. Lest any man should stand up and boast. Oh, no. We're saved by grace through faith. Come on Sunday, I'll tell you all about it. Yes, you know, friends, we're seeing the judgment of nations now. Man, that will be subject for the kingdom. Ah, that's the subject. That's the judgment of subjects. But we'll deal with this a wee bit further one night to come. That's not the subject for tonight. You know, there's still the judgment of sinners that you want to watch. Remember the book of Revelation? Chapter 20. John says in verse 11, I saw a great white throne and Him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. I found no place for them. I saw the dead small and great stand before God. This is the great judgment morning. How many times we've heard this all day. The judgment morning. What a weeping and wailing. Ah, these are sinners now. Eh, their bodies have come out of the grave at last. This is the rest of the dead that lived not again till the thousand years were finished. In fact, you know, this is a sin in eternity. This old book's a great book because it takes you away forward in its historical pages and lets you see things that happened before the world began. Wonderful things. There's a whole host of them. And it takes you the other way in its prophetic pages and it lets you see things that will happen when time shall be no more. And when the earth and all the heavens have fled away and God pushes the stars out and pulls the sun away and does away with the moon and makes us in a room to bring all the sinners in what a morning it'll be. It'll be the judgment of sinners, sir. We'll deal with that when we come to it. You're getting the judgments all right. You're getting them noted down now because you'll need them, I'll tell you that. There's the judgment of sin. There is the judgment of sins. There is the judgment of funds. There is the judgment of subjects for the millennial kingdom. There is the judgment of sinners of the great white throne. But you know that when we're at the next one it's not in among them at all. Oh, when we stand at the judgment of Christ, it won't be our sins that will be brought up. You can't bring them up again, thank God. Oh, no, it will be the judgment of servants! You know, the day we got saved we didn't only become the sons of God, we became the servants of God! And every one of us has got a life of service that's got to be accounted for. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. That old clock is away already. It's seven minutes past nine, and we're only starting. And I'm not going to cripple the message. If you're sweating half as much as I am, you're uncomfortable. But I'm going to stick it, and you're going to stick it. I was going to say how many would make the half ten, but the last minute I said we'll make the half ten. About five hundred put their hands up and I said you'll be here on your own for I'll be away. I couldn't do that over again, could I? Well, now, here we are. We want to tidy this up properly now. You see, this is the judgment seat of Christ, and it's the judgment of servants. Now, let's read this tenth verse again. 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. You know, the people who believe in a general judgment, they try to tell me when it says we must all appear, that we're all embracing saints and sinners. I don't think you can read it all. That's my problem with you. Now, let's do it properly. What does it say? For we must all. Who's the we? You must get who the we is. All right, take all the we's out of the chapter and see how you get on, and see if it's general. See, the first verse, verse one of chapter five, For we know, 2 Corinthians 5.1, For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we lift up a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. You're not telling me that on-stage folks are talking like that. You're not telling me that they're saying that they have a house in the heavens, you know. No, the we in the first verse is believers. And you know, we believers know tonight, if this earthly house that I'm living in now, this old body, this tenement of clay, this tent of clay, if you like, if it were dissolved, and I can tell you it's dissolving fast. I have no teeth in the bottom now, and I can't half see, and I have very little hair left, the roof's gone, and the windows are open, and those bars in the gate, the house is nearly done. Well, if it's dissolved, we have a building of God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And the heavens will live eternally. God will fix the house up again. Which do you say when it's redecorated? Watch this again. Verse two. For in this we groan. Well, you see, sinners groan too. That's quite correct. We all groan. But that's not what the whole saying is here. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be closed upon with our house which is remembered. You don't tell me that sinners earnestly desire to be closed upon, do you? You're not trying to tell me. Look at this. Verse four. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed, but closed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing as God, and hath all forgiven unto us the earnestness of the Spirit. You're not telling me he's given the earnestness of the Spirit to all the faithful. I believe it's all down here. Verse six. Therefore we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are present, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith. That's believers, all right. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. That's believers. Wherefore we labour that we, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of end. For we must all stand. And don't try to mix it up. They only make a fool of you. You wouldn't dare to read General Goodman, because I would take me up with a lot of these we's. You can't change the last one, you know. I was talking about believers. Now all we believers must stand. That's the thing. It's the necessity to be stressed, we want to know. We must. This is a necessity. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And I want you to get this. The company thing. We must all. You know, getting out of this, you know, you'll stand before the judgment seat of Christ in your own true shoes. And you'll not be allowed to judge me in that way. And I won't be allowed. There's a necessity. We must. There's the company. All the believers will be there. You can see the authority here. The judgment seat of Christ. I want you to get this, because this is very important, I think, that so many believers, in fact all believers, have got all this wrong somewhere. You know, so many of us, we know the sense in which the word judge is used. Very often used of the judge on the bench, isn't it? And the prisoner is brought in. And the judge sees the evidence. And the prisoner is pronounced either guilty or not guilty. He's either condemned or not condemned. Now, please don't be thinking of it like that, because that will lead you astray. Of course the word judge is used in a thousand senses. Lots of you go to the show here to see the jumping, and there's nothing wrong with it. And you've seen the horses jumping round, haven't you, for an hour, maybe in some competition. And the judge is sitting there. You know, the judge's box. It's marked up, the judge's box. So when I was alive and used to go to horse shows, they hadn't the loud speaking equipment that they have now. And you didn't know how the competition was going till the very last moment. And they used to array all the horses in the competition in front of the judge's box. And you know, if you were following the competition at all, you were straining your eyes to see who he would give the red ribbon to. And you would usually see him coming down from the steps of the box with the red ribbon, and he would hold it that the crowd could see it. And he would walk along the horses, and then he would give it to this one. Now, this is not judgment in the sense of bringing you in guilty. This is judgment in the sense of giving you a reward. Or you might lose it. Now, don't be getting any guiltiness into this, because you're going to make a mess of it. This is the judgment of Christ's servant for service. And it's a very important thing. You know, this word judgment, it is a tremendous word, isn't it? It's the word bimmer. And you know, Paul knew all about the Grecian Games. Just like our Olympic Games. In fact, I think that's where the Olympic Games came from. You know, the great Grecian Games, the Grecians were great athletes, and they were great sportsmen of all time. And you'll find that Paul talks about wrestling, and he talks about running, and he talks about many things, and he seems to get his ideas from the Grecian Games. And this is it again. He can see the judge at the Grecian Games, and he can see the competitors lined up. Some of them are going to get rewards, some of them are not. But there's no idea at all about being guilty or not guilty. No idea in this at all. The man that loses in a horse jumping competition has no question of guilt. Yes, it's the bimmer. And you know, it's a very interesting word, because it's the word bimmer, and it can be rightly translated judgment feet, because that's what it meant in the Grecian Games. But rather strange enough, if you take a Greek lexicon this evening when you go home, and turn up the word bimmer, you will find that the English word that comes nearest to it is not judgment feet, it's the word footprint. Now that baffled me for quite a while. I couldn't understand how judgment feet and bimmer and footprint could be the same. I just couldn't get the hold of it. You see, I think that those who are going to be rewarded will find a place to stand before the Lord, all right. I think there's more to it than that. You know, I think when the Lord is judging His servants, He will let them see the full extent of His own travesty. You know, I want you to get the hold of this, that there's a necessity stressed here in the company seen and the authority saluted. You know that the individuality of the thing sensed, it says, every one of us will not be able to lean on anybody there. You'll have to stand up on your own. And you know the quality of service. I want you to watch the verse now, verse 10. For it 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. You know, it's a powerful translation. There's another translation of that, and it says, the life lived in the body. There's another one that says, the deeds done in the body. Now, I don't want you for any sake to think about sins. You can't bring my sins up again. Nowhere. Or the cross has failed. Didn't we talk about Christ putting away our sins? Didn't we talk about Christ purging our sins? Don't we talk about our sins being blotted out like a thick cloth? Don't we talk about our sins being behind God's back? Don't we talk about the terms of the covenant? You know, God has entered into a covenant, and that's a very serious word with God. God has entered into a covenant with every believer, and one of the terms of the covenant is this. Your sins and your iniquities, I will remember no more. Now, drop it. Drop it. Get out of this judgment seat. Not you bringing sins up again. I don't know where you get your arguments from. You can't bury my sins. You can't blot them out. God cannot enter into a covenant with me. It's nothing. It's the life lived in the body. It's the life of service. It's the deeds done in the body. It's the deeds of service. You know, all this preaching, all this preaching, it's got to be examined at the judgment seat of Christ. You think that last year, I preached 346 times. That's not being idle. I can show you. And if you take it that I've been preaching pretty constantly for the last 35 years, mind you, if you only take 300 times a year for 35 years, mind you, there's 10,000 messages to be accounted for. And it isn't only 10,000 messages. It's every word in every message. All this preaching, I'll tell you it will be judged. I've done a lot of things that I would like to be thinking about at the judgment seat. You see, I don't think that when I stand at the judgment seat and I'm going to be judged, first of all, for all the preaching, that's the service of preaching. I don't think the Lord's going to ask me any questions and I don't think I will need to answer anything. I think that when I rise to meet Him in the air, at that moment I'll be changed. And I'll have the mind of Christ. And I shall know, even as I am known. I'll just know myself the way He knows me. And there'll be no flesh inside to bluff it either. And I'll have to face it all. Is all this preaching really for God? Is it for God? Is my ambition and desire and longing, was it to glorify Christ? Did I give God my mind, my soul, my strength, my every faculty, my every gift? Did I give it to Him continually? Had I an honest, earnest desire to feed the flock? Did I use a pulpit as a soul stone? Did I use it as a political convention platform? Was it unusual for a Protestant judgment seat? Not by so many big men. You know, not only all this service of preaching, but all this service of praying, is we mine in this assembly. And if anybody was ever made a true, praying warrior of God, it's that we mine. Sometimes, till I remember the first night I saw Him at my door knocking and asking me to come and praise we boys. And I hear that man pouring out his heart. Now, I can specially believe it. But that we mine will have to stand alone at the judgment bar. God will talk. Did you pray, Mormon, to be only head of men? Well, look how hallelujahs you went after. Did you just use language like a heathen do? Were you man conscious? Were you word conscious? Or were you really God conscious? God's judging service now. It came from Him. A fellow stopped me on the street here once. He said, Mr. Mohan, you know where Fat Mary Lane is? I said, yes. There's an old lady living down there. She's near 90. She's not able to get off the couch. He said, she'd love to see your face. So I went down and found the place. Poor old soul. I can't describe this. And I'm almost frightened to attempt it. I could specially get into the place. Cobwebs were hanging everywhere. You couldn't see through the windows. I could specially find her. She was on the couch, but the place was really dark. The place did not fit me. I'm only trying to paint the picture. I've been in rough places before. This didn't bother me. I had to open the door and go in and try to search around for her. And I found her bundled up on the couch. I can remember she had an old knitted cap on right down over her ears. Poor old creature. And she had a big knitted shawl, maybe two of them, around her. And she was lying there. And then she said, who is it? I said, I'm Mr. Mullen from the Baptist Church. Oh, thank God. She said, is that you, Pastor? Come over here. And I went and knelt down beside her. She looked close into my face. She couldn't stop and repeat. She said, I just wanted to see what you were like. You know, I can't move very much here. But I tumble off this every morning at four. And I pray until seven for you. Did you ever feel a whiff of her? Did you ever feel that you were a hopeless, miserable, desperate, horrible, prosthetical, anything you like after that? I can remember the big tears flowing into my eyes. And although I was hard as hell inside, I can cry at times. It's astounding that this old lady crying. And I remember saying to myself, my God, if this was a judgment seat, I'd be a long way behind you, dear. Some of those old ladies, you know, have come right forward, you know. Some of you critics, you won't even be seen in the crowd, my lady. Notice the crowd. This woman was serving God. Not a penny. No comforts, no nothing. Four o'clock to seven o'clock, keeping a boy like me on my feet. Keeping me on my feet. Perhaps, for a moment, oh, we will all be there. Not only Norman and I. You'll be there. All the preaching. All the praying. All the giving. Oh, what did you give your money for? Maybe you kept 10, 10 what you gave. Then it'll be a horrible moment. All the praying, all the preaching, all the giving, all the witnessing, all the talking, all the contending, all the service of God's people, every one of us. You and you and you. I'll tell you it again. I'm not going to make it. When you put your miserable footprint beside my face, I wonder if you're in the bottle. So I am, she handed me. When before the crystal sea, I shall stand before the everlasting throne. Will I hang my head in shame as I answer to my name? Not a thing that my Redeemer there can own. What a face to face. Face to face. What will it be when in rapture I behold Him? Jesus Christ. Oh, friend. We've only started, sir. We're looking at the regenerated after-judgment-seek. We're looking at the reality of the judgment-seek, sir. Next week we're going to look at the reason of the judgment-seek, at the refuge of the judgment-seek, the results of the judgment-seek, the rewards of the judgment-seek. Yes, we need another night to get through this. I'm going to sing number 600 this evening. Number 600. Search me, O Lord, and try this heart of mine. Search me and prove if I indeed am Thine. Churched by Thy Word that never changed can be my strength of hope and living faith in me. Number 600, and we're singing it through an old fashion tune, Abide With Me. Search me, O Lord, and try this heart of mine. Search me and prove if I indeed am Thine. Churched by Thy Word that never changed can be my strength of hope and living faith in me. The minister of the Evangelical Church. Lord, we feel that Thou art speaking to us all. We feel that hearts have been touched tonight. O Lord, in these last of the last days, draw us all nearer to Thee. Thank Thee for blessing Fred tonight. See what this man has tried to be out and out and out and out for me. Lord, bless him. Bless every head now. Make us never to be the same again. May our preaching and our praying and our giving and our witnessing and our everything may it be done in the light of the judgment seat of Christ. Part us in Thy fear. With Thy blessing, for Thine own sake. Amen.