The Judgment of the Saints - Part 1

.... The Bible tells us in unmistakable terms that all men are sinners: "For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin." (Ecclesiastes 7:20). But the Day of Judgment is not God’s preferred method for dealing with our sins. In the greatness of His love, God sent His only begotten Son into the world to offer His life as a ransom for us all, that our sins may be washed away by His blood (Revelation 1:5).

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.... After we become Christians, if we sin again, we must take the matter back to God with confession to seek forgiveness again, as at the beginning. And again, the blood of Christ will cleanse us:

.... "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellow- ship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

(1 John 1:7-9)

.... And when God forgives our sin, the matter is disposed of forever:

.... "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

(Hebrews 8:12)

.... Jesus taught us to examine our hearts for sin, and to seek forgiveness, as often as we pray (Luke 11:2-4). His intention is that we keep very short accounts with God. And with a similar intention, Paul told us that we should constantly and honestly examine our motives (2 Corinthians 13:5).

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.... God would greatly prefer to deal with our sins in this manner, so they are not even mentioned in the Day of the Judgment of Christ (Ezekiel 18:22). But if our hearts fret against Him and we refuse to judge ourselves, and continue to harbor some sort of sin or unforgiveness in our heart, He has another method for dealing with our sins, short of taking it to that day:

.... "For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world."

(1 Corinthians 11:31-32)

.... As a last-ditch effort, God may address our unrepentant sin by punishing us in this world and chastening us now – which, though certainly unpleasant, would be far better than allowing it to proceed to the Judgment Day, which may actually result in our condemnation!

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.... Basically, He does this by allowing us to reap what we have sown in order to bring us to a true repentance. At the end of this process we’re going to repent anyway, so why would we be so stubborn and do this to ourselves? How much better to simply humble ourselves before Him in the first place?
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.... Ultimately, God’s intention is that we should arrive before Him, on the Day of His return, with a slate that is already as clean as possible. It is greatly to our advantage to be of the same mind and lend ourselves to this! But even so there is a human weakness which may prevent a perfect presentation:

.... "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God."

(1 Corinthians 4:3-5)

.... Paul told us to judge ourselves constantly (1 Corinthians 11:21-32), and for himself, in doing so, he believed himself to have a clean conscience before God (Acts 23:1). Nevertheless, he recognized his own limitations. God may very well know some things about him and he didn’t even know about himself, and God may yet find fault in those areas, so this process is not an absolute defense. But thanks be to God, that He takes into account our sincerity in trying:

.... "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God."

(1 John 3:21)

.... We will continue this discussion in our next posting.

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Daily Bible Reading: 2 Timothy 3