Victory Can Be Yours!
Article #62 –
“Judgement”
It
is so important for Christians, born again believers, to seek to work pleasing
God. Works, as in doing good, is key to everything
in the eternal life to come. If a person
has denied Jesus Christ and failed to believe in Him, that person will be
judged at the Great White Throne judgment.
His name not being found in the Book of Life, will receive eternal
punishment. The severity of the
punishment will depend upon his works done in this life. A greater punishment will be meted out to
those who have performed the worst deeds.
We find in Revelations 20:11-15 what takes place at the final judgment, “and they were judged, every one of them
according to their deeds. Then death and
Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the second death, the lake of fire.” (Rev. 20:13b, 14) The first death is the physical death and the
second death is being cast into the lake of fire. You probably have heard; if you are born once
you will die twice, but, if you are born twice you only die once. The
second birth is a spiritual birth that takes place when you believe in Jesus
Christ.
You
will notice that those thrown into the lake of fire are judged when their name
is not found in the book of life, they are also judged according to
their deeds. The same is true with
believers; “for we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his
deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2
Cor. 5:10) Just as it is with the
unbeliever’s judgment, the ones with the greatest good deeds receive the
greatest rewards. Those who have done
nothing as a Christian will not lose their kinship with God but will lose their
rewards. Paul writes, “For no man can lay a foundation other than
the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious
stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident for the day will
show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test
the quality of each man’s work. If any
man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will
suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (1 Cor.
3:11-15) Just as the poem states, “Only
One Life, T’will Soon Be Past, Only What’s Done for Christ, Will Last.”
One
other thing that is important to know about building our treasures, our
rewards, in heaven is that while we must work to earn them, we must also work
to keep them. The Bible states over and
over again that we must “stand firm”, “for
now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord.” (1 Thess. 3:8) The same
words are used in 1 Cor. 13; Eph. 6:11, 13, 14; Phil. 4:1; 2 Thess. 2:15; 1
Pet. 5:12. To keep our rewards intact
till we see Christ at the judgment seat of Christ, we must stand firm and
endure, “It is a trustworthy statement:
For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; If we endure, we will also
reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us.” (2 Tim. 2:11,
12) Where it says He will deny us means
that He will deny our rewards if we stop serving Him which is the same as
denying Him. Until we die, we are to
continue serving Him as we are preparing for eternity with Him
You,
too can have victory in Jesus! More to
follow.
Lowell Parrish
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