The Four Judgments

INTRODUCTION

God is a just God, God is a Holy God and as such God has to judge us, when He does, it will be a righteous judgment. It will not be imperfect or biased as can happen when we face judgments of men. I was stopped with my left turn signal on and some crazy person passed me while I was making a left turn and I got the ticket! That is a wrong judgment, when is it illegal to make a proper left turn? It seems in Jacksonville, FL some crazy person who sees your directional on, sees your stopping to make a proper left turn is OK to pass you and cause an accident and not get a ticket! But enough about silly human judgments, God’s judgments are just and perfect.

THE JUDGMENT OF THE BELIEVER’S SIN

IT WAS SETTLED AT CAVALRY

1. To understand what was settled we need to understand what sin is and quite simply stated sin is the transgression of the law: Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (1John 3:4) so we know that if we transgress any of the law (and that includes the 10 commandments plus all the other laws in the Old Testament (some 2600 of them) and the summary of the law given by the Saviour, Jesus Christ in the New Testament:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Mat 22:37-40)

2. Jesus settled the debt on the cross for those who believed.

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (Col 2:13-15). In Roman times it was a custom for a prisoner to have his crimes posted on a paper or piece of wood outside their cell and when they were crucified, they would place that on their cross so all could see why they were dying. On Jesus’ cross Pilate wrote the following:

And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. (John 19:19-20)

And what Pilate wrote was one thing, what God attributed on our behalf was quite another. God took all the condemnation of the law and placed the sins of the believer, the Christian, and placed it on Christ. He became our sin, our Passover sacrifice. God put our sin upon Him who had no sin to the point where the Father had to turn His back on His Son, who cried out “My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me?” However, if you choose to reject this offer from God, you can face the judgment for your own sins, as we will see later.

JUDGMENT OF THE BELIEVER’S SELF

AN ONGOING LIFE PROCESS

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 with the world. (1Co 11:31-32)

We know this is part of the communion commanded by Paul but is a basic life principle for the Christian. Some say we need to examine ourselves daily for sin and repent. I say don’t wait that long. Martin Luther use to say “keep short accounts with God” that is as soon as we are aware we have sinned, violated God’s law by commission or omission, as soon as we are aware by that still, small voice that we have grieved or quenched the Holy Spirit, that is the time we need to stop and apply 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

So if we repent, confessing humbly that we have offended God by our words, deeds, or actions (or lack thereof) turning from our wickedness seeking God’s forgiveness, He stands ready to bestow it upon us! And by doing so we save ourselves from the just judgment of a Holy God for that sin!