The Second Coming Of Christ - Part 8: How Will Jesus Judge My Life? Series

The Second Coming of Christ

Part 8: How Will Jesus Judge My Life?

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared March 17, 2023)

BACKGROUND:

*Today we will finish our study on the second coming of Christ. This study has taken us from the Old Testament to the New. We have gone from prophecies written hundreds of years before Jesus was born to prophecies written almost 100 years after the Lord was born. We have covered a lot, but there is so much more to learn. Mark 13 and Luke 19 also give us reports on these discussions. We could also spend many more weeks studying other prophecies in both the Old and New Testaments.

*But today, let's get started by going back to Matthew 24 to see what prompted the Lord's discussion of His return. Jesus had just finished strongly condemning the Jewish religious leaders for stubbornly rejecting Him as the Messiah, for their corruption, arrogance, lack of mercy, hypocrisy and more.

*Matthew 24:1-3 tells us what happened next:

1. Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple.

2. And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.''

3. Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?''

*The disciples wanted answers, and that's what we have been looking for too. In today's Scripture, the Holy Spirit led Matthew to end his report on the second coming of Christ. Here the Apostle tells us about Christ's judgment of the nations, given in the Lord's parable of the sheep and the goats. With this background in mind, let's begin by reading Matthew 25:31-46.

MESSAGE:

*How will the Lord Jesus Christ judge our lives? We all need to know because the Lord's judgment is the only one that really matters. Our time in this world is very short, and we all need to be ready for God's judgment.

*How will Jesus judge our lives? Some scholars say that we can't tell much from this prophecy. That's because they are strict dispensationalists who believe this judgment is only for the gentiles who will be alive at the end of the Great Tribulation.

*By that time, the works of all Christians will probably have already been judged. Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 both tell Christians that our works will be judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ. This judgment will take place after the rapture. And yes, Christians, we are saved forever by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus took all the punishment for our sins when He died on the cross for us. Thank God for the cross! But at the same time, we need to know that our works will be judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

*As Paul told the church in 2 Corinthians 5:10: "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

*Again, the Judgment Seat of Christ for Christians will take place after the rapture. And the Great White Throne Judgment of the lost in Revelation 20 will not take place until the end of the Lord's thousand-year reign here on earth. That's why some scholars teach that this judgment of the nations only applies to the gentiles who will be alive when the Lord returns to reign for that thousand years.

*However, another view of this Scripture is that the Lord is talking in general about the judgment of all men. On top of that, 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," so we can greatly profit from the Lord's teaching here in Matthew 25. (1)

*How then will Jesus judge our lives? Today we will look at four of the Lord's simple standards. They are simple, but incredibly significant, simple, but extremely crucial for all eternity.

1. AND THE FIRST STANDARD IS: BE A SHEEP.

*We must be one of the Lord's sheep. Jesus made this truth clear in vs. 31-33 where He said:

31. "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

32. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.