Christ the Judge - John 8:15..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. John chapter 8 and we're reading from verse 12 through verse 20. Again Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So the Pharisee said to him, You are bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true. And Jesus answered, Even if I bear witness about myself, my testimony is true. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.

You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. Yet even if I judge, my judgment is true. For it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.

I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me. They said to him, Therefore, where is your father? And Jesus answered, You know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, you would know my father also. These words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come.

Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord, it remains forever. Well, brothers and sisters, we've been meditating through the gospel according to John in the 8th chapter in particular for many, many weeks now. And we know the 8th chapter is a continuation of the 7th chapter chronologically. And it really is only a day.

day later. We know that our Lord has made it up to Jerusalem. It's south from where he was, but everything is up when you're going to Jerusalem. But one of the three main annual feasts, the Feast of Booths, or the Feast of Tabernacles, And since coming to Jerusalem, we know that his presence was made known in the temple precinct. He went to the temple precinct.

That's the place to be at these at these festivities, at these feasts. That's where the people congregate. That's where everything is happening in the temple place. And when Jesus comes about halfway through the feast, that's where he's found in the temple precinct. proclaiming profound truths, heavenly truths in fact, of the salvation of God offered through him.

And as I said last week, and I say most weeks we're in the gospel, according to John, there's always opposition. And that opposition comes in the way of the religious leaders at most. They're the most fearful, opposing people to our Lord. Proud men, men who are filled with pride, thinking of themselves as being the experts in the law and in the scripture. Yet these men before our Lord have already made up their mind about him.

They've said he's a fraud. He needs to go. We want him out of the equation. And now we know the dialogue between our Lord and these men in particular is not happening in a vacuum. It's not happening in an obscure corner somewhere.

No, it is before multitudes. It's before many, many people. Because during the seven-day festivity in Jerusalem, the population is bursting at its seams. because there's probably three or four times the usual population of the city now in Jerusalem. But we also know the other thing, which is the end of chapter 7, which we finished probably a couple of months back now, brings a close to the Feast of Booths.

But that doesn't mean Jerusalem was emptied. I want us to realize that. It's reasonable to assume that a large quantity of the pilgrims who have made their journey into Jerusalem from all over the known world hadn't yet been dismissed back to their own homes. Because in Leviticus chapter 23, a chapter we we've been through not that long ago as a church, We're given details about the various annual feasts that the people of Israel were commanded by God to observe, in particular in Jerusalem. And there we're told that there is actually an eighth day.

The feast is a seven-day celebration, but there is on the eighth day, which is a Sabbath day, it's a day of solemn assembly or a solemn convocation where the people assemble. No festivities. The festivities are now over. But with the restricted travel on Sabbath days, as we know was the case in the first century Palestine with the Jews, then it would be reasonable to assume that the multitude are still there before our Lord. All that to say that it's very likely there was a great multitude listening to everything our Lord was saying with great deal of attention.

And so the events that we have before us here in chapter 8, I believe, with all the information we have before us, take place on that 8th day. That day of Sabbath, the day of Holy Convocation. And as these live audience, which would have been a reasonable number, it is, we're told by John in verse 20, that this was taking place in the treasury, in the temple. So we know at the very least, all Jewish men and all Jewish women were able to be there. And they're listening.

listening to the words of our Lord, listening to the engagements He has with the Jewish religious establishment, and there, all the while, thinking things through and making up their minds about who this Jesus is. Now, we know the chapter begins with a very familiar story, the story that is titled well in our Bibles, the woman caught in the act of adultery. But then, after the first 11 verses, we get into the more pertinent, which is more pertinent to our considerations this evening. It's the dialogue between our Lord and the religious leaders, in particular the Pharisees. And I spoke to you about them last week, so about their beliefs, and I'm not going to do that again for the sake of time.

But it is the Pharisees in particular, who are the sect, the religious sect, who are engaging in debate before our Lord. And we need to think of verse 12. Because verse 12 is the verse where it is the second of the seven I am statements that are found in the fourth gospel, the gospel according to John. It's the verse where Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

That verse, beloved, is a backdrop of everything that transpires from this point on in chapter 8. It's the centrality. It's from this verse that needs to be in the back of our minds that we'll come to understand everything that Jesus says in His engagement with the religious leaders, as well as the crowd, as we move forward into chapter 8, by God's grace. Now, that's a pretty important verse. It's an incredibly glorious verse, and we did spend some time examining that verse in its proper context probably last month now, so I'm not going to go there again just because we have a lot to get through this evening.

However, I will say this. If you weren't here that day or you missed hearing, then I would suggest looking up the recording and listening to it. But these religious men in the audience that day, upon hearing the self-attestation of our Lord in particular, saying that He is the light of the world, and whether they felt the full weight of His words or not is debatable, but in any case, upon hearing what Jesus had to say about Himself, the Pharisees immediately objected. Immediately. They didn't want to believe anything that Jesus said.

Jesus says those words in verse 12, and then immediately in verse 13, the Pharisees They eject. They accuse Jesus of speaking falsely. They accuse him of false testimony. That's verse 13. Your testimony is not true, is what they say.

Now they do it by hiding behind a faulty interpretation of the law. They appeal to Old Testament text which require two or three witnesses to authenticate an accusation. Now don't get me wrong, the law does stipulate that there needs to be the evidence of two or three witnesses to adjudicate a serious crime. Especially when that accusation, if proven, would mean that the person who is being accused will suffer the death penalty. You want to get that right.

You don't want to get that one wrong. But these Jews were hiding behind what I would say is a misapplied technicality. Not to adjudicate a crime or to make sure that the person who is convicted is not convicted unjustly or unfairly, but rather to authenticate our Lord's words that He is the light of the world. And they can't do it through the two or three witnesses. They need understanding of Scripture.

They need to understand God's Word to do that. Now, having said that, it is quite possible to withhold judgment for a moment. It's quite possible to give these men the benefit of the doubt and to say they're simply upholding the law as they understood it. This is their understanding in that day. And in the case of verse 13, we could read it in the alternative translation, which says, Jesus, your testimony is not valid rather than is not true.

In other words, it's not on its own admissible before us. We want to be law-abiding people. We're concerned for the law that God has given us through Moses, and we want to preserve that law. So Jesus, we can't take your testimony of yourself. But beloved, in light of the following dialogue that we have before us in the rest of chapter 8, it's safe to assume what I said last week.

These men are actually accusing our Lord of falsehood. They're accusing our Lord, who never spoke a lie, of being a liar. And the interpreters of the ESV, I believe, got it right when they translated, your testimony is not true. Now, Lord makes it crystal clear of that. He makes it crystal clear that his testimony, even if it stands on its own, is absolutely true.

It's absolutely true because of who He is and where He comes from. A very detail that these men before Him have no idea about. Why? Because no man has ever been where Christ has come from. In eternity past, with face-to-face relationship with the Father, that's where He was from and that's where He will return once He's accomplished the work the Father has given Him.

So Jesus alone is uniquely qualified to testify. He stands alone. And he stands on the veracity of the truth of the statement that he made that he is indeed the light of the world. But there's more to it than that. There's a deeper issue at play.

Simply said, the deeper issue is their nature. A sinful nature that compels these men to judge our Lord according to the flesh. That's what our Lord says to them. Their judgment is according to flesh. It's carnal.

It's worldly. It's sinful. It's through the means of their darkened faculties. They judge according to the flesh. You see, beloved, last week we looked at those words of our Lord to these people.

And we must come to realize that if the only tools that one has at his or her disposal is a corrupted will and a corrupted emotions and corrupted minds, then how can one expect that they will be able to discern the high and the lofty heavenly truths spoken from the mouth of our Lord? Truths that will require spiritual discernment to be properly understood. Beloved, when these men, as all sons and daughters in Adam, are by nature spiritually blind and are in moral darkness, how can they? How can they understand the truths of our Lord? They can't.

And that's the problem. The best they can do on their own judgments according to the flesh, their sinful judgment, apart from the grace of God that shines the light of Christ, the light of truth into their very soul, bringing forth life where there was only death, bringing forth light when there was only darkness. Apart from the grace of God giving them spiritual life, the verdict in the flesh will always be, we don't believe you Jesus. We don't believe you, Jesus. It gives a certain amount of weight to the words of the prophet Jonah when he says salvation is of the Lord.

That brings us to where we left off last time. It brings us to the words of our Lord if you put your eyes down to verse 15, verse 15b, but I'll start at the beginning. You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. I judge no one.

Now, of course, these words can be taken to suggest that Jesus is removing himself from the error of judging according to the flesh, as his audience, the Pharisees, are doing. It could be seen so as to say that our Lord is saying, you judge in the flesh, but I don't do that. Now, that is true to some degree, but in light of what our Lord says in verse 16, that can't be what He means. It makes no sense to say that. Imagine the Lord is saying, I don't judge according to the flesh, when verse 16, which would follow, it would have to say, yet I do judge according to the flesh, and when I judge according to the flesh, my judgment is true.

That makes no sense. It can't be what our Lord means. Instead, I believe, verse 15b, I judge no one is Christ reiterating a very important point that is already made. Actually, it's a point He's made to another prominent Pharisee, and you might remember who he is. Nicodemus, back in chapter 3.

Back then, Jesus makes the point. When He's speaking to Nicodemus, He speaks of why it is that He has been sent by the Father. What is His mission? And then we have those glorious words that most of us have committed to memory. John 3.

16, For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And then in verse 17, He says these words, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world. Or it can be read, God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world. In fact, the word condemned in John chapter 3 is the very same word that's used in John chapter 8 verse 15, which is interpreted or translated judged. It's not for judgment, but the Son has come.

No? That's not why he was sent in his first advent. So why was he sent? Well, the verse in John chapter 3 continues. It says, you're not coming to the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Why did Jesus come? Why did the eternal Son of God enter into his own creation? becoming a man, part of that creation, taking upon himself a real body and a real human soul. Why? In order to represent humanity.

Not to condemn humanity, but to save it. to bring salvation, to bring His glorious, salvific light to an already darkened, sinful, God-forsaking human race. That's why Jesus came. To save. For the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost."

Luke 19, 10. In fact, a few chapters later, in the same gospel that we're in, in chapter 12, our Lord couldn't say it any more clearly. It's the very last public address that is recorded for us in the gospel according to John before our Lord is betrayed and then crucified. Of course, in between that time, we have the Upper Room Discourse, a glorious time with the disciples. But in that address, in verse 47 of chapter 12, this is what it reads.

If anyone hears my words, this is Jesus speaking, and does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge. The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. His mission in the incarnation, in His first advent into this world.

He was eternally face-to-face relationship with God the Father. God the Son had never had a point where He began. I said this last week and we say it all the time. Go back in human history as far as you can. Go back to the very first time anything was created and He was there.

But He came into this world in the incarnation. Why? Why? To save the world. That he would come as a saviour.

But beloved, next time he comes, he comes as judge. And unlike the men that are standing before him, the proud men who supposedly think they're experts in the law, experts in the scripture, experts about the judgment of God, unlike these men, when he comes, our Lord will judge righteously. His judgment is true. If I judge, he says, my judgment is true. These are very profound words, and we're going to spend some time examining them by God's grace this evening.

My intention for us this evening, when I started the preparation, as it was the week last, was to go through the whole section up to verse 20. But I always find it's difficult for me to do that because I got hung up on verse 16. And that's where we're going to spend our time this evening. Let's go there. Verse 16.

Yet even if I do judge, Jesus speaking, my judgment is true. For it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In other words, if I judge, I don't stand alone in judgment. That's what Jesus is saying. I stand with the Father who sent me.

When I judge, in other words, you're not hearing the words of a mere man. Me and the Father, we are one. There's a unison, there's a unity, a perfect unity between God the Son and God the Father. And so my judgment is the judgment of the Father. There is no disagreement between the Father and the Son.

And I want you to realize that in the words of our Lord, He doesn't muddle things up. There is a distinction in persons. It is not I who judge, but I, and it's not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. You see, He's clearly saying there's two persons in this equation. There's me and the Father.

Yet there's one judgment. One judgment. And that judgment is true. That judgment is righteous. If I judge, Jesus is saying, If I judge, then what you'll hear is the very judgment of God.

What a statement. What a statement of authority spoken from the Lord's mouth for those who have ears to hear. But these powerful and frankly shocking words shouldn't have been a surprise to his audience. He's already spelled out the veracity of these truths the last time John tells us that our Lord was actually in Jerusalem back in chapter 5. Now that could have been between 12 months ago or possibly 18 months ago depending on what feast he went down for and we're not told in the text what feast.

It could have been the Feast of Booths likely or it could have been Passover. So 12 to 18 months ago not that long ago. But then when he went down, in the context of John chapter 5, in plain view of these religious men, in a chapter that clearly portrays the deity of Christ, in my humble opinion, there is no other chapter in the Bible, apart from possibly the prologue of John, that speaks so clearly and wonderfully to the deity of Jesus Christ, than chapter 5. But in that chapter, he'll go on to speak of his God-given authority to judge on the last day. In verse 22 of chapter 5, our Lord says, For the Father judges no one.

That's what he says. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment. To who? To the Son. Make no mistake, beloved.

Jesus' claim to be the judge These were provocative words. Even men that are before Him were so blinded in their pride. Men given over to cold, legalistic, mechanical religion. Men who were devoid of the ability to discern spiritual things and spiritual matters. Even men like this would have had enough surface-level understanding of Scripture to know that the full and the final judgment belongs God.

He belongs to God alone. What's this Jesus saying? That judgment belongs to God. They know that much. They memorized scripture.

They recited scripture. They taught it. And all the way through the Old Testament, they know that it is God who is the judge. They could remember in their mind and they were fully aware that in His intercession on behalf of Sodom, you remember, Abraham in Genesis chapter 18 rightly called Yahweh the judge of all the earth. That might have been ringing through their minds.

How about the great prophet Moses? The very prophet that they call themselves to be disciple of. These men were priding themselves to be disciples of Moses. We saw that in the latter part of chapter 5. Moses himself says in Deuteronomy chapter 1 in the 17th verse, he says, judgment belongs to Elohim, it belongs to God.

This is a theme that runs throughout the whole of the Old Testament, that judgment belongs to God, and it belongs to God alone. And yet this man, this Jesus, who's just made his presence known a few days ago in the temple space in Jerusalem at the back end, The back end of the feast of booths, he stands and now proclaims that he has authority to judge. And it's the father who stands in complete agreement with him. Make no mistakes. Beloved, these Jews would have seen the words of our Lord as scandalous and nothing less if, if they had ears to hear and understood what he meant by them.

And beloved, as provoking, as thought-provoking as these words would have been to the Jews, they ought to be that way for us as well today. Sadly, I fear that sometimes the impact of particular Bible realities, truths, that we've come across over and over and over again, they might occupy a place in our hearts or in our minds that that doesn't move us anymore. So we are educated Christians and we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that all judgments being given to the Son. We've read that passage over and over again. But beloved, do we feel the weightiness of those words?

Have we come to really understand what they actually mean? What has the impact of being muffled? Because often when we hear something over and over again, It can tend sometimes to become common to our ears and our hearts are no longer moved by them. But beloved, I pray that that's never the case. And I would beseech you, I would submit to you that you protect your hearts from spiritual indifference.

Because the words of our Lord are to stimulate our souls in an incredible way. And by God's grace, I hope to do that this evening. By the power of the Lord, I pray that He is among us, powerfully speaking, so that we can see what it actually means for Jesus to be the judge. What it means Scripture is replete over and over again with the testimony that communicates Him as being the Judge. So as we read those scriptures that tell us over and over again, it ought to not make it common to our ears, but it ought to communicate the fundamental importance of those words and cause us to examine a little deeper and go a little further.

Because believe me, brother, beloved, he will receive glory. It's a glorious, glorious thing. Beloved, we know that it's not only from the lips of our Lord in the Gospels that this truth is proclaimed, although if it was, it would be enough. But it's not. We see this truth proclaimed in the book of Acts and throughout the apostolic writings of the New Testament.

So this evening, let's take some time to consider some of these. So let me refresh your memory a little with some passages, a few passages that speak clearly to this. In Peter's address to Cornelius, you might remember Cornelius, that Gentile centurion that Peter was sent to to proclaim the gospel. When he was there, Peter in Acts chapter 10 says of Christ that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. And in the same book, the Apostle Paul in the 17th chapter, speaking to the polytheistic Athenians, He says, the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed the day on which he will judge the world in righteousness.

And this is the incredible part, that he will judge the world in righteousness by a man. by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." Incredible words. And the same apostle in the opening words of his second epistle to his son in Christ, Timothy, he writes, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge of the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom. There's so many more, but they're just a few.

Just get a taste of what the New Testament speaks of when it speaks about the judgment of God that happens through Jesus Christ as the judge. The whole world, the whole world, both the living and the dead will be judged by this man, Jesus Christ. And the time is coming, beloved. Jesus tells us that the time is coming. He tells the Pharisees that before him, that it's not yet come.

That time has not yet come. Because His present mission is to be Saviour. It's to redeem those who are lost. He's come to, and they don't know this, to die on the cross, to shed His blood for the salvation of many. But make no mistake, Jesus is saying, I'm coming back as judge.

If I make the judgment, whether now or in the final sense, my judgment is true. because it is in perfect agreement with the one whose throne is founded upon righteousness and justice. Psalm 89 verse 14. And all his listeners already knew by their understanding of the Old Testament, they already knew that that judgment was coming. They already knew that that judgment is inevitable through passages like Daniel 7, so clearly portraying that coming justice.

And they also knew that no one will escape that judgment. No one. Not even death is an escape from the judgment that is coming. It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. These men knew it.

But here's the thing. Here's the thing they did not know. They knew of the judgment. They knew it belonged to God. They knew it was coming.

They knew no one would escape that judgment. But this is one thing they did not know. And the thing that absolutely, I believe, would have put them into a shock. And that is that this Jesus, this man who stands before them within unity with the Father, He will be the one who carries the gravel as a judge. What a shock.

What a shock to these men. Beloved, I want to ask the question to you today. So what does it mean? What does it mean for our Lord to claim that he is the judge and that his judgment is true? I want to ask what is required in order for his judgment to be indeed righteous, to be true as he is claiming?

Because beloved, the fact that the Father and the Son stand on agreement in judgment is not because the Father whispers in the Son's ear what to say and what to do. That's not what Jesus means in chapter 12 when He says those words. It's as though the Son is in some way deficient. No, Jesus says that He only does the will of the Father. He only does what the Father has given Him to say and speak and do.

Not because He's inferior. No. Not because he needs to learn something new. No. But because he is in perfect agreement with the Father's will.

And beloved, all members of the Godhead are. They are all in perfect agreement, one with the other. Perfect unity. Perfect unity exists between the Father and the Son. And of course, as we'll come to know as we move into the latter parts of John, the Holy Spirit also.

And the fact that the Father has handed all judgment to the Son, all judgment to the Son, and the Father judges no one in John 5.22. Beloved, hear this. It's because the Son is capable to fulfill that task with divine perfection. And I submit to you, even a cursory look at scripture to recognize the attributes required for the son to judge rightly should produce in us both an incredible amazement, but also a terrifying fear.

Because no stone will be left unturned. So the theme of judgment runs through the whole scripture, and there's many, many examples that we can give. But this evening, I'm going to just pull out a handful. A handful of things that will give us, maybe, I hope, just a clearer understanding of what it means for Christ to be able to say that even if I judge, my testimony is true. I want us to understand what He requires.

What are the properties required? What are the attributes required by our Lord to be that judge? So that His words in verse 16, Yet even if I judge, my judgment is true to be true. What's required of our Lord? to be able to utter those words and be truthful as we know He is.

So let's open our Bibles now to John chapter 5. Let's go a few pages back to John chapter 5 and we'll start from verse 25. John chapter 5 and we'll start from verse 25. Still our Lord speaking, and He's speaking to the religious leaders also in Jerusalem. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here.

That's happening now. When the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself. And He has given him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming.

Now, this is a future thing to come. When all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29, and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. You see, God the Father has given authority to God the Son to judge fully and finally. That's granted to Christ, He's saying. Until then, His words and His voice will be heard by some.

That passage speaks to that. Some who will hear His voice and some who will believe. They'll be brought from death to life, spiritually speaking. That's beloved regeneration. Salvation you and I are even now enjoying it by grace through faith we have heard his tender loving voice and have been united in him.

But then he goes on to say that the day is coming when all, verse 28, all No exceptions will hear His voice, and tombs will be opened, and the dead will rise in the sound of His command. And on that day, they will stand before Him to be judged. The same author tells us in the book of Revelation, chapter 20, he says these words, starting from verse 12, And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

And the sea gave up the dead that were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them. And they were judged, each of them, according to what they had done. Same truth spoken from the lips of the Apostle Paul in the second letter to the church in Corinth in chapter 5. He writes, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in body, whether good or evil.

The Apostle Peter says something similar in the fourth chapter of his first epistle. There he says that every deed done will be revealed and the living and the dead will stand in judgment before Christ. Beloved, all the works, all the works of the hands of every single human being that has ever existed, whether they're alive or dead, when the Lord comes back. Every deed they have ever done will be revealed and put on display and judged for what it is. The good, we're told, unto eternal life.

And the evil, unto eternal torment. But the chilling reality actually goes even deeper than that. Because even the secret motives of the heart, even the secrets that reside in the mind, they'll also be judged. Let's open our Bibles again to Romans chapter 2. I'd like to read from verse 12 and we'll read through verse 16.

Romans chapter 2. from verse 12 through 16. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

15. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. Now here it is. Verse 16. On that day, when according to my gospel God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, Who's the judgment for?

Well, the Apostle says it's for the Jews who have the law and the ones who are not Jews. They're the Gentiles. So that's basically everyone. Everyone will stand judgment with no exceptions. And that will be judged according to what the Apostle Paul says here.

The secrets of men will be revealed. The heart will be exposed and the contents will be taken out and that will be judged. The very secrets of one's heart will be put on display and judged before the Lord. But it gets deeper and more profound again. Think with me about the Apostle Paul's words in 1 Corinthians chapter 4.

You don't have to open, but I will read it for you. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. from verse 1. Sometimes we read these words and they may go over our heads, but we're going to slow down just slightly and see what the Apostle is saying. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 from verse 1.

He says, This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself.

But I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God." Now, did you get that?

Not only is Paul saying that the hidden thoughts and the intents of the hearts will be brought out and they'll be judged, beloved, that means things not even yet acted upon. They're still here. They haven't been acted upon. They've been thought of. But they meditate.

There's intent there. And they will be judged. Because they're known by God. But also, hope you got it. Even the evils that we may not be aware of will be judged.

You see, Paul is saying in that section that his conscience is clean. His conscience. He's a man who tested his conscience, examined his heart, and as far as he can tell, as far as he's concerned, there's no obvious sin against any ministry, against any church, against any person that he knows of. His conscience is clean. Paul labors to keep a clean conscience.

We're told that he spoke to the governor in Caesarea, the governor Felix. And when he spoke to him, he said that he labors. He goes to great pain, he says, to keep his conscience clean before God and before man. This is not a man who takes sin lightly. And yet here he is saying in this section, That as far as he can tell, there's no sin in here that he needs to confess.

But he doesn't have the last say. God does. Verse four, for I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. It's a scary reality.

Proverbs 21.2 says, every way of man is right in his own eyes. So we may see ways that we're walking and paths that we're walking in. It may seem right to us. But then that proverb goes on to say, but the Lord weighs the heart.

That's a scary thought, beloved. that you and I can be and likely are guilty of sins that we don't even know we've committed. Even those sins, those sins will be revealed. And even those sins that you don't know and I don't know, we're not even aware of that we've committed, even those sins, beloved, need to be paid for. They must.

Because He's just. And if Jesus is claiming to be true, that His judgments are true, if He's claiming that His judgments are indeed righteous, then yes, Jesus is saying, even the thoughts and the intents of your hearts and mine, even the ones that we're not even aware of, will be judged by Him. Because you may have forgotten some of the things you've done, and so may I, and even some things we weren't even aware of, but He knows them all, and all of them will be revealed on that day. All of them. Think about what Jesus is saying.

I know everything. I know everything. Now if that doesn't bring chills to your spine, I don't know what would. Now set aside for a moment the things that you're not aware of, that maybe the sins that you've committed in the heart, that you just don't even know that you've committed. Let's set those aside for a moment.

Let's just talk about what you do know. Let's talk about those sins that you and I know that we've committed, the things that no one else in the world knows about because they're here, hidden from the world. They may be hidden from our friends. They may be hidden from our parents. They may be hidden from your husbands and hidden from your wives.

But Jesus is saying, not from me. I see it all. And one day I'm going to reveal it all. I see your secrets. I know them, and one day I'll bring them to justice, to judgment.

Now if these Pharisees before our Lord understood the weight of those words, it's likely they didn't. But if they did, you would think they'd be asking some pretty serious questions. Questions like, Jesus, to judge like that, like to claim that you are the judge the Old Testament speaks about that belongs to God that you're able to judge in that way Jesus to try to judge like that wouldn't you have to be omniscient and omnipresent and only God we know only God has those properties Jesus He has the exclusivity to those attributes. They belong to God alone. It's clear, Scripture says over and over again, and Jesus, we know Scripture, we've recited it.

Only God is omnipresent. Only God is omniscient. Only He is at all places at all times. Only He knows all things and nothing's hidden from His all-seeing eye. Jesus, what do you say?

How can you judge like this? if you're not omniscient and if you're not omnipresent. Beloved, how can we forget the words of King Solomon? You remember the words of King Solomon in his prayer in the dedication of the temple once he built that temple, that glorious temple in Jerusalem? Do you remember his dedication prayer and what he says?

It says, But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built. Solomon knew that God was omnipresent. The same teacher writes again in Proverbs chapter 15. He writes, The eyes of the Lord are in every place, everywhere.

keeping watch on the evil and the good. Beloved, His presence is incontainable, uncontainable. Whichever way you say it, you cannot contain the presence of God. You cannot contain Him. He's all present.

His eyes are in all places at all times. He misses nothing, nothing. What about what he knows? Well, in a word, everything. Everything.

Perfect knowledge of all things. Perfect knowledge of the hidden things, the secret things. What you're thinking about now, what I'm thinking about now. What we thought about an hour ago or two hours ago. He knows it all.

And Scripture is replete with passages that tell us that God is indeed all-knowing. And we see this so beautifully, especially in the Psalms and in the prophets. You probably can think of examples for yourself, but I'm going to give you a couple. Think of the words of Yahweh through the prophet Jeremiah of old, where he said, I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. Or how about the compelling words of the psalmist who says in chapter 139.

Actually, let's go there. Let's open our Bibles to Psalm 139, a glorious passage. It's a beautiful passage for us probably to have in our minds and we can have it in our memory even better. The truths in this passage are extraordinary. Psalm 139.

Let's read the first four verses. Psalm 139 reads this way, O Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

I love verse four. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. What's hidden from this God? Nothing. What does this God know?

Everything. And so, beloved, nothing short of these divine properties and attributes that belong to God alone are required to judge in the way that Jesus says He will judge. If I judge, my judgment is true. And that's exactly what He's claiming. That He is, indeed, the all-present, all-knowing God in flesh.

And the Father has entrusted Him with the final judgment of all things, because the Son possesses the very qualities required to execute that judgment, as I said earlier, with divine And as God cannot be deceived or mocked, Galatians 6, 7, because He knows all things, beloved, the same can be said of Christ. He cannot be deceived and He cannot be mocked. And because of His omniscience and because of His omnipresence, beloved, He will weigh up every sin. He will weigh up every crime, every transgression, And with perfect precision, he will hand out the just recompense which perfectly fits the crime. After all, the foundation of his throne is, after all, righteousness and justice.

Don't tell me. Don't tell me that that righteousness and that justice isn't absolutely terrifying. His all-seeing eyes will miss nothing. Nothing. Not a thing.

And He'll, beloved, hear this. He will get it right the first time around. You won't make any mistakes. You see, there are no appeals processes with the Lord. Once that gavel comes down, crashing in this final judgment, it is final.

No appeals. You see, we've been so accustomed to human courts and the appeals process in Western societies. If one is guilty or a guilty judgment is handed down by a particular court, one always has the option to go ahead and appeal that judgment and go to the next. For example, if you're the magistrate courts, you can appeal to the district court if you're not happy with with their judgment, not happy with the verdict, get yourself a good lawyer and then you can make yourself or your way to the Supreme Court if they'll have the hearing. Still not happy with the highest, the Supreme Court, you can take it to the highest court of the land, the High Court of Australia.

Surely it's costly and you'll need a pretty good lawyer and that'll cost you. But most times you can always find a way to appeal the judgment. And even when a judge smashes his gavel in the highest court of the land, it's not always final. because new evidence may surface. New witnesses, DNA testing, the case may be taken up again.

How many times have you or I heard or seen or read of cases where people have been convicted of a guilty verdict and maybe even serving their sentence five, 10, and maybe 20 years down the track when some new evidence surfaces and then that evidence exonerates them and they're found to be innocent. It's sad, but it's true. And you know why it's true? Because fallible, errant, limited human beings take up the judicial process from beginning to end. That's why.

Contaminated hands. It's the problem. The people aren't like God. They're not all-knowing. They're not everywhere.

They are fallible. They are broken. Worse yet, judges can even be sadly bribed. And even if judges take their oath seriously, the oath they took to speak truth and to judge rightly, even if they took that oath seriously, they're only capable of making judgment based on the evidence they've been presented with. And that evidence is never complete.

We know that even eyewitnesses, eyewitness testimonies, we're told, begin to change within minutes after the event. And how reliable is that? Unfortunately, human courts are imperfect. And often they judge according to the flesh. But that's not a problem with Jesus.

He is God in flesh, but He doesn't judge according to the flesh. No, He possesses all knowledge. And He executes perfect, divine judgment. No appeals process before the Lord. And beloved, He gets it right the first time around.

His verdict, His judgment will be final. And although he makes it clear that he's not taken the role of judge quite yet before these Pharisees, one day, one day he will. And there's no escaping. So beloved, I ask, after hearing these words from the mouth of our Lord, what should these Pharisees do? Think about that for a moment.

What should these Pharisees do, now knowing that if Jesus were to judge, His judgments are true? And in their mind, the one who judges can only be God, the all-knowing, the all-seeing God, the all-present God. And if Jesus is claiming that of Himself, then I ask you, what should they do? What should we do today upon hearing the veracity of these truths? What should anyone do?

What is the right response of anyone who is made aware of these terrifying truths? I'll tell you. Because there's only one rightful response. Only one. And you want to hear it?

Settle the case outside of court. Settle the case outside of the court. Make terms of peace before you stand in the courtroom of God's justice. That's the only rightful response. That's your only hope.

And Jesus tells a parable that speaks to this. You may want to open it. Let's open to Luke. Luke chapter 12 and we'll start reading from verse 57. Luke chapter 12 from verse 57.

Luke chapter 12 verse 57. And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? Jesus speaking. As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way. Lest he drag you to the judge and the judge hand you over to the officer and the officer put you in prison.

I tell you 59, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny. You can see this. parable. You know what this parable is an analogy of. The prison is the eternal damnation of the fires of hell.

And the way to the courtroom is or the way to the court is this life beloved. And Jesus is saying make terms of peace, settle the account before you get to the judge before you get to the courtroom. It's life if your heart still beats. and your lungs still filled with air means it's not too late. Recognize your guilt before God.

Recognize our guilt and sin before Him. Understand that in our sin we are in debt to Him. Our transgressions, our sins, they are debts piling up every single day with every breath. Our sins rob God of what is rightfully His. He's the Creator.

We're the creatures. We were created for His purpose, for His glory, not ours. You see, our energy should be spent solely and joyfully in His service and in worship of Him. That was His intention for creation. But by nature, we spoke about this last week, in the flesh.

Every son and daughter in Adam, we are by nature self-centered. And every time we sin, We take this vessel, we take this soul that He created for His glory and we use it for our own selfish, sinful desires and passions. And in doing so, we rob Him. We rob Him every day. And beloved, in the natural state, That means that debt is stacking up every day.

And human beings may forget what they have done, but He remembers it all. He must. He has to judge it on that final day. Have you ever paid attention to how sin is being addressed in the Lord's Prayer? We have the privilege of having the Lord's Prayer when the disciples ask Christ, can you teach us to pray?

And we have two recorded instances of that same event. One in Luke chapter 11 and the other is in Matthew chapter 6. Have you ever asked yourself why this difference occurs? Because in Luke chapter 11, we're told, give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins. Yet in Matthew, it reads a little differently.

Give us this day our daily bread. It's fine. It's synonymous. And forgive us our debts. Literally, forgive us what we owe.

Forgive us what we owe. Your sins, beloved. My sins. They are debts. And if you and I have something in common, and I hope we have more than one thing in common, but we should at least have this in common.

We don't like debt. You know why we don't like debt? Because debt needs to be paid. All debts need to be paid. And we don't like debts.

And especially these ones. Because our sins are especially detestable in the eyes of God. Or if you remember Thursday night's Bible study, when we started a new study in the book of Proverbs chapter 6, where God says He hates sin. And what's the other word that was used? That it is an abomination in His eyes.

Or the more reason why one should be making terms of peace with God. Settling the case before they go into that courtroom. Because in that courtroom, once judgment is handed out, it is final. But we're told in Luke's parable that Jesus is saying that you can make terms of peace, you can settle your accounts before you get to the courtroom. So how do we do that?

How do we make the settlement before we make it to the courts? This judge is not a mere human judge, so he can't be bribed. So that's out of the equation. And if we evaluate the vastness of the offensiveness of our sin, our darkened sin before the eyes of a holy God, and are reminded of the fact that the single sin, one single sin, plunged all of humanity into destruction, that's how dark your sins are. That's how dark my sins are, beloved.

They are dark. And once we come to the realization of how detestable and how abominable and how dark our sins are, once we realize that, we will come to the recognition and the realization that all the gold in the world on the planet, all the silver on the planet, will not come close, not even close, to settling the account for even one single sin. Because that sin is committed against the one who lives in unapproachable light, the one in whom there is no darkness. He hates sin. It's terrifying news.

Because to be thrown into the eternal prison, that is, the eternal fires of hell, until what Luke tells us in Luke chapter 12, The last penny is paid. Until even the last penny of our debt is paid, beloved, it may sound harsh, but it's fair. It's just. Because the infinite offense of our sin would require an infinite sentence. Our sins are infinitely offensive to the Lord.

And therefore they require an infinite sentence. And I want you to feel the weight of that truth. I want you to feel the weight of that truth. Beloved Christians, brothers and sisters in particular, I want you to feel it. Because unless we feel the weight of that truth and are constantly reminded of the offensiveness of our sin before the eyes of a good and holy God, we'll never come to truly appreciate His grace in Christ Jesus, nor the importance of holiness.

Because you and I, in and of ourselves, are absolutely bankrupt before God. Nothing in our hands we bring. Nothing. We have no payment we can make. We have no currency that He'll accept.

Ourselves, in and of ourselves, we are hopeless and we are helpless, but in His grace. You've got to love the Bible, but in His grace. He's made a way. to show his undeserving mercy while satisfying the just demands of his justice. It was the only currency he'll accept for the debt, your debt, and mine, Christian.

The only currency he'll accept is the infinitely precious blood of his only begotten son. He was willing. And His Son, our Saviour, our Lord, our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, was willing. It's the only way to settle outside of court. And He provided for it.

An indescribable cost to Himself, but at no charge to you or I. Simply come to the cross and believe. Believe in Christ. Believe in His person. Believe in His work.

And be justified. That's paid. Because Jesus bore the perfectly weighted justice of God upon the sins of his people as he hung on the cross of Calvary. So that those who believe, their rap sheet of all their sins, every sin that they have committed, and it's listed on there, all their debts, one by one by one. None are missing, even the thoughts and the intents of the heart.

And some we can't even recognize because we never were aware of them. And I know my rap sheet is miles long, beloved. Not something I'm proud of. But I know because of the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, we can settle outside of court. Because of what he has done on that cross of Calvary.

That rap sheet, beloved. is stamped for those who have come to trust in him, those who have believed upon him and have been united by grace through faith in the person of Christ. That rap sheet is being stamped, paid in full, not with red ink, but with the precious blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Debt is paid. Debt is paid.

God is satisfied. Sinful mankind is reconciled to a thrice holy God. And beloved, tell me that is not glorious news. Do we deserve it? Absolutely not.

Is He gracious? Yes. Is His salvation in any other? Absolutely not. One way.

I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. That's a glorious truth, beloved, that the righteous judge of all the earth would recognize me in my filth and my wretchedness and my wickedness. He'd see me in my selfless state, in my hopeless state, and he'll take his gown off. He'll step down and he'll take my place.

And then he'll bear the horrific penalty that I deserve. Upon that cross you'll bear the wrath of God that is deserving of a filthy wicked sinner like me And here it is And then he would look upon me and he'll judge me innocent And still be able to say even if I do judge My judgment is true. How can you look upon a filthy sinner like me and declare me innocent and still say that even if I judge, my judgment is true? It blows the mind. Only possible.

because of what He has done for the sake of sinners upon that cross because He paid the payment that God accepted and He by grace and through faith brings us into Himself and He declares every single one of us who have trust in Him and who are united in Him. Innocent! Innocent! And on that final day He will bring that gavel in his hand, looking upon our eyes, knowing who we are. He doesn't get amnesia.

He knows everything we have ever committed. Every scene, every thought, every intent, the things we know of and the things we don't. And despite knowing all things, final judgment, innocence, I paid it all. Beloved, have you come to trust in Christ? Because there is no other way.