JUDGEMENT DAY

Time with Jesus - Tuesday, 05 February 2013

Hi all,

There is no question that Judgement Day is coming. Whether we like it or not, we will all stand before the judgement seat of Christ. All unbelievers will be classified as goats. Believers will be separated into “sheep” or “goats”. The sheep will be rewarded. The goats will be punished. Jesus will either say to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your reward”; or He will say, “Depart from Me. I never knew you!” How will we be classified? Some believe that once they have a ticket into heaven, what they do is irrelevant. They may sin as much as they want. Frankly, I don’t find that in the Bible. I suspect that such people will be classified as goats.

The real issue for us is where you and I will be? Classified as a sheep or a goat? My understanding is very clear. Salvation is a process and not a once off incident. It’s my responsibility to hear from Him and do what He says. The issue is obedience. It’s not a question of perfection. I am unlikely to get there this side of the grave. But Jesus sees my willingness and responds accordingly. It’s the willingness to serve Him that lies at the root of being classified as a sheep. Those who don’t listen to His voice and obey Him are in serious danger of being included with the goats. Of course, I could be wrong and He will classify all believers as sheep. I’ve no problem with being wrong. But if my assessment, that he will only classify those who have obeyed Him as; if I am correct, there are countless thousands of men and women, who will be classified as goats. What you decide to do about this is up to you.

Blessings,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland 

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Tuesday, 05 February 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	Judgement Day
Judgement Day: When will it be? That there will be a Judgement Day is certain. If God is good, a judgement day is not in question. There must come a day when every man, woman and child living, or deceased will be held to account, for what they have done. A good God must ultimately judge sin and sinners. There are only two possibilities associated with this. The first is that God does not exist. If so, we might as well live any way we want, because after we are dead, there is nothing else. This world is all there is. So eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. For those of us who have a relationship with Jesus Christ, this is not even a remote possibility. We know God has created everything; and everyone is accountable to Him. The second possibility is that He is not a good God. This too is unthinkable. Creation itself declares His glory. Many of His creatures may have arbitrarily decided that He is not good. But if He is not a good God, He would not have sent His one and only Son to die for us. A bad God would be indifferent to the plight of His creation and would simply ignore it. Both of these two possibilities are lies. But those who choose to believe that He is not a good God; and those who choose to believe that there is no such “Person” as God, are free to do so. Judgement day is an absolute. God has said it will happen. It will happen in spite of the opinions of the entire creation. It must do. God will not allow sin to continue to contaminate His creation for eternity. He will deal with it. He has also said that He will do so. So it will happen without a shadow of a doubt. When it will happen has been discussed by theologians’ ad nausea, for longer than we can “shake a stick at”. However, “when” is not important - Pre-tribulation; mid- tribulation; post- tribulation; before the millennium; after the millennium. Such arguments constitute an exercise in futility. The fact is everyone will ultimately stand before the judgement seat of Christ. Sure, whether or not you are a Christian will be taken into consideration. But no one can avoid it! What will happen on that day has been described by the Lord Jesus and referred to by other New Testament writers. 31 "When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. 32 Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, 33 putting sheep to his right and goats to his left. Mat 25:31-33 MSG When this happens, on which side will you be placed? If, as a Christian, you have already been placed on His right hand side, don’t think for one moment you will enjoy what will then take place. What will happen to the goats is not exactly material for our Sunday Schools. After the judgement there will be a terrible sentence imposed on them. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Belief in Hell may not be popular today. Many Christians have dismissed the idea completely. But Jesus Christ is the one who has given us the vast majority of the Biblical picture of Hell. I believe Jesus only taught truth. In view of this, our opinions are irrelevant. Jim & Phyllida Strickland			10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive what is due them for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 2 Cor. 5:10 TNIV 2 But God isn't so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you've done. Rom 2:2 MSG 31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all his angels are with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 The people of every nation will be gathered in front of him. He will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Mat 25:31-32 GW 43 Then the people who have God's approval will shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom. Let the person who has ears listen! Mat 13:43 GW 32 Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won't He also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one--for God Himself has given us right standing with Himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one--for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honour at God's right hand, pleading for us. Rom 8:32-34 NLT 1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Rom 8:1-2 ESV 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world 1 Cor. 11:28-32 ESV	Which side will you be standing on? The left side or the right? We know when Jesus comes again; some folk will get a fright. They thought that they were genuine, but this just wasn’t true; And when you stand before the Lord, what will He say to you? “My good and faithful servant, with you I’m very pleased. You did what I commanded. You haven’t only squeezed Into the place prepared for you, by Father High above! Your right reward is waiting in the Kingdom of My Love!” Perhaps He’ll turn and say to you, “Depart for you are cursed. The life you lived is only by the hypocrites rehearsed. It’s true you did a lot of things you said were in my Name. But I have never known you. Your life was just a game. Cast this wicked person, into the lake of fire. Where you will weep and gnash your teeth. Your punishment is dire.” Of course we’ll all be standing at Jesus judgement seat. He’s going to judge each one of us and tell us if we meet, The standards He has set us. Then will you pass or fail? You’ll stay with Him forever, or languish in His jail! This concept isn’t popular. In fact it’s seldom taught. For “God’s a Sugar Daddy” is what your teacher thought. “A God of love could never cast a person into Hell. I’m sorry if you think that way. He got it wrong as well! My sheep will all be standing, upon My right hand side. Each one of them will constitute my faithful, Holy bride. The goats will all be gathered and stationed on my left. They will be filled with terror. Indeed, they’ll be bereft, Of any sense of safety. They’ll tremble in their fear. They’ll wish they had been different and that I wasn’t near. They only have themselves to blame. They went and joined a sect! They didn’t get into My Word, so they could not detect, That what they had been hearing, was tickling their ears. If only they had asked Me then! They wouldn’t be in tears. Until the dreadful instant, when I’ll be on the scene, There’s still an opportunity for them to still come clean. Never mind the devil and all his dreadful lies. If you are obedient there will be no surprise. For I will show before the time, the things that you must face. A place with Me in glory, or by your sin disgraced.” Jim Strickland  Written 5th February 2012