This is about the motives that drive us. Is it really that we wish to serve the Lord? or is it that we can't stand not being prominent and applauded? The secret sins that are sometimes less obvious, the sins of thought and heart. Prayerlessness. Perhaps a believer stands up and prays in the gathered prayer meeting of the church and nobody knows, nobody sees what an act of hypocrisy that is, how little prayer there is personally, privately. Now it does distinguish between people. This verse may have to do with the manner in which office bearers are to be selected or there may be a slight change of subject. That is hotly debated. But either way, some people they are obvious sinners, other people are much less obvious sinners. Their sins follow after and are brought to light only by the searching gaze of the Lord.
The verse offers the prospect of believers going to judgment, and that often raises a question. We distinguish between two kinds of final judgment. If we die before the Lord's return, there is a sense, a kind of judgment that goes on the instant we die, in that those who are the Lord's will go to be with Christ as disembodied souls, reserved and kept by the power of God in the paradise of God with Christ, awaiting the resurrection the very last day, whereas those who are not the Lord's will go to hell to be reserved to the final judgment. So there is a sort of judgment at the very end of life, which determines whether we go to be with Christ, which is far better, or whether we are reserved, waiting for the final judgment. There is that preliminary distinction or division. But when Christ does come, there will be a general resurrection of the dead and those who are believers will have their bodies restored to them and also unbelievers. That will lead instantly to the final judgment. The question is, do believers go through the final judgment? Yes they do, but the judgment is of two kinds. There is the judgment of condemnation of the lost and there is the judgment of absolution of the redeemed.
Looking at a few verses on this subject we can go to Matthew 12:35. ‘The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.’ The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking of both the redeemed and the lost. In verse 36 we read, ‘And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.’ There is coming a Day of Judgment, and that day will deal with the sins of men down to the smallest, down to the idle word. Then in verse 37, ‘For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.’ That has a special application and meaning for those who are believers. But in these verses the teaching is that there is one Day of Judgment, not more than one. There is one general Day of Judgment that will have to do with both the good and the bad, the redeemed and the lost, and the standard of judgment will be total, down even to the smallest word. Thankfully those who are in Christ will see the books opened and will see these sins, and their great glory and comfort will be, that their sins will be under the blood of Christ, and what they will have pronounced is the final absolution.
Then in Matthew chapter 25:31 we read, ‘When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory.’ When will this general judgment be? It will be when the Son of Man comes. All the holy angels will come with him. As the passage goes on, we read of a general judgment where the redeemed and the condemned will be present at the same time. The Lord Jesus Christ will be the judge, as verse 27 makes clear. We learn that not only will lost men be judged in the final judgment, but also the fallen angels at the same time. The judgment of the redeemed and the judgment of the lost, the absolution of the redeemed, the condemnation of the lost, takes place at the same general judgment because the Lord himself brings them all together.
Then in John chapter 5:28 you see exactly the same kind of teaching. ‘Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, 29 and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.’ So here is a general resurrection when the lost, their bodies shall come forth from the graves and the redeemed also, and there will be a general resurrection for the judgment of God. You find the resurrection and the judgment all of a piece.
John 6:39 tell us, ‘And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.’ That is repeated again and yet again in this chapter. So the Lord always taught that, that the resurrection would take place at the last day, and he makes it very plain that the last day is the day of his coming.
Then look on to these beautiful words in John 11:24, ‘Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live; 26 and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die.’ Martha knew well the teaching of the Lord that there would be a resurrection at the last day and the bodies of those who had died would come forth. Also they knew the teaching of the Saviour repeated here that those who trusted in him would never die. It comes to the last day of life and we physically die, the body dies and the spirit goes to be with Christ, which is far better. Then on the last day of this world, when he shall return, even our bodies will be resurrected and reconstituted and remade and joined with our souls. We shall never taste death as believers.
Romans 2:16 has the words, ‘in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ.’ The apostle loves this term ‘that day’. He says it over and over again: that day when Christ shall come again, that day when there will be a resurrection, that day when there will be a general and a final judgement, that day when there will be a marriage supper of the Lamb for all those who belong to him, belong to his church of the redeemed. That day when this earth will be destroyed and the new heavens and the new earth will come down from heaven, the earth will be gloriously reconstituted as a heavenly dwelling place for the people of God forever. All going to happen on that coming day – it is a most uncomplicated view of the future. God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. He is the agent of judgement. The judgement of God is done on behalf of the whole Godhead by the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
Romans 14:10 is quite a different teaching about judgement, that brings in a new aspect. ‘But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? or thou again, why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God’, believers as well as unbelievers. ‘For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, And every tongue shall confess to God. 12 So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more.’ In other words let us all live very conscious of the coming day, and let us be striving to please the Lord, because we know we have to stand before him and we know he can see our hearts.
Another more positive side is found in 1 Corinthians 4:5. ‘Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God.’ The apostle here is encouraging as well as warning, that we are those as believers who must live with awe and great reverence for God, because God sees all, and the books will one day be opened and all our crimes and all our sins – even though for believers, thankfully, it will be a day of absolution – will nevertheless all be laid open. So we live with great caution and care against that day. But equally the Apostle Paul is under criticism here, and he is able to look forward to the vindication of the Lord. In points where he was not guilty of these slanders and these charges, and where he had served the Lord with all his might and main, he identifies with all who get no benefit of appreciation in this life. The good that he has done, and his suffering for the Lord will be opened up too. Then shall everyone who has faithfully served have very special praise from God. But we all go into that great and final day of judgment and when the hidden things are revealed.
1 Corinthians 6 2-3 tells us of the part that believers will play in the judgment of the lost. Now that does raise a query. If the resurrection means that all come forth from the graves and the judgment of the Lord's people and the lost is at the same time, and the sheep and the goats are separated one from the other, how can the redeemed have a part in judging the unredeemed? We can't altogether see into these things, but the fact that we are going to judge the lost does not mean that the resurrection of the Lord's people will proceed the judgment of the lost by a thousand years or something of that kind. We don't have to concoct theories to explain this. But obviously it suggests that the redeemed will be dealt with first in order that they can have some share in the judgement of unbelievers, but what that share is we cannot understand at present.
In 1 Corinthians 15, we learn many things. The resurrection is to be at the same time as the coming of Christ. There will be the general resurrection and the judgment when he comes, all at the same time. What bodies will converted people be given at that time? They will be bodies quite unlike that we have now. They will not be subject to the curse, to aging, to disease, to pain, as our present bodies are, but they will be wonderfully transformed, bodies of power, free from corruption. There will be a spiritual element to them, and that beyond our comprehension at present. There will be believers till living on earth at the return of Christ, but they will have no advantage over long dead believers, who will be raised first. Yet they will be transformed instantly, and this is necessary for them to inherit the incorruptible kingdom of heaven and to be fit for it. This we are told in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. It is so important that we live in the light of these things. What privileges are ours, that we shall go into judgment, the books will be opened, all our sins will be manifest, but we will be fully justified and owned and covered by our Saviour. The Judge himself will answer for us in every respect.