The Judgment Seat of Christ

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This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you what. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. the judgment seat of Christ.

That is our subject for the next hour. I am your guest host, Dr. Greg Hennett. And we want you to give us a call and give us your questions about this very important and little taught upon subject. The number here is eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four.

You know, when we're talking about the judgment seat of Christ, many Christians have never even heard of this. And others have heard of it, but they don't have much of a concept as to. what it would be like. and the purpose of it.

Well, so let's give a little in interrogative analysis here by asking some questions and coming up with some answers which will help you understand this. Who is the judge at the judgment seat of Christ?

Well, that's a little bit obvious because it's the judgment seat of. Christ So Jesus Christ is the one who will be on that Bima. which is the Reference to the Platform, the raised platform, which was used by judges at athletic contests and also in tribunals. Jesus will be seated on that judgment seat, and he will be examining each Christian. He is the judge of this great event.

In John 5, 22, Jesus said this, The Father judgeth no man. But he has committed all judgment unto the Sun, Again, this is a point that many Christians simply don't realize that When we stand before God, it will not be the Father, it will be Christ. Christ. And he will judge not only Christians, but the lost. and these two examinations will be very different.

and the consequences of them very different. Paul, who was, as I'm sure you know, the most illuminated visionary among the New Testament writers, with the exception possibly of the Apostle John, affirmed that Jesus would indeed be The judge of all Christians. He wrote Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, verse 1, and he said, I charge thee Therefore before the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the living? and the dead, at his appearing, and his kingdom So there he was. plainly stating that Jesus will judge the living, that is, those who are in a living relationship with God, born-again Christians.

And the dead. Those who are not in such a relationship, those who have never been. redeemed. and he says he will judge the one at his appearing. And the other at his kingdom.

So Jesus will Judge the church. And this is something which we need to note now. while we're alive, while we're still in this world, while we can do something about That examination Now, the next question is: who will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ? Again, not unbelievers. They will be judged at the great white throne judgment at the end of the millennial reign of Christ.

But believers. The redeemed, born-again Christians.

Now If you are just a church goer and you never had a born again experience, then you need to receive the gospel. Because you will not be going to heaven at all. And you will not be in on this judgment seat of Christ. to determine your rewards in the kingdom of God.

So today is the day to believe the basic gospel, and it is this. We are all born sinners. And if you have never been born again. even if you are, in your own estimation, a very good person. you're still a sinner.

And by that I mean you were born in a disjointed Condition from God. you were not connected with him, you had no right relationship with him. And so you were born in sin, having a nature that is a fallen nature, inclined to disbelieve and disobey God. Therefore you cannot be right with God. And you need something which you cannot provide for yourself.

So God sent His Son Jesus Christ into this world. He became a man. He lived under the law of God. He kept that law flawlessly. without any sin.

He had no sin nature. And he did not commit sin. He was tempted, and he as we all are, but without sin. And then Jesus laid down his life voluntarily, On the cross and bled out his lifeblood.

So that the penalty for your sin and mine might be paid. And if you will repent of your sin, and turn to him. He will forgive your sin. and give you a new life. and a new relationship with God, And you will have eternal Life.

You cannot purchase that by your good works. You cannot win that by religious behavior. Nor can you win it by charitable works, nor even by sacrificing your life to save someone else's. Only Christ sacrificed. Saves.

So if you do not know Jesus. Let me encourage you right now. to confess to him that you are a sinner. Ask him to forgive you. And ask him to enter into your life and your heart right now.

Receive him as your Lord and Savior. The Bible says that to as many as received him. gave he the power, that is the authority, the right, the ability, to become. the children of God. And then you will be in God's own family.

And ye will stand before this Bema, the judgment seat of Christ. to be examined for your life works Now this examination Is not to determine a Again, if you will go to heaven or... Hell, but rather what your rewards will be and your honors in the millennium and in the Eternity of the New World. I'm afraid we don't think about this enough. We don't hear enough sermons on it, read enough books on it.

Some Christians go through most of their entire life and never even know that they're going to be examined by Christ. But What's at stake here is enormous. And that simply is your status. in the kingdom of God for ever. And so far as we know, that status will be unchanged once you pass.

From this life To the next. That is, we have no biblical evidence that our status in the kingdom may be changed in the afterlife.

Now, I'm again speaking to people who have been born again. We know. that no one who is not born again can change their status after death. because the Bible says that unto men it is appointed once to die, And then the judgment. There is no reincarnation.

There are no Second chances. This life is it.

Now for Christians though, This life is our opportunity To do God's will and to get to know Jesus Christ intimately. To pass our daily tests, so that we gain his approval. For service. And for a more intimate relationship. with him.

So this is something we should take very seriously. Um We should realize that When we are in the kingdom of God, We will want then to have The respect of the Lord for service, And we will want access to him, intimacy with him, And we will want to be able to serve others in his kingdom's service then.

So today is the day to get to know Jesus Christ. Today is the day. to get into that word and find out what his will is and obey it. Today is the day to receive the Holy Spirit and let him guide your life in every aspect. and to day is the day, too.

Learn about the judgment seat of Christ.

Now, when will this judgment occur? We'll talk about that when we come back after the break. Be sure to call us at 1-866-348-7884. We're just waiting for your question about the judgment seat of Christ or any other biblical or Christ-related subject. Truth Talk Live You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

The Judgment Seat of Christ. Here's our subject today on Truth Talk Live. I'm your guest host, Dr. Greg Hennett. And I believe we have a caller.

It looks like we've got a call from Kathy in High Point. Kathy, go ahead and give us your question. Oh. Hold on just a minute.

Okay, we're we're here at your service.

Okay. All right. But after I just want to know after we become Christians, If we live well and serve Christ honorably, And later, we turn aside to sin and heresy. Will we still be rewarded? for our former good works.

That's an excellent question, and one that's, again, not asked very often. You know, Paul said of his. Associate Demas Sadly he said this he said Demas Yeah. turned aside, having loved the things of this present world. And we know that Demas had been one of his trusted and beloved associates in ministry speaks of him among the others who are in his in his ministry team in the epistle to the Colossians.

But you know, he he had turned aside now, so Paul was quite troubled about that.

Now, your question fits right in there. At the judgment seat of Christ will Demas. Receive Full rewards For all the good deeds that we assume that he did with Paul. in Paul's very prolific An enduring ministry, Uh Here's the answer. It's in Second John Verse eight Look to yourselves, the Apostle warns us.

That we lose nothing. those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full Reward.

Well Look to yourselves means examine yourselves. Check out your spiritual life. How are you today? Versus your condition, say for instance, five years ago, ten years ago, twenty, thirty years ago. Are you still faithful?

as you were then. Are you still obeying Christ, seeking Him? serving him faithfully, If so, then you know you're going to receive a full reward. But He warns that if we don't examine ourselves, that we could lose the things. That we have already wrought.

Now, Kathy, that would mean the works that, in this case, Demas had already. one the rather the rewards he had already won for faithful works, uh could be lost in part. or totally. And so, Christian history is filled with examples of people who started well. but didn't finish their race, and instead of finishing At least in faithfulness they turned aside to sin, or heresy.

and their lives ended up being a tragedy. Uh that's uh something we don't mentioned Often, either. Many Christian lives are ending, from God's perspective, in tragedy. Why? Because they're not.

They're not developing. The life of Christ. That's been given them. They're not feeding that life, growing that life by obedience and testing. And so therefore they're living a static Christian life.

And of course, as you know, Kathy, I'm sure you noticed that spiritual life is not static. It is a dynamic thing. We're either growing Or we're going back.

So I hope that answers your question that rewards are not automatic. And while our salvation, if we have truly been born again, endures. Works for uh our our workshops are another issue and the rewards for those works are not automatic.

So, um Thank you very much for calling us here today on Truth Talk Live. God bless you. Thank you.

Now To continue what we were saying earlier, Paul prophesied twice in the Holy Scripture about this examination. In Romans 14.10, he said, Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? for we will all stand before the judgment seat. of Christ.

So here Paul was not only stating that we would stand before the judgment seat of Christ, but warning us against spending our time preoccupied with what we think other Christians should or should not be doing. And so he warns us of that in Romans 14:10.

Now, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10 is the better known text. text and prophecy. Paul 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 the body, whether good or evil. This text has some really interesting.

And needful information. First of all, no Christian is exempted from this examination. We must all. And then, after stating this is the judgment seat of Christ. He again Emphasizes that this is an individual.

Judgment.

so that each one Note not each couple, not each family, not each local church, not each denomination. Not each ministry, no, every individual will stand alone. spiritually naked, if you will, Before the Lord, we won't have our father or mother to help us, we won't have our children to help us. We will stand there Baird. before him in our soul.

And We will here read to us The books that had been written by angels of our life works. Angels are God's Biographers. And um We know from for instance from Malachi chapter three. that the angels are recording our life works. In books.

And uh so these will be read for each one of us. And So often For instance, in a couple, one has a Has a better relationship with Christ than the other. the one who has the less Intimate relationship with Christ and Maybe none at all. thinks because his wife or her husband Is strong in Christ that, well, it'll be all right with them at the judgment seat of Christ. I would say to you.

You need to start fearing the Lord. You need to have respect for God. You need to realize that. You too must respond in faith and obedience. to Christ.

and I'm speaking now after you become a Christian.

So this text goes on to say that each one of us will receive what is due. what is due. A message is telling us that the judgment seat of Christ will be not grace-based, but merit-based. Based. That's a big subject in politics today.

We won't Get into that subject. Uh You know, we're living in a very irresponsible generation of that I don't think there can be any doubt And we want something for nothing. And you know, God comes along in his great, great mercy. and offers us salvation so freely by His grace. by the sacrifice of Christ, And so, what we sometimes fail to realize is that once we are saved.

the Lord. A God of responsibility. And he's looking for. his children, his redeemed children, to be men and women of responsibility. He wants to be able to trust us, that we will Carry out our duties, and he can just he can know that once he's given us our charge.

That's it. We will take care of business. That's the kind of Christian That Christ's heart desires greatly today.

Now this text goes on to warn us of something else. It says we will receive what's due. And this will be for what is done in our body. referring to our bodily acts, and that would mean not only Deeds we do with our hands and places we go with our feet, but thoughts we think with our brain, decisions we make with our brain. Words we speak, words we don't speak.

All these are deeds done in the body.

So Give us your call today at Truth Talk Live at 866-348-7884. We're just waiting for your question about the judgment seat of Christ. or anything related to a biblical subject that is on your mind today. Truth talk. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

The judgment seat of Christ is our subject today. I am your Guest host, Dr. Greg Hennett, here on Truth Talk Live, and we're just waiting to get your call today. 866-348-7884. We would love to hear from you.

with a question about the judgment seat of Christ or any other biblical question or question related to the Christian life or to our times. Yeah. Before the break we were talking about second Corinthians five ten. And one thing I want to add about that text: the last phrase says that we will. Receive what's due.

For the things done in our body, whether they are good or evil.

Now think about that. not just to good works But the evil works. whatever the good works merit. We will be rewarded for them and whatever the evil works are in our life, and some people think that Christians cannot do evil, but they can. Paul's words right here prove it.

That they too will bring, as we said in an earlier segment, loss of rewards. in the kingdom. And this will be an eternal loss.

So what an important subject this is. And we need to know it now. And understand what our responsibilities before Christ are. I see we've got a call from Mike in Dayton, Ohio. Mike, good afternoon.

Go ahead. Good afternoon. Hopefully, I can convey what I. Been thinking all day. Yes.

Um it's It's kind of amazing that you're taught on this subject a little bit to me. I was thinking about. Um Adam and Eve were they first sins. Yes. And um And they first send and basically they gave They didn't follow God's will, they followed their own heart or their own will.

Yes, yeah. Um And now Now that we've been redeemed through Christ, God says And he said, even with his prayer, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is telling me that he. That we need to follow God's will, and He gave us the Spirit when we were born again. We got the Spirit of God in us.

Right. And then. And then, by having the Spirit of God in us, we were born again.

So now we have a choice. and we need to renew our mind To follow God's will. Yes, absolutely. Yes. And if we continue, just like what Guy was saying.

Where are you, Adam? Where you're you're you're he knew where Adam was. He knew where. He knew where they were. Yes, he did.

And. He definitely did. God never asks a question because he doesn't know the answer. Right. Exactly.

And um So when we're in God's will, God doesn't say, Where are you, Mike? That's my name. Where are you, Mike? Where have you been? Right.

No, He knows exactly where I'm at. But when I'm out of God's will and I'm doing my own thing and I'm not following God, I'm not praying, I'm not studying my Bible. God says, where are you at, Mike? Where are you at? What are you doing?

Why ain't you talked to me today? Why didn't you do this? Why didn't you do that? Yes, like you said to Elijah, Mike, if you remember, he said, What doest thou here, Elijah? What are you, a man of God, doing, fleeing from Jezebel's threats?

Rather than being on your watch and keeping my charge. Yes. Right. Show up. My my My prep the reason I'm trying to say all that is because if we As Christians, Follow God's will.

That's our goal. We need to follow God's will. We need to pray. Read our Bible. We know what the Bible says.

The Bible tells us what God's will is. Correct.

Okay. Yes. So when we started renewing our mind. Our old nature, which is the sin nature that we had from Adam and Eve. And we renew our mind into Christ by reading God's Word.

And praying and doing what God wants us to do, renew our mind and we follow God's will. Those God said, What you're saying is, those are the rewards that we're going to get by running the race to win. We're going to, we run this race, we run this. vapor of a life that we have. Right.

So you know, I mean, so then we can please God. in this life And do his will.

So then that way we can Oh. Be rewarded in heaven. Yes. Mm-hmm. And we also, if I could just add.

Yes, and I would just add that He rewards us along the way, every day. You know, obedience to God, trusting in God and obeying Him and following His will, receiving His correction, all these things, they are self-rewarding. They are self-rewarding. In other words, because we know within ourselves that we are doing what our Heavenly Father. Wants and what pleases our Lord.

So that's a self-rewarding experience. Amen. And I agree with you. It's our hope. It's our peace that we have by studying and being with God.

When we know that we're in God's will, we know that we have peace within our lives. You know what I mean? I mean, when you're in sin, you don't have peace. No, cannot. They're fooling themselves.

I mean, they really are. When you're in sin and you're doing your will and you're doing your ways, and I only need you, God, on Sunday. You know what I mean? I don't need you every day of the day, all the week. I don't need you to trust you with my whole life.

I just need you to. I'm just going to trust you on Sunday, Lord. Yes. No. God wants you to trust him.

Throughout your whole day, absolutely. From the end, when you get up in the morning to you go to bed, you know what I mean? Right, and you know, and when you do that, you have. Wonderful peace. Oh, yes.

Oh, yes. Yes, you do. And, you know, what you're describing there, what Christians need to know is that once we're born again, you cannot have peace in the old things. You cannot have enjoyment in the old things which you used to have peace in and enjoy. It's impossible because you pass from death to life and you cannot go back there and live in those things with the same joy.

You know, a sinner can sin, and while he may have some compunction in his conscience, basically, you know, he. You know, he didn't think much about it. But when a Christian sins, they immediately come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit with double power because we know we have a new life down, should not be wandering back into the wilderness of sin. Right. And we definitely, when we recognize that we've done wrong, We definitely need to say, God, I'm sorry, right away.

I mean, yeah. And I and when I was a kid, I I did that to my dad. I mean, when I did something wrong with my dad, My dad just calmed down. He just didn't get so mad at me when I said, Dad, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

And it calmed him down. And that's what you do to God. Yes. When you continually go into sin day after day, God's going to say, man, I'm going to have to do something about this. Right.

You're my child. I want you to come close to me. Yes. And this is when you get. The consequences of sin.

Yes. When you continually. Do sin, you get consequences. It's going to come and bite you when you don't think it's going to. And the devil wants to.

To lie to you. Oh, you can get away with it. You can get away with it. Nobody's going to know. Yeah, and today, Mike, today, Mike, so many churches in the hypergrace heresy are pastors, are openly telling their people, it's all right if you've sinned, that's all right.

Jesus has already taken care of it. And you don't have to feel bad. You don't have to worry about anything.

So they're actually. grooming their people in Deadly presumption because I want to tell you here, and Christian, our listeners need to know that sin is a deadly error. And Paul warned, you know, when he was teaching about the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11. that for this cause, for the cause of unconfessed sin, Uh many among you are weak. and sickly?

and some sleep.

So he's plainly warning us that if a Christian walks in sin, God may just simply take them home. Depending upon what kind of sin it is. And we don't have access to the divine counsels about that.

So every Christian should. walk in the fear of God and avoid sin. Absolutely. Right. Absolutely.

You know, um you have so much peace. When you Uh Put your own will Oh down. And give it to God. And you say, God, you direct me. And you just, you know, which is.

It's a daily fight. Again, it's a practice. You know what I mean? It's a daily discipline, it's a fight. And the more you get into God's word, the more you believe in God, the more you get on your knees, the more you pray, the more you seek God's face.

Knock and the door will be open to you. You know what I mean? That's what that means. When you keep knocking on God's door, God's going to reveal Himself to you. Yes.

And it's so amazing when He does. It is.

So comforting. You know what I mean? God leads me every day of my life. You know what I mean? Yes, I do.

Because I'm allowing him to. That's right. You know what I mean? When you don't allow him to, then guess what? Bad things start happening.

Yes, that's what I'm saying. You know what I mean? When you start doing it your own way, I'll just work harder. I'll work later. I'll work on Sunday.

I'll just won't go to church. I won't talk to that guy. Guess what? You got a problem, you know. I mean, you got you really do, you got a definitely problem, and and God's going to say, Hey, Where you been?

You know, he's going to. Our God is such a loving God and cares about every need you have. He knows every hair on your head. He knows every Everything about you. He knows your personality.

He knows everything. He knows. He knows more than I know about myself. Yes, he does. He knows us far better than we know ourselves.

Yes. Yes. And that's what's incredible about our God: how much he loves us. It is, it is. And you know and then the more you get to know him, the more you know about that.

You know what I mean? Yes, you do. And we discover it in the big ways and the little ways too. You know, I think as you're talking today here, Mike, what I hear in this, and it's so true, is that you're realizing that we are not just going to be examined and rewarded or punished at the judgment seat of Christ. But this is a daily thing.

It's an ongoing examination. And we have in Revelation 2 and 3. The example of Christ standing in the midst of the seven churches of Asia Minor. And then examining them and giving the record of his examination, his findings, if you will, to John to deliver to them in written form.

So what does that tell us about Jesus? Because he never changes. He is among the churches now examining us. He is in our lives now, today, right now as we're talking. He's examining Christians all over the world.

And we are reaping good for our works of faithfulness and obedience, and we're reaping chastisement, corrections, adversities that would not be in our life. If we did not disobey, they are coming for our disobedience.

So, this is an ongoing process. Absolutely. Well, we'll be back in just a few moments with Truth Talk Live. Please give us your call at 1-866-348-7884. Thank you, Mike, and you can return after the break if you want to.

Truth Talk Live You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. The judgment seat of Christ is our subject this afternoon on Truth Talk Live, and I'm your guest host, Dr. Greg Hennett. And we are just waiting for your call at 1-866-348-7884. That is 1-866-348-848-448-444.

348-788. Yeah, yeah.

Now, if this subject of the judgment seat of Christ has pricked your interest, then let's look further into it. What Scripture portions Give us a preview of what it is to stand before the examination of Jesus Christ and give account of how we have lived. as Christians.

Well, if you're taking notes, I'm going to give you three passages of Scripture that really make the case very clearly and give you a very accurate Preview of the judgment seat of Christ, or more accurately, Jesus in judgment mode. We've seen Jesus in his humility In Here's Role as a savior, but this is quite different now. The same Jesus, the same nature, the same God. But he is acting in judgment mode. The first text would be Matthew 25.

14 through 30. That's the parable the talents. And we see there that those who received talents were Held accountable. Those talents. And those talents received any ability, they represent any ability that the Lord has given us to honor Him and build His kingdom.

And we see that Jesus both rewarded Those who are faithful, well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things. but he also rebuked. And deprived of rewards those who in his words were wicked and slothful. And some may think that, well, how can a Christian act wickedly?

Well, a Christian can, because we have our carnal nature still with us. I think if you will examine your life in your past, if you've lived in Christ any amount of time, you will. Realize that some of the most egregious injuries that have you have suffered as a Christian, have come from other Christians, not just those who do not know Christ.

So in that parable we see Jesus rebuking the wicked and slothful servant and taking from him the talent and giving it to another servant, Who was faithful? Then there's Luke nineteen, eleven through twenty seven. This is the parable of the long journey and of the 10. pounds, and in this case the same pound was given to each servant. This represents the nature of Christ that is given to every born-again believer.

Whereas in Matthew 25, the talents are Various Gifts. and he does not give the same gift or gifts to every Christian. He divides them to us, Paul instructs us in his epistle in 1 Corinthians, severally as the Holy Spirit wills.

So the Holy Spirit is in charge of distributing the gifts to us. But the principles are the same in both Matthew 25 and Luke 19: that faithfulness is rewarded. Lack of faithfulness is not rewarded, but is rebuked. But the passage I like the best. is Revelation two and three.

I referred to it. earlier. And here we have Christ examining the churches of Asia. And we have it in the record of the book of Revelation, So that not only those churches in AD 95 could draw benefit from understanding what Jesus would act like in judgment mode, but we can. All of church history has been able to read those Messages and understand exactly what Christ will be like, at the judgment seat.

And that is quite a record there. in Revelation two and three.

Now, in these references that I've just named, we see Jesus commending what is commendable. correcting everything needing correction, that is, the things that are outside of God's order, Issuing warnings and granting space to repent.

Now we know at the judgment seat of Christ. That examination will be final. There will be no more space to repent, and there will be no warnings issued because. That will be the End of the road of the believer in time and the beginning of our eternal life. And let me just interject this.

We think that time is so long and we have all the time in the world. Friends, you don't know if you will not be here tonight. You don't know if Perhaps in thirty minutes the Lord may say to you, Your time is up. As he said in the book of Daniel, The handwriting is on the wall. Uh chapter five of Daniel.

And it's time for you to come home. You know, as Christians, we have eternity. guaranteed us, but not to morrow. And why do I say that? It's because we tend to think of time is so long, and eternity, well, we can't quite get our mind around that.

But, friend, It's just the opposite. Tom Is less than a nanosecond. And eternity. is a never-ending life. And so It is so important that we realize those vastly different Proportions.

Tam and Eternity. And realize that time is our opportunity to prepare for eternity and help others to do that. Our friends are loved ones. Those in our church, those we come across in ministry. We should be so energetic, So diligent so busy and about our business.

knowing that the time is short. and we have a divine call on our lives. to live faithfully. Not only so that we have a joyful experience in the At the judgment seat of Christ, but so that we can lead many others into that experience as well. And also in these texts we see that Jesus not only compliments, but he rebukes sin and heresy.

lying and slothfulness. You know, for instance, in Revelation chapter two, He rebukes the elders of the church in Thaita for allowing in his words, that Jezebel that teacher, that prophetess, who calls herself Jezebel, He rebukes the leaders there for allowing this woman to mislead his children into fornication. And of course, in that context of. the life in the Roman world in AD 95, that meant both literal and spiritual fornication. The Christians were being led into unfaithfulness to Christ, and they were also being led into acts of immorality by Committing so-called acts of worship at the local pagan temple.

So he rebuked the elders for allowing this false prophetess to operate. under their authority.

Now Revelation 2 and 3, though, gives us a tremendous amount of information. And uh let me just give you some of these Uh points here. About what we find there, that Jesus is walking in the midst of our churches. We don't think about Jesus being in our churches today, but he's right there. Every time the church comes together, Jesus comes among them.

He said, Where there are two or three gathered in my name, there am I. in the midst. And he knows all our works. You know, we sometimes think we can hide certain works from Jesus and let him see others. But, friend, he sees everything.

One thing that he said to all the seven churches was this, I know thy works. I know that works. This is a reference to his omniscience, and also to the ministry of angels who are observing us. In the book of Daniel, angels are called watchers. and as I said earlier, they are recording our life works, and they report to him.

They report to the Lord.

So, Jesus has, if you will, his angelic intelligence network. He knows everything. that's going on in our life as well as our thoughts.

Furthermore, he knows us With a depth that we cannot begin to imagine. Christ is not only the great physician, he's the great psychologist. He understands not only our conscious but our subconscious minds. no one understands their own. subconscious mind.

But Jesus knows everything about us. And um We also see in these uh in this record of these his dealings with the churches of Uh Asia. That He can do without any church. If it persists and lack of devotion. And sin, And heresy No church is too big to fail and I will say no Christian is too important to fail.

Jesus needs us in his service, but he can do without us. You know, that's exactly what he told a young Oswald Chambers. who was spending a night in fasting and prayer, in Edinburgh, where he was an art student at the university. And He wanted to reform the world of art for Christ. Bring Christ into that.

World. That was his natural ambition. But the Lord that night called him to the ministry. And then followed that call with the words I just repeated. I need you in my service, but I can do without you.

You know, this is a wonderful, sobering thought. All of us can help the kingdom of God by trusting and obeying and faithfully fulfilling the call Christ puts upon us, but He can do without us. He has a thousand people. waiting to take our roll. and our gift and our place.

in the body, and we don't want him to. We want to fulfil that role ourselves.

So He can do without us all. He wants us to be faithful, but he does not. need us if we choose to be unfaithful or rebellious.

Now Also in this passage, Revelation 2 and 3, we see that Jesus is unmoved by church's reputation. He focuses on the character of the church, not the reputation. In Revelation 3, verse 1, he tells the church in Sardis. that it has a reputation for being But it is not. I hope this today has helped you gain a better understanding of this most important topic.

The judgment seat of Christ. And I urge you to look up the biblical references and study them. God bless you. Truth.