The Need for Self-Judgment
The Need for Self-Judgment
Between deeds and consequences there is a relationship as close and inescapable as that which exists between the seed and the harvest.
We are moral beings and as such we must accept the consequence of every deed done and every word spoken. We cannot act apart from the concept of right and wrong. By our very nature we are compelled to own a three-dimensional moral obligation every time we exercise the right of choice; namely, the obligation to God, to ourselves and to others. No conscious moral being can be imagined to exist for even one moment in a nonmoral situation.
The whole question of right and wrong, of moral responsibility, of justice and judgment and reward and punishment, is sharply accented for us by the fact that we are members of a fallen race, occupying a position halfway between hell and heaven, with the knowledge of good and evil inherent within our intricate natures, along with ability to turn toward good and an inborn propensity to turn toward evil.
The present state of the human race before God is probationary. The world is on trial. The voice of God sounds over the earth, “Behold I set before you the way of life and the way of death. Choose you this day.”
It has been held by most Jews and Christians that the period of probation for the individual ends with his death and after that comes the judgment. This belief is supported completely by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and any variance from this view is the result of the introduction of nonscriptural concepts into Christian thinking.
The cross of Christ has altered somewhat the position of certain persons before the judgment of God. Toward those who embrace the provisions of mercy that center around the death and resurrection of Christ one phase of judgment is no longer operative. “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).
That is the way our Lord stated this truth, and we have only to know that the word condemned as it occurs here is actually “judgment” to see that for believers the consequences of sinful deeds have, in at least one aspect, been remitted.
When Christ died in the darkness for us men He made it possible for God to remit the penalty of the broken law, re-establish repentant sinners in His favor exactly as if they had never sinned and do the whole thing without relaxing the severity of the law or compromising the high demands of justice (see Romans 3:24-26).
This is a mystery too high for us and we honor God more by believing without understanding than by trying to understand. The Just died for the unjust; and because He did, the unjust may now live with the Just in complete moral congruity. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.
Does this mean that the redeemed man has no responsibility to God for his conduct? Does it mean that now that he is clothed with the righteousness of Christ he will never be called to account for his deeds? God forbid! How could the moral Governor of the universe release a segment of that universe from the moral law of deeds and consequences and hope to uphold the order of the world?
Within the household of God among the redeemed and justified there is law as well as grace; not the law of Moses that knew no mercy, but the kindly law of the Father’s heart that requires and expects of His children lives lived in conformity to the commandments of Christ.
If these words should startle anyone, so let it be and more also, for our Lord has told us plainly and has risen up early and sent His apostles to tell us that we must all give account of the deeds done in the body. And He has warned us faithfully of the danger that we will have for our reward only wood, hay and stubble in the day of Christ (see Romans 14:7-12; 1 Corinthians 3:9-15).
The judgment unto death and hell lies behind the Christian, but the judgment seat of Christ lies ahead. There the question will not be the law of Moses, but how we have lived within the Father’s household; our record will be examined for evidence of faithfulness, self-discipline, generosity beyond the demands of the law, courage before our detractors, humility, separation from the world, cross carrying and a thousand little deeds of love that could never occur to the mere legalist or to the unregenerate soul.
“If we would judge ourselves,” Paul said when speaking of carnal abuses in the Corinthian church, “we should not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31). This introduces at least the possibility that we may anticipate the judgment seat of Christ and prepare ourselves against it by honest self-judgment here in this life.
This deserves a lot of prayerful consideration from us. We have the Bible before us and the Holy Spirit within us. What is to hinder us from facing the judgment seat now while we can do something about it?