Sunday, June 24, 2018 - New Heights Christian Church, Kent, WA - Pastor Micah Adamson

Sunday, June 24, 2018 - New Heights Christian Church, Kent, WA - Pastor Micah Adamson

Title: Creed 7: God the Son - Judgement (2nd Coming)

Text: 1-2 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NIV84)

16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Introduction:

When you think of Christ’s return and final judgement, does it give you hopeor does it scare you?
I want to show youhow Jesus’ return is the ultimate source of encouragement for Christians.
Today is the conclusion of a 3-week mini-series on eschatology…
This isalso the conclusion of our sermon seriessince Easter on the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds.
Jesus’ return to judge (7) is connected to the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting (11-12).
From Paul: We saw that the Holy Spirit’s ministry is the link between our life now and forever.
From John:We saw that God’s judgement/condemnation come up almost as often as His love, and often in the same context (Remember that the same John who wrote John, wrote Revelation too).
The Creed are organized logically and chronologically, around the three members of the Trinity:
Creeds 1 = God the Father (God/Creator)
Creeds 2-7 = God the Son (God, Incarnation, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, Return)
Creeds 8-12 = God the Holy Spirit (God/Pentecost, Communion/Church, Baptism/Forgiveness, Resurrection/Everlasting Life)

The Apostles’ Creed:

1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

2. And, I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord.

3. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.

4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hades.

5. The third day he rose again from the dead.

6. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

7. From where he shall come to judge the living and the dead.

8. And, I believe in the Holy Spirit.

9. I believe in the holy universal church: the communion of saints.

10. The forgiveness of sins.

11. The resurrection of the body.

12. And the life everlasting. Amen.

The Creeds 7:

Apostles’ Creed: From where He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

Nicene Creed: And He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

From whereHe shall come again = Jesus ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.
Jesus will come back as you saw Him go into the clouds (Acts 1:11).
Jesus is ruling as God, seated at God’s right hand (Acts 2:33 = Psalm 110:1/Mark 12:35-37).
To Judge = Jesus is the judge of the final judgment. (Rev. 20:11-15 = Dan. 7:9-14, 12:1-2, 13).
The living and the dead =Jesus will raise everyone to be judged(Acts 10:42, 2 Tim. 4:1, 1 Pet. 4:5).
With Glory = Jesus will return with glory!(Mark 13:26 = Dan. 7:14)
We will receive glorified bodies when Jesus returns (Phil. 3:20-21, 1 Cor. 15:42-44).
Whose kingdom shall have no end =Jesus will reign forever with God the Father.
There is no competition for power in the Trinity (Rev. 22:1-4 = Dan. 7:13-14, 1 Cor. 15:22-28).
This was discussed as a Trinitarian issue before the final version of the Nicene Creed was written.

Daniel 7:The Son of Man

In the gospels, Jesus’ favorite title forHimself is the “Son of Man”.
Jesus was probably quoting Daniel 7 every time He called Himself the “Son of Man”.
In Daniel 7, “Son of Man” = Judge of the Final Judgment + King who will rule forever/be worshipped.
In Daniel 7 and 12, the dead are raised and judged based on “the books” and “the book [of life]”.
In the gospels, Jesus often called Himself judge of the final judgment by calling Himself “Son of Man”.

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 (NIV84)

9 “As I looked, “thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of His head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. 10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before Him. Thousands upon thousands attended Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened….

13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Daniel 12:1b-2, 13 (NIV84)

1 … at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt…

13 As for you [Daniel], go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.

Note the continued themes of the resurrection/judgment by Jesus based on “the books” vs. “the book”.

John 5:25-29 (NIV84)

25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice
29 and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

Sounds like the resurrection/judgement by the Son of Man from Daniel.

Mark 2:10-11(NIV84)

10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….”

He said to the paralytic, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”

Jesus proved His claim to be able to forgive sin as the Judge/Son of Man, by healing the paralytic.

Mark 2:24, 28 (NIV84)

24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

28 [Jesus said to them] “the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Later in the chapter, when Jesus was judged as a lawbreaker, He claimed to be the judge/Son of Man.

Matthew 16:13-17, 27 (NIV84) - See also Mark 8:27-38, Luke 9:18-27

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven….

27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

At Peter’s confession, Jesus affirmed that He is the Son of Man, the Christ, and the Son of God (+I am).
And then, Jesus saidthat He would come in glory to judge as the Son of Man.

Matthew24:30, 25:31-32 (NIV84) - See also Matt. 24:27, 30, 37, 39, 44, Mark 13:26, Luke 21:27, 36

30 At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory…

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Jesus repeatedly called Himself the Son of Man during the Olivet Discourse and His parables afterward about being the judge of the final judgment.

Mark 14:61b-64 (NIV84) – See also Matt. 26:63-66, Luke 22:67-71

61 …Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”

62 “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

63 The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. 64 “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” They all condemned him as worthy of death.

Jesus’ confession of Himself as the Christ, echoes Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ.
Jesus affirmed that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and the Son of Man (+I am).
Jesus had already quoted Psalm 110 earlier in the week to say that the Christ is God (Matt. 22:41-46, Mark 12:35-37, Luke 20:41-44).
Now, at His trial, Jesus responded to the judge’s question by saying the He would be the judge of the final judgement whose condemnation really matters since it will have eternal consequences.

Acts 7:55-56 (NIV84)

55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

At Stephen’s trial before the Sanhedrin, hetestified that Jesus is already in heaven at God’s right hand ready to judge as the Son of man.
Again, it’s Jesus who will be the judge of the final judgement whose verdict has eternal consequences.

Revelation 20:The Book of Life

So, Jesus is the judge, but what role does “the books” vs. “the book [of life]”play in the final judgment?
OT = Ex. 32:32, Ps. 69:28, 139:16, Dan. 7:9-14, 12:1-2
NT = Luke 10:20, Phil. 4:3, Heb. 12:23, Rev. 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:11-15, 21:27
Revelation echoes Daniel where the “the books” vs. “the book of life” are used at the final judgment.

Revelation 13:8, 17:8b (NIV84)

8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in thebook of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.

8 …The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.

Revelation 20:11-15 (NIV84)

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

In a court room, the law is found in the books.
It sounds like the record of wrong doing is also be found in the books, like an accounting ledger.
It sounds like at the final judgement the record of our sins will be read.

But, the good news is that there is another book: the book of life! Where the names are written of all those saved by Jesus’ death in their place for their sins.
The question remains: How will Christians forgiven of their sins experience the Final Judgement?

Difficulties: How will Christians forgiven of their sin experience the Final Judgment?

We know that we are justified/declared righteous before God,by faith in Christ [alone] apart from works of the law (Gal. 2:15-21).
But, there are still lots of Bible passages, and especially parables, about the final judgement, which talk about differences in both rewards and punishments based on our works.
The Bible doesn’t clearly explain what all of these differences in rewards or punishments mean.
If two people go to hell, it’s hard to see a big difference in punishment level (Luke 10:12, 12:48).
E,g. Being sentenced to life in prison, or to 100 consecutive life sentences, the result is the same.
If two people get to go to heaven, it’s hard to see a very big difference in reward.
Our initial capacity to enjoy heaven might be like the capacity of two cups to hold liquid: All of our cups will be full to running over, but some people will start with bigger cups (Ps. 23:5).
One way to try to resolve the difficulty of understanding how Christians will be judged, is to say we’re saved from hell only by faith in Jesus, but we’re saved from a loss of rewards only by our own works.
Martin Luther recognized that if we are saved from hell by grace, but eternally rewarded based solely on the merit of our own works, then you end up actually denying that we are saved by grace
We end up having to save ourselves from purgatory (or into higher levels of heaven) by our own woks.
Another way to resolve this difficulty is to say that we’re saved from hell only by faith in Jesus’ works, but that our works will be used at the final judgement to provide evidence that our faith in Jesus was real.
This was the reformation formula: We are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.
“To overdo the sorrow aspect of the judgment seat of Christ is to make heaven [into] hell.
[But,] to underdo the sorrow aspect is to make faithfulness inconsequential.” (J. H. Keathley)
We don’t know everything about heavenwe don’t know everything about the final judgement. But, not having all the details is no reason to deny their existence (Mk. 12:23-25, 1 Co. 15:35-36, 1 Jn. 3:2).

People who have a chronological understanding of Revelation, expect multiple final judgments.
White throne Judgment = Judge in a court room: Eternal salvation vs. Eternal punishment.

Bema Seat Judgment = Judge of a sporting event: Big rewards vs. Little rewards

People (like me) who have a cyclical understanding of Revelation, see all the descriptions of final judgments as a complex composite picture of the multiple aspects of the one final judgment.
I was helped to see that passages, which talk about the judgment of Christians, are often in the near context of passages which reassure us that we are ultimately saved by Jesus’ works, not our own.
One of the primary passages that most commentators cite as evidence that Christians will still be judged at the (Bema) judgment seat of Christ, is 2 Corinthians 5.
We read 2 Corinthians 5 two weeks ago about the “intermediate state” where we will be absent from our bodies, but at home with Jesus, while we await Jesus’ return to raise us bodily from the dead.

2 Corinthians 5:9-11a (NIV84)

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men…

Paul includes Christians in those who must appear before the judgment seat of Christ to be judged.
This leads Paul to say that we [Christians] know what it’s like to fear the Lord, and so we’re trying to persuade non-Christiansto be reconciled to God to save them from His judgement.

So, if that’s true… Where does our“confidence” (mentioned 2x) come from to face the final judgement?
While I was asking myself this question, I was reminded of a passage of scripture I have memorized, which talks about how we have traded our sin for Jesus’ righteousness.
I was wondering how these two truths in these two passages relate:

1. That we will be judged at the final judgment (fear inducing).