I spent a lot of time in school in my life, probably too much. But its left me with a certain mentality. In any class I wanted to know, “What am I responsible for?” “What’s going to be on the final exam?”
And so when I think about my faith and about the last day; the final judgment, I think in a similar way – “What am I accountable for?” “How will I be judged?” I want to know what really matters, so that I can be prepared.
And so this morning I want us to look at the Scriptures to help us all to know how to be prepared for when Jesus returns. What is it that will really and truly matter on the final day?
And let’s just get to the point here:
Jesus said in Matthew 16:27 – “For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.”
Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:10 – “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he or she has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
And again in Romans 2:6-8 – “He will render to each one according to his or her works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.”
The answer is quite simple. We will each be judged based on what we have done, whether good or evil. What we have done is the only thing that will matter on the final day. This is what we are accountable for.
Let’s look at this more closely by noting what will not matter . . .
1. It won’t matter what you have said about your faith; your religious professions. “I’m a Christian.” “I believe.” You have prayed the sinner’s prayer. You have confessed that “Jesus is Lord.”
Jesus says in Matthew 7:21 – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
This is talking about the final day when we all stand before Jesus. There will be some who confess Jesus as Lord, but they will not make it in.
Who will enter into the eternal salvation of the kingdom of God? Jesus said, “the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
- What matters is not what you say by way of religious profession, it is your deeds of obedience.
2. It won’t matter how correct your beliefs are. You may well know all about Jesus’ second coming. You may know the Bible better than anyone else. You may know the historic creeds of the church. But that doesn’t get you very far.
James talks about correct beliefs in part when he talks about “faith” in James 2:14; 18-19 – “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? . . . But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe – and shudder.”
The demons have correct beliefs. They know that “God is one,” that is, that there is one God; the Shema. But they do not have correct behavior, and so they shudder.
The same is true for us, if we only have correct beliefs, such a faith won’t save us.
- What matters is not how orthodox your beliefs are, what matters is your deeds based on these beliefs.
3. It won’t matter if you exercised gifts of the Spirit in Jesus’ name. Jesus said in Matthew 7:22-23 – “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
Here we have people who have gifts of the Spirit (prophesy), who have cast out demons and have done miracles in Jesus’ name.
But Jesus focuses in on the fact that they were disobedient; they were “workers of lawlessness.” They will not make it in.
- What matters is not manifestations of the Spirit, it is your obedience to God.
4. It won’t matter if you did what is right according to the standards of others – so that others can look on and say, “What a good person!” “What a religious person!” So that the world can say, “What a clean-cut, straight-laced person!” “What a decent moral person!”
You can spend your whole life living up to human-made standards, and miss the mark that God sets.
In a context of talking about God’ will, Jesus said in Matthew 23:10 – “You have one teacher, the Messiah” Jesus teaches us what God’s will is and we are to do what he says.
Remember the rich young ruler? He kept all kinds of commands, and must have come across to others as very righteous. But he did not do what Jesus asked of him, and according to Jesus, would not enter the kingdom of God.
- What matters is doing the will of God according to Jesus
5. It won’t matter if you used to do the deeds of Jesus, but stopped. Ezekiel 18:24 – says it about as clearly as you can – “But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.”
In the New Testament, in Matthew 24:45-51 in a parable about his second coming, Jesus teaches that the disciple who is doing his will when he returns will be blessed. But the disciple who changes and then acts wickedly will be thrown into hell.
- What matters is not what you used to do, it is that you continue on in doing the will of God according to Jesus.
6. It won’t matter if you did the deeds of Jesus – if you did them without love. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:3 – “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
These are deeds of Jesus: Jesus talks about selling your possessions and giving to the poor in Luke 12:33. And Jesus talks about taking up your cross and losing your life in Mark 8:34-35.
But if you don’t do these out of love for God and others, Paul tells us, then you gain nothing.
- What matters is not just doing empty outward actions, it is doing the deeds of Jesus out of love.
As you can see from all these different angles, when you stand before God and the Lord Jesus to give an account for your life, the only thing that will matter is that you have continued to do what Jesus taught out of love for God and others.
Now if you ask . . .
Why does God look at our deeds?
Why doesn’t God just look in our hearts to see if we have faith; to see if we have been born again; to see if we have received the grace of his salvation? The answer is that what is in our hearts, is what comes out in our deeds. What is within is what comes out in our words and actions.
It is just as Jesus said in Matthew 7:16-17, “You will recognize them by their fruits. . . . Every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.” All God has to do is to look at our deeds and he knows what is in our heart.
And since you can’t continue to do what Jesus teaches out of love without God’s work of salvation, and God’s continuing grace, and God’s continuing forgiveness when we fail, because its impossible to do all this in our own strength – the deeds are the evidence of God’s grace working in our lives.
A Plea
If you are a Christian here this morning, hear what the Scriptures clearly teach us – God will judge your deeds. Are you ready?
Don’t be deceived thinking that because you have said the right things, or you have correct beliefs, or you have amazing spiritual gifts, or you are a decent person by the world’s standards, or you used to be faithful, or you can look like a Christian to others – that you are OK.
Deal with the sins in your life that you knowingly choose to do over and over again!
Let the grace of God work its work in you so that your life will bear forth the fruit of righteousness; the fruit of continuing to do what Jesus has taught us, out of love for God and others. Turn from your disobedience and let God do his work in you.
And if you’re here and are not yet a Christian, turn from your unrighteousness and receive God’s grace of forgiveness and new life. And let God transform you from within so that the fruit of righteousness begins to spring forth in your life; so that you too can be ready to give an account on that final day.
William Higgins
