The previous three posts, though posted in time order, should be read from beginning to end.
The beginning is: “All Will Be Revealed.”
The middle is: “The Reckoning.”
Finally, the end is: “Who Can Stand?”
The three concern our humanity, the Judgment to come, and what our response should be, respectively.
What should be our response to God’s impending Judgment?
O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
Psalm 69:5 English Standard Version (ESV)
Even more, we should say,
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
Psalm 130:3-4 English Standard Version (ESV)
John Calvin says to these verses,
If thou, O God! should mark iniquities …Should God determine to deal with us according to the strict demands of his law, and to summon us before his tribunal, not one of the whole human race would be able to stand… “All the children of Adam,” he [essentially] says, “from the first to the last, are lost and condemned, should God require them to render up an account of their life.” …Further, …since no man can stand by his own works, all such as are accounted righteous before God, are righteous in consequence of the pardon and remission of their sins. In no other manner can any man be righteous in the sight of God.
But with thee there is forgiveness. …How few are persuaded of the truth …that the [unmerited favor which they] need shall [be given to] them? …The consequence of this [lack] of hope [within] men …is an indifference about coming into the Divine presence to [ask] for pardon.
When a man is awakened with a lively sense of the judgment of God, he cannot fail to be humbled with shame and fear. Such self-dissatisfaction would not however suffice, unless at the same time there were added faith, whose office it is to raise up the hearts which were cast down with fear, and to encourage them to pray for forgiveness…
“As soon as I think upon You,” [the psalmist] says in [effect], “Your clemency also presents itself to my mind, so that I have no doubt that You will be merciful to me, it being impossible for You to divest Yourself of Your own nature: the very fact that You are God is to me a sure guarantee that You will be merciful ” [This unmerited favor] of God… enables the sinner to conclude with certainty, that as soon as he seeks God he shall find him ready to be reconciled towards him. …The first step to the right serving of God unquestionably is, to submit ourselves to Him willingly and with a free heart.
What does God say of the forgiven Man?
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Psalm 32:1-2 English Standard Version (ESV)
If you haven’t been forgiven, yet, consider God’s free offer,
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9 English Standard Version (ESV)
If you’ve made this solemn profession of faith and now walk with your Savior and Lord in obedience, then, you too will be counted among the blessed.
Will Christians Who Have Been Forgiven Answer for Their Sins in Judgment? Nov 30, 2018, YouTube, Ligonier Ministries
There will be a reckoning, a judgment, or as Spurgeon said, a Great Assize:
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Romans 14:10-12 English Standard Version (ESV)
John Calvin says to these verses,
But thou, why dost thou, etc. …It is an unreasonable boldness in any one to assume the power to judge his brother, since by taking such a liberty he robs Christ the Lord of the power which He alone has received from the Father.
As I live, etc. …All flesh ought to be humbled while expecting that judgment; and this is expressed by the bending of the knee. …This prophecy …is far from being completed and will not be so until the day of the last resurrection shall shine forth, when Christ’s enemies shall be laid prostrate, that they may become his footstool. But this cannot be except the Lord shall …ascend his tribunal to judge the living and the dead; for all judgment in heaven and on earth has been given to Him by the Father.
Every tongue shall swear to me. As an oath [this] is a kind of divine worship. …All men should not only acknowledge his majesty, but also make a confession of obedience, both by the mouth and by the external gesture of the body, which he has designated by the bowing of the knee.
Every one of us, etc. This conclusion invites us to humility and lowliness of mind: and hence he immediately draws this inference, — that we are not to judge one another; for it is not lawful for us to usurp the office of judging, who must ourselves submit to be judged and to give an account.
What, then, should be our response to this impending Judgment?
O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
Psalm 69:5 English Standard Version (ESV)
God’s Glory in Judgment, Nov. 22, 2011, YouTube, Ligonier Ministries, Transcript
What does the Lord God say concerning Man?
They say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
Psalm 73:11-12 English Standard Version (ESV)
And again,
They hold fast to their evil purpose;
they talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking, “Who can see them?”
Psalm 64:5 English Standard Version (ESV)
And again,
He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”
Psalm 10:11 English Standard Version (ESV)
And, yet again,
They kill the widow and the sojourner,
and murder the fatherless;
and they say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob does not perceive.”
Psalm 94:6-7 English Standard Version (ESV)
The common denominator of these observations is that Man thinks God neither sees nor knows their actions. But God does see and know,
No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 4:13 English Standard Version (ESV)
Not only does God see and know Man’s actions, but discerns their thoughts and intentions, too.
***
God says Man acts unwisely and imprudently, the definition of a fool.
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.
The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
Psalm 14:1-3 English Standard Version (ESV)
John Calvin says to these verses,
The fool hath said …However much the world applauds these crafty and scoffing characters, who allow themselves to indulge to any extent in wickedness, yet the Holy Spirit condemns them as being fools; for there is no stupidity more brutish than forgetfulness of God. …They have overthrown all order, so that they no longer make any distinction between right and wrong, and have no regard for honesty, nor love of humanity…
They speak in their heart. …They may not plainly deny the existence of a God, but they imagine him to be shut up in heaven and divested of his righteousness and power; …When God is dragged from his throne, and divested of his character as judge, impiety has come to its utmost height; and, therefore, we must conclude that …those who give themselves liberty to commit all manner of wickedness, in the flattering hope of escaping with impunity, deny in their heart that there is a God…
And,
Jehovah looked down from heaven. …Would to God that this manner of speaking had the effect of teaching us to summon ourselves before his [judgment seat]; and that, while the world are flattering themselves, and the reprobate are trying to bury their sins in forgetfulness by their want of thought, hypocrisy, or shamelessness, and are blinded in their obstinacy as if they were intoxicated, we might be led to shake off all indifference and stupidity by reflecting on this truth, that God, notwithstanding, looks down from his high throne in heaven, and beholds what is going on here below!
To see if there were any that did understand …The commencement of integrity and uprightness of life consists in an enlightened and sound mind. But …the greater part [of humanity] misapply their intellectual powers to deceitful purposes. …True understanding …consists in seeking after God. …Unless men devote themselves wholly to God, their life cannot be well ordered. …The reprobate are utterly destitute of all reason and judgment.
Every one of them has gone aside. …All men are so carried away by their capricious lusts, that nothing is to be found either of purity or integrity in their whole life. This, therefore, is defection so complete, that it extinguishes all godliness. …All of us, when we are born, bring with us from our mother’s womb this folly and filthiness manifested in the whole life …and we continue such until God makes us new creatures by his mysterious [unmerited favor].
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But there will be a reckoning for everyone, or as Spurgeon said, a Great Assize:
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Romans 14:10-12 English Standard Version (ESV)
The Psychology of Atheism, April 29, 2020, 2:17 minutes, YouTube, Ligonier Ministries
Mandated Memoranda 