Major Judgments; Evaluation; 2 John 8

 

John warns of the deceivers who teach that Jesus Christ has not come in the flesh. They were those who deceived. They taught false doctrine and they sounded good because there may have been many things that they wee teaching that were right. This is what makes deception effective. A good deceiver is someone who teaches 98% truth and 2% error. It is not the 98% that is going to hurt, it is that 2% of error. There are pastors who teach many things that are right but in crucial areas they have introduced heresy that is destructive to the spiritual life of the people they are teaching. Unfortunately most sheep don’t develop discernment. “This is the [a] deceiver and the [an] antichrist,” v.7. He is not the antichrist but he is teaching the same kind of thing that the Antichrist will teach. The word “antichrist” does not mean against Christ. In the Greek the prefix anti doesn’t mean against, though it does in Latin. In Greek it means “instead of,” a substitute Christ. This person is an antichrist because they are teaching a substitute Christ. These people don’t have a true Messiah. They may say that Jesus saved, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but what they really mean when you unpack the word “Jesus” is that this was just an apparition, it wasn’t the true humanity; so they are offering a false Christ. There are many cults that do this—Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and many others have a pseudo Christ. These are deceivers and they are demonstrating the same mentality is the Antichrist, they are offering a substitute saviour.  

 

2 John 1:8 NASB “Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.” Now he talks about why this is important. Don’t just be concerned about the deceiver and his false doctrine but examine yourselves to make sure that in your soul you correctly understand the doctrines of Christology. Why? It seems somewhat academic to examine these things, but John says it’s not just a matter of here and now, not just a matter of being able to articulate the doctrine, but it will impact our eternal destiny in heaven at the judgment seat of Christ. “Watch yourselves, be diligent in examining what you believe… “that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.” This reminds us of 1 John 2:28 NASB “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”

 

       The six major judgments that take place from the time of the cross

 

1.       The judgment of Jesus Christ on the cross for all of our personal sins. It was during that time that God the Father, operating as the supreme Judge of the universe, imputed every single sin in history to the impeccable Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ who was sinless (1 Peter 2:24) bore every single sin.

2.       The judgment of self, the judgment of the believer on himself to recover from sin and carnality. 1 Corinthians 11:28. Because our sins have already been judged on the cross all we need do is follow the procedure of 1 John 1:9.

3.       The judgment seat of Christ which is the evaluation of all church age believers. This takes place between the Rapture and the second coming in heaven during the time of the Tribulation on earth.

4.       The judgment of surviving Tribulation unbelieving Gentiles at the second coming.

5.       The judgment of fallen angels at the end of the Millennium. It is at this time that the sentence is applied. They were all judged and condemned in eternity past because of the fact that they followed Satan in rebellion against God, but the execution of that judgment is not applied until the end of the Millennium when they are assigned to the lake of fire.

6.       The second resurrection and judgment of all unbelievers takes place at the end of the Millennium at the great white throne judgment. They are all cast into the lake of fire.

 

The judgment seat of Christ

 

1.       There are two words in Greek for judgment. They are usually translated judgment or condemnation but they are actually two Greek words that we must understand. The first is based on the Greek verb krino [krinw], and there are various forms of that word all related to judgment and condemnation. It primarily denotes the idea of separation and of judging or pronouncing judgment from a judicial authority. Sometimes it means to execute that judgment or to be involved in a court case. The second word used is based on the Greek word dokimazo [dokimazw]; the noun is dokimos [dokimoj]. This has the idea of evaluation. krino judgment is negative; dokimazo is positive, an evaluation not to show all the terrible things that you have done but to reveal what you have done that is right. What is going to happen in the analogy that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 3:12ff is the idea of evaluation. The imagery he uses is that all the product of our life is going to be piled up and set to the torch and only that which has eternal value—called gold, silver and precious stones—that is the production of the Holy Spirit, is going to survive those flames. What is revealed in the judgment is the gold, silver and precious stones, not the wood hay and straw.