QUESTIONS: "When you ask Jesus Christ into your heart and ask for forgiveness, and repent, then it says that we are forgiven and those sins are forgotten. Well when you go to stand before GOD ALMIGHTY at the WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT, are you judged for all of your sins that you have ever done, or are you judged on what you have done since you were saved and asked JESUS into your heart and repented. I am confused on this, I thought I knew the answer, but someone else told me different."

First did those who told you differently give evidence in scripture for what they said? The Bible is the basis for what we believe or don’t believe. Jesus said in John 8:47 "He who is of God hears the words of God." When Jesus comes for you, it will not be for judgment of your sins, but for salvation. Hebrews 9:28 states, "So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him." Note it says here when He comes for us it will be "without reference to sin." There are three judgements that the Scriptures talk about: 1) The Judgment Seat of Christ, 2) The Great White Throne Judgment, 3) and The Judgment of Angels.

*The Judgment Seat of Christ

Paul tells us about the judgment seat of Christ in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15,

"According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire." (1 Cor 3:10-15)

In this passage, first, Paul tells us that no foundation can be laid other than the one which is laid which is Jesus Christ. What is the foundation of Jesus Christ? His work of salvation for our sins on the cross. This simply means when we confess and repent of our sins, the only way we can gain God’s forgiveness for our sins and be saved is by receiving His forgiveness for our sins through faith in the death and shed blood of Jesus Christ. This means, His death and shed blood alone, not by any works of ours (Eph 2:8-10). Now the reason Why Jesus died for our sins wasn’t just to free us from the penalty of sin but because He has a purpose and plan for our lives. If Jesus had not paid sins penalty for us (death Rom 6:23), we would instead be spending our lives focusing on trying to gain God’s forgiveness for our sins through works. Jesus paid sin’s penalty for us so we could be freed from this focus to instead focus on the will and plan that he has for our lives.

Second, concerning this plan and purpose, Paul tells us that every man, talking about Christians who have placed their faith in Jesus’ death and shed blood for the forgiveness of their sins, lays upon the foundation of Christ’s work, not meaning works for salvation, but the purpose and plan God has for each of us. Paul tells us this can be wood, hay or straw, or silver, gold and precious stones. This is referring to the works Jesus has for us to do after salvation, not as the means. The only works which please God are works of faith. What is a work of faith? Anything which we do that is initiated in our lives by God through His Holy Spirit. Jesus said about himself in John 5:19, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner." The reason why Jesus was a total success in His life was because He never did anything in ministry or in relationship to anyone until He had first sought the Father’s will on the matter. The reason why Jesus was a total success in His ministry on earth as a man was not because of what He did but because of the motivation behind what he did: the Father’s leading in His life through the Holy Spirit. What does Jesus want you and I to do? He tells us in John 20:21, "Jesus therefore said to them again, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’" Jesus said the Father sent Jesus to do His work, not what Jesus thought he out to do. Jesus says this is His plan for us also (John 6:63, 12:48-50, 2 Cor 3:5-6, Heb 3:7-8, Isaiah 30:1, Rom 14:23). Just as he did not act out of His own initiative, but only through the initiative of the Holy Spirit, so he does not want us acting out of our own initiative, but only out of His through the Holy Spirit. When what we do, no matter how good the work, if not initiated by the Holy Spirit first results in wood, hay and straw. But whatever we do that is initiated by the Holy Spirit is silver, gold and precious stones. The judgment seat of Christ happens immediately after the rapture and is a judgment of the redeemed church, not of the lost. Believers are judged not for their sin, taken care of on the cross, but for their life and works. What we do that is motivated out of self: our soul, our thoughts and feelings; and our flesh (body), our appetites and desires, will be manifested before all the host of God’s family and these works will be burned up with fire, fall as ashes to the ground before God and all our brother’s and sisters. That part of our lives will be an embarrassment for us all on that day. But those works which were motivated out of our obedience to Christ through the initiative of the Holy Spirit will be manifested as silver, gold and precious stones which will be placed in a crown and on our heads individually before the family of heaven. That is the judgment seat of Christ which is the judgment of believers. This is our only judgment, but not of sin taken care of on the cross, our foundation, but of our works whether of the flesh or the Holy Spirit. The judgment seat of Christ also determines our rank and position in heaven and our work among the saints in eternity.

However, if after salvation a Christian freely knowingly chooses to live in willful blatant sin and refuses to confess his sin and repent, he can lose his salvation. Note the following passages in Scripture indicating this:

"So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’" (Matt 7:20-23)

"Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off." (Romans 11:22)

"For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries." (Hebrews 10:26-27)

We all sin daily in some capacity, but these are sins out of the weakness of our flesh, not blatant wilful sins we want to commit, but the ones Paul talks about in Romans 7:18-19 when he says,

"For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish."

But whether Christian or not, if a person lives in wilful ongoing sin, which means to do so is to reject Christ and His will and plan for their lives, which is a rejection of Jesus as Lord, if not repented of, when that person dies, in the end he will find himself not only in hell, but at the great white throne judgment having missed the rapture and the judgment seat of believers. Note how John defines being saved in 1 John 2:3-4,

"By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (1 John 2:3-4)

John’s point is that one of the evidences of a person being truly saved is a hatred toward sin and a strong desire to please the Lord. John makes plain in 1 John 1:8 that this does not mean that as a Christian, whether we want to or not, we will not in some capacity sin on a daily basis because of the presence of the old sinful nature, but that it will not be an ongoing pattern of sin. When a Christian sins, he is grieved over his sin and wants to stop. A person who is committing the unpardonable sin knows he is doing it and does not care, whether saved in the past or not.

*The Great White Throne Judgment

The Second Judgment that the Bible talks about is the Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation 20:11-15

"And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

The second judgment mentioned here in Revelation 20:11-15 is a judgment of the dead, not the living: "And I saw the dead, the great and the small standing before the throne." This is the judgment of those who rejected God and His means of their salvation through Christ. These are judged according to their works. Since the only work God accepts as pleasing to Him is that which is initiated by him through the Holy Spirit which includes our salvation, not one of these people will be able to be saved through their works. The Bible’s definition of sin is anything we do that is not initiated by Him first. Isaiah 30:1 states, "‘Woe to the rebellious children,’ declares Yahweh, ‘who execute a plan, but not Mine, and make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, in order to add sin to sin.’" Romans 14:23 is the N.T. parallel to this O.T. verse. It states: "But He who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin." We are walking in faith when what we are doing is motivated by the Holy Spirit through our human spirit, not our soul: our intellect and feelings; or our flesh: our appetites and desires. This is also why we cannot be saved through our works, it is because our works are initiated out of our soul, not by the Holy Spirit. Now you understand why the Savior had to be conceived of by the Holy Spirit, this is part of the reason. In order for God to save us it had to be His initiative. The section titled Jesus’ Full Salvation For Us and under the Title "Jesus’ Full Salvation for Man" I explain these truths in detail.

Again, the great white throne judgment is not the judgment of the church, but of those who are already dead. The church will be involved in this judgment as judges. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:2, "Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?"

*The Judgment of Angels

The third judgment the Bible talks about is the judgment of angels. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 6:3, "Do you not know that we shall judge angels?" Not only are we involved in the judgemnt of the dead at the great white throne judgment, but of angels and their works among men also.

Sincerely in Jesus,

Dale P. Kruse
Pastor Evangelist