What will God ask you on judgement day?

To the solemn fact that all men must have to do with God abundant testimony is borne by the gospel. We read in Romans 14, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall how to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” And not only the overt acts, which men might be able to take account of, but the hidden motives, from which the actions spring, must all be brought to light, for “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13).

I am not aware that this expression, "the judgment-seat of God" or "the judgment-seat of Christ," is found anywhere else than in Romans 14 and 2 Corinthians 5: in the first of these two passages with a view to prevent individual judgments; in the second with a view to provoke to do good. The subject in itself is one of the most solemn and at the same time most blessed, and this so much the more as we understand it rightly. I believe that each act of our lives will be manifested then before the tribunal, according as the grace of God and His ways with us in connection with our own acts will be known then. We read (Rom. 14) that "every one of us shall give account of himself to God"; and the word, in this passage, mentions the tribunal in connection with the exhortation to brethren not to judge one another in respect of days, meats, or any other such thing.

What immense gain will our manifestation now be to ourselves! We shall know as we are known. If now, when perfect peace is possessed before God in a purged conscience, the Christian looks back at all his past life before and since his conversion, what a lesson of grace, patience, holy government for his good, that he may be partaker of His holiness — of care against unseen dangers, of instruction and of love will his new history afford the Christian! How much more, when freed from the very nature which produced the evil in him, he knows as he is known, and can trace now perfectly God's ways with him! It will immensely increase and enhance his appreciation of what God has been for him, and of His patient, perfect grace and purpose of love. It is surely a solemn thing, but of immense price and value to us. It is all wrought out in the conscience, as we learn from Romans 14:12. Here it is the fact. Remark the true effect on a right state of mind. First, not a thought of judgment as to righteousness has any place whatever. The judgment-seat only awakens that love which thinks of those still exposed to it. "Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." Secondly, it is realized so as to put him who realizes it responsibly in the presence of God. Now, "we are manifested to God." Oh, what a healthful and blessed thing this is for the soul! The rest is a mere effect readily hoped for — "I trust that we are manifested in your consciences." The other considerations produced a conduct proper to have this effect; but if a man was before God it was of little matter, did not affect the soul, save in the desire of others' good and Christ's glory. This double effect will certainly be produced in any such manifestation before others, and we then shall as certainly desire nothing else. The shame of a nature we have left will not be there then; the just judgment of evil will. I say this, however, in respect of the present condition of the soul. Anxiety on this point is a proof that the soul is not wholly in the sight of God. There it disappears because we are wholly there. Scripture never brings in the thought of brethren as concerned in this manifestation, and could not; but it does maintain, in the fullest way, manifestation in the light, so that if the heart reserves anything, has not brought it wholly out before God, it should be ill at ease. We are certainly perfectly manifested to the Lord, consciously I mean, (for we always are so,) and to ourselves. If it be for His glory that anything should be known to the saints also, we shall not regret it then; but our proper, full manifestation is certainly to God, and in our own souls. All that is needed to verify the government of God will, I doubt not, be made manifest. All that has been, through evil, sought to be hidden, so that the heart was false, the counsel of the heart evil, will be brought to light; but where men have walked in the light, the counsels of the heart, however man may have judged them, will be made plain; for in that day God will judge the secrets of men's hearts. His grace and His government may have wrought all this in the world, and some men's sins and good works go before to judgment, but those that are otherwise cannot be hid.

Hence the Lord pronounces them a generation of vipers. "The tree is known by his fruit." It was a bad tree, and no good fruit would He expect from it. "O generation of vipers," He adds, "how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word (that is, I suppose, everything betraying contempt for God) that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned" (vers. 34-37). What God insists upon is testimony to Jesus. These idle words betray the heart's rejection of Jesus, and slight the Holy Ghost's testimony to Him. "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." It is with the mouth that confession is made unto salvation; and the words that leave out Jesus prove that the heart prefers its sin to Him. The words of the mouth evidence the state of the heart. They are the outward expression of the feelings, and they show a man in one way as much as his conduct does in another. If the heart is evil, the words are evil, the conduct is evil: all therefore comes into judgment.

But that is not the end of the matter. Every idle word that men speak they will be called upon to account for in the day of judgment. This is true even of idle (that is, worthless or unfruitful) words. How much more so when the words are positively wicked! For by one's words (good words) he would be justified. and by his words (idle words) he would be judged. The world's government does not act an this principle: freedom of speech allows a shameful excess of evil words. Sometimes people are sued for libel of others; but the most repulsive language against God is considered of no consequence. God's judgment will specially expose all this, as Jude 15 & 16 bears strong witness, with swift, unsparing vengeance against men's hard words, no less than against their evil actions.

How little did the malicious conspirators think that God was taking note of everything, and that the story of their doings would be recorded by divine authority to be read by men in all succeeding ages! As little did the Roman officer Claudius Lysias imagine that his lying letter to the governor Felix concerning Paul was noted and preserved by God for insertion in His sacred Word! (Acts 23:25-30). Let us never forget that all that we say and do concerning persons we dislike, and of which we hope they will never hear, are all observed and recorded by the all-seeing God. Every malicious word and deed will have to be accounted for "in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ" (Rom. 2:16). Listen to the words of Him who will sit upon the judgment seat: "I say to you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment" (Matt. 12:36).

"For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God." To this end is cited Isaiah 45:24: every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God." So then each of us concerning himself shall give account to God." How incongruous for one to judge, for another to despise! We shall each give an account, and this about ourselves and none else. To bring in Christ truly is the due settlement of every question. To Him all bow that believe, as all unbelievers must bow in that day when He shall judge the quick and dead. The believer comes not into judgment, but shall be manifested there and give account. When those who believe not give account, it is judgment for them, and hence necessarily condemnation; for as they confess no Saviour, so they can no longer hide their sins. What David deprecated by the Spirit (Psalm 143:2), we are assured by our Lord Jesus, will not be our lot. (John 5:24.) Nor does the believer need judgment to vindicate Jesus; the unbeliever does because he refuses His grace. Thus admirably perfect are the ways of God with both, in everyone and in everything glorifying Himself by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Linked with all this blessed teaching is the judgment seat of Christ (verse 10). All, whether saints or sinners, will have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ; certainly not at the same time. There is no universal judgment, when the righteous and the unrighteous appear together before the judgment seat of Christ taught in the Bible. The Saints of God will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, when He has taken them from earth to glory, not at death, but when He comes with the shout in the air. But for His blood-bought people, who constitute His body, who will then be clothed with the house from heaven (the glorified body), there is no more judgment in the sense of condemnation. His own blessed lips have given us the assurance of this. (See John 5:24--that blessed word!) Nevertheless, there is a judgment seat of Christ for believers. The word "appear" in verse 10 is "manifested". We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ. Our works and our ways as Christians will then be brought fully into view; all will be brought into the light. Nothing can be concealed, and the believer receives the things done in the body.

When the believer appears before the judgment seat of Christ, he won't be judged in the sense of condemned. That matter was settled at Calvary. But he will be revealed. It should be a joy for the believer to think that at this moment he will-for the first time-see his own life entirely in the way the Lord Jesus sees it. And in our glorified bodies we will completely agree with this judgment. All this will lead to eternal heavenly worship.

(V. 10.) The mention of our walk leads the Apostle to speak of our responsible path, and what we have done in contrast to what God in His sovereignty has wrought. Thus he looks on to the judgment seat of Christ that lies at the end of our responsible path. He says, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." The context would seem to show that the statement of the Apostle is general, in as far as it includes believers and unbelievers. Seeing, however, that believers will be there, he does not say, "We must all be judged," but "We must all be manifested." For the same reason, it may be, he does not speak of the judgment of persons, but of "the things done in the body." The Lord's own words tell us that the believer "shall not come into judgment" (John 5:24). Again, let us remember that we reach the judgment seat of Christ by the coming of Christ, whereby we shall be "changed into the image of the heavenly." Thus when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ we shall have a body of glory like Christ; we shall be as the Judge.