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Transcript 421F
Standing Before the Judgment Seat [Rom 14:10]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: You were talking about the people that are going to be judged, and you said that the righteous will be going straight to Heaven. And here in Romans 14:10 it says, "But why dost thou judge thy brother, or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? For we shall all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ." So I can't understand that now.
HC: The question is raised, How are we to understand Romans 14:10, where it says, "For we shall all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ," if indeed somehow we as believers do not come into judgment?
You see, in this verse, and you'll find a similar verse in II Corinthians 5:10, God is laying down a fundamental rule for mankind, that he has to answer to God for his sins. He must answer to God for his sins, whether he's done good or evil. And he will be judged by God's Word, which declares that the wages of sin is death. And every idle word, every evil deed, every evil thought, will all come into judgment.
Now you see, for some, that is, for those who have placed their trust in Christ, Jesus as our substitute took upon Himself all of my sins, all of my evil thoughts that I would ever think, all my evil deeds I would ever do, all my idle words I would ever speak. Christ took upon Himself all those sins, and has already stood before the Judgment Throne. And of course He was found guilty.
CALLER: Yes. I understand that. But you have said that the righteous just go straight to Heaven.
HC: The righteous go to Heaven, because we have already done what is called for in Romans 14:10. We have already stood before the Judgment Throne. That is why John 5:24 says that those who believe in Him, the Father, do not come into judgment. They have passed from death into life. They have eternal life.
That's why Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." You see, our sins have already been judged. There would be no point for us to stand before the Judgment Throne. Our sins have all been judged already.