JESUS DID NOT SAY THAT WE WOULD BE JUDGED BECAUSE OF THE SINS WE HAVE COMMITTED
How often we hear these words from the mouth of a preacher, “When you stand before God, He will condemn you because you murdered someone by your anger… you lied… you stole… you committed adultery…!
No, my friend, according to Jesus, there is only one standard by which you will be judged.
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
John 3:18 NIV
You see, both unbelief and faith produce the fruit of our attitude towards Him; rejection of Jesus or belief in Him as Lord. All the sins we commit are the fruit of unbelief in Jesus. All our good works are the fruit of lives transformed by the power of the gospel.
“Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”
John 3:20-21 NIV
Paul confirmed the truth that God will judge the world by this one standard.
“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed. This includes you because you believed our testimony to you.”
2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 NIV
Does this mean that those who have never heard of Jesus will escape judgment? Not at all. The Bible clearly teaches us that God has placed a witness to His existence and His nature in the creation around and above us…
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world. Psalms 19:1-4
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1:18-20
He has also written His moral law in the conscience of every person born into the world.
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. Romans 2:12-16
In today’s world of technology, every person who has access to the internet has access to a free copy of God’s Word in most languages and dialects. Gone are the days when the Bible could be banned or burned. Religion fears the Bible; prejudice keeps people from reading the Bible, but those who sincerely desire to know the truth will be led by the Holy Spirit to seek the Lord, and those who seek Him will find Him.
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon. Isaiah 55:6-7
God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ Acts 17:27-28
God will surely reveal Himself to anyone who seeks Him and desires to know Him.
3 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD,” Jeremiah 29:13-14