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.
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.