God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing

Charles Spurgeon, "The Judgment Seat of God"

(Be sure to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)

Romans 14:12, "So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God."

What a motley throng will gather at that assize, of all nations and peoples and tongues! Persons of all ages, too. You boys and girls--and you who have lived through a long life. Kings and princes and senators and religious leaders will be there to give in their weighty account. Indeed, all those who lived neglecting God, and forgetful of their souls--they must all be there.

It is a universal judgment. John says, "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God."

Both sheep and goats shall gather before the great dividing Shepherd.

The wise and foolish virgins shall both hear the midnight cry.

The house on the rock and the house on the sand shall alike be tested by the last tremendous storm.

Tares and wheat alike shall be fully ripened.

Bad fish and good fish shall then be sorted out from the gospel net.

While the multitudes outside, the nations that knew not God, shall all without exception hear the summons to the dread tribunal with trembling.

Not a single person shall escape the judgment. Every being of the race of Adam shall answer for himself. "The kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man," must see the face of Him who sits upon the judgment throne.

Ah, how unwillingly must rebels come before that dread throne!

Pharaoh! You must see a greater than Moses.

Herod! You must see the infant you tried to murder; now the King of kings upon His throne.

Judas! You hanged yourself to escape the judgment of your conscience, but by no means can you escape the judgment of your God.

Though thousands of years have elapsed since men have died, and their bodies have dissolved into dust; yet when the trumpet rings out clear and shrill, then their bodies shall live again, and they must all come forth, each one to answer for himself at that grand assize before the Judge of all the earth, who must deal justly with each.

Saints and sinners too, only on what a different footing--are all to be judged out of the books, and out of the Book of Life. Thus says the Word of the Lord, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil."

It will be a personal judgment for each one. This is the pith of what the apostle is saying: "So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God." The judgment will not proceed in a rough, indiscriminate manner, as upon a race or tribe--but each man will have to stand alone, and the account reckoned will not be of a family or a group, but of each person individually for himself.

Note this carefully: Each one shall have to give an account for his own actions, for his own thoughts, for his own words, for his own intentions. Every one shall have to give account of the state of his own heart, of the condition of his mind before God. Oh, what a trial will this be!

Let us, then, bow before the solemn truth that God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom He has ordained.

"God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil." Ecclesiastes 12:14

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Ichabod Christians! This one is not for the faint of heart! (11 minute audio)