The New Testament owned by every Christian warns, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment” (Jas. 3:1). Yet some false-grace “teachers” are now telling us that we will never be judged! They claim that we don’t have to worry about standing before Jesus. “Why would Jesus ever judge us?” they ask, since He paid the price for all our sins, past, present and future? Besides, haven’t you ever read Jesus’ words in John 5:24, which say, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life’?”
This is just another tragic example of how false-grace proponents concoct their heresies by twisting scriptures.
Paul warned, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10, emphasis added). That’s very clear. Scripture repeatedly warns that God will repay everyone, Christian and non-Christian, “according to their deeds” (see Jer. 7:10; Matt. 16:27; Rom. 2:6; Rev. 2:23).
Paul also wrote, “We will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘Every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall give praise to God.’ So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:10-12).
Again, that is very clear. But what about Jesus’ words in John 5:24 promising that believers in Him do “not come into judgment”? Jesus could not have been speaking of standing before God to be judged by Him. He was speaking about the ultimate, final judgment that unbelievers will suffer—when they are cast in to hell.
Here’s what Jesus actually said, in context:
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment (John 5:24-29).
Putting it all together, those who believe repent of their rebellion against God, and their lives from then on are characterized by good deeds for which they will be rewarded at their resurrection with eternal life. They need not fear a “resurrection of judgment”—an obvious warning of condemnation—that will be suffered by those who never believed and repented.
All believers should, however, prepare for a judgment of their good works “by fire,” in which the quality of those good works will be determined, either proving to be worthless “wood, hay and straw,” or priceless “gold, silver, precious stones” (1 Cor. 3:12). The judgment fire will consume the former but not the latter.
How tragic it will be to see one’s good works exposed as worthless because they were done for the wrong motives or were not founded in biblical truth. Many sermons will then be exposed as worthless. Thankfully, however, God is merciful: “If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:14-15).
That being said, the sermons of false-grace teachers are not low-quality “good works” of wood, hay and straw that will be burned up in the fire of Christ’s judgment seat and go unrewarded. Rather, their sermons are heretical teachings that misled people right into hell who will be expecting to inherit eternal life. Their sermons expose them as being “wolves in sheep’s clothing” and “false prophets.” Speaking of them, Jesus warned, “You will know them by their fruits… every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit…. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt. 7:16-19). That sure sounds like hell.
