Grace and Judgment Day

Q: The Bible teaches about God’s great forgiveness, but it also talks of a judgment day and being accountable for your life. How can these both be true?

A: The Bible says that Christ died for the forgiveness of our sins. If we believe in Christ and accept that grace, then we are forgiven and on judgment day we will be found in Christ, washed clean and without sin. However, it is still a judgment day, because for those who have rejected Christ and, in so doing, stand before God without Christ, they will be judged on the basis of the law. Have they been perfect and upheld the law in every way; not just the 10 commandments, but the summary of those commandments - loving the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and loving others as themselves? Judgment day will separate the wheat from the chaff, but remember that outside of Christ’s gracious atonement for our sins, we are all chaff.


God will ask us to give an account of what we’ve done with what he has given us. It will not be for condemnation, but for a true reckoning of how we lived our lives under his grace and love. I suppose it would be something like this: on graduation day there are those who graduate and those who don’t, but a secondary question is – what grades did you get? (That’s a pretty iffy example, because graduation doesn’t come by grace…but hopefully you get the point).

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Serial Killers in heaven?

Q: Can God be all forgiving? Can He let serial killers and child molesters into heaven? Or is there a point that comes when even HE cannot forgive?

A: God can be and is all forgiving. He is the epitomy of grace and He tells us in the often quoted verse John 3:16 that He loves us SO much that he gave His only son, Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life. Nowhere in this verse does he make a stipulation...
on an individual’s history of sin.
Daniel did a message not long ago where he talked about “a little thing” he “likes to call justification by comparison.” It’s where we look at individuals and compare ourselves…”well, I’m not as bad as that person”. It is human nature to assess how bad certain sins are. When, in reality, God doesn’t set varying levels of sin. Sin is sin. Lying, using God’s name in vain, murder, cheating on your taxes, cheating on your spouse…it’s all the same. While the pain and earthly consequences of those actions are obviously different, the impact they have on our being righteous enough to enter heaven are the same. We are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God. Without God’s grace, NONE of us are worthy of the Kingdom of heaven. But the beauty of it is…with God’s grace, ALL of us are capable of entering that Kingdom.
The hard part, I think, is recognizing the above statement as “beauty”. Jesus actually tells a great parable- the story of The Prodigal Son. (Luke 15:11-32) If you’ve not read it, take a moment and check it out. In the story, the older brother represents the Pharisees, who at the time were really angry and bitter that “sinners” were being welcomed into the kingdom of God.
I think it’s just as easy for us to fall into the same trap as the Pharisees – where we actually resent God’s forgiveness of others who are “way worse sinners” than we are. Instead, we are told to rejoice and celebrate when others come to Jesus. Our focus should not be on the past of others but rather on Luke 15:32 “…celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

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Forgiving the Unaware Offender

Q: When you are angry with someone, how can you forgive them if they don’t even know you’re upset?

A: Forgiveness is something we are told to do throughout the Bible – in fact we are told in Matthew 6:14-15 that if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive our sins. Forgiveness is an act of letting go. It is something you do for you as much as for someone else. Being angry with this person who doesn’t even know you’re mad is...
corrupting your heart, not theirs. It is creating an environment for bitterness, anger and hurt to fester…all the while having no effect whatsoever on your offender. Letting go of this anger, truly forgiving this person – in your heart - which means understanding the impact and working through it…not dwelling on it anymore…seriously letting it go – allows you to move on and creates room in your heart for love, peace and grace…the things that are supposed to be there.

When I find myself struggling with forgiveness or dwelling on something in the past that I allegedly had already forgiven, I always think of a line in The Lord’s Prayer that says, “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us”. My interpretation of that line is – “Father, please forgive me for all of the things I’ve done to hurt You – the same way that I forgive those that hurt me.” In that context, it is more important than ever that I not only forgive those who hurt me, but I do so with the grace and compassion that I am asking for from my Father in heaven.

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Do we sin less after conversion?

Q: Does a person's propensity to sin decrease after salvation?

A: Yes. Before conversion to Christ we are sin prone. It doesn't mean that we are always doing bad things. We are still made in the image of God, after all, and his goodness is not driven out completely. We all know many fine, morally upright people who are not believers. But, our natural bent is toward self and sin. When the Holy Spirit enters a human heart, that person is justified and given a new power to live for God. "Sin remains but no longer reigns," to quote Bob Tuttle. It is not due to will power or trying harder; it is due to Holy Spirit power ... what the Bible calls grace. To quote Tuttle again, "Grace, the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, changes our attitude toward God and sin so that we are now righteousness prone. Our inclination is to obey rather than disobey God."

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