Darren Tappouras - Class 5: Discerner of Thoughts and Intents

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Well, good morning, everybody. Good, good, good. Wasn't that a fantastic night last night? Very uplifting song of praise night. I was very moved by and I really appreciate the work that all those who were involved in that put into it. It was just probably the highlight of the camp for me. All right. Study number four. We're going to continue on with some of the concepts that we've already looked at in our previous studies.

2. 0:31

   We've probably in the last couple of studies tried to focus on the second stage, what we believe is the second stage of the judgment seat process, where we, just extracting the terms from the scriptures and the concepts from the scriptures that we read about the judgment seat, we give account. We might look a little bit more at that this morning.

3. 0:51

   We give account of ourselves, which is obviously our actions, our works, the things we've done. And as we're going to see this morning as well, our motives are examined and looked at by our Lord. So they're the things that occur during that second stage. We said, well, why? What's the purpose of that?

4. 1:10

   Because the Lord already knows them, of course, and he's quite aware of those things. We sort of saw in our third study, there's a link with our works and our motives, with the rewards that we receive, and even the role we play in the millennium, in the kingdom age. So there's a definite connection there.

5. 1:28

   We will even receive rebuke and correction in regards to things that we have done or haven't done as part of that process. But we also extracted this concept that the reason we go through this process is for our own benefit. God already knows these things. And really, it's hard to see why he would need, or even our Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of God, would need to do that for himself.

6. 1:54

   The benefit is ours as we are refined. And this is the final process, or the final part of the process of God manifestation and developing us as the sons of God. And this is the final act before we're presented faultless before his presence with exceeding joy. So we'll get to that in due course.

7. 2:15

   We sort of raised this issue already, just to quickly summarize it. We don't believe the analogy of a human court really stands up to what we believe the judgment seat will achieve. Human court is a process where all the evidence is provided, and an impartial person makes a verdict at the end of it.

8. 2:34

   And a lot of us sort of look at the judgment seat with this verdict-based sort of approach. But there are many differences between a human court with its verdict objective and what is achieved at the judgment seat. As I said, the judge already knows us personally. He knows the very hairs on our head.

9. 2:53

   He knows everything about us. In reality, he knew us in a sense before we were born, as Psalm 139 says. We are already declared righteous. So there's something that has to be taken into account in this analogy. We're already forgiven of our sins. So the court situation doesn't quite work. And there is no prosecutor in this scenario.

10. 3:15

    In fact, everyone in the court is on our side, be it the Lord Jesus Christ or God, who, of course, oversees this process. They are both on our side. And both of them, in Romans 8, say we're not laying charges against you in that traditional sense. So what we want to do this morning is look at three stock standard judgment seat verses.

11. 3:35

    And these are verses that many of you will remember from your first principle study. If it's like me, when I got baptised, we learnt some of these by heart. So some of them, you'll know them automatically. And probably many of them are being refreshed in our minds at lectures and discussions with interested friends, etc.

12. 3:54

    So these are the stock standard judgment seat verses that we learn and which support our statement of faith. What we're going to do as we go through these three verses very quickly this morning is extract, I think, two things I really want to extract. One is this concept of being opened up and examined and having our motives and our life laid bare before God.

13. 4:17

    So that's one of the aspects we really want to focus on. And the other is, I suppose, a demonstration in these verses that the judgment seat is, in a sense, a continuation or a completion of something that's happening now. That there should be a judgment seat process happening in our own lives already, as our own consciences work in our lives and God's word impacts our lives.

14. 4:42

    That that judgment seat process is already taking place and that the judgment seat is an intense version of that that happens to finally complete the process. So that's really the two things we want to extract from each of these verses. So let's start with the first one, 2 Corinthians 5.10.

15. 5:06

    And some of us might remember learning this, I suppose, when we went through for baptism. Linda Brown did, because I took her through. So you can test her out later on and just make sure if she still remembers. 2 Corinthians 5.10. And maybe we'll just read verse 9, maybe verse 8. I'll do the whole chapter, no, I'll be joking.

16. 5:27

    Verse 8. And this is one of our words for this week, actually. That's a word that we're going to come back to, particularly in our final session. We are confident. Now this word confident is the word boldness. And it's a word that is used in 1 John 2 and 1 John 4 in direct relationship to the judgment seat.

17. 5:46

    This boldness, this confidence. And of course, we've got to balance that off with the reality of what happens at the judgment seat. So we're going to see the word fear. Oh, thank you for that. We're going to see the word fear used in relationship to the judgment seat as well. So just to take one verse like this or one concept like this and overblow it is not good Bible study either.

18. 6:08

    So we need to balance these ideas together as we go through. But nonetheless, confidence and its link and connection with the judgment seat is there. And we need to bring that into account. For we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

19. 6:25

    And we mentioned in our introduction that that's the first century concept, isn't it, about the return of Christ. That it's something we desire. And we obviously, if we desire it, we have this underlying confidence that we're going to be part of it. That's something that's going to benefit us. That surely must go together.

20. 6:44

    If there isn't that feeling, then there's a disconnect between our public words and our profession of the Lord's return and what we really, really deep down think. So that's one of the objectives of our camp to try and look at that and maybe fine tune that in our lives. Verse 9. Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

21. 7:05

    That's a judgment seat word as well. Well, accepted, other translations will have well-pleasing. Is that right? I think New King James has got that. I can't remember what the ESV's got. Accepted is not quite right. Accepted, we sort of think about being accepted at the judgment seat. But it's not accepted in the sense of a decision made.

22. 7:26

    It really means being pleasing to God, that we might be well-pleasing to him. And that's one of our life objectives as well. 4, verse 10. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And this is our first principle verse. That everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

23. 7:51

    Now, just a few comments before we move on. Good or bad. It's interesting, he doesn't say good or evil and use the normal Greek word for evil there. Bad means worthless. And there are things at the judgment seat that are going to be considered worthless by our Lord. And we looked at that example of our works being put under a blowtorch to see whether they are wood or hay or stubble.

24. 8:13

    They're worthless. They're not valuable in that sense. And so that idea is sort of repeated here, whether our works are good or bad. Then verse 11. Now, as we go through these verses, I'm going to try and tidy up some translation issues. Because there are some translation issues that can sort of paint a particular picture that may not necessarily be represented by the underlying text.

25. 8:37

    So we just want to make some comments about that. And so verse 11 says, And the use of this word terror in connection to the judgment seat is, I suppose, daunting, isn't it? All of a sudden we've got, there's terror associated with the judgment seat. And the translators have used this very strong, I suppose, loaded word, emotionally loaded word, terror.

26. 8:59

    The reality is that word terror is just, if those of you have got the authorised version, the word terror is just the stock standard word phobos in the Greek, which is the word fear. And the word fear is, I suppose, a quite, I've got it here somewhere, has a broad meaning, depending on the context.

27. 9:23

    And I've just put some examples up here. Phobos can mean fear, reverence, respect, or to take something serious. Romans 13, for example, says fear those in authority. So we fear our policemen, which means we take them serious, we give them gravity, and they are important, and we don't ignore them or treat them with scorn and ridicule, etc.

28. 9:43

    So it doesn't mean we're terrified every time we see the police drive past, although if you've got no points on your licence, sometimes it might change, depending on that level. I don't know if you have points over here, but it's a concept we have in New South Wales. Darren Brown will explain all that to you later on.

29. 10:01

    1 Peter 2, servants fear your masters, for example. So it's not to be in absolute terror every time the boss walks in and starts shaking and quaking. To translate that, being terror of your masters wouldn't be quite valid. And this one particularly, wives to fear their husbands. In my case, it happens that my wife trembles in fear every time I walk in, but normally that's not the case.

30. 10:23

    So I'm just saying the word is rather broad, and the translators using terror here is probably a little bit loaded, and it's not quite consistent really with the whole theme, as we'll see as we go through. Nor is it consistent with verse 8 that talks about having confidence as well. So we've just got to keep that in mind.

31. 10:43

    But look at verse 11. There's this sort of cryptic type statement he makes next in verse 11. He says, Knowing then the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. Now this word manifest is interesting. Run your eyes back, sorry, to verse 10, where it says we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

32. 11:07

    Now we're going to just think about this idea for a moment. We appear. Now this word appear is the word faneru, and it means, I've got theia's definition there, to make manifest, to make visible something that's normally hidden, or to expose to view, or to show. So that's the idea of manifest, of faneru, is to reveal something that might be below the surface, or something that's hidden, and to expose it.

33. 11:35

    Now this is the word that the scriptures use to apply to the judgment seat. It's used in nearly every judgment seat verse. It uses this word faneru.

34. 11:48

    There are a number of Greek words that the writers could have used, quite valid Greek words, if they're just simply describing an appearance in a court, an arraignment, as we sometimes call it. You sort of turn up to give a plea at a court, or you must appear before the judge. There are other Greek words that are used, both in scripture and also outside of scripture, that it would quite validly have conveyed the concept of turning up, in a sense, and appearing in that sense.

35. 12:16

    I'll just put a couple of the options that Paul could have used. There's this word optimoni, which is translating one place in Hebrews 9, in reference to Christ, that he will appear the second time to the earth. So he's appeared once as the Son of God, and he will appear again. So that would be quite a valid use.

36. 12:39

    We're going to physically appear before Christ. He could have used that. Another one he could have used is erkomai, which is a word used in a number of places, but in Acts 22, the centurion calls the chief priest to appear before him. And that's a judicial word, actually. That would probably be the more appropriate word if you're simply describing a court appearance, or the appearance before a judge.

37. 13:03

    Erkomai has got that built into it. So if that's what you're describing, calling people before a tribunal or appearing before a judge, that would be the better word. But the spirit uses this word, faneroo. There's more involved than just appearing before a judge physically. And there's something happening in this process. We are being opened up and exposed.

38. 13:27

    Now, normally in a human court, as we said, those things would be exposed for the benefit of the judge, if that's the case. So there'd be a cross-examination, and a prosecutor would try and drill down into my motives behind why I did this, or where I was, or try and pull holes in my story.

39. 13:45

    So he's going to expose my lies, or expose my culpability, or expose my actions before a judge or a jury. In this case, that's not quite really the purpose, is it? Because the judge already knows everything about me. He knows my thoughts before they leave the words form on my tongue. So he knows me intimately.

40. 14:07

    So who is the exposing for? Who receives the benefit of the exposing, is the question we're asking. Why am I being exposed? And for whose benefit is that? And that's something we'll explore as we go through. So let's just sort of wrap up here, I suppose. The judgment seat of Christ, we appear for this exposure before the judgment seat of Christ.

41. 14:30

    We'll receive certain things. Our works are examined. Our life is examined, whether it's good or useless. Oh, and then verse 11's got this little reference at the end of it too. We are made manifest unto God. Now, that word manifest is the same word, faneroo. So it appears again. In one context, in the verse before, we're going to be exposed at the judgment seat.

42. 14:51

    But here we're actually being exposed now. We're being exposed. Paul says, already our way of life and our character and certain aspects of our life are exposed to you people, the readers of this epistle. So our life is exposed to others in their consciousnesses or their perception, as it says in other translations.

43. 15:14

    So it's interesting that we are exposed now to others. And as we said in our very first session, it's funny how other people can see our flaws and our weaknesses and our little blind spots and our little prejudices and all those things. That other people can see them clearer than we can see ourselves.

44. 15:29

    So we are exposed now to each other, faneroo to each other, but we're going to be faneroo before the judge later on. So just keep those concepts in mind as we flick through these verses. The next one, 1 Corinthians 4. I just want to go to that one.

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    1 Corinthians 4. In verse, might just pick it up in verse 3. He says, but with me, let's get my notes sorted down here.

46. 16:17

    With me, he says in verse 3, it's a very small thing that I should be judged of you. Now, it sounds a little bit arrogant when you first read that. But if you understand what Paul's saying, it's not as arrogant as it might first appear. It's a small thing that I should be judged of you or of any man's judgment.

47. 16:35

    He's saying in comparison to what God thinks about me, what other humans think about me is not that great. What God thinks is up here and what you think is not as important. He says, I don't even judge my own self. This is interesting. He says, I don't even judge my own self.

48. 16:55

    He says in verse 4, for I know nothing by myself. It's a little bit strange English there. So it's better translated. I'm not aware of anything against myself, if you want to use that. Even if you've got the AV, just change by to against. So he's basically saying, trying to sort of paraphrase it, I've got a good conscience about what I've done and the decisions I've made.

49. 17:19

    However, even that, I'm not justified. I'm not going to jump to the conclusion that everything I've done has been right and I'm going to get the tick of approval for all the actions I've made. Even his decision, his fight with Barnabas over John Mark. I don't know what you might think about that, but he thinks he's done the right thing.

50. 17:40

    And at the judgment seat, there might be pointed out that he acted maybe substandard. Who knows? So he says, he that judges me is the Lord. So I don't quite know what he's going to say about everything that I've done. I'm not even going to judge myself in that ultimate sense. I think I've done the right thing, but I'm not going to jump and say I'm absolutely justified in everything I've done.

51. 18:05

    Now, tomorrow's session, we're going to try and reconcile that with his absolute confidence in 2 Timothy, where he says, I know there's a crown of righteousness laid out for me. But that's not to this morning's point, so we'll get to that in a moment. But verse 5, he says, Therefore, judge nothing before the time.

52. 18:22

    So don't accuse other people or look at their motives and make a judgment about them until the Lord comes. And look at these words here, Who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest, there's our word faneru again, the counsels of the heart. Now, on the first reading, this sounds a bit daunting, so let's just look at what's being said here.

53. 18:47

    Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who will bring to light, which means to expose, in a sense, or to put the light on it. It's a Greek word, fotizo, which is to shed light. So he's going to put the spotlight on our lives, and he's going to put that onto the hidden things of darkness.

54. 19:05

    Now, when you first read that phrase, it sounds rather negative. It sounds very negative. Hidden. It's got hidden things of darkness. It's got this sleazy, it's got this picture, you know, I conjure up some sleazy little guy on the internet looking at, you know, rude things or whatever. It's got that sort of real hidden things of darkness, you know, this real negative, sinister aspect about it.

55. 19:27

    But really, when you break it down, it's not quite that. The word hidden is just the word kryptos, which is just the word secret or unseen by others. And it's the word that Jesus uses in Matthew 6, which John has been dealing with. It's the same word where he says, when you give alms or when you pray or when you have, you know, spiritual devotion or whatever, you do it in secret.

56. 19:49

    So it's not, the word itself is not sinister or wrong. It's just secret. That's really what it means. Even darkness in this context, we often think darkness is sinister as well. Darkness just means sort of unseen or obscure or not something that is seen by others. That's really what it's saying. So it's saying the secret things in our life that other people don't see.

57. 20:13

    And the proof that it's not necessarily negative or sinister is what follows on. And he says, well, our secret sort of inner parts are going to be made manifest. And even the counsels of the heart, the counsels of the heart's referring to the intentions, as I think the NIV's got in other translations, the NIV's got motives, sorry, the ESV's got purposes, the Amplified Bible's got motives and purposes, he's going to manifest or uncover or expose the motives of the heart.

58. 20:44

    And the result of that, and then shall every man have praise of God. So if it's all sinister and wrong and looking at the evil that we've done in our secret corners, then the rejoinder there of every man having praise of God doesn't really balance it out. So it's saying that our inner man is going to be exposed.

59. 21:04

    Our motives are going to be exposed. They're going to be opened up and revealed, as we said before, not just for the benefit of the judge, but as we're going to see later on, for our own benefit as well. Now let's just go to the last one. We're going to come back to 1 Corinthians 4 tomorrow, so we'll come back to that in a little bit more detail.

60. 21:23

    But let's go to the last one, Romans 2 verse 16. As I said, it's also a judgment seat related verse. A little bit of context I think is helpful. Paul's in Romans 2 specifically directing his words at or referring to the Gentile believers who have come into Christ without the background of the law of Moses.

61. 21:55

    And he talks about their response. Under the law of Moses, the Jewish response to God was very prescribed, is the term we often use, or very regulated. And they were told they couldn't do this, and if they did that on this particular day, they had to resolve it in this particular way. So it's all very regulated.

62. 22:10

    The Gentile converts in Romans 2 didn't have that background, and so their response was from the heart. I might just pick up the reading here in verse 14. For when the Gentiles, the non-Jewish believers it's referring to, not Gentiles generally, but believers who have come to the truth from a non-Jewish background, for when the Gentiles which have not the law, not the law of Moses, do by nature, which means not naturally in the sense that it's a natural thing they do good, but it means by matter of course, as a result.

63. 22:47

    They do the things contained in the law, they carry out the principles of the law in their life, having not the law, they are a law unto themselves. Now again, my mum used to say that to me all the time, you're a law unto yourself sometimes. That's not quite the right, that's not the right use mum.

64. 23:06

    The law unto yourself means that they're not, they haven't got the actual law of Moses directing everything they do, so it's coming from their conscience, from their heart. And that's where he goes on the same verse 15, which show the work of the law written in their hearts and their conscience. And it says their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts, the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.

65. 23:35

    It's a little bit double dutchy when you first read it, but what it's saying is the hearts of the non-Jewish believers are directed by these two sort of complementary concepts. Your thoughts, which is your rationality and your mind, working with your conscience, which your conscience is this inner man that is developed by God's word and by the principles of God and sort of lets you know when you're failing or doing right or wrong or whatever.

66. 24:02

    And these two things working together either accuse or excuse you. And those terms, the commentators say, are forensic terms or legal terms. So there's this judgment seat happening or should happen in our hearts and minds right now. And that's, you know, 1 Corinthians 11 talks about this, examining ourselves. So this happens using our mind, using our conscience, working together.

67. 24:27

    There's a little judgment seat going on or should be going on in our life right now. And that's why in this text there's almost an abrupt jump to the judgment seat. So he says, the Gentile believers are almost, you know, having a little judgment seat taking place in their life now as their conscience directs them rather than following a sort of formula.

68. 24:46

    And then he jumps in verse 16 because he's talking about the now and the here. And verse 16, as I said, it's like abrupt, it goes, in the day when God shall judge the kruptos, again, the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. So there's this sort of logical link between what happens in our life, between our conscience and our thinking with what will take place in the judgment seat.

69. 25:10

    It is an acceleration, a continuation, a finalisation of what's happening in our life now. And that's something that's very important about the judgment seat as these two, this evaluation is taking place now, accusing or excusing. Okay. Okay, we've looked at that already. The counsels of the heart is the motive. So again, it's this drill down right into our very motives that is taking place here.

70. 25:38

    And we've already looked at that. Look, this morning, we don't have time to follow this little line of reasoning through and you just might want to read it now and just store it away in your mind and we might refer to it later on. but this idea of our conscience sort of can be worrying as well in the sense that we all know our conscience condemns us because we all know we fall short of God's ideals.

71. 26:00

    And so, as our mind and our conscience works, we think, well, my conscience knows that I'm slack and I'm weak and I fail. Therefore, if that's an indication of how I'm going to fare at the judgment seat, well, I'm a goner. So, that's not a complete picture and I just want to show this idea from 1 John 3.

72. 26:21

    It says, Hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. So, this idea of we have assurance in our heart. And then the next verse says, however, For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. And then he says, If our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence towards God.

73. 26:42

    This is this confidence word that pops up again. Now, here in this verse, the believer can exist in two states. He can have a conscience that condemns him and yet he can also have the assurance and the confidence before God. So, they're not necessarily mutually exclusive. We both can have this assurance in our heart that condemns us but knowing that God is greater than our heart.

74. 27:05

    J.B. Phillips' translation says, We can reassure ourselves in the sight of God even if our own heart makes us feel guilty. For God's, God is infinitely greater than our hearts and he knows everything. If, dear friends, we realise this, our heart no longer accuses us and we may have the utmost confidence in God's purpose.

75. 27:29

    So, that's an interesting rendition of that. But, it can exist and I think it should exist in us. I think Paul had that duality in him as well. You compare Romans 7 to Romans 8. Our conscience does prick us and that's a good thing and it doesn't, it's not an indicator that we're not going to be in the kingdom or be rejected at the judgment seat necessarily.

76. 27:48

    Anyway, I'm not going to dwell on that this morning. This idea of boldness and confidence runs right through the New Testament in some very, very key concepts and we might look at those again tomorrow. Now, I just want to finish off this morning by going to Hebrews 4 if you don't mind turning there.

77. 28:06

    You may never have thought of Hebrews 4 as a judgment seat passage before. It's not normally, it doesn't appear in those first principle lists that we have.

78. 28:19

    I don't think it's even in the statement of faith under the judgment seat clause. But I think once you see the concepts that are used here in Hebrews 4, there's no denying the fact I think it's a judgment seat picture. We'll just pick it up in verse 12. It says, For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.

79. 28:44

    Now, the word of God, we often just think of the word of God as the Bible, I suppose. And the Bible is a representation or a manifestation or an extension, if you like, of God's word and we rightly refer to it as the word of God. There's nothing wrong with that. It's God's word.

80. 29:02

    It's God's written word, sometimes we say. So God's word is his mind, really, the mind of God expressed in this case in written form. So it is God's word. But there is another sense in which we use God's word and that refers directly to our Lord Jesus Christ himself. He is the word of God.

81. 29:20

    And he's the word of God associated with a sword as well. There are many verses, particularly in the book of Revelation, that referred in Isaiah 49, that referred to him as the word and a sword coming from his mouth or having the sword of God. So the idea of God's word being a sword, yes, it relates to his written word and how it should affect us.

82. 29:41

    But ultimately, we'll see the way the pronouns run in this section and how it sort of moves off to talk about the priest, et cetera. It is ultimately talking about Jesus himself. He is the word of God. If you want to write the quotes down, Isaiah 49, verse 2, he made my mouth like a sharp sword.

83. 29:59

    Revelation 19, 21, a sword proceeded out of his mouth. Revelation 19, verse 15, his name is the word and out of his mouth goes a sharp sword. Revelation 1, verse 16, out of his mouth goes a two-edged sword. And I'm sure many of us are already familiar with that concept that Jesus is the word made flesh.

84. 30:15

    So this is the word made book. Jesus, as John 1 tells us, was the word made physical, word made body, word made human. So God's word was exhibited in both these mediums, if you like, the word made book and the word made flesh. So it's quite valid and there's sort of two levels then here in this passage.

85. 30:34

    We can read it as referring to God's written word which affects our heart and mind and exposes our weaknesses. That's quite valid. But as we've even seen in those other quotes from the New Testament, there's a secondary application to a future exposing or a future understanding covering that will take place by the word which is Jesus Christ himself.

86. 30:58

    So let's just work our way through this. This is a really wonderful little verse and I quite love it. So it says, the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword and it says, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. So this word is really sharp and it gets right into you and it cuts between these two things called soul and spirit.

87. 31:22

    You think, okay, what a soul and spirit. What's it dividing? Well, what soul refers to in scripture, soul is the natural human functioning, I suppose, of our natural life. So all the things that we think of as that we need for survival and we need to exist, our soul, whether it's psychological needs or our physical needs are all wrapped up in that word soul as a functioning human body or person.

88. 31:57

    The spirit in this reference is the influence of God's word, the spirit word coming into our life and the spirit is generated in us from the seed which is planted and develops the spirit of Christ in us. So the sword comes in and goes and cuts between soul and spirit. What does that mean?

89. 32:17

    Well, a bit like I think that when we burnt that house in our second session and we applied the torch to our works, our motives aren't always quite pure, are they? And I use the example of myself, I said, well, you know, I've sort of come all the way from Sydney to Perth to do these Bible studies, you would think that's a spiritual thing, that's pretty spiritual, isn't it?

90. 32:40

    It's hard to imagine something more spiritual than that. And yet the sword gets applied, and the word of God divides between the soul and the spirit and says, well, it's not quite that simple. There's, you know, there's other psychological needs down that you're getting fulfilled in this. There are other things that you're experiencing, even if it's just the friendship and the company with others and you're catching up with people and you've got a free holiday out of it, whatever it might be, you know, free holiday to Busselton and people are going to see how spiritual you are, so there's a nice little psychological kickback in that.

91. 33:16

    And all sorts of things are built into that as well. The motives aren't quite that pure. And so the soul and spirit is divided. Now, again, you've got to think, what's the purpose of dividing this? Is it so the judge can go, aha, Darren, you did these talks for the wrong reason, busted, you're a goner.

92. 33:36

    It doesn't make sense to think of it like that, it doesn't make any sense. Why does a judge need to do that? And what's the purpose of that for the judge? There's no purpose for him, really. The benefit is mine when these things are pointed out to me, and I'm sure it's much more complex than just the little examples I've made.

93. 33:53

    So the soul and spirit, I say, well, I'm doing lots of spiritual things in my life, I'm raising my family, that's a pretty spiritual thing, and the sword goes, well, yes, but that's a soul thing as well as a spiritual thing. Everyone in the world loves their children. Jesus says the publicans love their own, so that's not as spiritual as I might have thought, maybe.

94. 34:19

    As I said, I think the example I use was I invite people around at home and I'm very hospitable, so isn't that spiritual to have these people home? Well, you just love cooking duck and barbecues and stuff, so there's this other aspect to that as well. So, I mean, they might sound trivial examples, but what we're trying to illustrate is this idea of dividing the soul and the spirit is what the word of God does.

95. 34:42

    At one level, we do that now, and we should be doing that now, with God's word coming into our hearts and minds, our exhortations on a Sunday morning, our personal meditation, examination of our lives, all those things are working to do that now, but we flip it to the future and to the word of God doing this in a major way that we can't even comprehend.

96. 35:04

    And so he's dividing the soul and spirit into the joints and marrow, and that's like right into the inner man, it's sort of got this idea of getting right in to the very interior of a person. It's interesting, the law of Moses couldn't really access the marrow because the law of Moses couldn't break the bones, and so the marrow is not really examined.

97. 35:25

    So the spirit word gets further than the law of Moses really could, it goes right into the very inner motives and thoughts of a person. And it says there, it is, the word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Discerner, it's a really interesting word in this subject, it's the judge really, it's the judge in this case, it's the discerner, it's the word kritikos, what word comes from that do you reckon?

98. 35:54

    Kritik, kritik, kritik, so it is the critic, you have music critics and you have restaurant critics or I don't know if you have mutual improvement classes over here but we used to have a critic, used to get up and tell you where you went wrong, used to put fear and dread into you as you sat there waiting for the critic to tell you off.

99. 36:14

    So the critic sort of looks and makes adjudication, makes decisions, makes a commentary on what you've done. I think Strong's definition here critical appraisal of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So the word of God gets right in there, divides soul and spirit and criticises and critics are also positive aren't they?

100. 36:39

     So a food critic will say good things and negative things so it's not just a negative process, the critic goes right in there and he gives an opinion and it says there the discerner of the thoughts, again it's getting right into us and the intents, it's the intents as well, it's the meaning of intents here somewhere, again it's the very motives of our life, the thoughts and intents of the heart, again going right into it.

101. 37:08

     And then verse 13, neither is there any creature that is not manifest, there's our word faneroo again, so again that's why I believe we've got too many judgment seed ideas here to ignore, it's a judgment seed passage, it exposes us, we are manifest in his sight, notice the pronoun his now, it's Jesus really isn't it, in his sight, but all things are, look at these words that he used, naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

102. 37:44

     Now a quick comment on that little phrase, if you've got the avillion it says with whom we have to do, it's a funny little phrase isn't it, with whom we have to do, I always say it reminds me of something out of a Jane Austen novel or something, whom we have to do, Mr.

103. 37:59

     Bennett, who we have to do, it's a sort of funny little phrase, who we have to do, it actually is the same Greek word give account, it's the exact same word that's everywhere else translated give account, but for some reason here I don't know why it's who we have to do, so it just means give account, it's the exact same idea, and it's again another judgment phrase sort of compressed into this little section, so we have to give account, and as we give account we're naked, and we're open, there's no sort of putting up a veneer or hiding or sort of standing behind any excuses, we're opened and naked in his eyes, in the word's eyes, that word open, now we're going to take this on an interesting little digression here, opened, the word opened, I think I've got it here, it's a trachy, yep, trachalizo, this idea of open means to expose your throat, so it can be slid open, that's what this word means, it's a word used in relationship to the sacrifices, so we're opened, we're vulnerable and we're opened up specifically to have our throats cut, a trachyectomy or whatever they call it, so about, now of course there's an echo here isn't there back to the law, and all these words like being made naked and opened are references to the law and of course Hebrew is written to those who knew the law quite well, would have picked up these little references, the reference here is taking us back, and again it's a priest word, it takes back to the sacrifices, we might quickly do this, have a look

104. 39:38

     at Leviticus 1, we'll finish up soon so I won't take too much time to do this, Leviticus 1, and we've got here a very special offering called the burnt offering, and this is really, I know it's not just some sort of expositional little thing I'm doing, this is really relevant to the underlying lesson I think, the big point about this burnt offering, it had to be without blemish, now keep that word in mind, without blemish, and I think we're told that in a number of places but here in verse 3, if he's offering a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him take a male without blemish, now how did you know it was without blemish?

105. 40:25

     Because you can only see the outside of the cow or whatever it was, I think it was a cow, one of your cattle, you can only see the outside and you can say well it looks okay, it looks like there's no blemish because it's all sort of functioning and looks, there's nothing particularly obvious, the priest had to make sure it was without blemish, they had to get right into it with a sword and open it up right into the kidneys and the reins and right into the inner regions of the animal and wash it with water even to make sure it was without blemish, it had to be without blemish, if it had blemish, it's rejected.

106. 41:00

     Now does everyone know that phrase in Jew that says we are presented faultless before his presence, you know that word faultless is without blemish, that's what it's referring to, it's again an echo back to the burnt offering here, to the sacrifices, we will be presented without blemish and here's a big difference between the law of Moses and the law of grace in Christ, the blemish detected here in the burnt offering meant the sacrifices rejected.

107. 41:34

     In Hebrews 4 the concept is the blemish is removed by a faithful high priest and we are then, to use the words of Jude 24 I think it is, we are then presented without blemish. So there's a big difference here but look at the concepts here from Leviticus 1. Verse 5, he shall kill the bullock, so its neck is exposed and it's open and open but look what happens next, verse 6, he shall flay the burnt offering first.

108. 42:05

     So the first thing he does is flay it. In the Hebrew, if I put that up here, no, no I haven't got that one, the word flay and some of your margins may even have this, you know what the word flay means? Make naked. There's your echo from or to Hebrews 4, the animal is flayed, then it's divided up and then it's even washed with water.

109. 42:30

     Look at verse 9, his inwards and his legs he will wash with water and then the priest shall burn on the altar to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet smelling savour unto the Lord. And this idea of sweet smelling savour runs through the chapter. Verse 13, he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water and then it's later on burnt.

110. 42:53

     So, this is no doubt the foundation of what the writer of the Hebrews is referring to in Hebrews 4. The animal is naked and open to him with whom we have to do or whom we give account to. In this case, it's our high priest. And that's where we move to. So, let's go back to Hebrews 4 and just finish up our session on this.

111. 43:24

     And this is awesome. Just wonderful. Now, you might be saying, well, that's all very interesting and nice, but being opened up in such an incredible way before the judge with my innermost thoughts and intents being opened up and revealed and made naked to him in this incredible sort of Fenneru expose, it doesn't really make me too excited to be honest.

112. 43:57

     I still don't get why you're saying we should be looking forward to that, because that's still freaking me out to think that I'm going to have this soul and spirit sort of division made and it's going to be all pointed out to me and I'm going to have it opened up and exposed this way.

113. 44:12

     I still don't take any comfort from that. That still is not something I'm looking forward to. Well, let's read on. So he says at the end of verse 13, we're naked, we're opened, we've given a giving account and then verse 14 says, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passing the heavens, let us hold fast our profession for, verse 15, we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, let us therefore come boldly.

114. 44:50

     There's our word, there's the word, there's the word, there's our word, that's our word, that's what it's all about. And you think, well, it doesn't make sense, there's no way we should come boldly because we're going to be opened up and exposed and every little part of our life is going to be exposed to Christ and all our motives are going to be revealed, our inner man, the critic and all this stuff and you think, man, that's just freaking me out.

115. 45:10

     And then in a couple of verses he says, remember who's doing this, remember who's doing this, it's a faithful high priest and he's been touched with our infirmities, he understands those things and he's going to open us up therefore come before him with boldness. And look at that verse, look how it goes on, let us come boldly, that's the same word from 1 John 2 and 1 John 4 that's going to be the cornerstone of our study, let us come boldly unto what?

116. 45:37

     Unto the judgment, unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. See, the emphasis of the judgment seed is really explained there in these beautiful terms. Yes, you're going to be exposed, yes, you're going to be opened up, yes, you're going to be flayed and made naked, yes, your inner man, your inner thoughts are going to be revealed.

117. 46:05

     Not to condemn you, not to find an excuse to reject you, not as part of a judicial process to see if you're going to be in or out. I mean, if Jesus wants to do that to me to see whether I'm in or out, he only probably needs an hour of my life to do that really, to open me up for an hour and go bang, bang, bang, you're out.

118. 46:26

     It's obviously not the purpose and the intention of this process. It's for our own good. And as a priest would wash the inner parts with water, so we are prepared here and then obviously not righteous in our own self, but in some way we are presented without blemish before our Lord and we become a sacrifice of sweet smelling savour to God.

119. 46:51

     Therefore, verse 16, let us come boldly with confidence, not in ourselves of course, that doesn't make sense. The boldness and the confidence is in the grace of God and the throne of grace. let me just finish up. I mean, the whole idea of a priest, we haven't got time to go into this this morning, the whole idea of a priest, it goes on in Hebrews 5 to talk about the priest and his qualifications and why, you know, why didn't God send an angel to sort of to kick off the sacrifices or to initiate the sacrifices?

120. 47:21

     He didn't. The priest had to be taken from among men, compassed with infirmity, all that. He had to be like that. And these well-known verses, you know, Hebrews 5, every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men, things pertaining to God, who can have compassion. Green doesn't work too well, does it?

121. 47:38

     Compassion on the ignorant and them that are out of the way. Compassion on the ignorant. Well, I'll have compassion on the ignorant when he comes back, you know, and sort of conforms to me. He's compassion on the ignorant and them that are out of the way, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.

122. 47:55

     Hebrews 4, 5, we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Hebrews 2, wherefore it behoved him in all things be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful, that word's compassionate high priest, he can sucker them that are tempted, et cetera, et cetera.

123. 48:14

     So these are the ideas that are conjured up here in the high priest, opening us up and delving into our hearts, into our motives, and of course then which lead to confidence. I think I have a reference from Brother Carter here, no, I must have lost, oh no, here it is. Here's from Brother Carter's exposition of Hebrews and he says, as true worshippers they are enjoined to come or draw near boldly with freedom and confidence to the throne of grace.

124. 48:44

     Do they ever ponder the significance of the fact that the cover lead of the ark was called the mercy seat? What did it signify? Do they ever think about, wonder why it's called the mercy seat, not something else? In Jesus was the answer to be found. In drawing near through him they come to the mercy seat.

125. 49:05

     It is a throne, so it is a throne, for there God's supremacy and righteousness have been exhibited, but Brother Carter says, it is a throne of mercy. For God in his kindness provided Jesus to uphold his law that men may come near for forgiveness and friendship. for there can be obtained mercy for past sins and there grace can be found for present need.

126. 49:30

     I think that Brother Carter picks up that whole concept of the mercy seat in the context of the judgment seat and makes that very plain. I think I might finish up there so I don't go too far over time. I think we're getting down now to why I believe we can look forward to the judgment seat.

127. 49:51

     the process of self-awareness, if you like, and delving into our motives is something that we are doing now, but it's flawed and it's subject to all our blind spots and all the things that we can't really reach, if you know what I mean. When we stand before the judge, we're not being judged as to whether we're in or out in that sense, but our lives are being judged to get rid of the dross, and the problems and the issues that are holding us back from full service to God, and the things that cause us to think in wrong ways and to follow wrong directions, all those things are being examined for that end purpose of presenting us faultless.

128. 50:37

     And that's why to use the words of Psalm 139, I think, capture why I am looking forward to the judgment seat. I believe I'll be accepted at the judgment seat, not because of anything I've done or whatever, I've never, you know, I don't think in any way like that at all, I think I'll be accepted because I am a son of God, because I have been, I've responded to the gospel call, the gospel call is very simple, he that believes that he's baptized shall be saved, I do believe in God, I believe his promises, I believe his right, I believe his ways are the right ways to go, even though I fail to live up to them, I believe they're right, I believe them with all my heart, and I believe I'll be in the kingdom because of that.

129. 51:14

     But I also believe a lot of work needs to be done on me before I'll be given immortality, and so I want that to happen, and Psalm 139 says, search me oh God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and if there be any wicked way in me, lead me in the way everlasting.

130. 51:34

     Now of course we should be doing that now, and I'm not trying to use this as a cop out to say, oh we just don't do it now, of course this is the very reason we come to on a Sunday morning and examine ourselves, that's all part of it, but you and I know the reality is it's not going to really happen until it's the Lord, we're in front of the Lord, and it happens in that absolute perfect way, and that's why I want it to happen, I want the judgment seat for me, selfishly in a way, I want to be made like God, I want to be made like Christ, and that's not a magic wand just making me, changing my physical body to become immortal, there's more at stake here, and I want that to happen, search me oh God, know me, change me, and prepare me, and then through your grace and mercy give me immortality, and let me be part of your purpose with the earth, and that's why I want the judgment seat, I'm looking forward to the judgment seat, and I believe we all should as well, thanks for that, thank you.