Daily Devotional by John Piper - January 10, 2020

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How Believers Will Be Judged I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. (Revelation 20:12) What about the last judgment? Will our sins be remembered? Will they be revealed? Anthony Hoekema puts it wisely like this: "The failures and shortcomings of . . . believers . . . will enter into the picture on the Day of Judgment. But — and this is the important point — the sins and shortcomings of believers will be revealed in the judgment as forgiven sins, whose guilt has been totally covered by the blood of Jesus Christ." Picture it like this. God has a file on every person ("the books" of Revelation 20:12). All you've ever done or said (Matthew 12:36) is recorded there with a grade (from "A" to "F"). When you stand before the "judgment seat of Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:1) to be judged "according to what you have done, whether good or bad," God will open the file and lay out the tests with their grades. He will pull out all the "F's" and put them in a pile. Then he will take all the "D's" and "C's" and pull the good parts of the test out and place them with the "A's", then put the bad with the "F's". Then he will take all the "B's" and "A's" and pull the bad parts out of them and put them in the "F" pile, and put all the good parts in the "A" pile. Then he will open another file ("the book of life") and find your name. Behind your name will be a wood-stick match made from the cross of Jesus. He will take the match, light it and set the "F" pile, with all your failures and deficiencies, on fire and burn them up. They will not condemn you, and they will not reward you. Then he will take from your "book of life" file a sealed envelope marked "free and gracious bonus" and put it on the "A" pile (see Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38). Then he will hold up the entire pile and declare: "By this your life bears witness to the grace of my Father, the worth of my blood and the fruit of my Spirit. Enter into the joy of your Master."       Bible Gateway Recommendations Buy Now A Godward Heart John Piper Browse more titles by John Piper!       Copyright Information   This devotional is written by John Piper. For more information about Piper's ministry, writing, and books, visit DesiringGod.org.   Subscription Information   This email was sent to mucomacamucomaca.muco@blogger.com by Bible Gateway, 3900 Sparks Drive SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA. This email is part of a devotional or newsletter that you signed up for on BibleGateway.com. For information regarding our privacy policy, click here. If you have questions or comments about this newsletter, please contact us. Manage all Bible Gateway subscriptions — Opt Out of all Bible Gateway communication