Fully Exposed Fully Accepted

Rom 2:16 Fully Exposed Fully Accepted

Judgement is Certain on that day when God is judging daily, and considering the doings of the sons of men. Every evil deed that they do is recorded in the register of doom, and each good action is remembered and laid up in store by God. A fixed and definite day is certain, but when is not known.(Nesbitt) (Acts17:30-31, Matt 12;36, 1 Cor 3:13)

Judgement is Concise God judges the secrets of men

The secret things will be made known by the one who knows all things. We will be completely exposed before God (Heb 4:12-13, Ps 103:3). Nothing can or will be hidden before Him (Eccl 12:14, Luke 8:17, Matt 10:26, 1 Cor 4:5, Ps 139:1-4). . . . there is really nothing secret from God. We make a difference between secret and public sins, but He does not, for all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. All deeds are done in the immediate presence of God, who is personally present everywhere. He knows and sees all things as one upon the spot, and every secret sin is but conceived to be secret through the deluded fantasy of our ignorance. God sees more of a secret sin than a man can see of that which is done before his face.(Jer 23:23-24) (Spurgeon) Every deed will be brought into the light whether for the Glory of God or for the glory of men (McArthur). The secrets of men shall then be judged. Secret services shall be then rewarded, secret sins shall be then punished. Hidden things shall be brought to light. That will be the great discovering day, when that which is now done in corners shall be proclaimed to all the world.(Matthew Henry). We will not only be judged according to our actions or deeds, we shall be judged according to everything that is true about us. We shall also be judged by every thought, every imagination, by everything that we have harbored or fostered or fondled in mind and in heart. All secrets are known to God (Jones). He knows exactly what we do and why we do it. Gk kruptos is secret, something concealed, means someone's secret thoughts, plans, purposes (Gingrich), it denotes the hidden desires, lusts, passions, and motives of people; the thoughts of the heart, as well as the outward actions of the life (Barnes) The secrets of men ... include the inner thoughts, hidden motives, as well as, all actions concealed or hidden from others. In fact, the judgment will be of the whole man, as only God sees, knows, and understands him. (Coffman) These secrets are imbedded in our internal conscience and thoughts (Rom 2:15) as well as expressed by our external hidden actions (Rom 2:1) (Luke 11:39). This will happen to all men, of every nation, of every age, of every rank and of every character. The Judge will, of course, judge their outward acts, but these may be said to have gone before them to judgment ,their secret acts are specially mentioned, because these will make judgment to be the more searching. It is not just the act of sin, but the attitude of sin, the hidden motives of every action, for a man may do that which is right from a wrong motive, and so the deed may be evil in the sight of God, though it seems right in the sight of men. Oh, think what it will be to have your motives all brought to light, to have it proven that you were godly for the sake of gain, that you were generous out of ostentation, or zealous for love of praise, that you were careful in public to maintain a religious reputation, but that all the while everything was done for self, and self only! What a strong light will that be which God shall turn upon our lives, when the darkest chambers of human desire and motive shall be as manifest as public acts! What a revelation will that be which makes manifest all thoughts, and imaginations, and lusts, and desires! All anger, and envy, and pride, and rebellion of the heart—what a disclosure will these make! All the sensual desires and imaginations of even the best-regulated, what a foulness will

these appear! What a day will it be, when the secrets of men shall be set in the full blaze of noon! (Spurgeon). God looks inside to the secret motives of our external actions. Whether done to impress others with one’s goodness, to react to peer pressure, to alleviate guilt feelings, or simply to feel better about oneself, anything whether in the open or hidden that is not done for God and through his power is basically sinful and unacceptable to him – no matter how outwardly good and sacrificial it may appear (McArthur). We live in a strange secrecy, even hidden from our most loving and intimate friends. If any one of us were asked to relate his own life, he might relate two lives which would seem all but independent of each other. He might tell where he had lived, what he had done, what had happened to him that was remarkable, what events had made a great difference in his life. Or, again, he might tell quite a different story. He might tell to what thoughts his mind naturally turned in the moment of leisure, what . . . pictures were, as it were, hung up all round the chamber of his soul. He might tell of deeds done in darkness, which though actual deeds and not mere thoughts, yet are part of this secret inner life by virtue of their absolute concealment. How different these two lives would be. (Spurgeon) God continually reads the dark, secret things of sin. And in the coming "day" all secrets must come to light. (Newell) Monsters that revel in darkness must be dragged into the open that they may be withered up by the light (Spurgeon) It is not here meant that God will judge only their secrets, so that their public and known actions should pass without being judged; for there is nothing that God does not judge. But it is intended to show with what exactness the judgment will proceed, since it takes account of things the most secret and the most concealed. It will not resemble the judgment of men, which cannot fathom the hearts and thoughts. God will not only take cognizance of external, but also of internal actions, and will discover even the inmost thoughts of men. All actions, then, whether open or secret, will come into judgment; but secrets or hidden things are here said to be judged, because they are reached by no other judgment. If men can conceal their evil deeds, they are safe from human judgment. Not so with respect to the Judge at the great day. The most secret sins against God will then be manifested and punished. (Haldane). The most secret service for God will be praised. How terrified we are of being found out, of being exposure, if people only knew of the things that happen within us. (Jones) This is exemplified in the story of Adam and Eve:

Nakedness Enjoyed Gen 2: 24 not ashamed Prior to the fall, Adam and Eve were in perfect harmony with each other and God. They were not ashamed of anything about themselves or their relationship with God. They had nothing that would have been any cause for shame. They were without sin . . .and their relationship to God was one of utter openness. They delighted to see God . . they conversed with him freely (Gen 3:10). (Boice)

Nakedness Exposed Gen 3:7 ashamed After the fall, their relationship to themselves, with each other and God changed drastically. The fall made them ashamed of who they were and what they had done. It caused them to hide from themselves and God. Sin causes us to hide form God. (Boice). They tried to conceal their shame physically by sowing fig leaves for themselves. They tried to cover their internal spiritual shame by hiding from God whose command they had willfully disobeyed. Nakedness has to do with exposure, not only with the external, physical exposure, but more importantly, with internal soulish exposure. They were not ashamed of nakedness before the fall because they had nothing to be ashamed about. (Boice) They were ashamed of each other. Prior to the fall, they could completely be themselves, with nothing to hide. After the fall there sin led them to make false accusations about each in an attempt to shift the blame, guilt and shame of their sin off themselves. When confronted with their secret, rather than being exposed, the man cast blame on the woman and the women cast blame on the serpent (Gen 3:12-13) As a result of sin no one can be completely open in relationships. In some good relationships we come close. But still there is a residue of ourselves that we keep secret and hidden even from our spouse or very close friends. Why? Because we are ashamed of ourselves and we fear that if we reveal the fault, the other will cease to love and respect us (Boice). In one sense our greatest fear is having our inner secret nakedness being exposed. To prevent the nakedness of their soul from being exposed they attempted to cover themselves with fig leaves and later through evasive actions and excuses before God. All in an attempt to get God’s holy righteous gaze on someone else. They covered themselves with fig leaves before each other to say that they were alright, they weren’t that bad and they were not sinners. That was fine so long as they could compare themselves to each other, but the fig leaves were inadequate when they finally stood before God (Boice). As in the Eden, nothing can be kept hidden on that day . . . We present a respectable front to the world so that people do not know about the things of which we are ashamed. If those things could remain hidden we would fare so much better in any judgement. But they cannot remain hidden at the end. God will judge all things, hidden from men or not. (Leon Morris). Secret offenses shall be brought into judgment, the deeds of the night and of the closed room, the acts which require the finger to be laid upon the lips, and a conspiracy of silence to be sworn. Revolting and shameless sins which must never be mentioned lest the man who committed them should be excluded from his fellows as an outcast, abhorred even of other sinners—all these shall be revealed. All that you have done, any one of you, or are doing, . . . shall be, laid bare before the universal gaze. (Spurgeon).

Nakedness Erased Gen 3:21, made coverings, Rom 1:16 I am not ashamed God had declared that the punishment for disobedience in eating the forbidden fruit would be death. But when he confronted them in their sin and exposed it, the death he had promised fell not on them, but a substitute. (Gen 3:21) (Boice). The Lord killed an animal as a substitute for their death. He also clothed “their nakedness” with the skin of the animals. Their guilt was placed on the animal. God had told them that their sin would be punished by death. And it was! But it was not themselves that died, but the innocent animals. They were exposed as sinners. All the secrets they had were revealed. But although their sins (nakedness) were exposed, they didn’t have to remain naked. God clothed them with the skins of the slain animals. So they were both exposed and covered at the same time (Boice). Jesus is our substitute. We cannot escape our guilt, but the gospel tells us the God deals with this guilt. He deals with it in the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Christ died for sin; the penalty of sin (his death) has been paid. Now God clothes those who have believed in Christ with His righteousness (his skin) (Boice). Believers are clothed in the blood soaked robe of his righteousness (Rev 7:13-14). Were it not for You, O Jesus, whose precious blood has cleansed us from all sin, where should we be! Were it not for Your righteousness, which shall cover those who believe in You, who among us, could endure the thought of that terrible day? In You, O Jesus, we are made righteous, and therefore we fear not the trial hour, but were it not for You our hearts would fail us for fear! (Spurgeon) We are fully exposed fully accepted.

Judgement is by Christ by Christ Jesus

Jesus is not only the savior, He is going to be the judge.(John 5:22, 26-29). Jesus is a judge so “no one might be able to say that the judgment is not absolutely fair. . . . he has been here as a man. . . . The judgement is in the hands of One who has been through it all; He knows all about it – He has lived in this world, as a man as God, and has suffered under the law and under sin. (Jones). If he has done the work for you on the cross the certainly he won’t judge you on the throne (Hebert).Jesus Christ, He is to be the Judge of all mankind. Our Redeemer will be the Umpire of our destiny. Jesus is a fit to be our perfect Judge, not only because is God, but because he knows our weaknesses and temptations, and therefore will not judge us harshly, and without a generous consideration of our condition. God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, who was tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin. He is our brother, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, partaker of our humanity, and therefore understands and knows what is in men. He has shown Himself to be skillful in all the surgery of mercy throughout the ages, and at last He will be found equally skillful in dissecting motives and revealing the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Spurgeon)

Judgement is according to my gospel

Paul . . . . did not speak of it as “the gospel,” but as “my gospel.” He felt that he could not live in the midst of so depraved a people without holding the gospel with both hands, and grasping it as his very own. “My gospel,” . . . he had so received it from Christ Himself, and regarded himself as so responsibly put in trust with it, that he could not disown it even for an instant. So fully had he taken it into himself that he could not do less than call it “my gospel.”. . . He had a gospel, a definite form of truth, and he believed in it beyond all doubt, and therefore he spoke of it as “my gospel.” Herein we hear the voice of faith, which seems to say, “Though others reject it, I am sure of it, and allow no shade of mistrust to darken my mind. To me it is glad tidings of great joy; I hail it as ‘my gospel.’ If I am called a fool for holding it, I am content to be a fool, and to find all my wisdom in my Lord.” Does he not by this word embrace the gospel as the only love of his soul—for the sake of which he had suffered the loss of all things, and did count them but dung—for the sake of which he was willing to stand before Nero, and proclaim, even in Caesar’s palace, the message from heaven? Though each word should cost him a life, he was willing to die a thousand deaths for the holy cause. “My gospel,” he says, with a rapture of delight, as he presses to his bosom the sacred deposit of truth. “My gospel.” Does not this show his courage? As much as to say, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God onto salvation to everyone that believes.” He says, “My gospel,” as a soldier speaks of “my colors,” or of “my king.” He resolves to bear this banner to victory, and to serve this royal truth even to the death. Amidst all the filthiness which I see in the world this day, I lay hold upon the pure and blessed Word of God, and call it all the more earnestly, my gospel—mine in life and mine in death, mine against all comers, mine forever, (Spurgeon)