Talk

Do Believers in Christ Face Judgement?

Louie Giglio
April 23, 2023

Louie takes listeners further into a conversation about life and death by addressing the reality of the Great White Throne Judgement. The truth is that believers in Christ will face a post-salvation judgement of their works – not for the sake of admittance into the Kingdom and the presence of God but for the sake of reward. Those who invest in what is earthly will see all their treasure burn up as waste, but those who live faithfully, having invested their resources and time into the Kingdom, will reap an eternal reward.

Key Takeaway

The bigger the reward we receive, the bigger the reward we lay at the feet of Jesus, so get busy figuring out what pleases God and do it!

1) No one skips out on the Great White Throne Judgement.

2) Our motives will be seen and exposed.

3) All wrongs will be made right.

4) This changes everything about our perspective and our purpose.

5) Our eternal disposition is impacted by our lifetime decisions.

6) Our goal is to please God and win the prize.

“
"The purpose of the judgement is not where we spend eternity, but how."
”
Charles Stanley

Discussion Questions

  1. What did you grow up thinking would happen right after you died?
  2. What would you have answered to this question (Do believers face judgement?) before having heard this talk?
  3. Do you think we should be terrified by God? Why or why not?
  4. What is the “Book of Life”? How does your name get written in it?
  5. What does the Christian’s judgement look like? How are good works simultaneously not only how we are saved but also how we will be judged?
  6. How was Pastor Louie’s illustration about experiencing his father’s discipline “wrong” (his words)?
  7. If the Kingdom of Heaven has “levels” or “classes” to it, what kind of people will be in the “Upper Class”? Where do you anticipate you would reside if you died today? Would you be "Upper Class," "Lower Class," or somewhere in between?
  8. What of the investments in your life will be “burned up” if you were to face the believer’s judgement today? Are all of the things that would be burned up “bad”? Take time to answer this. What is the difference between living a wasteful life of materialism and living an investment-minded life, “enjoying” things (1 Tim. 6:17)?
  9. What injustice are you sitting in today, big or small, that will be made right at the Great White Throne judgement?
  10. Explain in your own words how Christians are going to experience judgement and salvation simultaneously.

Scripture References

11Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.
12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
13The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.
14Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
15Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
6Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.
7For we live by faith, not by sight.
8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
27Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
10these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.14The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16for,

11For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
14The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
15The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,
9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
11Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.
12We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart.
13If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
14For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
6For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.
7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Louie Giglio
Louie Giglio
Louie Giglio is the Visionary Architect and Director of the Passion Movement, comprised of Passion Conferences, Passion City Church, Passion Publishing and sixstepsrecords, and the founder of Passion Institute.