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0:54Sounds like John Bunyan, something that he would say. Vainglory. What is this place? Well, the name describes it, vain and glory. What does vain mean? Empty. What does glory mean? Praise. The country of empty praise. It speaks about praise that is worthless, praise that is meaningless, praise that will not last. And those from this country spend their lives desiring to make a good showing In the eyes of man rather than the eyes of God. Some of them like to attend church because there is a great opportunity to gain the praise and affections and admirations of people by looking religious.

1:46But that praise is here today and gone tomorrow. They may look religious, talk religious, put on great displays of great devotion, all to impress the eyes of churchgoers. We met two of them in Pilgrim's Progress. Do you remember their names? They're ones that didn't go through the narrow gate, but they came tumbling over the wall. They jumped over the wall instead of coming through the narrow gate. I'll pick up a little bit of the dialogue. As he was going on his way, two individuals came tumbling over the wall on the left hand of the narrow way. And they made speed and caught up to him, that is, Christian. The name of the one was formalist, and the name of the other, hypocrisy. Christian said to them, Gentlemen, where did you come from and where are you going? They said, We were born in the land of vainglory, and we are going for praise to Mount Zion.

3:00Christian said, You know what? I walk by the rule of my master, but you walk by the rude working of your own fancies. You are counted thieves already by the Lord of the way. Therefore, I doubt you will be found true men at the end of the way. You come in by yourselves without his direction, and shall go out by yourselves without his mercy. I beheld that they all went on their way and came to the foot of the hill of difficulty. Now, Christian went to the spring, drank thereof, and then he went up the hill of difficulty. The other two also came to the foot of the hill of difficulty, but when they saw that the hill was steep and high, and that there were two other ways to go, they were resolved to go in those ways. Now, the name of one of those ways was danger, and the name of the other, destruction. So the one took the way, which is called danger, which led him into a great wood, and the other took the way to destruction, which led him into a wide field full of dark mountains, where he stumbled and fell and rose no more. That's formalist and hypocrisy, making their way through life in the midst of church and religious settings. I'm afraid to say.

4:31Sadly, that there may very well be some formalists and hypocrisies who live among us here at Emmanuel Baptist Church. You look like you are traveling with us to Zion, but in the end you will never make it. You have not been born from above. You have not entered through the one single gate of Jesus Christ and him alone for salvation, faith alone, in him alone, through the work of his grace alone, displayed on the cross alone. You have not come to him in repentance and faith. Therefore, you have not entered into the narrow way of the true Christian life. You have a deadly code programmed into your spiritual DNA, and it will consign you there for eternity. What is this code? Well, you love the praise of men more than the praise of God. That was what was wrong with formalist and hypocrisy. And, friend, if you're going to follow Jesus Christ, you're going to have to abandon all senses of formalism and hypocrisy and get in the true way and become faithful and follow him.

5:48Well, formalist and hypocrisy also lived among the churches of Galatia. You see, there are those who loved the false gospel because they loved the Praise of men. They wanted a gospel that didn't involve the cross. They wanted a different gospel. And so they despised the law of Christ and its way. Now, as we come into chapter 6 of Galatians, Paul is emphasizing this law of Christ. The Christian is not under the Mosaic law, as in the sense that the Jews were under the law.

6:30But they are not without law, that law being the law of Christ. The law of Christ is about being conformed to a person. Christ is fixed forever. He's never going out of style. His thoughts are never going to pass off the scene. His words are forever. Christ is forever. His character is the standard for humanity forever, and that's never going to change. That is the law of the universe. And it leads to Christ's likeness. And it is where being led by the Holy Spirit and walking in the Spirit will take us. Look at the verse of chapter 6. Brethren, this whole chapter is addressing brethren, those Faith among those at Galatia. So, what does life under the law of Christ look like? Well, we began working our way through this last time. Life under the law of Christ is about loving the way Jesus loves. Remember in verse 1, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

8:08But life under the law of Christ is also about anticipating Christ's evaluation of our lives. We will all stand before him. And so, that's what I want to talk to you about in these verses here before us this morning. I want you to see two characteristics of those who are anticipating Christ's evaluation of their lives. Two characteristics. The first characteristic is that they know that they are accountable to him. That's what life under the law of Christ is: it's a fixed order of the universe. We are accountable to him, even though I have never met him personally, nor have I met anybody who has met him personally, other than those that appear on the pages of Scripture. Yet I know for certain that I am going to stand before. Him and give an account of my life to him. He is the judge of all things. There hasn't been anybody else in history that God has so put his seal upon other than the man Jesus Christ.

9:14Christians know that. We're accountable to him. We know that. But there appears to be a contradiction between verses 2 and 5. Before we go any further, we need to look at that. Look at verse 2, bear one another's burdens. And then in verse 5, he says, for each one will bear his own load. Now, what is it? What does Paul mean? Is there a contradiction? We're supposed to bear one another's burdens, but then he says in verse 6, we're each going to bear his own load. What's going on there? Well, there's no contradiction, as you can imagine. Paul is using two different Greek words. The first is plural, bear one another's burdens. And then when you come to verse 5, it's singular, for each one will bear his own load.

10:08Verse 2, the word for burdens speaks of a weight, a heavy weight that no one can carry by themselves. There are certain weights in life that we just can't carry by ourselves. And verse 5 speaks of a Different kind of burden. It's kind of almost like a pack. Some have referred to it as a backpack, or you can think of it maybe as a purse or a wallet, a load. It speaks of cargo, freight, something that is peculiar to an individual. There are certain things in life that nobody else can carry for you, namely your duties and responsibilities to God. No one can carry that responsibility, that load for you.

11:03But as we look at this, it's clear there are two things the load cannot be. When you come to verse 5, each one must bear his own load. There's two things that it cannot be, and there's one thing that it must be. And I'll look at that here, just so that it's settled in your mind. So that when we look at verse 4 and 5, we get the sense of the main exhortation here. Well, the load is clearly not the burden that Christ has carried for his people.

11:37The load in verse 5 is clearly not the burden that Christ has carried for his people. What did Christ come to do? Well, he came to seek and to restore those overtaken by sin by bearing the burden of sin. The very thing that he tells us, Paul tells us to do, is to bear one another's burdens. Well, Christ did exactly that on behalf of his people. He bore their burdens because they couldn't bear them themselves. What kind of burdens? Well, let me tell you what he bore. You needed a covering from the wrath of God. So he bore that burden of being that atoning sacrifice. You needed a way to make things right with God, and so he became the propitiation, that sin offering. You needed perfect righteousness to be granted to you, and so by his work, he imputes his righteousness to you. You needed a new destination, and that destination needed to be not something that conformed with your own way, but something that was in perfect compliance with the nature and character of God. You needed a new destination. That destination is Christ's likeness, perfect compliance. You needed a new direction in life. You needed a new way and a new guide. And so he gives his spirit. These are burdens you couldn't carry on your own. You needed guidance. You needed to be spirit-led. But you also needed a new spirit to walk in this way, because on your own, even if you have the perfect way, you lack the ability to walk in that way. And so you needed a new power, spirit-empower. You needed to be spirit-led, spirit-empowered. These were burdens you couldn't carry on your own. And so those are the burdens that Christ carried for his people.

13:28Only Christ. As Savior, only Christ as Shepherd, only Christ as your mediator, and only Christ as your king could bear these burdens on behalf of his people, and that's what he did. That's the good news. This is what he came to do. Listen, all these messages are, it appears, as you go in, week from out, it's a call, it's an invitation for you to be connected to this king for eternity. And that eternity begins now by receiving him as Lord and Savior, shepherd, mediator, king.

14:04So it's clear that the load that Paul's talking about in verse 5 is not the burden that Christ carried. The load is also not a burden that somebody else can help you carry. You see, there are loads in life that other people can help carry. There are the consequences of being overtaken by sin. Sometimes there are those who have to be restored and helped. There are those that have the burden, physical debilitations, or there are those because of the cause of Christ have been cut off from their family. There are social stigmas that come from being identified with Christ. There's all kinds of mental, emotional, and spiritual burdens that, whether heavy or light, we go through life, and there are others, and that can help you with those burdens.

14:59So it's clear when you come. To verse 5, that Paul is not talking about a burden that somebody else can help you carry. He's talking about a single burden, for each will bear his own load. So it's clear that this load can really only be one thing, and that load is the load of Christ's evaluation of your life, the responsibility that you have before him. You see, the load that no one else can carry for you is Christ's personal assessment, evaluation of you, as indicated by the quality of your work.

15:46Now, Paul is not talking about the great white throne judgment. He's not talking about the sheep and goats' judgment, but a very personal judgment or assessment of your life. A very personal one that accounts for the quality of the Christian life that you lived. All of us will bear our own burden. We'll all stand before Christ and give it a personal accounting of what we did with what He gave us. Paul spoke about this personal accounting in Romans 14:10. He said, But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you judge? You regard your brother with contempt. What are you doing? Judging each other and having contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. In other words, judgment's going to take care of this one day. For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God. So then, each one of us will give an account of himself to God. Each one of us is going to give an account. So don't try to judge things before time. He is the one we will face, and we will explain ourselves and we will bear his assessment.

17:13Paul says the same thing in 2 Corinthians 5:10. He says, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Jesus also spoke of this day, probably more than anyone else. I read the parable of the talents earlier. Also could read the parable of the minas. And in several other places, Christ speaks about the day as a day of inspection, a day of accounting, a day of explanation, a day of new commissioning.

18:00Well, since we're getting ready for another year at the U, and everybody graduates, you notice that there are all kinds of graduates. Let me come back to that for just a moment. Let me come back to that graduation ceremony. Before I do, I want to suppose for a moment that you were a very, very wealthy person. I mean billions. And you were commissioned for an exploration venture that would take you out of your country for 21 years.

18:47You're a very wealthy person. You're going to leave for 21 years on a venture, an exploration venture. Suppose that before you left, you entrusted all of your estate to your closest friends and family. Suppose you gave each like over a billion dollars of your estate. And then suppose you left for a long, long time. And suppose then this venture was an extraordinary success. Your wealth and territorial expansion just dwarfed your previous wealth. You return to your homeland to share the joy and to share all that you gained. What's the first thing you're going to do? Who's the most important people? Those you entrusted your former estate to. You'll call those together, would you not? And you'd want to know: tell me, what did you do with all those resources I gave you? Tell me about the world you created. Tell me about what you did with them. You had potential for great things to leave in your wake a great world behind. Tell me what you did with them because I can't wait to tell you what's coming next. Tell me what you did.

20:20Do you think that's going to be, it would be different with Christ upon his return? What do you think the first thing he's going to want to do? Sit down. What did you do with what I gave you? What kind of world did you leave behind with all that I gave you? You see, this is what Christ's return is going to be. It's going to be a day of inspection, a day of new commissioning. What did you do, friends? We have been entrusted with something far greater than all the material wealth of this world. We have been given forgiveness of sins. We have been given a Atonement, propitiation, justification. We have been called into his service. We have been gifted. He has given us great possessions. What in the world are you doing with these?

21:14You can imagine, what did you do? What are you doing with these incredible resources and opportunities that you have in Christ before you now? What kind of world are you leaving behind? These are incredible resources. How are you stewarding them? Now, there's no contradiction between verse 2 and verse 5. We will all stand before Christ and bear the outcome. And no one can bear the responsibility of what you did with what God gave you. No one else bears that responsibility. That's your burden.

21:57And so there's no exhortation. So then look at verse 4. But each one of us must examine his own work. You see, those anticipating Christ's evaluation know, first of all, that they are accountable to him. Even though you've never met him, never met somebody who personally has met him other than on the pages of scripture, yet you know, if you are in Christ, you know he is the one you're going to stand before. Second, those anticipating Christ's evaluation examine the quality of their works by his standard. They examine the quality of their works, their own works, by his standards. Look back at verse 4. Keep in mind, this is written to brethren. Verse 1, brethren. Then in verse 4, brethren. But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. Examine. That's the command. Each one of us must be examining.

23:11Be examining. Be carefully observing. Be scrutinizing. Be judging your own work. Each one must be examining his own work. And that's in the place of emphasis. In the Greek, it would be like your work, the work of you, your work, you must be examining. And not in regard to somebody else. Examine your own work. You see, problems happen when we start examining the work of others, don't we? Happens all the time at the you, right? How do you graduate? Just, you see, look, the way you look around you, we compare ourselves to others, and the problem with comparing yourselves to others is that it'll either puff you up or discourage you. How do you graduate? When you go through the graduation at the university, there are those who graduate cum laude, cum laude. Then there are those who graduate magna cum laude. And then there are those who graduate summa cum laude. And the rest of us are just like, we graduate, thank you, dear Lordy.

24:44And all the way through, we're help me, Lordy. But here, just imagine graduation day, and here comes the cum laude guy. He's got his little cum laude color. Comes walking by, and he sees one without the stripe, without the cord. Ah, cum laude. Poor thing. Then here comes the magna cum laude. Walks by, looks at the cum laude. Ah, cord. Magna cum laude. And then the cum laude is like, oh, you're right. But not too long after that, here comes a summa cum. He's got summa cum laude cord. Looks down at the magna cum cord.

25:31Magna Cum oh discouraged. And then all of them go to work for some redneck who entered, who owns the company left by his dad. He has the oil empire, right? Never went to school. You see, it just goes on and on. You know, the standard for examining your own work is not somebody else's work. The standard to judge your work is Christ-like perfection, because that's how you will be judged. So each of us needs to be concerned about the quality of our own works in light of Christ's standard, who He is, not how we think we're doing in comparison to one another.

26:25And the problem is with many of us is we get off track here. We go through life spending more time examining the opinion of others regarding our works, rather, the opinion of God regarding our works. And that is why we get proud, or probably for the most of us, we get very discouraged. Very discouraged. But both come from a wrong standard. Examine yourself. The idea, examine yourself. Be carefully observing. And the intention is to examine yourself honestly. Test yourself honestly. Scrutinize yourself in the light of Christ's perfection. Prove yourself. That's the idea. The intent is to examine yourself with the idea of improving yourself according to Christ's standard.

27:22And then there's a promise. Look at that. But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regards to himself and not in regard to another. Boasting. I thought boasting's bad. But now Paul is talking about something here. What does he have in mind? Because it's obviously a good context. A reason for boasting, a reason for celebration. That's the idea here. Grounds for a favorable opinion. And not with regards to himself, but a favorable opinion within, in regard to himself alone. Paul's not talking about a sinful kind of celebration or a sinful kind of satisfaction, but something that works in a good way.

28:17It's an inward sense of a job well done. That's what Paul has in mind here. But then, if you examine yourself, if you scrutinize yourself before God's standard, And you constantly are improving and bringing that unto compliance with him, then you will have a reason for boasting or satisfied or an inward sense that you've done all that you can do or a good sense of being at peace. Example of this is Paul's life, 2 Timothy 4, 6.

29:03This is what he says. He's about to die. Paul says, This, For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. In the future, there is laid up 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 loved his appearing. That's the kind of inward celebration that Paul is talking about here.

29:39Examine your work, and then you will have reason for being satisfied, celebrating. And that's Paul. He's not boasting at the end of his life. I have fought the good fight. My soul is at peace. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. Now there is reward. I remember when we were back in our days of homeschooling, I would frequently line up our kids, and I would say, yell like a coach yelling to his team, what do I expect out of you? And their answer was, our very best.

30:22Do I expect a C minus out of you? No. What do I expect? Our very best. Then my next question, do I expect an A plus out of you? And the answer was, no. What do I expect? Our very best. You can do beyond an A plus. I want your very best. If a C minus is your very best, that's what I want. I want you to put yourself out there. See, no one can truly grade you except for Christ.

31:01So why must we examine ourselves? Well, that brings us to verse 5. For each one will bear his own load. We will bear the responsibility for stewarding all the great resources that are ours in Christ. As Christians, we're not going to stand before him to be condemned. We will all stand before him and bear the responsibility for how we steward the gift. Giftings he gave. We won't stand to be condemned. That burden has been carried. We're free in that sense. But we are going to stand before him and bear a responsibility. And that should motivate us.

31:46No one else is going to critique us. He is. So give yourself to him totally and fully. So that's why we must examine ourselves. Now the question becomes: how? How do we examine ourselves? Since we're all going to stand before him and since we're all going to bear the outcome, how do we prepare for that examination? Well, one answer, and I think we know from if you're flying 30,000 feet above and you're looking down, 1 Corinthians 10, 31 comes to mind. Whether then you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. So if you do everything in your life to the glory of God, you can be sure that you are going to pass that examination with joyful celebration.

32:42But can we break this, can we get a little closer to the ground? Can we break this overarching endeavor of living to the glory of God into some more specifics? In other words, did the Lord leave us a grading rubric? If we're going to stand before his assessment, And be evaluated, did he give us a grading rubric? How many of you know what a rubric is? They're coming more and more popular in our colleges today. But a grading rubric is a very detailed criteria on which a professor is going to base your grade. And a lot of the college accreditors today expect a good professor to clearly articulate what he is expecting his students to do. In fact, the last few accreditation cycles that we have been through with the seminary, Shepherd Seminary, that I've been involved in, still am, is that they want to make sure we are all, as professors, are using grading rubrics. They want to see the rubrics.

33:54And with a lot of kicking and screaming, our professors have gotten on board with that. But there wasn't kicking, and there wasn't screaming. But what it is, is it forces the professor to say, this is what I expect, and this is how you'll be graded. This is what I expect. This is what I expect. This is how you'll be graded. And so forth through any kind of assignment. And that informs the student very clearly what he or she should be focusing on. And the question is: did Jesus, the master teacher of all, did he leave us some? Kind of guidance on how he's going to examine us. And he has. He has.

34:39So I want to talk to you a little bit about what I believe Christ's grading rubric is going to look like. Obviously, I don't know all the ins and outs of how Christ's personal examination of my life is going to go, but I do have his teachings, and based upon those teachings, I'm sure there's going to be several criteria that he will use. And I want to just mention a few that I have observed. But the idea is: how can you and I be sure that we are living for the glory of God? How can I break that down? Well, to answer these questions, I'm going to give five criteria that I believe will help you examine your life. And if you want to take a little test, and you want to examine yourself today, I encourage you to grade yourself on a scale from one to six on each of these criteria. Yeah, one being the lowest, six being the highest. Don't ask me why it's the best grading rubric, okay? No, I know I won't get into that. It forces you to make a decision, but grade yourself if you're bold enough and be honest with yourself on a scale from one to six, one being the lowest mark, six being the highest mark. Mark and grade yourself on the five following criteria. Number one, enterprise. Enterprise. Does your work contribute to what Christ is doing in the world? Are you living for the glory of God? Are you advancing the Great Commission?

36:24You see, many people are like the rich young ruler. Yes, Lord, I want to inherit eternal life, but I want to pursue some other enterprises of life other than being a disciple and making disciples. Enterprise. Is your primary interest in life centered around building up the church? It's the so what of everything else you do. It's the only group of people that are going to step into eternity. Is your primary interest, do you love the church? Do you love the center of discipleship? Do you love being a disciple? Do you love making disciples? Is your whole life centered around this enterprise? Or are you pursuing things taking you down different roads? And like the rich young ruler, you just want church to be something that's tacked on.

37:18Are you pouring your strength into Christ's enterprise or into your own? The Great Commission is a So, what of everything we do? That is Christ's enterprise in the world. And sometimes we can get caught up in pursuits that are going in another direction or even antagonistic to what Christ is doing in the world. And so, of course, don't expect a well-done if you've spent your life in the wrong enterprise. I remember, and this is independent of what you're specifically called, your functions. I remember a rodeo clown who said some words that have stayed with me all of my life. A rodeo clown. You know what a rodeo clown does? Make sure bulls don't run over people. Dress up like a clown and make sure they protect those who fall off the bulls and other animals. They protect. But this is what the rodeo clown said. He said, My business is Jesus Christ. I rode to pay the bills.

38:28I've said that many times. My business is Christ. Now, there are times when I had to engineer to pay the bills. And I don't care who you are, if you are in Christ, your business is Christ. And his business is the Great Commission, making disciples of all nations. Enterprise. Second, motive. Motive. Why do you do the things that you do? Is it to exalt yourself or is it to exalt Christ? So even if you're caught up in the right enterprise, it can be polluted with high levels of personal ambition and pride. You can turn the right enterprise into a way to exalt yourself. And you can be sure that any work that fundamentally rivals Christ in his glory is not going to be honored by him. It's going to be exposed by him.

39:28Luke 14, 11, Jesus said, for everyone, this is Jesus speaking, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. And he who humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew 6, 1, Jesus says this, beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. And he's the judge of all things. So even if you're caught up in the right enterprise, make sure you're doing it from the right motive. How are you ranking yourself? One to six. What's your motive? Third, standard. Standard. Measure your works by the right standard. This is in conjunction with Paul is saying, what is the right standard? It's perfection. Matthew 5, 48, Jesus said this, Therefore, you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Perfect. John 12, 48, Jesus said, This, He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has one who judges him. The word I spoke is what will judge him at that day. Christ has already released the words of his mouth. He has explained the criteria that's going to judge. He said, If you refuse to listen to Christ's own teaching, be sure that those words are going to be your judge. And what this means is that all means and methods for all activity is to be word-driven.

41:08Who he is and what he says is the standard for all things. And this standard of perfection creates humility and dependence in his people, not pride and independence. Will we fall short in this endeavor? Of course. But we will let Christ carry the burden of our shortcomings. We will let Christ carry the burden of our sin and our failures and our imperfections so that we are not discouraged, so that we can continue in his enterprise for the right motive and judging according to the right standard.

41:50I do not lower God's performance standards by comparing myself to others, but letting him carry the burden. Of my shortcomings and then continue to learn and walk in his way. Fourth, diligence. Diligence. This item deals with the degree of effort and heart investment. And the opposite is slackness. Matthew 25, 26, just read to you earlier in the service the parable of the talents. And there's this one guy that hid his talent. And Jesus said this, but his master answered and said to him, You wicked, lazy slave, lazy slave.

42:47Well, I hired somebody to work on a fence for me some years back. I paid him by the day. I'm going to pay you time and materials. You just come, whatever it takes you, I'll pay you. Three times I went out there to check on his work. And three times I found him sitting down off in the shade on his cell phone. Do you think I hired that guy again? No, I mean, we wouldn't put up with that kind of slack when somebody's just dealing with just a few nickels and dimes.

43:28How much more do you? You expect the perfect judge not to put up with that kind of slack when it deals with the true riches. And, well, diligence. So, even being in the right enterprise with the right motive and measuring by the right standard, and then apply the right diligence. But there's one more area, one more criteria this morning. And like I said, we could add many more, but I just focus. Focus. This is the measure of one's aim or one's concentration. How focused are you on the things of Christ?

44:11Luke 9:62, Jesus said this: No one after putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. You see, a double-minded man looks back, second-guesses the gospel, or regrets making gospel commitments. He lacks faith, he is unstable. And guess what? He's not going to be plowing. If you're looking back, you're not going to be plowing a straight line. Paul said it like this: Philippians 3:12, I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which I was also laid hold of by Christ Jesus. But one thing I do: forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the other. Call of Jesus Christ. I forget what was behind. I'm not looking back anymore, whether sin or success. I am looking one thing forward to the great call in Jesus Christ.

45:15What is Christ's rubric? How is He going to examine us? How can we be ready for this examination? Well, you can be sure if you give yourself to the right enterprise with the right motive and measure yourself by the right standard and apply the right diligence and maintain the right focus, I can be sure you will be ready to meet Christ. Hopefully, you've graded yourself this morning, and that will give you something to talk about. I encourage you to take your, if you are bold enough to grade yourself, share that with somebody.

46:00Well, the two characteristics of those anticipating Christ's evaluation: are you anticipating Christ's evaluation of your life? Well, then you know that you're accountable to Him and you are examining the quality of your own works by His standard. Do you come from the land of vainglory? Are you a formalist or a hypocrisy? Be sure that He sees who you are. No hiding. Examine yourself in light of his truth. He knows you, his depth of sight. His expectation is perfect. But also know the greatness of his grace and power. Come to him for mercy. Come to him for grace. Come to him for power. Let's pray. Lord, indeed, that's what we do this morning. We come to you, not to lower your standards, but to marvel that you would even want to take us to such heights and that you're patient and full of grace and mercy to bring us there. Father, we bow our hearts to you. Father, we know that we're going to stand before you. But, Father, it isn't an occasion of remorse, sadness, or even fear because we know, Father, that you took all of this into account, that you are at work in our life, transforming us into the perfect image of your Son. And so, Father, help us to look forward, to let you carry the burdens that you promised to carry, and to receive those people who help us carry the burdens that we cannot bear on our own.

47:55Father, help us to be ready before you to. Meet you and to take seriously our responsibility before you. And Father, we delight in that day. We delight the fact that we will stand before you, meet you personally, because we know you're full of grace, full of mercy. And even in our imperfect works, Father, we know we're going to receive grace and mercy. Help us to be motivated by heaven, driven by the wind of heaven, for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen.