Well, some of you've asked how
it feels to be 68, and I guess I've exposed exactly how it is. Somebody put it this way, said,
I can live with my arthritis and my dentures fit just fine.
I can see through my bifocals, but I sure do miss my mind. Neil don't need to upset with
me. I sometimes get Moses in the ark and Noah on Mount Sinai. So I just, I mess up sometimes. All right, if you will turn with
me to Romans chapter 14. 14th chapter of the book of Romans. In the 10th verse of Romans chapter
14, We're confronted with two questions and a fact. Two questions and a fact. Here's the first question. Why
dost thou judge thy brother? Our Savior told us, judge not
that you be not judged. Paul says, why do you judge your
brother? Why are we so confounded anxious
to sit in judgment over one another? Why are we so determined to try
to rule the lives of other believers? Why do we try to measure others
by our own yardstick as if we were a measurement of godliness,
of faith, of consecration? None of us are. None of us are. Not one of us is a fit measuring
stick by which to demonstrate what godliness, faith, and consecration
is. We're nothing but proud, proud,
proud sinners. Proud sinners who by reason of
horrid pride try to rule the lives of other people. Sometimes
it's promoted, commonly it's promoted in religious circles. I know preachers who visit folks
in the congregation regularly and try to determine how long
they spend in prayer and how much time they spend reading
the Bible and how much they're going to give to the church and
what they're going to do in the cause of Christ and all those
things. and try to tell them how to govern
their lives, a relationship with husband and wife and sons and
daughters, how to behave in the family. And we are all guilty
of trying to manipulate and control the lives of other people because
we think that when they act like we do, then they're living in
godliness. What a horrible shame. This first
question is obviously intended as a rebuke to everyone who would
castigate, condemn, hold in suspicion, and think or speak evil of God's
saints, looking upon them as wicked men, looking upon them
as something less than themselves. We think of things they do and
say, that's evil, that's ungodly, you ought not do that. I'm talking
about things that are indifferent, not things that God says are
evil, not things that are forbidden in the word of God, but things
that we decide are evil, without any basis whatever in scripture.
When I was first converted, I was raised in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina. I often say the finest city in
the world. Home of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Company. And on a hot July day when they
had to open the vents and they'd turn that tobacco over as it
was curing, they were mixing up the flavors, you could walk
down the streets in downtown Winston-Salem and breathe in
the air and spit out the amber. Now just in case you're not aware
of this, where tobacco is king, churches don't say much about
smoking. They don't fuss much about that. I know churches in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, when they contact a preacher
asking him about coming to be pastor, a good many churches,
he's asked, are you gonna be preaching against tobacco? And
if he says yes, he's not getting called. That's just the way it
is. Tobacco rules where tobacco brings
in the money. That's the way it is. In the
north, I went to school out in Springfield, Missouri, my first
year in college, and a lot of folks from up in the north, they,
oh, they were death on tobacco. I mean, death on tobacco. But
it was just ordinary for folks to drink a little wine or have
a glass of beer or something. Drinking wasn't a problem. In
the South, mixed bathing was terrible. That doesn't mean you
actually take a bath together. That's when boys and girls go
swimming together. That's horrible. Oh, you can't do that. In the
North, commonly practiced, nobody said a word about it. How come?
Because men like to think that they're doing righteousness by
the things they do. We have a whole slew of folks
have had throughout history who dress funny and talk funny and
think that by the way they dress or talk, that's godliness. You
and I have no such right, none whatsoever. Each one lives and
walks with and serves the Lord Jesus. So about all matters of
indifference, treat them as matters of indifference. We don't have
the right to determine how others should live, what they should
do, what they should not do. For me to do so is to assume
lordship over you. And that prerogative belongs
to Christ alone, to Christ alone. A man's responsible for his household,
but I'm not responsible for your household. I'm responsible for
the way my wife behaves and my children behave. I'm not responsible
for the way your wife and your children behave. That's your
responsibility. That's yours. Here's the second
question. Why dost thou set at naught thy
brother? This question is primarily raised
to those who are stronger believers, more mature. Those who are stronger,
you see, still have great weaknesses. And one of the greatest weaknesses
of knowledge and experience is that it tends to swell the heart
and the head with pride, a sense of superiority. Here the Spirit
of God teaches us never to look down upon or to think evil of
those, our weaker brethren, who are very sensitive in their consciences
about things they do, about things that are matters of perfect liberty,
but things they do or don't do because they just don't have
the liberty to do that. That's all right, that's all
right. If you think you ought not to have a glass of wine with
your estate, don't have it. That's all right. And you who
are free to do so, don't offend your weaker brother by having
it with him. You don't have to have that. You don't have to
have that. It is not our business to judge godliness or ungodliness
in our brethren. It's not our business to govern
the lives of our brethren. It's our business to serve God
with our brethren. Our business to help one another
so that we always deal with each other graciously and kindly. I'll tell you what would help
us a great deal, help me and help you. in all matters of judgment,
in all matters of deciding, is this right, is this wrong? I've
been doing this for a little while. I've been preaching for
a good while. I've been pastoring for a long
time. And I'll tell you what I always experience. Folks call
me up or folks will send me a letter or folks come by the office or
I'll see him in a meeting somewhere and Mark Henson comes up to me
and he says, Brother Don, I've been meaning to ask you something.
Do you think it's right for a Christian to, and it doesn't matter what
follows. It doesn't matter what follows.
I know what he's asking. I've seen Jimmy Bowman doing
this. Is it all right for him to do that? Do you think a Christian
ought to do that? I've seen Shelby Fortner doing
this. Do you think a Christian ought
to do that? Do you think a Christian ought to wear that? A Christian
ought to go there? A Christian ought to dress like that? They're
always looking for a reason to censure others. What horrid pride. What self-righteousness. I'll
tell you what would be good for us. In all matters of judgment,
concerning behavior, concerning conduct. Be as severe as you
can on yourself. Just as severe as you can tolerate. That won't be very severe, I
promise you. You'll be whipping yourself with a feather swatter.
And be just as lenient as you possibly can with everybody else. Just bend over backwards. Well,
I just want to do what's right. No, you want them to do what
you think is right. I just want folks to behave right. No, you
want them to behave like you think they ought to behave. Be
lenient with everybody else. Did you see what was he doing?
So what? Did you see where they went?
So what? Leave it alone. help one another,
support one another. You want folks to behave differently?
You behave differently. You want folks to do right? You do right. Leave it to God
to take care of his own. Jesus Christ is the Lord of all. Our business is not to have a
holy, pure church. I hear this excuse all the time
for starting a new church. Folks split, they leave, they
go somewhere else. Well, I can't go to church with
them. I just, I can't go to church with folks like that. What stupid pride. What stupid
pride. It's not our business to purge
the church. Our business is to cast the gospel
net and gather in all the fish we can. It's not our business
to separate the good fish from the bad. We don't know the one
from the other. Our business is to sow the good
seed of the gospel. As we sow the good seed of the
gospel, where the Lord God plants his wheat, Satan is sure to sow
his bad seed and raise up tares. Our Lord tells us so and tells
us so repeatedly. That's not our problem. Our problem comes when we try
to separate the wheat from the tares. And we don't know one
from the other. We don't know how to separate
one from the other. Our business is to seek the Lord's
sheep. To bring lost sheep into the
fold. Throw open the gate and bid sheep
come into the fold. Some goats are gonna slip in.
But it's not our business to separate the sheep from the goats.
We have no way of knowing sheep from goats. We can't do it. Our Lord says, leave them alone. Let both grow together. He separates
the wheat from the tares in his time. He separates the good fish
from the bad. He separates the sheep from the
goats. That's his work and his alone. He does it through the preaching
of the gospel. He does it by his good providence.
And he will do the work in the day of judgment. But for here,
the church of God is always a mixed multitude. It was in the Old
Testament, it is now, and it will be as long as folks like
you and me live in it. It's a mixed multitude. And God's
people at their best are just sinners saved by God's grace. And I'll tell you what you can
expect from sinners. Now, this is gonna shock you, I know. Because
you just don't expect this from other people. You can expect
sinners to do wrong. You can just expect that. You
can expect sinners to misbehave. You can expect sinners to fumble
and fall and mess up all the time. That's the way we are. Sinners saved by God's free grace. Now that brings me to the fact
asserted in our text. For we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. What a solemn fact. Where would
we be if we lived every day in anticipation of that great day
when we shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ? That'd teach you to broaden your
tongue a little bit. That'd teach you to, be less
opinionated about this fella, that fella, this woman, that
woman. And teach you to be a little less severe in your judgment.
Of this, you can be sure. In that great day, every one
of us will receive from the Holy Lord God exactly what we deserve. It is appointed unto men once
to die, but after this, the judgment. Soon, very soon, we must die. At God's appointed time, in God's
appointed way, at God's appointed place, by God's appointed means,
you and I will die. We will not live one second beyond
that which God has appointed. And we will not die one second
sooner than that which God has appointed. But death is only
the ending of time. It is the everlasting donning
of eternity. Eternity. Oh God, teach us to live in the
prospect of eternity. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. Now we have two extremes. Most everyone first is terrified
of the prospect of death, judgment, and eternity, and rightly so. And the other extreme is in the
attempt to suppress that glaring fact. Funeral homes now are having
celebrations of life. We wanna have a celebration of
life. Fellow dies in a drunken stupor. Fellow dies in the midst
of committing robbery. Fellow dies trying to kill somebody
else. We're gonna celebrate his life.
Trying to escape the reality of death, judgment, and eternity. During the early days of the
Communist Revolution in China under Mao Zedong in the 1930s,
many missionaries were brutally slaughtered. Some shot, others
beheaded. Among them was a man by the name
of J.W. Vinson. He was a young missionary, hadn't
been too long there. And a young girl who managed
to escape from the bloodbath related to this incident. The
murderers asked Vinson, are you afraid to die? As they menacingly
waved their weapons and waved their guns at him. No, he replied
with complete assurance. You see, for believers, there's
no reason to be fearful in the least of death, judgment, and
eternity. No reason. He said, no, if you
shoot me, I go straight to heaven. His decapitated body was found
sometime later. Another missionary, a friend
of his, learning of his friend's death, was inspired to write
this poem. I like it. Afraid of what? To feel the Spirit's glad release? To pass from pain to perfect
peace? The strife and strain of life
to cease? Afraid of that? Afraid of what? Afraid to see the Savior's face?
to hear his welcome and to trace the glory gleam of wounds from
grace. Afraid of that? Afraid of what? A flash, a crash, a pierced heart,
brief darkness, light, oh, heaven's heart, a wound of his counterpart. Afraid of that? Afraid of what? to enter into heaven's rest,
and yet to serve the master blessed, from service good to service best. Afraid of that? Afraid of what? To do by death
what life could not, baptize with blood a stony plot, till
soul shall blossom from the spot. Afraid? Of that? After this. Yes, there is an
after this. After this, the judgment. Now
let's look at that for a little bit. Because the righteous Lord loves
righteousness, he always deals with all moral creatures upon
the basis of strict righteousness, both in the execution of his
wrath and in the exercise of his grace. Hear me now. God always deals with all men
on the basis of strict righteousness, both in the execution of his
wrath and in the exercise of his grace. The judge of all the
earth must and shall do right. The judgment seat of Christ is
described in simple, clear, pointed words in our text. Look at verse
10, Romans chapter 14, verse 10. For we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, as I live,
saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall
confess to God, so then every one of us shall give account
of himself to God. If God sends you to hell, he
will do so upon the grounds of absolute, unquestionable righteousness
and justice. If he's pleased to bring you
to heaven's glory in eternal life, he will do so upon the
grounds of absolute, unquestionable righteousness. The holy Lord
God will never violate his law. He will never compromise his
justice. He will never in any way bend
his law, his holiness, or his justice. And when he gets done
with us, and all the wicked are cast into hell, and all the righteous
are brought into heaven's glory, Every creature in heaven, earth,
and hell will declare, even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous
are thy judgments. Let's look at two more texts
that speak of our Lord's judgment seat. 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 20. Or verse 10, excuse me. 2 Corinthians
5.10. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things
done in his body according to that he has done, whether it
be good or bad. Now, I know that in this day
of religious dispensational tomfoolery, folks have the idea that there's
going to be two second comings, two judgments, and then there's
gonna be one for the righteous, one for wicked, one for believers,
one for unbelievers, and God's gonna give you some crowns for
you, some stars for your crown, or big yo-yos, whatever, and
give you a higher place in heaven, or take things away, and then
there's gonna be a judgment for others. The scriptures never
speak of such. The judgment seat of Christ is
what we'll read in Revelation 20, is the great white throne
judgment. Notice the next words. We must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord. The terror of the Lord. We persuade
men. We persuade men to believe on
the Son of God, so they escape the wrath of God. lest they meet
God in judgment, yet in their sins. Turn to Revelation 20 now. Revelation chapter 20, verse
11. I saw a great white throne, and
him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away. And there was found no place
for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before
God, And the books were opened. And another book was opened,
which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out
of those things which are written in the books according to their
works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every man,
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. and
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. Here God the Holy Ghost describes
this awesome judgment seat of Christ, this glorious throne
of judgment before which we must appear at the last day. It's
called a great white throne to set forth the power, holiness
and sovereignty of him who sits upon it. It's called great because
it's the throne of the great God, our Savior. It's white because
it's pure, spotless, just. Nothing proceeds from this throne
except purity, righteousness, justice, truth. It's called a
throne. Because the one sitting on it
is Christ our Lord, who died and rose and revived that he
might be Lord both of the dead and the living. In the last day,
you and I will meet God at his throne in the person of his Son. Now that terrifies most folks. And while the word of God warns
the wicked of the terror of divine judgment and everlasting wrath,
the day of judgment is never one time described in this book
as something about which God's people should be afraid. Now
before I proceed further, let me speak to you who are yet without
Christ. Believe on the Son of God now. and you have nothing to fear
or dread from God tomorrow or forever. Come to Christ now and be free
from condemnation forever. That's the blessed way God's
people are described in the scriptures. People for whom there is no condemnation. No reason to be terrified, no
reason to fear anything while we live in this world and most
especially when we come to leave this world. Nothing to fear while
we live in this world and most especially when we come to leave
this world. Rather, death, judgment, eternity
are things which God's people in this book looked upon with
anticipation, with anxious anticipation, not a dreadful thing, not a dreadful
thing, not a sad thing, not a fearful thing, but rather a delightful,
blessed anticipation. On this earth, God's saints are
constantly misjudged. His servants are maligned and
slandered by reprobate men all the time. But in the last great
day, God Almighty will vindicate his people and he will vindicate
his servants. You see, the day of judgment
is not a day of judgment like we go to the courthouse and evidence
is presented by the prosecutor. And he goes great lengths to
present his evidence. And then evidence is presented
by the defense attorney. And he goes to great efforts.
And he's got the bent of the law on his side. The law's weighed
heavily on the side of the criminal. But he's got his evidence, and
he presents it. And then they go to a jury. And
the jury weighs the evidence. And they say, well, did he do
that or didn't he? Yeah, yeah, no question about
it, he guilty. And they read the verdict in
the courtroom. And the judge pronounces the sentence, guilty,
guilty. And then he gives the sentence
according to law to be measured out. That's not at all what the
Day of Judgment is. In the Day of Judgment, Merle
Hart, the Lord Jesus Christ sitting on his throne, will demonstrate
to you and to the angels of God and to His Father, to the triune
Jehovah, and to all the world, and to all who have opposed you
since the day you were born, and to all of hell and to Satan. This is the reason why eternal
life is His. I will show you why eternal life
is His, and He will take the wicked, and He will demonstrate
to you, to the ungodly, to all the world,
to all His saints. to all the angels, to all the
devils of hell, to Satan, to God, the triune Jehovah, why
it's right for you to burn forever in a lake of fire where the worm
dies not and the fire is not quenched. And he will demonstrate
the reason why, the justice of it, the rightness of it. I'm
not dreading that day, I'm looking forward to it with peace. And
if you understand that day, you have every reason to look forward
to it with peace. Paul said, with me, it's a very small thing
that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yea, I
judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself,
yet I am not hereby justified. But he that judgeth me is the
Lord. My judge is God my Savior. How about you? My judge is God
my Savior. Nobody else's judgment really
matters. Nobody else's. Therefore judge
nothing before the time until the Lord come. who both will
bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest
the counsels of the heart. Then shall every man have praise
of God. Yes, I'm looking forward to this
great, great day. How is it presented in Scripture?
This first is a matter of gospel revelation. The Lord Jesus Christ
God's darling son, the God-man who died for us at Calvary is
coming again. This same Jesus who was taken
up from heaven shall so come, have you enlightened man, as
you've seen him go up into heaven. He who ascended up on high and
the apostles watched him as he was received out of their sight. He ascended up to heaven. The
angel said he's coming again just like you saw him go. Christ
is coming physically in his glory in a body. He's coming to gather
his own to himself in that which is described as the resurrection. There are two resurrections spoken
of in scripture. The first resurrection, which
is the new birth. Roman Revelation chapter 20,
verse 6. And this second general resurrection, which is the resurrection
of the body. The Lord Jesus is coming again. This is a gospel revelation. The scriptures speak of it, speak
of it clearly, speak of it often, speak of it to the delight and
comfort of God's people. The apostle speaks of those who
have said the resurrection is past. And he says, these men
have denied the gospel, because if there's no resurrection, then
you're yet in your sins. And we preach to you a false
Jesus, and we're found false witnesses of God. But hold up,
there is a resurrection yet to come. Christ is coming again. And when he comes, he will come
in power and in great glory, and every eye shall see him.
Jesus is coming again. I urge you don't ever read even
a tract that attempts to explain the signs and times and seasons
marking evidence that Christ is coming again. Don't read the
books. There have been lots of them
written, lots of them printed. The problem with those books
about prophecy is they have to be reprinted in a few months
when the prophecy doesn't come to pass again. They've got to
be rewritten. Our Lord tells us plainly that no man knows
the day or hour of his coming, and it's best for us that we
don't know it. It's best for us we don't know
when he's coming. He teaches us rather not to look
for signs of his coming, but to look for him who's coming.
To live every day on the tiptoe of faith, looking for the blessed
hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior. When He comes, when He makes
His appearance, He'll bring with Him a crown of righteousness,
of immortality, of life, and of glory to all who love Him. Behold, He cometh. He's on His
way right now. One day with the Lord is as a
thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. Our Lord measuring
by his standard as he teaches us to measure things, he's only
been gone for two days. He's just been gone for two days.
He's been on his way back ever since he left. With every stroke
of providence, he's coming. He's stepping closer. He's stepping
closer until at last we will hear the voice of the archangel
and the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Behold, He cometh. Oh, Spirit of God, give me this
anticipation that every waking hour I live looking for Christ
as I serve Him. Wouldn't you love to be found
when the Lord appears doing what He bid you to do? doing what
he called you to do, doing what he sent you forth to do. Second,
when our Lord comes, there will be a general resurrection of
all who have ever lived upon the earth. Marvel not at this, for the hour
cometh in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice.
and shall come forth they that have done good under the resurrection
of life, and they that have done evil under the resurrection of
damnation. This is the second resurrection. All who have died in faith shall
be raised from the grave. These bodies, these mortals shall
be raised in immortality. This corruptible shall put on
incorruption. This natural body shall be raised
a spiritual body. And then once all the saints
of God, the Old Testament saints, the martyrs, those who sleep
in Jesus, those who've gone before us, those who've gone before
us. We have some friends. Most of us are getting at the
age we have more friends on the other side than we do this side
of the grave, but we have some friends, a lot of friends who've
gone before us. And we will, when the Lord comes,
when the trumpet of God sounds, when the voice of the archangel
is heard in heaven and throughout the earth, suddenly all the dead in Christ shall
rise. Then all believers living upon
the earth, when the Lord comes, shall be changed, caught up to
meet the Lord in the air. And the scriptures speak of this
as being in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. You can
hardly imagine that. This transpires just like that,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. And as we're caught
up and changed, our bodies made like in His glorious body, then
all the saints of God will come with Christ to the earth as He
burns it up and creates all things new by the mere word of His power
and sets a judgment over the wicked who are raised. Yes, the
wicked. There'll be a resurrection unto
life and a resurrection to damnation. The wicked shall be raised. The
wicked shall be raised. The body in which you have despised
and rebelled against God, the body you've used and employed
in every evil way imaginable, that body in which you sit here
in front of me now and say, no! I WILL NOT HAVE HIM! I WILL NOT
BOW TO THE SON OF GOD. THAT BODY WILL BE RAISED. RAISED
UP IN SUCH A WAY THAT YOU WILL HAVE AN EXISTENCE FOREVER CALLED
DEATH IN HELL. AND WHATEVER Whatever that pit of darkness
and damnation and fire and torment is, whatever it is, God will
raise you up with such a body that you can sustain it in constant,
everlasting, ever-increasing, never-ending death and torment
and darkness. And what I've said to you, every
human being is fully aware of. You cannot escape it. You may
try to suppress it, you may invent doctrines contrary to it, but
in your conscience you know every word I've spoken is so. God has
written it there and you can't unwrite it. Then, immediately
after the resurrection, we will be judged of God according to
our works. Every man according to his works. Well, we don't believe in salvation
by works. No, we don't. We do believe in judgment by
works. Because the book of God says, every man shall be judged
according to his works. You who refuse to believe shall
be judged by God according to your works, your sin, your iniquity,
your transgression, because our savior says you believe not on
me. You will meet God and receive
from God forever exactly what He did. And the Lord God will
show from the books, the books of His remembrance. He will show from the books to
all the world, to all creation. These deserve, they have fully
earned. It is right, it's just, it's
holy. It's the only thing right to
be done. They shall perish forever under
the wrath of God. For these have joined Lucifer
in his attempt to slaughter God and shove him on his throat.
And to his sheep, the Savior will say, well done. Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Come, enter into the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. But how can that
be? Jimmy Bubba knew nothing but
a setter. Sitting here listening to me now, nodding your head
in agreement, it's mixed with sin. What good works? In this book, in this book, read
Matthew 25. In this book, all of God's people
spoken of standing before God in the day of judgment, all of
their works are spoken of as good works, not evil, not evil. If God sees Rex and Debbie Bartley
that way, how dare I judge them differently? How dare you judge
them differently? God says, you've done good. Our Savior says, I was hungry
and you fed me. I was naked and you clothed me.
I was in prison and you visited me. I was sick, you came to the
hospital and spent some time with me. I needed some food and you took
care of it. When did we do that? When did we do that? It's not
that the believer thinks himself righteous, but that God has made
us righteous. How can we stand before God and
be rightly judged of our works and brought into glory? Neil,
you and your wife will fix and tell the whole world how. When
the Son of God lived, I lived in Him. And I obeyed
God's holy law perfectly. And when he died, I died in him. And when he went to the grave,
I went to the grave in him. And when he rose, I rose in him. Justice has been satisfied by
his sacrifice and by his obedience. And now I live before God in
righteousness. And righteousness is rightly
mine. And the Lord God, Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, the triune Jehovah, all the angels of heaven, all
the peoples of the earth, the righteous and the wicked, All
the devils of hell, Satan himself will say, amen. It's the only
right thing can be done to take Don Fortner to glory. He fully
deserves it. Everything God does, he does
in righteousness, justice, and truth. Believe on the Son of
God right now and you too shall stand before the bar of God in
the last day, Christ himself being your judge, and he will
say to you, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Come, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Oh, God help you now to believe him, amen.