And I would not even attempt
in so short a time to cover all of the passages in Scripture
that are relative, and I do mean relative, to the subject, the
day of the Lord. It would be futile to go into
such a task. But we now are almost continually
engaged, you hear it in almost every group that meets for preaching
or otherwise, the subject of eschatology comes up. Now it isn't important to understand,
but it comes up. It comes up. Now I have heard
down through the years of my experience a statement that back
as a boy about Walter's age, I used to think profound. Somebody would get up and say,
I believe in the imminent premillennial return of Christ. You ever hear
that, Joe? premillennial return of Christ. Impressive, isn't it? You've got to find out what
they mean. You've got to find out what they mean. Now, I'm saying that Christ can come, may come at any time. All things are fulfilled, except the body. When the body
of Christ is made up, he'll come. Now, for me to stand here and
say to you that that is imminent, what does imminent mean? Right
now. I can't do that. Those times are in the hands
of God. And while I don't fully understand
it, our Lord Jesus Christ said, not even the son knoweth. That those times are in his hands. But I'm going to take a verse
out of Walter's chapter to begin tonight. And that is the 31st
verse. of the 17th chapter of Acts,
and I will not stay there very long. I just want to begin there.
Remember that I mentioned last week quite frequently that the
day of the Lord is a time of judgment. It is a time of judgment. Now understand that the day of
the Lord has absolutely no application to the child of God. None whatever. It is, the fact
is set before us that there is a day coming. There is a day
coming when the erroneous judgments of this world will be set right. That's why I mentioned this,
this, this Senate investigating thing. Here the ungodly sit in
judgment on the ungodly. But what does Luke record here
in Acts 17 and verse 31? Because he, that is God, hath
appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness. by that man whom he hath ordained,
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath
raised him from the dead. He will judge the world by that
man whom he hath ordained. What will be the rule of judgment
on that great and notable day of the Lord? The person of Jesus
Christ. That will be the rule of judgment. That one in Christ, in Christ, will be judged as
he is judged, righteous. Completely, wholly, and absolutely
righteous. Why? Because he is in Christ,
clothed in his righteousness, possessing the righteousness
of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. Now, this is
why I said Sunday morning, and I think it's so vital that I
repeated it again to the family Sunday afternoon. And I think
I repeated it again Sunday night. And I think this is important.
And Walter and I talked about it again Monday night. That it
is important to realize that I'm not talking about the fact,
Walter, that you remember what I said Monday night. Here I am
and I believe a certain set of teaching and a certain set of
doctrines. And I accept these teachings and I accept these
doctrines. Along comes a man or men or a
church and they teach me another set of doctrine that differs
from what I subscribe to at first. And what this second set of doctrine
seems so much more logical than that which I believed before,
I receive this doctrine, but that does not mean that I'm a
child of God. See, the switching from one doctrine
to another does not bring about regeneration, nor is it conversion. nor is it the realization of
the salvation which is of God. So when that great and notable
day of the Lord shall come, then all men, the world, will be judged
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. By that man. By that man. Let me see if I can do what I
want to or try to do what I had planned to do. If this has been used, this has
been used so much and so wrongly that I debated whether or not
to lay hold of it tonight. Psalm 1. Now I heard this preached
as a young man, oh boy, how awful it was to hear it, and how I
shudder to think of how it was preached. Listen to this now. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is
in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day
and night. And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not
so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore,
the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in
the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth, mark it,
the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the
ungodly shall perish. Now, what does it mean to be
ungodly? It means to be on the outside
of the blessed man. You see, this blessed man here
is not you or me. who does these things. This blessed
man here is Jesus Christ. He it is that walketh not in
the counsel of the ungodly. He it is that does not stand
in the way of sinners. He it is that does not sit in
the seat of the scornful. He shall be like a tree planted
by rivers of water. He is the one that bringeth forth
his fruit in his season. He is the one whose leaf also
shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Now there is no possibility that
you can apply that last line to me. Whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper. My tomato plants even die. You see, we must come back to
that first statement that I made last week. If you're going to
spiritualize all of the scripture, you're going to come up short.
Now, if you're going to literalize it all, you're going to come
up short. But there are some things that have a definite application. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
blessed man. He is the blessed man. And well, let me go to John. Gospel
according to John. Chapter 5. Now here, you remember well the
fifth chapter of John, I'm sure of that. Now, if you'll remember,
the Lord Jesus had just been at the a pool of Bethesda. And there that great multitude
of impotent folk lay, great mass of humanity, all of them unable,
and that's the meaning of impotent here in this case, impotent folk
of blind halt withered waiting for the moving of the water.
Now there's a great multitude of these afflicted people laying
there being fly-blown out there in undoubtedly a great deal of
filth present in that day and in that time, laying there without
attention in the extreme heat of the area. It was not a pleasant
place. And into this place entered our
Lord Jesus Christ. But he always enters into the
unpleasant places. always does. There he entered
in amongst that great multitude and there he found that certain
man. Well we know what took place.
The man immediately verse 9 says immediately the man was made
whole and took up his bed and walked and the same day was the
Sabbath. The same day was the Sabbath. The Jews took offense at this. And we know the account. And
afterward, Jesus, verse 14, afterward, Jesus findeth him in the temple
and said unto him, behold, thou art made whole. Sin no more lest
a worse thing come unto thee. The man departed and told the
Jews that it was Jesus which made him whole, and therefore
did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because
he had done these things on the Sabbath. Now, that's real holiness.
You kill a man because he does a good deed on a holy day. Now
that's the kind of holiness that I'm acquainted with. That's the
kind of holiness that Baptists have manifested toward me all
of my life. That's humanly generated holiness. That's the holiness of religion. Jesus answered them, my father
worketh hitherto and I work. Therefore, the Jews sought the
more to kill him because not only had he broken the Sabbath,
but also that God said that also that God was his father, making
himself equal with God. Now here, here's the point. Then
answered Jesus and said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto
you, the son of God can do nothing of himself. But what he seeth
the Father do, for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth
the Son likewise. What's he saying? The works of
the Father are the work of the Son. He does nothing by himself. What Christ did, God did. First
and foremost. Did he call you? Then God called
you. Did he save you? Then God elected
you. The eternal purpose of God was
the work of Christ. We say, what's this got to do
with judgment? We'll see in a minute, I hope. For the father loveth
the son, and showeth him all things that he himself doeth.
And he will show him greater works than these that ye may
marvel. For as the father raiseth up
the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
he will. In other words, the Son of God
makes alive those whom he will. This conforms to that which Paul
said in the epistle to the Romans, so that it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. So the Son quickeneth whom he
will, not whom they will, not whom I will. You see, people
got it in their minds that if I pray for somebody, God's going
to save them. Would it be a great disappointment
if I tell you it ain't necessarily so? God does not redeem men on the
basis of my petition. He redeems men on the basis of
his sovereign will. You see, I don't know whether
these fellas I've got in my pocket here believe that or not. I'm
telling you the truth. I don't. I don't know. I don't hear him
say that. God redeems whom he will, apart
from any preaching of mine or any service of mine. or any prayer
of mine, or any witness of mine, or any word of mine, any word
or work of any human being, God redeems his people according
to his sovereign will. Now he may choose to use this
or that instrument, or he may not. But what was it, was it Sunday
I said this? Christ said he, if these hold
their peace, Even the stones will cry out. So, somebody says,
well he has no voice but your voice, humbug. He can make the
stones cry out. He is able of these stones to
raise up children unto Abraham. God's able to do that. And the
very idea that God is dependent in any way upon my activities
is to have a pretty small view of who God is. Well, somebody
says, that's hardshellism. Well, I wished it were. I mean that. I wish Norval Mann
preached that doctrine. I do. I wish, what's his face? Bradley. I wish Bradley preached
that doctrine. But what I hear from these fellas,
come to the old church. Be baptized by a Baptist preacher
that was baptized by a Baptist preacher that was baptized by
a Baptist preacher on back. Till you get the apostolic succession,
and that's Baptist Catholicism. Same with Church of Christ. Same
thing. They set up a religious system that's dependent upon the rules
of order so far as man is concerned. We're talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ quickening whom he will. Now, look at this. For the father judges no man. The father Judges no man people
said well as God is my judge. No he isn't The father judges no man, this
is what Christ said That God will not judge but what? But hath committed all judgment
unto the Son Let me tell you, on that great and notable day
of the Lord, that is the day of Jehovah. That is the day of
Christ. That is that day when judgment
will have been committed to the Son. One day, young or old, rich
or poor, fat or thin, the world is going to meet Jesus
Christ. That's exactly right. At that
day. And then if they say, Lord, I,
I believe, I believe Tulip, I believe in total, limited, total, irresistible
grace, the perseverance of the saints. It'll be depart from
me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. That's what
it will be. That's what it will be. You cannot,
you cannot, you cannot receive life in the reception of a doctrine. That judgment will be committed
unto the Son. What was it we read back there
in Act 17? Look at it again. He hath appointed
a day. That day is an appointed day.
Do you know God's got that marked on the eternal calendar? And
that's a misnomer if I ever used one. But for the sake of being explicit, why would he use the expression
day? Day is an expression of time. That's for our benefit. In other words, God has marked
a day. in which he is going to judge
the world. How's he going to judge it? By
the Son. In righteousness by that man
which he hath ordained. So what am I saying? I'm saying
if we prepare to meet judgment, we better be prepared to meet
that judgment in Christ. And not in a doctrine. And not
in a church. And not in our righteousness.
and not in a list of things which we haven't done and which we
don't do. I don't smoke and I don't chew
and I don't go with girls that do. That type of thing. And yet
countless thousands of people around us today are basing their
eternal hope upon that very thing. Well, preacher, I believe, make
a bit of difference. Doesn't make a bit of difference.
Not a bit of difference. You say, well, you mean to tell
me it doesn't make any difference what you believe? Yeah, I guess I am. So far as life is concerned. I mean, you can be as wrong as
wrong can be, and I believe there are people that are totally wrong
so far as doctrine is concerned. and yet will be found in Christ. And the angel of death will pass
over them because the blood has been applied, note the expression,
has been applied to the lintels and the door posts of their heart.
That judgment will pass over because of the blood of Christ.
Now you remember that account of when the children of Israel,
that was judgment too, you know. That was judgment upon Egypt,
was it not? God pronounced that judgment
upon Egypt. The children of Israel did not
need to understand the reasons behind the Lamb. That was roast with fire, not
sodden in water. All of those things are important
and vital to our understanding of what God is saying here. When he talks about that lamb
being roast with fire, he's talking about the fire of God's judgment
upon the Son. They were then to do what? Eat that lamb in the shelter
of their own home, in their dwelling. And so Israel crouched around
in those hovels that passed for dwellings. They crouched around
eating this roasted lamb on that night. And somebody says, well,
look, we're doing everything else. I just forgot about putting
the blood on the doorpost. Gone. Gone. Somebody said, well, I thought
if I believe this. No, no, no, we have to do with
the man, Christ Jesus. You see, Walter was telling me
last, well, Monday night, he was telling me that he was teaching
a lesson. I like that, Walter. He was teaching, he was teaching
a lesson. He's preaching, maybe not. He's
preaching. And what he was preaching turned
in on himself. And this message that he was
preaching said to him, look, if Christ doesn't save you, you're
lost. No matter what you believe, no
matter what you teach, no matter what you preach, if he is not
pleased to save your soul, if he's not pleased to regenerate
your soul and to grant you salvation, you're lost. It's up to Christ. Walter told me then he almost
had to stop almost just have to shut up and walk away and
say I can't teach any longer I'm talking to myself and just
leave till you get this thing straightened out with God see
you've got to find out who God is and what Christ did if you're
going to deal with judgment that's what you're going to have
to find out so it's not a system of doctrine it's a person And
it's not, boy can I get into trouble now, it's not believing
in Christ. I can cite you innumerable accounts
in scripture where people believed in him and were lost. That's right, they believed in
vain. And I've said it over and over and over again, those people
who hammer at the door, That's judgment, see. They found the door shut. They
pounded on it. They said, Lord, Lord, have we
not. Those people, I told that young
man riding that hearse one time after the funeral out to the
graveyard. We were talking about redemption
and salvation. He told me how he got assurance
from his grandma that he was saved. He thought for a long
time he was lost, and then his grandma gave him assurance. And
I said, young man, if your grandma gave you assurance, you've got
assurance at the wrong place. But anyhow, I cited to him that
multitude that come and beat on that door. Those people were
all sincere. They sincerely believed that
they were going to get in. I mean, there was no doubt in
their mind that they had to be let in. They said, we've preached. We've
done all these wonderful works, and we've done them all in your
name. Can I make that serious enough?
We've done them all in your name. He said, depart from me, ye workers
of iniquity. I never knew you. Not that I
knew you once and don't know you now. I never knew you. From
eternity past. Paul, if you don't like that
expression, we'll use it anyway. From all eternity, I never knew
you. Your names were not written in
the Lamb's Book of Life. I never knew your name. Never knew you. Well, then what
in the world am I supposed to do? Doesn't the scripture say, well,
let's go on here. We're talking about judgment.
That all, verse 23 of John 5, that all men should honor the
Son, even as they honor the Father. I don't know what these people
are going to do, these Jesus-only people and these people that
deny the Sonship of Christ, deny the Trinity. I don't know where
they're going to be found. Jerry Swigertson, Jimmy Swigertson,
that bunch. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily,
I say unto you. Now here it is. He that heareth
my word. Now note that. He that heareth
my word. You remember what he said? He
that hath ears to hear Let him hear. As a young man, 16, 17
years old, I read that. And I thought, what in the world
does that mean? All of those people sitting there,
were they all sitting there with just skin on their heads? No ears? Just nothing but no
holes here? Well, that's silly. Did they all, were they all able
to listen to what he said? Yeah. Did they all physically
hear the words that he said? Yes. Did they all hear what he
said? No. No. What did he say? My sheep hear
my voice. And I know them. You know, there are a lot of
preachers quote that wrong. They do. And I don't know whether
they do it intentionally or not. My sheep hear my voice and they
know me. That's not what it says. It says
I know them. And they follow me. They hear and they follow. They'll
not follow a stranger. We've had some strangers come
in here and get up there. Some of the goats followed those
strangers. That's right. You ever hear of
a bellwether? You know what a bellwether is?
Mac, you know what a bellwether is. I know you do. Bellwether
is a sheep. Looks like a sheep. Bleats like
a sheep. Got wool on it like a sheep.
But you know what a bellwether does? He's got a strap around
his neck with a bell on it. And when they bring the lambs
into the slaughterhouse, You know what a lamb does? He follows
the leader. They open the gate, the old bellwether
runs through the gate, all the lambs following. Slaughterhouse
man lets the bellwether go on through and go back around and
get another load and kills the lambs that come in. You got a lot of
bellwethers. Got a lot of them. But be that
as it may, he that heareth my word, the word that Christ speaks
to you, Now, I'm not saying that this is something that we conjure
up within ourselves. His sheep hear his voice. He that heareth my word is the
designation of a type of person. See, it's not an opportunity. To many people, this is an opportunity
you have. That's not what he's talking
about. This is a type of person. He that heareth my word. Now, what does that one do who
hears his word? He believeth on him that sent
me. He believes God. He believes
God. Well, you see, now we can go,
Walter, we can branch out in all manner of directions now.
Somebody says, I don't know what I'm going to preach tonight. boy yeah how to narrow it down
is right well shotgun it you know somebody somebody will listen
somebody will hear now he says he that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me hath everlasting life he believes
on God that person has everlasting life why because he heard Somebody
says, oh, because he believed. Because he heard. That's first,
Walter. That's first. Because he heard,
he believes. And because he believes, he has
everlasting life. He believes because he hears. He hears because he's given life
by God. Just that simple. Now, now, read
on. Have everlasting life. Now, look. and shall not come into condemnation,
shall not come into judgment. Because judgment in the scripture
is synonymous with condemnation. If you're judged, you're condemned.
There's no acquittal. If you come into judgment, the
jury has already sat. The sentence has already been
passed. And you're there awaiting execution.
That's all there is to it. There is no acquittal. This is what it says. Shall not, but that one who hears
and believes shall not come into condemnation, not come into judgment,
but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live, shall
live. For as the Father hath life in
himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, and hath given him authority
to execute judgment also because he is the son of man. We're talking about judgment.
Now, marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all
that are in the grave shall hear his voice. All. That's right. All. Somebody says,
well, I'll tell you, I believe in immortality. That'd be a fool,
didn't it? Immortality is not eternal life. immortality is not eternal life
every man is immortal but not every man has eternal life see
what he says all that are in the grave shall hear his voice
and shall come forth every one of them they that have done good
what does that mean that means that means verse 24 that means verse 24 hearing his
word, believing on him that sent me. They that have done good, unto
the resurrection of life. And they that have done evil,
unto the resurrection of damnation. Some bodies are going to come
forth from the grave in order to be cast into hell. See, when we talk about judgment,
we say, oh, preach to me about the premillennial coming. You
talk about the coming of Christ, you're talking about judgment.
And I'm not going to stand around here and sing, wait a little
longer, please, Jesus. This great mass will come forth
from the dead And you know what scripture says, and I'll not
turn to it, time's getting short, that the angels of God shall
seize them and bind them and cast them into hell. Somebody
says, I'll go to hell because I want to. No, you won't. You'll
go to hell because you're cast down. You'll be thrown in there
by the angels of God. And you know something else?
The God's, God's children are going to sit around. They're
going to weep and mourn. No, they're not. They're going to
clap their hands and say, hallelujah. That's what they're going to
do. They're going to say, hallelujah. Tell me, I've got no feeling.
Tell me, I've got no compassion. I don't have a bit of compassion
in this world upon a God hater. None whatever. People say, well,
you've got to love everybody. I don't know who said that, but
whoever said it's a liar. You know what the psalmist said
in the words of Christ? I hate them that hate thee with
a perfect hatred. That's what he said. That's right. That's what it says. We've got
to come to the place where when we think of the day of the Lord,
we remember that the child of God has passed through judgment. That's right. You see, all right,
so I'll stand up here and say, I believe in the premillennial
return of Christ. So I preach to you 10 weeks on
the millennium. horses bridled deep in blood,
the great whore that sitteth on seven hills clothed in scarlet,
the beast that comes and erects an idol. Do you know something?
Not one bit of it has any application to you whatsoever. Not one bit. Why? Because it's all judgment.
It's all judgment. The believer has passed through
judgment because he's judged and punished in Christ. Has no application. So I'm going
to be right frank with you. You want to play this tape to
somebody else, go ahead and play it. Don't make any difference.
I don't much care whether there's seven years of
trial and tribulation. That being the case, I won't
be here to experience it anyhow. It's judgment upon the ungodly. Then too, I'm not going to argue
one minute whether or not the church is going to go through
half of the tribulation and the second half being called the
time of Jacob's trouble when she's going to be caught out
in the midst of it. I'm not going to argue about that because I
don't think the very men that wrote the book know what they're
talking about. I mean it. But I do know this. Our Lord said, and if I go, I
will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am,
there ye may be also. That might be tonight. And it may not be for 100 years. But let's live with Paul. Whether
I live or whether I die, it is unto the Lord. You see, people are so, their
curiosities, their curiosities all peaked, P-I-Q-U-E-D, peaked
by this idea of what's going to happen? Well, what's going
to happen as far as I'm concerned has already happened. It's been
made alive in Christ. You say, well, how do you know
that? Well, there are a lot of things. A lot of things. A lot of reasons
I know that. Well, is that because you're
so good? No. No. No, that's not it. That's not
it. Is that because you do everything
right? No. Is that because you never have
evil, wicked thoughts? No. You say, well, how do you know
that you heard his voice? How do you know? How do you know? How do you know you've been regenerated? How do you know he hath made
with me an everlasting covenant? I'll tell you why. Because this
is all my hope and stay. I mean, I don't have anything
else. And I'll tell you another reason,
because God has enabled me to persevere through 45 years. And I'm persuaded that the God
that lived in Daniel's time is just the same today. You see,
if I look at a man, and I've looked at a lot of them, come into church, and they finally
tell me that God saved them. And I say, all right, tell the
church. They tell the church, and the church receives them.
And they're all up to see what God's done for them, what God's
done for them, and how happy they are in Christ, and how this
and how that. And the first thing you know,
they're gone. They're gone a little bit more.
They're gone a little bit more. Where were you? Missed you last
summer. Haven't seen you for a month.
Well, the kids got sick and we had to go out to grandma's and
grandma's been sick. That's all junk. That's all junk. That's all excuses. I just about
said it's all a lie. But I think that's right. I think
that's right. because I'll tell you where God's
people's interest lies. Now they can be kicked, they
can be slapped down, they can be hurt until they turn their
back on everything that they love and go away from it. That
can happen. But you know something? The love
of Christ will hold them back until they find themselves right
back with Christ and the gospel And they can't get away from
it. You see, I think sometimes with
the greatest injuries done, we do to each other by the judgments
of men. Not God's judgments, men's judgments. Because men judge with an unrighteous
judgment. You see, we make judgments that
are unrighteous. And in making those judgments, oftentimes we make the wrong
judgment. But to the child of God, it seldom
makes any difference. Are they hurt? Sure. Do they
stumble? Yeah. Do they sometimes under
the rod of affliction fall? Yeah. Yeah, they sure do. But what characterizes the true
believer in Christ? He perseveres. With Job, out
on the Jerusalem dump, out at the public landfill, setting
on a heap of cinders, scratching himself with a broken crop, everything's
gone. Wife had already told him, curse
God and die. Everything gone. Here is the
evident sign of regeneration. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. That's it. That's how I know. That's how I know. Sometimes
when we're young, we look forward to tomorrow and we say, well,
Lord, what are we going to do? Well, in Christ, you'll do. You'll do. I've been there, you
see. When you go to an appointment,
Walter, and you ain't got no motel room, and you ain't got
no money, but you'll do. You'll do. Your own familiar friend lifts
up his heel against you. You'll do. You'll do. Why? Because of that judgment
that fell on the Lord Jesus Christ. So I'm going to leave you with
this. In a very real sense, for those of you who know Christ
and who are in Christ, the day of the Lord is a past event. It's a past. Remember what I
said last Wednesday night about Peter's sermon? It is now.