Paul opens his epistle to the
Romans in Romans chapter 1 with 16, 17 verses of scripture describing
his commitment to the gospel of God's free grace. You're not
ashamed of the gospel. You're ready to preach the gospel
wherever God opens the door because the gospel is the power of God
to salvation to all who believe. He tells us plainly that the
gospel is of God, it is concerning his son, it is the means by which
God saves chosen sinners, the gospel. And then he proceeds
in chapter 1, beginning at verse 18, going through chapter 1,
chapter 2, and the first part of chapter 3, showing us that
the judgment of God is just. The judgment of God is righteous. Every man's conscience tells
him he will meet God in judgment. Every man's conscience screams
constantly, warning him of judgment. God sends judgments in the earth
in providence. Stark, shocking judgments, sometimes
sweeping away hundreds. Judgments of famine and pestilence
and war and storms. And then he sends judgments in
families. He sends judgments in sickness. He sends judgments in trials
and difficulties. All of these things warning you
soon you will die and meet God in judgment and be assured God's
judgment is just. God's judgment is righteous. God's judgment always proceeds
from the great white throne of purity, equity, justice, and
truth. Anyone who goes to hell goes
to hell because that's what justice demands. Anyone who enters into
heaven's glory shall enter into heaven's glory because that is
what justice demands. Judgment by God is always right. Let's begin reading this morning
at Romans chapter two, verse two, Romans chapter two, verse
two. We are sure, we are sure that
the judgment of God is according to truth. against them which
commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man,
do you vainly imagine this, that judgest them which do such things,
and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of
God? Are you so foolish as to imagine
that you shall escape the judgment of God? Or despises thou the
riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after
thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto thyself wrath
against the day of wrath. and the revelation of the righteous
judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his
deeds, to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek
for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. But unto them that
are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
indignation, and wrath, Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of
man that doeth evil, of the Jew first and also of the Gentile. The glory, honor, and peace to
every man that worketh good, to the Jew first and also to
the Gentile. For there is no respect of persons
with God. That is to say you can't buy
God off. You can't bribe God offering
him something. No respected persons with God.
A judge, or a politician, or a policeman, you might bribe
and get him to not charge you with some evil you've done. Not
God. There is no respect of persons
with God. You may have some influence with
a judge, with a politician, or a policeman, because of who your
daddy is, because of your ancestry, because of the color of your
skin. Not with God. There is no respect of persons
with God. Verse 12, for as many as have
sinned without the law shall also perish without the law.
Those who've never heard the things of God, never read the
book of God, they're going to perish, even though they've never
heard those things because the sin against the light of creation
and conscience. And as many as have sinned in
the law shall be judged by the law. Those who've heard the things
of God presented, the word of God, and the law of God, and
the gospel of God, shall be judged by the light of the night, light
that God's given them. Read on. For not the hearers
of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall
be justified. Nobody else. Nobody else. Only the doers of the law. Nobody will ever be justified
before God except those who have perfectly, absolutely, always
fulfilled every requirement of God's holy law with not a single
breach in mind, in thought, in word, or in deed. The doers of
the law shall be justified. Well, pastor, that shuts us all
out. Oh, no. Oh, no. You see, there are some
people in this world for whom Jesus Christ, God's darling son,
has fully obeyed God's holy law, for whom he has suffered all
the penalty of God's law so that the penalty itself has been thoroughly,
completely expunged. And the law says, the law says
Christ must go free. So he rose from the dead. and
all who obeyed God's law in him. All who suffered God's wrath
in him arose with him and are justified because they are perfect
doers of the law. Because the law demands that
they be justified. Verse 14, for when the Gentiles
which have not the law do by diction the things contained
in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves.
Paul is not suggesting that there are some folks who walk in the
light that God's given them and therefore they're justified.
He's saying that Gentiles, those who've never heard the things
of God, the heathen, the unbelieving, those who've never had the law
of God, had the law written on their hearts and consciences
so that they themselves recognize that murder and adultery and
theft and lying and so on is wrong. And they make laws for
themselves in that light, though they don't obey the laws. they
are loyal to themselves, read on, verse 15, which show the
work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also
bearing them witness, and their thoughts, the meanwhile accusing
or else excusing one another. That is, by the light of the
law of God written on the heart of man, man knowing some measure,
that which is good and that which is evil, that which is right
and that which is wrong, he either accuses his neighbor or he excuses
himself. Verse 16. In that day, when God
shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to
my gospel. The title of my message today
is The Righteous Judgment of God. Some of you are plainly
described in verse 3. You vainly imagine that you shall
escape the judgment of God. What folly rules your mind? With
what madness Satan has bewitched you? Repeatedly in these few
verses God the Holy Ghost warns us of the day of wrath and of
the righteous judgment of God Warning you to prepare to meet
God Prepare to meet God your conscience tells you you must
and God's Word tells you you must you will meet God in judgment
for there is an appointed day when God will judge the secrets
of men and by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. There is no contradiction
at all in the declaration of the gospel. the good news of
redemption and grace through Jesus Christ, and the declaration
of the righteous judgment of God. In fact, if there is any
proof anywhere in the world that cannot be denied of the certain
righteous judgment of God, it is this, when God made his son
to be sin for us, God withheld not any of his wrath from his
own darling son, but rather poured out upon his own darling son
his unmitigated fury and wrath until justice was fully satisfied
by the sacrifice of his son. And if God punished sin in his
son, you can be sure God will punish sin in you. Your conscience
says so, God's word says so, and it's only right that he do
so. How often God, the God of all
grace, warns sinners who heap upon themselves wrath, treasuring
up wrath against the day of wrath. Sinners like you who hear the
gospel but refuse to believe on the Son of God. How often
God warns sinners of the sure judgment of God. For we must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone
may receive things done in his body according to that we have
done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men. Turn to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. Read this
very familiar text of scripture. from which men naturally shun
away. 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 were 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. Death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire. This also is the second death
Look up in verse 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in
the first resurrection Mark you can write down this whatever
means blessed and holy is he that's born again. I The new
birth is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that has
been raised from the dead, has part in the first resurrection.
For on such, the second death, this judgment, has no power. Read on. And whosoever was not
found in the book of life, written in the book of life, was cast
into the lake of fire. In the last day, when time shall
be no more, we all must be before the judgment bar of God to be
judged. Judged of God and shall enter
in either into life eternal or everlasting damnation, either
into eternal life with Christ in heaven or everlasting torment
with the devils in hell according to the righteous judgment of
God. Having said that, while the word
of God is full of warnings to the unbeliever, full of warnings
to the Christless soul, full of warnings to the rebel about
judgment. Nowhere in this book, nowhere
in this book is there a hint that the day of judgment holds
any terror for God's elect. I am astonished that so many
who ought to be well instructed with regard to divine judgment
miss this. Divine judgment nowhere in the
word of God is held forth as a matter of terror or fear to
God's elect. Nowhere. Find me somewhere in
the book where there's a hint that if Oscar Bailey trusts Christ,
you have reason to fear beaten God in judgment. Not a hint of
it. The only reason such fear continues to exist. because men
and women have been inundated continually with Roman doctrine
of purgatory and the Doctrine the Protestants and badness they've
used for years Which is just a version of purgatory that there
are degrees of reward in heaven and you're some folks are going
to be saved But you're just going to get in by the skin of your
teeth and you will spend eternity Weeping for this and weeping
for that. I actually heard a fellow one time. He was preaching for
me and I was pastoring at Lookout. A fellow professed to believe
the gospel of God's free grace. He wouldn't have been preaching
for me otherwise. He smelled some smoke on somebody's breath
when he came in the church building, and he said, you're going to
spend every day in eternity weeping for every cigarette you smoked. I wish I had. I wanted to take
my foot and push him out of the pulpit. What foolishness. What nonsense. Oh, no. The believer
washed in the blood of Christ. robed in his righteousness, made
righteous by the grace of God, stands before God Almighty altogether
without sin. And there is no sin to be charged
upon God's elect. So that the believer, the believer
has every reason to look forward to the day of judgment. In that
day, everything shall be set in its true light. Turn to 1st
Corinthians chapter 3 for just a minute chapter 4. I'm sorry
1st Corinthians chapter 4 On this earth God's Saints are constantly
misjudged His servants are maligned and slandered by reprobate men
But in that last great day God Almighty will vindicate his people
you remember how vindicated Job and Remember how I vindicated Job?
Those three fellows came and bowed to Job's feet. And God
vindicated him. God began the book by saying,
this man, Job, he's perfect. He's perfect. He's perfect. There's none like him in the
earth. He's a perfect man. And then the next chapters, going
all the way through chapter 39, we see that Job in himself was
anything but perfect. He was anything but perfect.
His sin, just every time he opens his mouth, his sin pops out.
He was anything but perfect, but God said he's perfect. God
said he's perfect. And when God got done, everybody
else came and bowed down and said, God's right, you're perfect.
You're perfect. So it shall be for all the host
of God's elect in the day of judgment. Look at first Corinthians
chapter four, verse three. With me, it is a very small thing
that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Your opinion
of me, Paul said, doesn't count for much. You who like to accuse
me of this, accuse me of that. You who say I'm a false prophet,
a false apostle, a self-serving man. Your opinion of me doesn't
matter to me. In fact, my opinion of me doesn't
matter to me. Look at this. Yea, I judge not
mine own self. For I know nothing by myself,
yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the
Lord. Therefore, judge nothing before
the time until the Lord come, who will both bring to light
the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels
of the hearts, and then shall every man have his praise of
God. There was a day when the thought of death and
judgment terrified me, just like it does you. I had nightmares from my youth
up of falling into hell and just falling and falling and falling
and falling. Like some of you, I expect. I'm 64 years old now, and the
God of my mercy has gone before me all these days, and I have
no fear of dying and no fear of judgment. I'm going to meet
God maybe before I get my next breath out, and I'm very comfortable
with that. In fact, Merle, I'm anticipating
it. I'm anticipating it. You understand
that? That's called the peace of faith
in Christ Jesus, the Lord. I don't claim to be an expert
on prophetic matters, but I do know some things revealed in
this book. And I want to make five clear
statements, show you five things revealed in this book about the
coming of our Lord and God's righteous judgment. Number one.
Here is a gospel revelation. It is a revelation that can be
known only by the gospel of God's grace. The Lord Jesus, the Son
of God, our Redeemer, is coming again. Now don't concern yourself
about signs of the times and all that nonsense. I guess all of my life The most
popular religious books coming off the press have been books
about the second coming, books about prophecy. They have prophecy
conferences all over the country, still have those things. And
every time some big event happens in the world, somebody comes
out with a new book on prophecy. But as soon as the thing prophesied
doesn't come to pass as prophesied, they've got to rewrite the books.
So just ignore them. Just ignore them. Somebody comes
and tells you he knows something about the time of the Lord's
second coming. Ignore him. Just smile at him, be nice if
you want to, or don't be. I don't care. Ignore him. Ignore
him. Don't pay any attention to him.
Don't be inquisitive. You remember in Acts chapter
1 when the Lord ascended up into glory, two men standing in white
apparel stood by him as he ascended up into heaven, and the apostles
were all standing like this. And I would have been too. But
they just kept standing there when it was going out of their
sight. They're still standing there. He told them to go to Jerusalem
and wait until you are indeed with power from on high and then
go in the Spirit of God and preach the gospel in all the world to
every creature. And here they stood looking up
in heaven. And people today do the same
thing. They just stand looking for signs. The Lord's coming. The Lord's
coming. The Lord's coming. These are signs of the Lord's
coming. These are signs of the times. Where do you find that
in this book? Where do you find that in this
book? Nowhere to be found. We are to stand on the tiptoe
of faith, looking for Christ all the time. Not for signs of
his appearance, but looking for him, just as the apostles did
of old. We are to be looking for him who is personally coming. He said, I will come again. The
Lord himself shall descend from heaven. The Lord shall be revealed
from heaven. Job, back in Job, Chapter 19
the earliest book of the Bible. He said I know that my Redeemer
liveth and at the last day He will stand upon this earth and
I'm gonna see him with my eyes. I'm gonna see him for myself
The Lord Jesus is coming again Enoch prophesied of the Lord's
coming with ten thousands of his saints Once he came in weakness
He's coming again in power Once he came in humiliation, he's
coming again in glory. Once he came to be despised and
to suffer and to die, he's coming again to be admired and to be
honored. Once he came here to be put to
death, he's coming again to conquer all by his power. The second
coming of Christ, however, will be unexpected, unannounced. He said, behold, I come as a
thief in the night. No man knows the day or the hour
of the Lord's coming, and that's best. That's best. If we knew exactly when he was
coming, we would neglect our responsibilities and we would
just sort of wait, wait until the Lord's coming. We would act
like fools and say the Lord's coming. Back in 1994, a fellow
in California announced September 4th 1994 gonna be the end of
the world Christ is coming and do you know what folks did? They
got convinced some of your faith me with it. They got convinced.
I know people who sold everything they had Put their families in
poverty Because they're convinced the Lord's coming and they gave
it all away because look why we won't even we only did this
the Lord's coming But the fellow who made the prediction didn't
sell a thing He held on to everything He knew better all the while
he was deluding other folks. Well, just in case this ain't
so. Don't ever think so foolishly. To presume you know when Christ
is coming will cause you to neglect responsibility while you live.
Children of God live every day serving Christ in the anticipation
of his immediate appearance. I've said this many, many times.
I can't think of a better way to express it or to illustrate
it. You all know Mrs. Fortner spoils me rotten. She just does everything she
can to make me happy. And my favorite dish is macaroni
and cheese. Baked in the oven, my favorite
dish. She travels with me now about
everywhere because she's scared to death something's going to happen to
me. But for years, for years, until Faith was out of college,
she hardly ever went with me anywhere. And she stayed home,
took care of the house, took care of Faith. But when I'd come
home, when she knew about time for me to come home, as I walked
through the door, there'd be a big pan of macaroni and cheese
coming out of the oven. Well, she'd been there. Looks
like she'd been standing at the front door waiting for you to
come. She knew you was coming. Well, she sort of did. She sort of
did. I never was there to see her. I didn't see exactly what
she did. She'd clean the house and wash windows and wash dishes
and wash clothes and iron and cook. And she'd go and look out
the front door or look out the window out here. And she'd be
watching for you to come down the road. And she'd go back to
work. And a little while, she'd start looking out the window
again. Watch me come down the road, and she'd go back to work.
And a little while, she'd go look again, and she'd see the
headlights coming down the road. She'd take the apron off, brush
her cheeks a little bit, make sure her hair's straight, and
she'd be on the porch waiting on when I got home. That's exactly
how we're to serve our Redeemer. looking for him on the tiptoe
of faith, serving him as if he may not come again for another
thousand years, living constantly in his service for his glory.
Now, here's the second thing. Christ is coming. Number one.
When he comes, there will be a general resurrection, a great
general resurrection of all who have ever lived upon the earth.
Turn to John chapter five. Gospel of John chapter 5. Now listen carefully, listen
carefully. Most of you have been exposed
to religious stuff that has taught you all your life that there
are going to be three second comings. There's going to be
a secret second coming of Christ prior to some imaginary tribulation
period that some folks who were smoking the wrong stuff concocted
150 years ago. And then that's going to be the
secret rapture of the church, they say. And then at the end
of the great tribulation, those seven years, there's going to
be another second coming. then there's gonna be a thousand-year
millennial reign on the earth when Christ is going to come
and set up his throne over there in Israel and Jerusalem and Everybody's
going to see that the Jews or something special and he's he's
going to give up his throne in heaven and take up a throne Little
peanut thrown over there in Jerusalem and at the end of the thousand
years then he's coming again that could be the end of all
things this book never talks such nonsense and Christ came
once to redeem us. He's coming a second time to
be revealed in His glory and admired in all them that believe. The second coming of Christ will
be at the end of the age, at the conclusion of this age in
which we're living. That shall be the end of all
things. Look in John 5, verse 28. Our
Lord Jesus says, marvel not at this, for the hour is coming
in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice
and shall come forth. They that had done good unto
the resurrection of life and they that had done evil unto
the resurrection of damnation. Now, if you've got one of those
Bibles that's been messed with and you've got notes on it, More
than likely, if it has the name Schofield on the front of it,
I know it so, you'll have a note somewhere telling you that between
this, the resurrection of life, and the resurrection of damnation,
there are going to be a thousand years. No. Our Lord said there's
a day coming, one hour coming, an appointed hour, when all that
are in the grave will hear the voice of the archangel, the trump
of God, and all the righteous and the wicked in the graves
shall arise at one time. I don't offer any argument for
proof. I simply declare to you what the book of God plainly
reveals. Let me give it to you as it's
revealed in Scripture. First, all who have died in faith,
shall be raised from the grave. We often think, wouldn't it be
wonderful to be alive when the Lord comes again? Well, there's
something preferable to that. There's something preferable
to that. Well, what could be better than to be alive when
the Lord comes? Be in the grave when he comes. Have your body
in the grave, because the dead in Christ shall rise first. Look
at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I will not have you, verse 13,
to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep. He's not
talking about soul sleep, he's talking about sleep of the body.
That you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so also
Even so, them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with
him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent, we shall not go before,
we shall not precede them which are asleep. For the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven. with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ
shall rise first. They will rise up out of the
grave. And as they rise up out of the grave, then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Nothing secret about it.
And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort ye
one another with these words. All the Old Testament saints,
all the martyrs, all God's elect who have preceded us and gone
to glory already shall suddenly arise. And when they do, as we,
as we see them ascending up into heaven, we shall follow them
and rise with them and meet the Lord in the air. And he will
come again to judge the earth with all his saints attending
him. Immediately after the sleeping
Saints arise all believers Living upon the earth shall be changed
and what a change it will be Look at first Corinthians 15.
I know this is very familiar Scripture to you, but I think
I don't think I know we read the scripture Far too often without
considering what we read. Look at first Corinthians 15
verse 51 Behold I show you a mystery We
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, Paul is stretching himself looking
for words. How can I describe how fast it's
going to be? Quicker than you can bat your eyes. Quicker than
you can bat your eyes. At the last trump, for the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. And
we shall be changed. Now watch this. For this corruptible,
this dying flesh, must put on incorruption. And this mortal,
this mortal body, must put on immortality. So when this corruptible
shall be put on incorruption. And this mortal shall be put
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that's
written. That is, this is finally going to be accomplished. Death
is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is law. But thanks be unto God, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what
should our conclusion to this be? What should be our natural
response to this? Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain
in the Lord. Then, after the Son of God has
gathered all the rats and bodies of his elect from earth, After
he has destroyed the wicked living upon the earth with the brightness
of his coming, all the wicked shall be raised. Yes, there is
a resurrection of damnation. Yes, there is a resurrection
of damnation. But there's no music in your
resurrection. No joy here. No bliss here. No happiness here. Nothing to be anticipated, but
only to be dreaded. Your body and soul, now united
in sin, shall be united in horror. And there's no comfort I can
offer you if you refuse to bow to Christ the Lord. If you die
without Christ, you die without God, you die without righteousness,
you die without pardon, you die without hope. The only thing
awaiting you is everlasting damnation. Now thirdly, turn to Revelation
20 again. I want you to see this. The scriptures speak of a great
reckoning. Immediately after the resurrection, we must be judged by God. Everyone according to his works
according to the things done in his body We're told in Romans
2 6 God will render to every man according to his deeds in
verse 16 He will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according
to my gospel Look here Revelation chapter 20 verse 12 again. I
saw the dead small and great kings and servants, princes and
paupers, highly decorated men and men whose names were never
known, rich folks, powerful, influential folks, and folks
who never influenced anybody and never owned clothes for their
own back. I saw the day everybody, 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. According to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which read it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead which read them. And they were judged, every man,
according to their works. The judge in that great day shall be Jesus Christ, the Redeemer
of His people, whom we crucified. The judge in that day shall be
Jesus Christ, the sinner's substitute, the Lamb of God slain at Calvary. The Father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgment unto the Son. Soon you will stand
before the judgment seat of Christ, And John says, I saw the books
opened. The books. Now God doesn't need
books to remember man's sayings. The language is figurative. But
John Gill very properly observed this. This judgment out of the
books and according to works is designed to show with what
accuracy and exactness, with what justice and equity It will
be executed in allusion to the statute books in courts of Judica. In the scriptures, God is often
spoken of as writing books. Malachi speaks of the book of
his omniscience and the book of his remembrance. Romans speaks
of the book of creation and providence. We're told about God's holy law
as the book of God in a recorded the commandments of God concerning
man's relationship with God and man's relationship with man and
man violating every commandment of God with regard to God and
every commandment with regard to me. And another book is the
book of conscience. And Paul speaks of being judged
according to the book of the gospel. But blessed be God, there's
another book. There are some against whom no
crimes, no sins, no offenses can be found. Not even the omniscient eye of
God can find them. God who knows everything. God
who sees everything. God who is blinded by nothing. God who has no respect to a person.
There's another book written containing the names of men and
women. Some infants who died in their
infancy. Chosen of God and redeemed by
the blood of Christ. Born again by His Spirit. Multitudes
that no man can number. God can search and search and
search and search and find no crime No offense, no sin against
them Listen to the book in those days and at that time saith the
Lord the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and There shall
be none and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found Who
is this talking about? God says for I will pardon them
whom I reserve. In the book of life are the names
written under the name of the Lamb of God, all for whom the
Lamb was slain. This is the book of divine election,
the book of our divine surety, the book of perfect knowledge
and perfect righteousness. It is the book whereby God Almighty
has recorded the names of those for whom complete atonement and
satisfaction has been made by his son. It's the book registering
the names of those to whom God promised eternal life before
the world began. The question is often raised,
will God judge his elect for their sins and failures committed
after they were saved and expose them in the day of judgment? Any of y'all over here fellas
stand up and preach and try to scare you to death and, you know,
try to get you to do stuff. Give more money or come to church
more regularly, read your Bible more or quit wearing this or
quit going there, quit eating that. Just do stuff. And they
say, in the last day, God's going to show all your sins to all
the world. It'll be a big movie picture.
Everybody's going to see it. How would you like everybody
to see everything going on in your mind? That's not what the book teaches.
The book of God declares that Christ was made sin for us. And when Christ was made sin
for us, God Almighty imputed to His Son all the sins of His
people. And He punished His Son until there was nothing left
to punish. He punished his son until there
was nothing left to punish, until he had fully satisfied justice
and put away sin. And God refuses to impute our
sins to us. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. God will never roll back the
record book. He will never charge again iniquity
to his people. This was done before the world
began in the purpose of God. accomplished in reality before
ever the world was made by Christ the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And this was done in time by the death of Christ
at Calvary. And God said, enough! I require
no more. Our sins were brought out, and
God will never write them in the record again. In the day
of judgment, it will be for God's elect a day of glory, a day of
glory for Christ and for his people. Not a day of mourning
and sorrow. This is considered and revealed
to be the day of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Our daughter just had the one,
you know, the day she was scheduled to get married. Oh, man. I can't tell you how things were
at the Fortner house. Preceding those that day, it
seemed like every thought, every conversation, every second was
taken up with making preparations for that day. Faith was so excited. Man, she was so excited. Just
what's more exciting to any woman than the day she's about to marry? What a day, what a day. And yet
folks would have us to believe, Alan, that the marriage supper
of the Lamb is going to be a day to be dreaded. This is the day when the Lamb
of God shall be wed publicly before the universe and cause
all of hell to wonder at His feet and to wonder at His mercy
for His bride. This shall be a day of glory,
glory for God, and glory for His saints. God will display
the glory of His grace in us, and we will glory in our God.
And it will be a day, fourthly, of a glorious reward. I've got
to quit. But understand this. Those who are found perfectly
righteous, Righteous, according to the record of God himself,
shall enter into eternal life and inherit everlasting glory
with Christ. He said, Father, the glory which
thou hast given me. Now, can you picture him seated
yonder on the throne? Awaiting all the earth has made
his footstool till all his enemies bow to him seated there on that
great white throne seated on the throne with his father The
Lord Jesus the God-man as the reward of his obedience. The
father has given him everything Everything for what glory he
enjoys and What glory before the angels, the seraphim, the
cherub, who bow before him and worship him, cry, holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts. What marvelous glory, said the
post of the temple, shake at his presence, and his glory fills
the house of God. Oh, what glory that is. Mark
Henson, he said, that's the glory, Father, I've given to Mark Henson. Not earned by us, earned by Him,
bestowed by Him upon us by the riches of His free grace. He
that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy,
let him be filthy still. He that is righteous, let him
be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy
still. One last thing. The day of the righteous judgment
of God will be a day of grand restitution. When the Son of God shall make
restitution of all things to the glory of the triune God.
Everything, everything will be down to the glory and praise
of our God. Most things, I can't see it now,
can you? Most things going on. How is
God going to glorify himself with that? I don't know. I don't
know. How does this work for the good of God's people in the
glory of his name? I don't know. But soon, soon, everything will
fall at his feet and proclaim his praise and say, this is the
best things could have been. This is the best things could
have been. Things could never have been better. This is exactly
how it ought to have been. And that will include the everlasting
damnation of every sinner who deserves his wrath. Read the
19th chapter of Revelation, and you'll see that the smoke of
the torments of the damned ascend up into heaven. And when
God's saints see the damned and the judgment of God, the
wicked cast into hell, saying, Amen. Oh, God, this is what I've
heard. Amen. I'm rightly damned. The wicked forever suffering
the wrath of God. This shall be the song of God's
saints. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Ye sinners, seek his face, whose
wrath you cannot bear. Find salvation in his cross. Grace and glory you'll find there. Amen.