I want to say, first of all,
how much I appreciate this church having me up here. And I count
it a privilege, a privilege in this day and time,
to be welcome into any church who stands and preaches the gospel
of God's sovereign grace. It is a special place. Don't
ever take it for granted. And I also want to thank this
church for your generous gifts to myself and to Kathy for her
medical expenses. You will never know how much
help it was. I want to bring a message to
you tonight that is plain and easy to be understood. I don't
want anybody sitting back there doing this. Where in the world
is he at? What's he talking about? I want
you to understand exactly what it is that I want to say. And
I want to bring a message that's applicable to your lives and
current to your needs. Henry used to tell a story about
a pastor who came to Kentucky and pastored a church up there,
and he got up The first Sunday morning, he brought a message
against tobacco. And boy, he rant and raved for
about an hour. And after church, the deacons
met with him and said, Pastor, we don't want to offend you or
tell you what to preach, but almost everybody in this congregation
farms tobacco for a living. And you're apt to lose most of
your congregation if you keep on preaching on tobacco. So the
next Sunday he got up and he preached on the dangers of whiskey. And the same board of deacons
met him back by the door. And they said, you know, a lot
of these folks here in this state make their money making whiskey.
And so the next Sunday he got up and he preached on the sins
of gambling. And they said, Pastor, I know
you're going to feel awful, But you know, most of these folks
down here, that's the real heart of this church, work on horse
farms, and their money's made from horse racing and gathering.
Well, he said, what do you suggest I preach on? And they said, well,
why don't you preach on witch doctors? We don't have anything. So I don't want to preach on
something that has no application. I want to preach on something
that applies, something that you can identify with, and something
that you can take home and put into practical use. And I want to bring a message
tonight that's fundamental in the doctrines of Christ and honoring
to my God. I don't want to just stand up
here and ramble for a half hour or so and then sit down. Henry
gave us 10 things one time that we need to remember when we get
up to preach the gospel. I've got them written down in
my Bible. And one of those things was to have a message. Write it down. You might have
to read it, but just write it down. Have a message. Don't just
stand up there and have nothing to say. And I want that. I want
to bring a message that's fundamental in the doctrines of Christ and
honoring to my Lord. And so I felt led this evening
to begin these meetings with a message titled, The Judgment. The Judgment. Contrary to popular
opinion, I believe we're living in the last days. I believe these
are the last days. Could be we're in the last days
of the last days, but I know for sure that we live in the
last days. And I know that don't sit well
with the dispensationalist, but it's so anyway. And I don't have
to spend three hours up here going through prophecy to prove
my point. I go over to 1 John 2, verse
18. And John said, little children,
it is the last time. Sounds to me like we're in the
last days, don't it to you? It's the last time. periods of time all through the
Scriptures that God seemed to separate for certain revelations,
certain purposes. I'm not really sure what all
of them are. There was a time before the fall
of man. We're not told how long it was.
I don't know how long Adam walked with God before he fell. I don't
know. I don't know. But there was a
time, there was a period where he walked with God before the
fall. And then there was a time between
the fall of man and the flood. There was a period of time. And
it seems to be separated to me in the Scriptures. I'm not really
sure what all these times are about. But there was a time between
the flood and the forming of Israel, the calling out of Israel
and the giving of the law. There was a period of time, and
he refers to it as that. And then there was a time between
the giving of the law and the establishing of the nation of
Israel until the coming of Christ. And at the coming of Christ began
the last days. The last days. And from that
day to this, we've been living in the last days. These are the
last days. Here's what the Scripture said,
once hath He appeared, when? In the end of the world. Isn't
that what He said? to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. And unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. And then in the last part of
that verse that I quoted there from 1 John 2, he says this,
and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there
many Antichrists whereby we know it is the last. That's how I
know it. Antichrist is on every corner.
You don't have to. I come from a city with a population
of 560 people. Tiny, tiny little town. We have
six churches. One of them would seat 500. And
that antichrist is on every corner. It's everywhere. And this is
2,000 years after John wrote these words. Antichrist. He's already here, John said.
This whole religious generation's waiting for the coming of Antichrist. You turn on any religious program
where they're talking about prophecies, and they're still looking for
the Antichrist. And most of them are joined up with him. Most
of them are Antichrist. Who's looking for the Antichrist?
And then our Lord said this about these days. He said, as it was
in the days of Noah, So shall it be in those days before the
coming of the Son of Man. I invite you this evening to
turn with me to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. I want to look at a few verses
of Scripture here and talk to you a little bit about the judgment. Revelation chapter 20 beginning
with verse 11. This is John speaking, caught
up in the Spirit. And he said, I saw a great white
throne, verse 11, and him that sat on it, from whose face the
earth and heaven fled away. And there was found no place
for them. Now, there was a place for them.
That's what this judgment was all about. They were going to
stand before God. There was a place. That's not
what this is talking about. What this is talking about, there
was no place for them on the throne. There was no place for
their counsels. There was no place for their
excuses. There was no place for their
arguments and their doctrine. There was no place found for
them. And they knew it, and they fled
from His face. No place for their opinions and
excuses and their counsels and committees. No place for their
conjectures. Just the throne and Him who sat
on it. And then John said in verse 12,
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. Your
dead and my dead. All the dead 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. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. Now wait a minute. Let me back
up here just a little bit. They were judged every man according
to the works, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death. Verse 15. And whosoever was not
found written in the book of life. Are you listening? And whosoever
was not found written in the book of life was cast into the
lake of fire. May God the Holy Spirit be my
guide as we consider the words that we've read. Judgment's coming. Judgment's coming. Old and young
and rich and poor and great and small and saved and lost, all
of the dead sons and daughters of Adam will be brought to stand
before the throne of God. No man is exempt. No way to get around it. No way
to get over it. No way to get under it. No way
to get away from it. Oh, they'll cry in that day.
Cry for the rocks and the mountains to hide them. I tell you, men
shirk when we talk about God's perfections and snub the nose
and all of those gestures that men that men have, and when you
talk about the perfections of God's holiness and justice and
righteousness, as though we were making this thing up to scare
somebody into a profession of faith. If I can scare you into
a profession of faith, somebody else can scare you out of it.
If I can talk you into a profession of faith, somebody else can talk
you out of it. Salvation is the work of God.
But here in our text, it says plainly, from whose face earth
and heaven fled away. It was not the noise that frightened
them, and it was not some horrid beastly
form that these so-called prophets talk about that frightened them. It was the face of Jesus Christ
the Lord sitting upon the throne. From His face, you see, heaven
and earth, all these dead, they fled, they fled, they turned. Why? I don't see anybody here in my
generation fleeing from His face. Do you? Why are they fleeing from the
face of Jesus Christ the Lord? Why are they fleeing from the
Savior? Because in His face is the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God. But in that day, with no mercy. They look at that face and they
see the light of His mercy, which they rejected. They look in that
day at the light of His love that they scorned. They look
in that day at the light of His grace that they despised, and
the light of His power to which they would not bow. And they
flee from it. They'll cry in that day for the
rocks and the mountains to hide them from the face of God, because
in that day they'll know that Jesus Christ is God. He's God our Savior. What an
awesome sight that will be! He who satisfied divine justice
and exhausted eternal wrath and wrought out a perfect righteousness
as a man sitting upon the throne of glory to accomplish one last act. Judgment. Judgment. Listen to how he describes the
bar of God. He calls it a great white throne. He calls it great because of
where it sits and who sits upon it. It sits in heaven. You know, when I talk to men
about the things of God, men don't realize what you're talking
about. They've got no concept of what you're saying except
the Holy Spirit open their hearts and minds and reveal it to them.
But I'm talking about one who sits on the throne of glory.
He sits in heaven. There's no throne higher than
this. There's no authority higher than this. It's a great throne because of
where it sits and who sits upon it. And it's white because of
its pureness and uncompromised perfection. That one who sits
on there will not. He read it to us a while ago.
Justice and judgment is the habitation of His throne. Uncompromising
justice and judgment. Brother Henry said a man told
him one time, he said, Pastor, all I want is what I got coming. He said, no you don't. You don't
want that. You don't want that. But that's
what you're going to get outside of Christ when you stand before
this throne. Uncompromised justice. And the throne, because it's
the place when omnipotence reigns. A throne. Paul said, which in
his times, he's talking about Christ in that book. In his times,
he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King
of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling
in a light which no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen nor
can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting, not redeemed in glory, a people. And all those people
shout in unison in chapter 19 of Revelations and say, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For the Lord God
Omnipotent. Praise. Judgment's coming. Do you believe that? Do you believe that? Judgment's
coming. Can you even talk about the judgment
without concerns? Can you sit here tonight and
listen to me talk about this judgment and the horrors of standing
before a holy God in that day with no representative, with
no Savior, with no intercessor standing there before God in
His immaculate holiness and justice and not have any concern? Just
like I'd be up here talking about hunting elk or something sometimes.
People just look at it just as unconcerned. Can you do that
when you read in this book about judgment or hear somebody talk
about judgment? Aren't you just a little alarmed
at the prospect of standing before God? The Bible said it's appointed
unto men once to die and after that, the judgment. What do we really know about
the judgment? Well, let me give you four things tonight to think
about. First of all, I know that this
judgment is the result of another judgment. That's the first thing
I know about the judgment of God. It is the result of another
judgment. Turn with me to Romans chapter
5. You know, you read down through
this, the scriptures that I read to you a while ago, and at the
end of the judgment it says, death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire, and that this is the second death. Well, the
scriptures teach a first death, and a first judgment, and a first
resurrection, and a second resurrection. There's a first and second to
all of these things. Romans chapter 5 gives the account
of the first death and the first judgment. Now, before I read
my text, I want you to look at verses 13 through 17, and I want
you to notice that they're in parentheses. Now, I'm not an
English professor by any means. You'll know that by the time
I'm done. But they tell me that when you look at these things
and they're in parentheses, these things are They're part of the
original text, but it's a parenthetical statement. And what that means
is it's an explanation. So in all of these verses coming
down through here, all the way to verse 18, from verse 13 to
verse 17 is an explanation of what he says in verse 12. And I'm not going to have you
study all that tonight, but if you want to boil everything that
he says and all that and all the way down to that parenthetical
statement, what he's saying is that Adam, in his federal headship,
was a type of Christ. That's what he's saying. Am I
right, Pastor? All the way down through there. That's what it
all boils down to. But by the time you get down
to verse 18, verse 12 done lost its impact. in the explanation. So I'm going to ask you tonight,
and I'm not going to do any harm to the text whatsoever. Just
take verses 13 through 17, and we're just going to leave them
out. I'm going to read to you verse 12 and verse 18, because
I want you to get the impact of this first death and this
first judgment. In Romans chapter 5, verse 12,
wherefore? As by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men, for that all had sinned. Therefore, as by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so
by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life. Through the one man Adam and
his federal headship, all that he represented died. All of them
were judged. All of them were condemned. And
by the same token, all that were under the second representative,
Christ, they're all going to be made righteous under his headship. This world that's headed for
the final judgment of God is a world already condemned. Men,
when you talk to them about judgment, judgment's way out there somewhere. You're already judged. That's
what Christ says, and what reveals your judgment is your unbelief. Light came into the world. Isn't
that what it says there in John's Gospel, chapter 3? This is condemnation. Light came into the world, and
men love darkness rather than light. That's the judgment. That's
the condemnation. That's the corruption. And this
world that's headed for the final judgment of God is a world already
condemned and manifesting that condemnation in everything they
think and say and do. They're just walking sinners. Sinners. And this world and everyone
in it are under the judgment of God. That's what Paul said.
Before God saved you, he said, you walked according to the course
of this world. according to the prince of the
power of the air, that spirit of disobedience, who now worketh,
that spirit who now worketh in the children of disobedience. Listen to what David said. I'm
talking about all mankind now under the judgment of God, condemned
of God. David said they come forth from
the womb, speaking lies. Job said they drink iniquity
like water. David said again, at their best
state, they're altogether vanity. And Isaiah said, all their righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Condemned. Now they're headed
for this judgment. They're headed for this stand
before God with no intercessor, no mediator, no representative. No advocate. Just going to stand
there in their works before a holy God. And they're condemned already. They're living out their days,
breathing out this oozing out of their heart. It's oozing this
iniquity and rebellion in their mind. They're walking sinners,
walking into judgment. Walking into judgment. A man in his present condition
is in no shape to survive the judgment of God. Not only is
he a transgressor of the law, but he's also a rebel who despises
God's authority. He hates it. He hates it. Now, if another comes in his
own name, I don't care if he's a clown.
If he comes in his own name, you have him. You say people wouldn't follow
a clown. You need to turn your TV on some Sunday morning. I've never seen so many clowns
in my life, and I've never seen so many people gather to hear
one. They're everywhere, everywhere. He said, if you come in your
own name, he said, they'll receive you. But he said, I've come in
the Father's name. I've come in God's name. And
he said, you won't have anything to do with me. And they said,
well, he's not of God. Well, God ratified him with the
miracles, didn't he? He confirmed who he was with
miracles and wonders and signs. That's what Peter said, which
he did in your midst, which you yourselves also. You were standing
there when he called Lazarus out of the tomb. And you know
what you got out of it? You got mad because his popularity
grew, and you said, we're going to lose our job. And you went
back and took a counsel against him. That's what they got out
of his calling Lazarus out of the tomb. But if another comes
in his own name and he's sweet-talking, as soon as you join the church,
he gives you a job, you can teach Sunday school. Well, he don't
even know what Sunday is. He don't know what day of the
week it is. But he's going to teach Sunday school. We'll let you work with the young
people. Please don't. Man's mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Paul said, neither indeed can it be. Romans 8, 6, and 7. Well, preacher, if all mankind
is under the curse of Adam's fall, and all of them have a
nature of sin, and all are rebels against God, why has God ordained
a second judgment? If all these men are judged,
if they're all guilty, if they're all sinners, if they're all breathing
out iniquity, living out their days, and as you said, if God
doesn't intervene, they're all going to hell, why is there a
second judgment? Why didn't God just wipe them
out back there in Adam? When Adam fell, why didn't He
just destroy the whole race? Because God chose a people to
redeem for the glory of His name. That's why. And when he saves
them, he's going to call his people. We're all the same. We're
all walking the same road. Didn't Paul, he listed some things
that make an average man blush when he reads them. And he pointed
his finger out there at those Corinthians, and he said, such
were some of you. Such were some of you. Boy, I
know when I read it, his finger was in my face. Such were some
of you. But you're washed. He called you out of darkness.
He didn't leave you in your darkness. He called you out of it. Well,
this judgment that we're headed for, God is going to justify
in that judgment His justification of you. His justification of
you. God has a people He chose in
Christ out of every nation, kindred, tribe, people, and tongue under
heaven. And they're all represented at
this judgment in the Lamb's Book of Life. You read on through
Revelation, and you'll find that this was the Book of Life of
the Lamb before the foundation of the world. This book wasn't
written as it went. This book and those names were
put in there before the foundation of the world. I've heard I don't
know how many Southern Baptists. I'll pick on them tonight and
leave everybody else alone. I don't know how many times I've
heard them say on their TV programs and say from the pulpits and
churches that I've visited and say, when those ones came up
front and made their profession of faith, he said, right now
the angels are writing your name in the Lamb's Book of Life. Well,
number one, angels don't write those names. God himself writes
those names. God himself writes those names
in that book. And when were they written? Before
the foundation of the world. And I tell you, if you want to
go back and look at the Old Testament type, go back and look at the
High Priest. Them names wasn't put on there when he got inside
the veil. Old names was put on that thing
before he ever put the uniform on, wasn't it? Huh? It's the
same thing with yours. Your name was written. If you're
here tonight and believe, your names were written in the Lamb's
Book of Life before the foundation of the world. The last verse
in Revelation chapter 20 ought to be sufficient in itself to
justify this claim. Whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And then
the second thing I know about this judgment. that this judgment
is more about the justification of God's elect than it is about
the judgment of this world. As I told you before, this world
is judged already. It's already condemned. Judgment's
not out there in the future to determine whether or not this
world is guilty. That's not what it's there for.
God determined the guilt of this world way back there in Adam,
and He judged it, and He condemned it. I read that to you in Romans
chapter 5. But I think to set this statement
in its proper perspective, we need to go over to Romans 3. And while you're
turning, I'll quote you another verse that's along these same
lines. He said in Romans 8, verse 1,
there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. That is, they walk with the mind
of Christ and the mind of faith. His hope of righteousness is
not in his own works. His hope of righteousness is
in the faithful obedience of Christ, his representative. His
hope of justice satisfied is in the suffering and death of
the substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is made of God
under that man, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
He walks with the mind of Christ. He walks after the Spirit. And
to that man, there's now no condemnation. Why? Because he has a substitute.
He has a representative. He has the righteousness. He
has the satisfaction. He has the sufficiency that he
needs to stand before this judgment. And to this man, Christ is all.
He's everything. He don't need anything else.
He found everything he needed in Christ. Christ is all and
in all, and He's complete in Him, who is the embodiment of
the fullness of God. And this man has been justified
by God and made to know it in his heart by faith. Look at this
here in Romans chapter 3, now verse 24. He said, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth as a propitiation. What's that
mean? What is a propitiation? Anybody
here know what a propitiation is? That's what it takes for
God to be propitious. See, God can't just... I remember
a preacher one time that had a blackboard. I would be afraid
to ask him what it was for. But they had a blackboard up
here, and he said, now here's salvation. He said, the Lord's
marking your sins down. And then when he saves a man,
he just erases him. And then he said, and then he
showed God standing there with the chalk. And I thought, boy,
I don't want no salvation like that. That's not salvation. God can't just forgive sin. Sin must be paid for. Something
has to take place that will allow the perfections of God to remain
in harmony. God's not going to do anything
contrary to His perfection. He's not going to do it. He's
not going to compromise His name. He's not going to compromise
His justice. Something has to take place to
allow God to be propitious to the sinner. Well, God sent Christ forth.
as a propitiation, as something which enables God to be propitious,
like that mercy seat over the ark, whom God has set forth. That is, in the Old Testament,
he set him forth in the tithe as a propitiation. Now listen,
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness. Whose
righteousness? God's righteousness for the remission
of sins. And here it says sins that are
past. And what that's talking about, he's talking about Old
Testament where God set him forth. And so he's talking about the
Old Testament sins, the sins of the Old Testament believer.
But just so you know that it's a current thing, he adds in verse
26, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness that
he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. By the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, God will plainly, plainly justify his justification
of his elect. And nobody, I don't care who
he is, I don't care if he's Billy Graham, nobody is going to survive
this judgment of God by a compromise of God's character. It's not
going to happen. Now, I warn you tonight, if that's
your hope, You don't have a hope. That's not going to happen. So
what do we know about this judgment? We know that this judgment will
condemn every son and daughter of Adam's fallen race who are
not represented by another head. And I know that by this judgment,
God will justify his justification of all his elect and his condemnation
of all those that are guilty. He's going to clear His name
at judgment. And then thirdly, I know this
about the great white throne judgment. This judgment will
be final. It's going to be final. There's
not going to be a paying of one's debts to get out of purgatory.
There's not going to be a paying of one's debts to get out of
purgatory, and there'll be no dispensation after the rapture
during which sinners can save themselves by enduring that great
tribulation. That's not going to happen either.
The great tribulation is upon us right now, and the beast,
in all his glory, is at work. Am I right? And the great whore
is riding on his back. Whatever the outcome of this
impending judgment, it will be permanent. Listen here in Matthew
chapter 25. Let me read you a few verses
over there. When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and
all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne
of His glory. He'll sit there unveiled in His
glory, in His majesty, in His holiness. And before him shall
be gathered all nations, and he'll separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he'll set the sheep on his
right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom." Now listen. prepared for you before the foundation
of the world. Come in. Come in. Then shall
He say also to them on His left hand, depart from Me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Matthew 25, verse 46. And these
shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous
into life eternal. And then the last thing that
I see here about the judgment is that it'll be a continuation
of whatever's manifested in this life. It's going to be a continuation. Men die like they live. They die like they live. As surely
as the sin of Adam reigns unto death and manifests itself in
the lives and practices of fallen men, so the righteousness of
Christ by faith manifests itself in the works which God before
ordained that they should walk in. Spiritual works. I brought a
message not too long ago on five things that only a believer can
do. Only a believer can do them. Nobody else on this earth can
do these things. Only a believer can repent. I
don't care how hard you try. Until God does a work in your
heart, you can't repent. You can't do it. But a believer
can. He can repent. Only a believer
despises himself. And you're not going to turn
until you despise yourself. Until God shows you what's in
you and you hate yourself. Then you're going to turn to
Him. You'll turn to Him. Only a believer can love God
and love those born of God. Only a believer can submit himself
under the mighty hand of God. Natural man can't do it. He hates
God. And only a believer can worship
God, and only a believer can persevere in faith to the end. Ungodly men and women manifest
themselves in the way they live. Paul said they walk in the vanity
of their minds. They live out every day of their
life walking in the vanity of their mind. Vain promises and
vain conceptions and vain ideas. That's how they walk. That's
how they live. That's how they find peace. Believers live out their days
arranging their lives around the gospel of Christ, the worship
of God, and their hope of eternal life. Their whole life is arranged
around that. In Revelation 22 to 11 it says,
concerning that day, he that is unjust, let him be unjust
to you. He had no justification and no
desire to find one. He justified himself, his words
and his deeds. He was an unjust man having no
sense of justice and lived out his days just that way. Let him
which is filthy, he said, be filthy still. He cared not hear
how filthy he was. He didn't believe the preacher
when he told him how filthy he was. He didn't believe the testimony
of God who told him how filthy he was. He had no concern about
his filth. He cared not hear how filthy
he was. He was filthy by nature, and
filthy by deeds, and filthy by speech, and filthy in his life. He saw no need of cleansing and
lived out his days accordingly. So God said, let him be filthy
still. And he that is righteous... Oh, I hope there's nobody here
tonight that thinks that's talking about your righteousness. He's talking about Christ's righteousness
here. He that is righteous, that believes
He lives out His days believing that Christ has wrought out a
righteousness for Him. That's His hope of righteousness.
Paul said over in Philippians, I think it's chapter 3, he said,
oh, he said that I might be not found in my righteousness, but
found in His. I don't want to be found in mine. I remember Brother Mahan said
one time, who in here would volunteer? If I had a big machine up here
and a big screen TV and I had something you could put on your
heart and reveal the thoughts and intents of your heart, who
would want to come up here and let me hold that up to your heart
so everybody could see it on the screen? Huh? That's how God sees. He sees
the thoughts and intents of our heart. I have one hope of righteousness
and that's Christ. And then he said, likewise, he
that is holy, let him be holy still. And then in closing, let
me say this. Death and hell represent all
the condemned of God. When he said death and hell delivered
up their dead, that's all the condemned for whom God did not
intervene. Death and hell are the results
of sin, and all those found in them will be cast into the lake
of fire. And then the Lamb's Book of Life
contains the names of every son of God chosen to be redeemed,
predestinated unto eternal sonship. God hath from the beginning,
Paul said, chosen you unto salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. And because He did that, because
He predestinated you to this end, whereby He called you by
my gospel. My brother once told me, he said,
if I believe what you believe, I wouldn't preach. I said, no,
if you believe what you profess, you wouldn't preach. Because
man's dead. And all your beckoning him down
to the front of the church and all your inspiring words trying
to get him to kneel and give that old filthy heart to Jesus,
I know what he'd want with it. If you ever find out what's in
it, you won't want what's in it either. No, you wouldn't spend your time
doing that. If you really believe what you
profess, you wouldn't preach. But I tell you, if you believe
that God chose a people, predestinated them from the foundation of the
world, predestinated them to the sonship, to be sons, and
provided the only way you can do that is to determine everything
between the beginning and end. Paul tells us over in Ephesians
1, he said, in whom? This one in whom all things are
going to be gathered together in that day. God the Father is
gathering all these things, all these people, all these things
that take place in heaven. He's gathering them all to Himself.
He said, in whom we have redemption too. That's where we found our
redemption. And we found it to the glory
of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will." So while the Word of God constantly
warns the wicked of the terror of divine judgment, and that's
what I hope I've done here tonight, that there's somebody in here who don't know Christ, my message
to you tonight is a warning. Judgment's coming. And I did
my best to describe to you what it is. and the condition you're
in, and you can't change it. Well, you say, what can I do?
Well, I'll give you several things that you can do as a depraved
sinner. One thing is you can come here,
not just tonight, but you can keep on coming. And maybe God
will speak to you. But I can tell you for sure he's
not going to speak to you out there. He's not going to speak
to you out on the basketball. He's not going to speak to you
out in the woods in the tree stand. And he's not going to
speak to you at home in your closet. He's going to speak to
you through the means he ordained. And it pleased God through the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So here's
something you can do. You can show up and listen. You
can do that. And I tell you, you can do this
too. You can call on God and beg Him to save your soul. He's listened to prayers like
that. Huh? Jesus, thou Son of David,
have mercy on me. Huh? I'll tell you, the whole of religion
couldn't stop Him, but the cry of that sinner stopped Him in
His tracks. I'd call on His name if I was
you. And I'll tell you something else you can do. You can read
this book. And you can get familiar with its words. Because if God
ever speaks to you, it'll be from here. It'll be from here. So while the Word of God constantly
warns the wicked of the terror of divine judgment and the fierceness
of the wrath of God, that day of judgment is never set before
the church in such a way as to be a terror to those who believe.
Rather, it is set before them and described as a day of exoneration,
a day of justification, and a day when God will vindicate His elect
and usher them personally into their inheritance into glory.
That's the judgment, the judgment. It's appointed unto man wants
to die. After this, after this, the judgment. Now, you're dead spiritually
if you don't know Christ. But He can give you life. He
can give you life. And He can speak that life just
like that. Just like that. May God be pleased
to do just that during these days. Thank you, Pastor.