We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things
done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it
be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men." Over in Luke chapter 16, this
is the account of the rich man and Lazarus. I want to begin this this morning
and the Lord's will and will look at it just a little more
this afternoon. In verse 19 of Luke chapter 16,
there was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and
fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. There was a certain
beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sowers.
and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich
man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked
his sores. And it came to pass that the
beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was
buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes,
being in torment, and seeth Abraham aforeoff and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father
Abraham, Have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am
tormented in this flame. And Abraham said, Son, remember
that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, and likewise
Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and thou art
tormented. And besides all this between
us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they that would
pass from thence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that
would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore,
Father, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house, for
I have five brethren that he may testify to them, lest they
also come to this place of torment. Abraham said unto him, They have
Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, Nay,
father Abraham, if one went unto them from the dead, they will
repent. And he said unto him, If they
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead. The Lord Jesus Christ so often
spoke of hell and torment. He used this in his messages
so many times. Fear not them, he said, which
kill the body, and have nothing else that they can do to you,
but fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into
hell. If thine eye offends you, pluck
it out and cast it from you. It is better to enter into life
having one eye than having two eyes to go into hell. Every tree
that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into
the fire. There shall be weeping, wailing,
and gnashing of teeth. He spoke of a place where the
worm doth not, and the fire is not quenched. And he told the
Pharisees, Oh, you generation of vipers, how can you escape
the damnation of hell? And you see here in this passage
that I took from my text this morning, that the Lord Jesus
is acquainted with intricate details of life after death. We're told here in verse 22 that
these spirits, these ministering spirits
that can't be seen by the naked eye. They came down and swooped
this beggar's spirit up, his soul up, and bore it up through
the clouds into heaven. And the Lord Jesus saw that.
He sees what can't be seen with the naked eye. And He knows what's
going on in heaven. He said, now He is confident. He's at rest. He's at peace in
heaven. But he also knows what takes
place here in hell. Verse 23, he says this rich man
lift up his eyes being in hell. How could he possibly know such
a thing? To see a man lift up his eyes,
you'd have to be looking at him in the face. He knows his torments. that he's experiencing there
in hell. The heat of his tongue, the worm of his conscience that
never dies. He knows how he cries. He knows
his request. He knows all about this man and
all about what's going on in hell. We're reminded of that
scripture in Hebrews 4.13 where it says concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ, neither is there any creature that is not made manifest
in His eyes, but all things are naked and open in the eyes of
Him with whom we have to do." And one of the things that makes
Christ speaking of hell so solemn is because of who He is, His
disposition, His character, and His conduct. We know who He is,
and we read of His very heart. What is Jesus Christ? And who
is He in His very heart? He says, I am meek and lowly
in my heart. And yet this man speaks of hell
and of torment and of outer darkness. In the 15th chapter of this very
book I took my text from, it was said of Him that this man
receiveth sinners. And he said of himself, I didn't
come to destroy men's lives. I come to save men's lives. If
any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. And the Apostle
Paul speaks of the meekness and gentleness of Christ. And out
of the same mouth that proceeded these mercies and the grace for
poor broken sinners, precedes these warnings of hell and eternal
damnation and everlasting fire. And even further than that, it's
this subject of hell and punishment that you and I see clearly, not
only the goodness of Jesus Christ, but we see His severity. We see
the mercy of Christ and we see the justice of Christ. the mercy
of Christ in saving people from this place, and the severity
of Christ in assigning others to it. Listen to what John the Baptist
says of the Lord Jesus. He will gather his wheat into
his garners, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire. There is the mercy of Christ
and the justice of Christ. The Son of Man shall send forth
His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things
that offend and work iniquity, and He shall cast them into a
furnace of fire." There we see the mercy of Christ and the severity
of Christ. He shall say unto them on His
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father. There is the goodness
of Christ. And He shall say to them on His
left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. And that's the severity of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You know, it seems difficult,
especially for this world, to bring these two things together
in this one person. How could one person be so full
of compassion, yet at the same time be so full of justice? How
could one person be so good to so many and yet at the same time
assign men and women to eternal suffering and misery? And yet
this is what Paul is talking about here in the text that I
read to you. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10 and 11,
we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ that
we may receive the things done in our body what we've done,
whether they be good or whether they be bad, knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. And Paul seems to be saying
here, since the day of judgment has already been punished, already
been appointed, and we know who the judge is, that he's a righteous
judge, that he'll judge the world in righteousness, Paul seems
to be saying, seek acceptance now. Seek the Lord now, in this
lifetime. If mercy extended to us, then
seek mercy now. Is grace extended to us? Then
bow our hearts now and receive this grace. Is there blood preached
to us to wash our sins away? Then let us quickly own our guilt. That seems to be what the Apostle
Paul is saying. If we refuse and rebel against
Him when His salvation is preached to us, then we have nothing to
look forward to but his terror. I think we need to notice this
verse very carefully. And when Paul is saying here,
knowing the terror of the Lord, his meaning is not that we seek
to terrify people in coming to Christ. We won't come to Christ
if we're terrified of it. We flee Christ. We flee God when
we're terrified of Him. Terrified conscience is driven
from the Lord into despair. There's a vast difference in
fearing God and being terrified of Him. You remember in Exodus,
I think it's chapter 20, where the law of Moses was given. Moses
had the Ten Commandments and he went back down to the children
of Israel. They are in that great plain. And he began to read those
commandments. Thou shalt have no other God
before me. Don't make any graven idols. Remember the Sabbath day
to keep it holy. Don't take the name of the Lord
your God in vain. And he was reading those things.
Our God was reading those things through him. But up behind Moses
was this huge mountain. And it was on fire, and it was
smoking, and angels was blowing the trumpets. And the children
of Israel saw the terror of the Lord. And the Scripture says
they fled. They fled. And said to Moses,
Don't let God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses made an
amazing statement to those people. He said, Fear not. Fear not. God has come to prove you that
His fear may be in you. We have two different fears spoken
of there. He said fear not. Fear not. And that first fear means don't
be terrified. The terror of the Lord, all it
does is harden our conscience. If you are terrified of God,
all it will do is drive you to despair and you will seek to
hide yourself from the Lord. So Moses said, Fear not, the
Lord has come to prove you that His fear may be in you. There are two different fears.
Do you remember when Adam had sinned against God during the
Garden of Eden? And the Lord came walking in
the cool of the day and said, Adam, where art thou? And Adam
finally had to answer. And he said, I've hid myself
behind these bushes. Why did you hide yourself? I
was afraid because I was naked. And when I heard your voice,
I was so terrified. I knew I was naked and I was
afraid you were going to fall upon me and consume me. I was
terrified. And Adam's whole problem was
he never heard about a covering for the shame of his nakedness.
And that's the difference between these two fears. When we're terrified
of the Lord, all we see is His wrath. All we see is His judgment
upon sin. But we're not conscious of any
mercy. We're not conscious of any remedy
for our sin. It's just the terror of God,
the wrath of God. And our conscience is overwhelmed.
And what do we do? We don't come to the Lord. We
flee from Him. We hide from Him. But then there's this other fear.
Moses said, don't be terrified, the Lord has come to prove you
that His fear may be in you. And what is this? It's a reverence
for the Lord. It's a regard for the Lord. Not
only a reverence of His justice, but a reverence of His grace. A reverence of His mercy. Listen
to what David said. There is forgiveness with the
Lord that He may be feared. There's not just justice that
we see, but when God makes us to feel our sins, at the same
time He lets us see there's blood to wash us. There's grace in
Christ to save us. Here's what David said, and turn
over some time to Psalms chapter 30. And look what a wonderful
Psalms this is. And notice how it progresses.
In verse 3, David says this, If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? Who can stand if God marks our
iniquities? All of us have sinned. We've
all come short of God's glory. If He marks those iniquities
down and holds them against us, we cannot stand. We might as
well go ahead and despair. There's no hope if God marks
our iniquity. But then in verse 4, the very
next verse, he says this, but, but, one of those precious little
buts in the Scripture. And here's the gospel, brothers
and sisters. Here's the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ that's preached to us. Grace for the guilty. But there is forgiveness with
Thee. that thou mayest be feared."
What happens if the Lord reveals to us His wrath against our sin,
and He leaves it there without any remedy for it? We despair. Our consciences are terrified
with it, and we'll never come to it. Oh, but when He, in the
light of His justice and the light of our guilt, speaks to
us of forgiveness in Christ, and grace in Jesus Christ. What does that do? It puts us
to hoping. It puts the heart to hoping in
mercy and hoping in forgiveness. Listen to what he says in the
very next verse, verse 5. I wait for the Lord. My soul
doth wait, and in His Word, in His Gospel, do I hope. See what the true fear of the
Lord will do. It's not terrified. A terrified conscience will not
come. But the true fear of the Lord
hopes in His mercy. And it waits for mercy. Is there forgiveness? It says.
Then I must come and confess my guilt. Is there mercy? Then I must obtain
it. Is there salvation? Then I'll
live in the hope that the Lord will save me. And then in the
very next verse, verse 7, he says this, Let Israel hope in
the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with the Lord is
plenteous redemption. See the difference in those fears?
One is a terrifying fear, and the other is a fear of reverence
that leads to hope and forgiveness and salvation. And what Paul
is telling us here is this, there is coming a day in which Christ,
the Judge of every man, the Judge of all of this world, the righteous
Judge, will judge every man in righteousness. Everyone will
receive the things done in his body. And what Paul is saying
here, don't let any man assume that he can live in his sins
and die in his sins, and yet in some way or another, Christ
will free him of his guilt at the Day of Judgment. Those who
live and die in their sins, faithless people, will face a strict judge
at the Day of Judgment. Is forgiveness preached to us
now? Then now is the place to experience
it. Now is the time to know it. Is
mercy preached to us now? Then obtain it now. Come now
and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Now is the accepted
time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Today, if you will, hear His
voice. Don't harden your heart. Don't
harden your heart with unbelief. Don't harden it with procrastination. Don't harden it by continuing
on in your sins and rebellion and excuses. Today, if you will
hear His life-giving voice, don't harden your heart. Today, if
you will hear His voice of mercy, today if you will hear the voice
of His blood that speaketh better things than that of Abel, today
be persuaded that Christ is merciful and gracious, and bow down and
receive grace at His hands. Receive the fullness of Christ
into your empty heart. Do it now. Do it today. Today is a day of mercy. Today
is a day of grace. Tomorrow, tomorrow, we'll face
the Lord and His terror if we don't obtain mercy now. There
is in this person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Something most
wonderful and something most terrifying. Most wonderful because
he's both able and willing to save to the uttermost those who
come to God by him. And he's most able and willing
to destroy all of those who will not come. The same Christ. In the same Lamb there is salvation
and wrath. The eye of faith that beholds
the Lamb of God now will see a sight that's wonderful. All
their sins washed away, taken away in His blood. But in that
day, the day of the judgment, those who have not had faith
to see His blood here will look upon his face there and be terrified. John was telling us about it
in Revelation 6, when the heavens depart as a scroll that is rolled
up, and the mountains are taken away, and all the islands are
taken away, and the Lord sits there upon his throne, and all
the unbelievers see his face. And they begin to cry for the
rocks and the mountains. Hide us from the face of Him
that sits on the throne. The day of His wrath is come,
and who shall be able to stand? Hide us, listen, from the wrath
of the Lamb. See that? John spoke of eyes
to see the Lamb of God that taketh away sin. John also spoke of
a Lamb of God who had wrath. And why did those people notice
it was the wrath of the Lamb? Why didn't they say the wrath
of God? Why didn't they just say the
curse of the law? Why did they notice that it was
the Lamb's wrath? Because their sin was sin against
mercy. They had despised grace. They had despised Him who had
sent His preachers and pastors to preach salvation to them.
They had neglected and despised Him. And now they saw Him. Now they saw Him. And they saw
His face. And they were frightened. They
were terrified. Because they did not look here.
and find mercy and forgiveness, now they must look, and what
do they see in that face? Not mercy, not love, not grace,
but terror. Hide us from the face of Him. If the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just,
recompensive reward, how shall we escape if we neglect. That's why they cried the wrath
of the Lamb. They had neglected Him. They
had despised Him. And now they saw the wrath of
the Lamb. And they said, we cannot stand.
Who can possibly stand? Why couldn't they stand? He marked
their iniquity. When they saw His face, They
remembered their sins. They stood before Him unforgiven. They stood before Him unsaved.
And now they were terrified. David said this, I will behold
His face in righteousness, and I will be satisfied when I awaken
His likeness. Why did David long to see His
face? And these men were terrified
when they saw His face. David obtained forgiveness of
sins. David was washed in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was justified by the free
grace of Christ. He sought and obtained mercy
in this world. Now he longed to see his Savior's
face. But these despised his mercy. And they saw in him what no man
can see and abide. the terror of the Lord. What is this story of the rich
man and Lazarus about? If it's just about heaven and
hell, or life after death, you and I can go other places in
the Scriptures and learn that. It has more to do with this life
and a man's attitude in this life than it does in the life
to come. What do we see in this rich man? Well, I tell you what we see
in him, we see in every lost man that lives without Jesus
Christ. You say, Bruce, everybody don't
live in luxury. Everybody's not rich as this
man was. Everybody don't fare sumptuously
every day as this man did. No, but every lost person is
content to live in this world of sin and be satisfied with
what this world can give them, just like this man did. They are more than willing to
seek the pleasures of sin and flesh even spend their money
and labor and waste their time doing it while they turn a deaf
ear to those heavenly pleasures. That's the right hand of God.
They risk life and limb and all they have seeking the treasures
of this world while they remain utterly bored with those true
treasures of wisdom and knowledge that's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
this rich man's greatest problem. He was content with this world. He was satisfied with what this
world could afford to give him. Did you notice that there in
verse 25? When Abraham spoke to him, he
said, Son, remember that thou, in thy lifetime, you receiveth
your good things. Were they good things? Were they really good things?
That's what he called them. He spent his time on them. His
affections were filled with them. He thought about nothing else
but his good things. They weren't good things. They
hindered him from coming to the Lord for mercy. He looked upon
them, and He was satisfied with them, and He was content to live
in this world, and He needed nothing. He needed nothing but
what this world could give Him. That is the way every lost person
lives without Christ. He may be a poor man, He may
even be a beggar, but He's content to live without the heavenly
riches. He's content to live without
heaven's treasure, the Lord Jesus. If He's a hobo, He's content
to stay a hobo until He dies. He's content with this world. Then we have Lazarus. Who was
Lazarus? Well, this world hadn't treated
this man well. He was a poor man. He was a beggar. He was weak. He had to be carried
from place to place. He was an afflicted man, full
of sores. The only comfort he had was what
the dogs gave him by licking his sores. This man could not
run after the sinful pleasures of this world. He had no strength
to do it. He had no heart for it. He had
no will to be rich. He didn't give his time to that.
He was content with the crumbs that fell from this man's table.
He wasn't able to buy and sell and trade and eat and drink and
be merry. The only crumbs he had was what
was given to him. And the only comfort he had was
the cool tongue of dogs licking his sore. Vasas was a poor, afflicted
man in this present world. If he enjoyed any health at all,
if he did have a house to live in, if he had a bed to sleep
in and a table to eat off of, he had lost it all. Now he had
come to poverty, and he had lost even his health, and now was
having to live off of charity. If this man had any hope at all
that things would be better, he was going to have to be in
the world to come. He was going to have to be in another world. See the difference in these men?
It wasn't just about one man being rich and another man being
poor. One man was content in this world. He was content with what this
world could give him. Another man was cut off from
the pleasures of this world. This world afforded him nothing
but crumbs and the tongues of dogs. Brothers and sisters, be
thankful this morning if God is weaning you from this present
world. If he's broken your heart and
you're not able and willing to run after this world's pleasures
and its lusts anymore, if he's weaning you from that, no matter
what means he's taken to wean you, bless him for it. What a
blessing it is. If the plague of your heart is
like Lazarus running sores, and you've grown under the burden
of it, and you feel the hurt of it, And you see the side of
it. Be thankful you have a physician
that can heal you. And soon he will. If you're so
weak this morning that the Holy Spirit has to carry you along
everywhere you go. He has to carry you from grace
to grace and from faith to faith. Be thankful. He delights to carry
those who depend upon Him. He bears them up in His arms,
and He carries them through this world of sin and devils, and
someday He'll carry them into the Father's bosom. If you've
been stripped of all your moral wealth, and you have nothing
to buy the blessings of God with, you don't come trading and bargaining
with Him anymore. You've spent all, and now you're
a bagger before Him. And you're content to lay day
after day at His throne of grace, begging for mercy for Christ's
sake. God has brought you there. God
has stripped you of your moral wealth. And He's made a bagger
out of you. Be thankful. Be thankful. Beg
in the Lord for pardon. Beg in the Lord that He'd increase
your faith. Begging the Lord to let you hear
His voice. Begging the Lord to open your
understanding that you may know Him. Open your eyes that you
may see Him and His Word. Begging Him to warm your cold
heart by His love. Begging Him to keep you from
the sin and the devils of this world. Begging Him to count you
worthy to be with Him when this life is over. Begging for His
will to be done. Begging for Him to use this poor
beggar sinner that you are for His glory. Oh, be thankful to
God if you are a beggar this morning, brothers and sisters.
Be thankful for it. God has made you so. God has
made you so. And you know what He does to
beggars? He lifts them from the dunghill and sets them among
princes. Be content to go through this
life begging Him, just being a beggar before Him, because
it's the beggars that He lifts up and takes to Heaven. This
rich man was content with this life. He only wanted more of
the same. That's all he wanted. And the
only thing that can make him any more satisfied, just give
me more of what this life can give me. He wasn't in trouble
like Lazarus was. He fared sumptuously every day. He was so content and satisfied. Oh, but Lazarus, he was a poor,
afflicted soul. But here he lift up his eyes,
and what did he see? He saw a crown of life. He saw
something above this world, outside this world, a crown of life beyond
this world. And the rich man was content
to muckrake, and he could not be persuaded to lift up his eyes
until he felt that eternal pain of the flame of hell. That's
what this parable is about. God crossed Lazarus' path, made
a beggar out of him, Stripped him of all. Made him discontent
with this world. Broke him from running after
his pleasures and lust. Had no heart, no strength to
do it. I've got to find my pleasure
somewhere else. There at the right hand of God.
I've got to obtain what only He can give me. So he become
a beggar before the throne of grace. Look over here with me
in closing. Zephaniah chapter 3. Zephaniah
chapter 3. If you go to Matthew and begin
to turn backwards, Malachi, Zechariah, and Haggai, and then you'll see
the little book Zephaniah. Be thankful, brothers and sisters,
if the Lord is weaning you from this world. Whatever means that
He's taken to do it, be thankful for Him for doing it. Here is
what he says, look in verse 11, Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 11. And that day shalt thou not be
ashamed for all thy doings wherein thou hast transgressed against
me. For then I will take away out of the midst of thee them
that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty
because of my holy mountain. I will leave in the midst of
thee none afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust
in the name of the Lord." Wouldn't it be better, brothers and sisters,
to be wooed from this world? Even if it takes afflictions,
and it will, it will take soul afflictions to wean us from the
love of sin. It will take a burdened heart
of guilt before we look outside our guilt to see the blood of
Jesus Christ. It's a wounded soul and not a
whole who truly needs the Savior. And the Lord says, this is the
people that I will leave in the midst of thee, my Lazaruses,
afflicted and poor. The remnant of Israel shall not
do iniquity nor speak lies. Neither shall a deceitful tongue
be found in their mouth, for they shall feed and lie down,
and none shall make them afraid. Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout,
O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all
the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! Why, the Lord hath taken away
thy judgment. He hath cast out thine enemy. The King of Israel, even the
Lord, is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not see evil any more. And that day it shall be said
unto Jerusalem, Fear thou not? And to Zion, Let not thine hands
be slapped. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He
will joy over thee with singing. God wean us, wean us from this
world, wean us from sin, woo us, and love us in Jesus Christ.