What goes through your mind when
you think about, if you ever do, that great and terrible day
when God shall judge all men by Jesus Christ? What do you think it's going to be
like to stand before all-seeing, all-knowing, all-wise,
all-holy, all-just, almighty God. You better understand something
about it, because you're going to meet God in judgment very
soon. There is a day coming when every
man shall be judged according to exact righteousness and justice. Now mark it down, mark it down. If you want to consider what
Judgment Day is, this is it. It's Justice Day. It's Justice
Day. It's Righteousness Day. The standard
by which we shall be judged is the holy law of God himself. Not the law simply as it is written
on tables of stones, but the law as it is intended in spirit
as the representation of the very character of Almighty God. We will be judged according to
the books of God in which he has recorded all our earthly
thoughts, words, and deeds. Now, obviously, I hope you are
mature enough to understand we do not look for God to literally
be keeping record books and have to look up what you've done.
The statement implies that God Almighty knows and his law records
what you are, what I am, and everything about us. And in the
last day, we're going to be judged in exact accordance with what
God Almighty has recorded against us. Let's look in the scriptures
and see if that's so. Hebrews chapter nine, Hebrews
chapter nine, verse 27. And as it is appointed unto man,
once to die, but after this, the judgment. Judgment's coming. Judgment's coming. You can mark
it down. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. I want you to read these scriptures
now. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse
10. Paul told us in Hebrews 9, the
judgment's coming. Now here he describes it a little
more. He says in verse 10, for we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, every last one of us, every last one
of us. We're going to appear before
the judgment seat of Christ that every one, every man and woman,
every human being who ever lived shall receive the things done
in his body according to that he hath done. whether good or
bad. Now, I know the dispensationalists,
and many of you have been affected or somewhat influenced by dispensational
theology, they say, well, that's talking about a judgment for
believers. Oh, no. Paul said, knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. That's the judgment of God
upon all men. Knowing the terror of God, that
terror by which God Almighty shall judge the quick and the
dead, that terror by which God shall judge the righteous and
the wicked, we persuade you. Flee to Christ. Flee to Christ. Knowing the terror of the Lord,
we persuade men. Now turn over to Revelation.
Revelation chapter 20. I asked Darvin to read Matthew
25. a passage that so clearly deals with this terrible day
of judgment. In Revelation 20, in verse 11, the Apostle John
shows us, I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it,
Jesus Christ, our God, from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away. And there was found no place
for them. My soul, what must the appearance of this judgment
seat be, this great white throne? When he who sits upon the throne
shows his face, the heavens fled away. The earth led 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. 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. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. Now, what do these passages tell
us? in that great and terrible day of the Lord, every man shall
receive exactly what is due unto him. None will be punished who
deserve not to be punished, and none will be received into heaven
who deserve not to be received into heaven. None will perish
but those who deserve to perish. None will be saved but those
who deserve to be saved. Preacher, how can you say that?
That's what I read right there, isn't it? That's what I read.
Those who deserve damnation shall be damned. Those who deserve
eternal life shall be given eternal life. Those who are found guilty of
sin, guilty of any infraction of God's holy law shall be forever
cast into hell. while those who are perfectly
holy, holy as God himself, and only those shall enter into eternal
life. Let me see if I can show it to
you from the book. Turn over to Psalm 24. I said any man,
any man who is found guilty of any infraction of God's holy
law, Any man in whom any sin, in any measure, in any degree
is found must be damned. And he must be damned because
that's what he deserves. The wages of sin is death. And
the only men, the only women, the only mortals of Adam's race
who shall enter into glory are those men and women who are perfectly
holy. Perfectly holy. Holy as God himself. We're in Psalm 24, verses three and four. Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in God's holy
place? Who's going to? Who's going to? Well, sincere folks will. Sincerity
won't get it. Men and women who've made a profession
of religion, professions won't get it. Men and women who have
done the best they can, they won't get it. They won't get
it. No, sir. Who shall stand in God's holy
place? Listen to me. No, listen to God.
Listen to God. He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not, who has never lifted up his soul
unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully. Turn again over to Revelation
chapter 21, the book of Revelation chapter 21, verse 27. John is talking about the city of
God, the temple of God, the heavenly Jerusalem. And he says, and there
shall in no wise enter in. anything that defileth, neither
whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, for they which
are written in the Lamb's book of life." The Apostle Paul in
1 Corinthians 6 tells us, you know that no fornicator, nor
profane person, nor liar, nor adulterer, nor thief, nor robber,
nor murderer shall inherit the kingdom of God. No such man's
gonna inherit the kingdom of God. Look here in chapter 22
of Revelation. Chapter 22 in verse 11. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. He which is filthy, let him be
filthy still. He that is righteous, let him
be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still. And that day at the bar of God,
the judge of all the earth who must do right will do right. He will do right. He who sits
upon the great white throne will show no lenience. He will show
no mercy. He will show no favoritism. He
will show no partiality. I often hear people say, well,
we rejoice Because we have a friend in the courtroom. Oh no, that
won't do you any good. That won't do you any good. God
Almighty is not going to be partial. He's not going to show any leniency.
He's not going to show any favoritism. Having a friend won't help you.
It just will not help you. God Almighty is the judge who
must do right. He will not be gracious to any.
He will not show mercy to any. He will not, he will not in that
day bend his law even slightly. He won't do it. He won't do it. The judgment seat is not a place
of mercy. It's a place of strict, unbending,
unwavering, immutable justice. Justice that's all justice Only
the facts will be considered One of these days You and I gonna
stand before God Almighty God wants to do one thing Oscar guilty
or not guilty. That's all Righteous or unrighteous? Holy or sinful just or unjust
That's all nothing else will be considered Nothing else will
even be thought of when you and I stand before God Almighty.
The scripture says, evil pursueth sinners, but to the righteous
good shall be repaid. The scripture says, the soul
that sinneth, it shall die. But he that hath done that which
is lawful and right shall surely live. And that's what the book
says. God will by no means clear the guilty. God will by no means
clear the guilty and he will not punish a righteous man. Now those are the facts. God
will not clear the guilty and he will not punish the righteous.
So in that last great day, those who deserve to die shall die
and those who deserve to live shall live. Only that. Only that. Now if you deserve
to perish, perish you shall. If you deserve to live, live
you shall. In the light of those facts,
facts which are most plainly revealed in the scriptures, it's
obvious then that the only hope of any sinner, the only hope
of any transgressor, the only hope of any son or daughter of
Adam is that God Almighty might be pleased to accept them through
the merits of an infinite, able, all-sufficient substitute. That's
your only hope. That's your only hope. And blessed
be God, that substitute is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Let me
show you some scriptures. I'm going to get to my text in
a minute. This is all laying the foundation
for what I've got to say. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
sinner's substitute. By his precious blood atonement,
by pouring out his life's blood unto death, the Lord Jesus Christ,
bearing our sins, standing in our place before a holy God,
has satisfied the justice of God. I said to our ladies this
morning, we need to have our thinking radically changed. with
regard to the cross of Christ. When you think about the cross,
what's the first thing that crosses your mind? Love. The love of
God. The love of God. Now thank God.
Thank God. The cross of Jesus Christ is
the manifestation of God's love. I rejoice in it. I rejoice to
declare it. But that's not the first message
of the cross. That's not it. That's not it. When you see the God-man, the
holy, righteous God-man, Jesus Christ, hanging on that cursed
tree, bearing the wrath and judgment of Almighty God, this is what
the cross says. God must punish sin. He got to do it. His justice
must be satisfied. Whether anybody's saved or not,
God's going to punish sin. Whether anybody's saved or not,
God's going to exercise justice. Whether anybody's saved or not,
a just and righteous God must act according to his own holy
law. Now that's what the book teaches.
Our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world for this express purpose. He came to satisfy the offended
justice of God for his people, and he has satisfied that justice. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 42.
Isaiah chapter 42. I'm sorry, chapter 43. By His precious blood, Christ
Jesus has completely washed our sins altogether. Has completely washed
our sins away. So that our sins are no longer
recorded in the book of God. They're no longer recorded against
us. Look here in Isaiah 43 and verse 25. I, even I am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember
thy sins. Now, how is it that God forgets
sin? How can God who knows everything
forget something? He can only forget what's not
there. Does that make sense, Wes? God can only forget what is not.
He can't forget something that he is. He only forgets what is
not. Our sins were recorded in the
book of God's law against us, but Jesus Christ, God's son,
has blotted them out. And when God looks in the book
of his law, no matter how he looks, he can't see our sins. They're gone. Gone. As God himself has declared,
blotted out. Blotted out. over in Isaiah 46, chapter 44, rather, verse 22.
He says, I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions,
and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto me, for I have redeemed
thee. The Lord Jesus Christ then, our
Savior, has so blotted out our sins that in that great day of
judgment when God opens the book and looks to see what's recorded
against us. Let me just read to you what
he says. Let me just read to you what he says. You can jot
it down. Jeremiah 50 verse 20. Here he
is, God sitting on his throne. There stands Don Fortler before
a holy God. before a God who cannot tolerate
and will not tolerate sin, before a God before whose face the heavens
and the earth fled away. And in those days and in that
time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Don Fortner shall be sought
for and there shall be none. You don't believe that, do you?
You don't believe that, do you? I think I do. I think I do. And the sins that Don Fortner
has committed, and they shall not be found. That's what he
says, Dorothy. That's what he says. Why? For I will pardon them whom I
receive. Our sins were imputed to Christ. were laid to His account. Our
sins were charged to Him. Our sins were put down in the
book against Him. So that when God Almighty took
our sins and laid them on Christ, our sins were legally, judicially,
in the court of God, in holiness and in justice, charged to His
Son, and they became His. And Jesus Christ, God's Son,
when He cried, It is finished! He had completely Put our sins
away. He satisfied every demand of
God's law. He paid the price. He paid our
debt. And now we don't have a debt.
He satisfied justice. There's nothing for us to satisfy.
He atoned for our sins. There's nothing for us to atone.
He satisfied God's requirements. There's nothing for us to satisfy.
Everything is done, done as God himself would have it. And the
Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord our righteousness. His righteous
obedience is so imputed to us that in the sight of God, God's account books, and please
understand, I'm simply speaking in mundane terms so mundane folks
like us can understand it. God's account books. My wife's
a bookkeeper and she Keeps column and ledgers. God's got a ledger. He's got
a ledger. Here it is, Don Fortner. Past
due. And God took that bill and put
it under the name of Jesus Christ, his son. Paid in full. That's it. Is that simple enough? Paid in full. Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Jesus Christ. Perfect righteousness. And God transfers it over to
Don's account. That's it. So now when God Almighty
in that great day opens the books. And it looks to see who deserves
eternal glory. Who deserves to enter into the
kingdom prepared for him from the foundation of the world?
Who deserves to sit in the royal fires of the heavenly Jerusalem?
Who deserves to wear the robes of perfect white righteousness,
of eternal glory? Who deserves eternal bliss? Who
deserves eternal life? Who shall stand in the holy place? Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? perfectly righteous, perfectly
righteous, so that when God passes judgment, he'll look on men and women who
in themselves are nothing but sinners, vile, helpless, guilty,
doomed, damned, hell-deserving sinners whose sins Christ has
taken away. to whom Jesus Christ has imputed
perfect righteousness. He'll say, come in, come in,
you blessed of my Father, come in. To those who dare in their
brazen, cocky, arrogant rebellion and unbelief appear before the
throne of the Holy God in themselves. despising the merits of God's
Son, despising the righteousness of Christ, despising His blood. He'll look upon them with burning
eyes of eternal judgment and say, depart, you cursed. I never
knew you. Never knew you. Children of God,
hear these words and rejoice. In thy surety thou art free. His dear hands were pierced for
thee. With his spotless garments on,
you're as holy as the Holy One. Do you believe that? I hope you
do. If we are in Christ, united to
him by faith, washed in his blood, robed in his righteousness, in
the day of judgment, there will be nothing for us to dread, no
fear of doom, There's not even going to be any solemn. No solemn. But the day of judgment will
be a day of victory, triumph, and glory. That's right. That's right. I've heard all
my life about judgment day, judgment day, judgment day. Now you listen
to me. Judgment day is a solemn, solemn
day. But for the believer, Merrill,
it's a day of joy, gladness, and victory. A day of joy, gladness,
and victory. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness,
my beauty are, my glorious dress, midst flaming worlds in these
arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head. When from the dust
of death I rise to take my mansion in the skies, even then shall
this be all my plea. Jesus hath lived and died for
me. Bold shall I stand in that great
day. Bold! Not cocky, not arrogant,
with confidence. With confidence. Meet the living
God. Meet the living God face to face
in all his holy glory and majesty and all his righteousness, justice
and truth. Bold shall I stand in that great
day, for who ought to my charge shall lay, while through his
blood absolved I am from sin's tremendous cursing. Do you see
it? That's what should take place. Now with those things in mind,
I want you to read this text with me in Revelation 11. Revelation chapter 11, beginning at verse 15. The title of my message tonight,
if you're taking notes, is Day of Judgment, Day of Glory. You'll
find the text in Revelation 11, 15 through 19. The second woe is past, the third
woe comes quickly. John hears the seventh angel
sound his trumpet. And there was a great voices
in heaven and this is what they said. The kingdoms of the world
are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And he
shall reign forever and ever. And the four and 20 elders, the
church of God, all the host of God's elect, which sat before
God on their seats, fell on their faces, and worshiped God. And
this is what they said, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
which art and which wast, and art to come, because thou hast
taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. And the nations
were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead
that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward
to thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and them that
fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them which
destroy the earth, or corrupt, defile the earth. And the temple
of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in the temple
the ark of his testament, and there were lightnings, and voices,
and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. In these verses, John shows us
the significance of Judgment Day as it relates to the triune
God, the Lord Jesus Christ, believers and unbelievers. I want to call
your attention to three things. First of all, the Day of Judgment
will be a day of great glory, joy, and praise for God's elect. You see it in verses 15, 16 and
17. You read the verses again. We
look upon the day of judgment with sobriety. We look upon the
day of judgment with soberness, but not with fear. We are not
presumptuous, but neither are we unbelieving. Reading through
the word of God. I try to carefully calculate
what I'm saying to you. I don't say things just off the
top of my head. Reading through this book, I can't find a single believer. I can't find one. If you know
of one, let me know at your services. I'll retract it. I can't find
a single believer. I can't find one, Lindsay, who
ever spoke of this day with fear, with dread, or with hesitancy.
I can't find one. I hear preachers talk about it
all the time. Terrible fear. threatening God's people with
what's going to happen. How are you going to stand before
God? They threaten people to give, and they threaten people
to come to church, and they threaten people to live right, and they
threaten people to do right. And they say, now you're going
to have to meet God in judgment, and they hold them under terror,
constant terror, because of things they must fear in the day of
judgment. Somehow, it's all going to come
out in the end. I can't find anybody in the entire
Bible who knew God, who talked about that day with dread. I
can't find anybody. But preacher, you mean we ought
to fear the day of judgment? Not if we're in Christ. Not if
we're in Christ. It's not something to be feared.
It's not a day of doom, a day of dread, a day of fear for the
believer. Throughout the scriptures, the children of God looked upon
this glorious day of the Lord with hope and expectation. And
here's the reason why. Those men, those women in this
book, They trusted a substitute. That's the difference. That's
the difference. They flat trusted the Son of
God. They did not look to meet God on the basis of something
they had done. They looked to meet God on the
basis of what Jesus Christ, God's Son, has done in their place.
I'll tell you what makes me in fear and tremble in the prospect
of judgment. They really expect God to deal
with them, not according to the merits of
Christ, but according to their own merits. Now you listen to me. This will
be a sobering point for you. You fear dread, tremble at the
prospect of meeting God? Do you? I'll tell you why. You're not yet trusting the merits
of a substitute. Does that make sense, Lindsay? God Almighty accepts his son.
God accepts Jesus Christ. God accepts his righteousness
and God accepts his blood. And if I trust him, God accepts
me. That's all there is to it. Now,
if I fear meeting God, it's because of one of two things. Either
I do not really believe that the merits of Christ are sufficient
or else I'm trusting not his merits, but my merits. How different things appear in
this text than what we've heard preached, what we've been told
it will be. I've related to you the story
when I was a young pastor in lookout. I had a fellow come down. He
was a big shot fellow. He was a big time preacher. Everybody
in the country respected this fellow. He was a strong grace
man. inclined to believe. I don't
know whether my wife remember it or not, he made a statement,
getting on to folks, getting on to them about smoking and
getting on to them about dressing right and getting on to them
about this thing and that. And at last, he said, he said,
when you stand before God in judgment, you're going to wail and lament
every moment you didn't spend actively serving Christ with
a zealous heart. And throughout eternity, you'll
lament every sin you've ever committed on the earth. I thought,
my soul, he can't be saying that. What on earth are you talking
about, man? What are you? Do you mean heaven is going to
be a place of misery? You're going to turn heaven into
hell and grace into judgment and glory into misery? Huh? What are you talking about? You
mean that God's going to terrorize his people and torment his people
and punish his people because of their weaknesses, their sins,
their infirmities? Oh, listen to me. According to
this text, the people of God are singing praise. They're shouting
glory. They're singing victory, praise
and adoration to King Jesus. They're not a word of sorrow,
not a word of lamentation, not a word of dread, not a word of
fear. And nothing here about punishment, nothing here about
loss of reward, nothing here about tears of sorrow, nothing
here about repentance in that day. There's nothing of the kind
to be found in the text. There's no hanging of the heads
in shame, but only glory and exaltation. Judging from this
and every other text I read in the scriptures, there are no
degrees of reward in heaven. Richard, don't you believe that
if we're faithful and do this and do that, God will honor it? God honors men who honor him.
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. The book says that. You honor
Christ, Christ will honor you. I don't have any question about
that. But when it comes to standing before God Almighty, entering
into glory, receiving the eternal inheritance of the saints in
light. Wes, it doesn't have one thing on this earth to do with
anything you ever do. Nothing. Nothing. Oh, but Brother Don, I've paid
my tithes, Baptist Church, all these 20 years. I've been faithful
to the Lord's Church all my life. Doesn't that count for nothing?
It'll bring you to hell is what it'll do. It'll take you to hell. That's all it'll do. Your works
do not merit anything but God's wrath. Your best works merit
eternal damnation. Your best works. There are no
degrees of reward in heaven. God's saints are all perfectly
holy, perfectly redeemed, perfectly righteous, perfectly accepted
in Jesus Christ. And being so, they are everyone
made meat to inherit eternal glory. Turn over to Colossians
1. I quoted the text this morning.
You can read it tonight. Colossians 1 verse 12. Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us. You see it, buddy? Meet. Meet. Worthy. Fit. Competent. Whatever words you
want to put in there, it means he made you equal to what he
requires. He's made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. made us worthy? You mean preacher? God has made us worthy of heaven's
glory? That's what I mean. That's exactly
what I mean. That's what the book teaches
James Lane. That's what his book teaches. In Christ Jesus we're
worthy, worthy of God's favor, worthy of God's approval, worthy
of God's honor. God himself says, thou art honorable
in my sight. God said that. God said it. What are those things which shall
be matters of praise and adoration and thanksgiving among God's
elect in that great day? Many things fill the mouths of
God's saints with praise in that day. But here John mentions three
particular things for which the people of God give praise to
him. I just mentioned them. You can elaborate on them in
your own study. Number one, these saints and
angels, the elect saints, the elect angels, thankfully recognize
and give praise to God and his Christ because it's his right
to sovereignly rule everything. Read it right here. He says,
the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord
and of his Christ. They always were his, but now
he has demonstrated that they're his. Now everybody knows they're
his. Secondly, in that great day,
God's elect will praise the triune God. for the evident display
of Christ's sovereign dominion and power, saying, We give thee
thanks, verse 17, O Lord God Almighty, which art and wast
and art to come, because thou hast taken, nobody gave it to
you, thou hast taken to thee thy great power and has reigned. Thirdly, all the elect multitude
rejoice and give thanks and praise to Christ. for the fact that
his glorious reign shall never end. The kingdoms of this world
are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he
shall reign forever and ever. A preacher always heard that
Jesus is gonna reign on the earth for a thousand years. You always
heard wrong. Always heard wrong. He gonna reign forever. Forever. He began his reign when he ascended
back into glory in Acts chapter 2, where he was anointed and
made to be the Lord and King of the universe. God made this
same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ, Peter said.
When he ascended up into glory, God gave into his hands the royal
scepter of sovereign dominion, and he will never turn it loose,
and nobody will ever tear it out of his hands. Nobody. The
preacher in the day coming, He shall deliver up the kingdom
to the father. You read in first Corinthians 1526. Yes, sir. Jesus
Christ, the mediator, Jesus Christ, the substitute, Jesus Christ,
the good shepherd, shall in that last day when judgment is over,
bring his whole kingdom, his whole church, all the host of
his redeemed ones. And he, as the great mediatorial
king, will present this church without spot or blemish or any
such thing before the presence of God's glory. And he'll say,
Father, behold I and the children which thou has given me. And
he's going to just keep right on reigning as Lord and King
forever and ever. And his people delight in it.
The children of God rejoice in Christ's sovereignty. They rejoice
in his rule. I cannot help but to say that
if a man despises the rule of Christ, it's because he's a rebel.
If a man envies Christ his king, his crown as king, it's because
he hates the king. If a man envies the throne of
Christ, it's because... despises the throne. Don't tell
me of men who love Jesus and despise His sovereignty. Don't
tell me of men who love Jesus and despise the fact that He
does what He will, with whom He will, when He will, where
He will. Don't tell me of men who speak of loving Jesus and
they despise the fact that He is the one who is God over all
and blessed forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, whose
kingdom is from generation to generation, whose power and scepter
shall know no end. Don't tell me a man loves Jesus
Christ and despises his sovereignty. Those who love Christ love what
he is and love what he does. They delight that he's king.
Secondly, the day of judgment will be a day of just vengeance
upon God's enemies. Verse 18. The nations were angry and thy
wrath is come. These nations are the ones who
slew the two witnesses. These nations are the ones who
persecuted God's people. These nations are the religious
nations of the world. The religion of Antichrist in
Babylon fought religion, the religion of Cain. All the peoples
of the world, they were angry with Christ, angry with They
hung him up to die outside Jerusalem. They persecuted his church. They
burned his saints at the stakes. They cast him to wild beast.
They imprisoned them. They tortured them. But now the
king has come. And here he is. He's seated on
his throne. And the nations are gathered
before him. And they don't like it. They
don't like it. That's all right. That's all right. You see, judgment
doesn't change a man's heart. Only grace changes his heart.
Men in hell are going to be exactly what they are in hell, or exactly
what they are upon the earth, only they will be in hell intensified
in their ungodliness and rebellion. These men, these nations come
before Jesus Christ, the great judge, and they're still angry
with him. Can you imagine the enmity of
man's wicked heart? I sometimes wonder that men and
women are so rebellious that they would despise the right
of Christ to rule and hate his grace and his mercy and his gospel.
But in the last day, rebels are going to stand before Jesus Christ
with their fists balled in his face. While they tremble in fear,
they're still going to be gnashing their teeth in hatred of the
Son of God. because the carnal mind is enmity
against God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. But still, every knee shall bow
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. That's what's happening here. Oh, they don't like it. They
don't like the fact that he's Lord. But he's going to tread
upon their necks like a mighty conqueror and hold them in the
dust and make them to acknowledge and confess that he is rightfully
Lord. And then he shall cast them into
hell, damning them from their own mouths. And it'll be right. And the Lord Jesus shall reward
his saints with everlasting glory. The time of the dead has come.
that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward
unto thy saints, thy servants the prophets, and to the saints,
and to them that fear thy name, small and great, and destroy,
and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And so the
prophecy is fulfilled. Ask of me, and I will give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance, and God shall cast the wicked
into hell. and them that are righteous,
he shall receive an everlasting glory because the righteous Lord
loveth righteousness. I'm just giving you the highlights,
but I want to get to verse 19 before I quit. Here's the third
thing that characterizes that day. The day of judgment will be the
beginning of perfect eternal communion between God and his
people. And it's a communion based upon
atonement, justice satisfied. Look here at verse 19. And the
temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in the temple
the ark of his testament, the ark of the covenant. And there
were lightnings and voices and thunderings and the earthquake
and great hail. Here John sees the sanctuary
of God in heaven standing wide open. Even the holy of holies,
the place of God's secret glory, the place no man could ever see,
the place no man could ever enter, even the holy of holies in the
inner sanctuary, the very throne of God himself is open. And John
sees the throne upon which that God sits. is the Ark of the Covenant
with its mercy seat. With its mercy seat. What's it
mean? Well, it means that nothing is
hidden. Nothing is veiled. The Ark of
the Covenant, so long concealed from man, is now open to view. That Ark, with its mercy seat
overlaid with gold, was the symbol of God's presence and glory.
The fact that it's now open declares that God will forever dwell with
his people in perfect, intimate, real, glorious fellowship. Let me give you a text in Exodus.
There will I meet thee, and will commune with thee from above
the mercy seat. Exodus 25, 22. There's the ark. See it? God says, I'll meet you
there. I'll meet you at the place where
atonement was made, where blood was offered, where justice was
satisfied, where sin was put away, where your debt was canceled.
I'll meet you at the mercy seat and I'll meet you there forever. Forever. Forever. God will have respect to the
blood. God will honor the blood. God will receive his chosen people,
his redeemed ones, every sinner who believes him in intimate
fellowship and communion with himself in the person of Jesus
Christ because of the blood he offered once when he obtained
eternal redemption for us. Through the sin-atoning sacrifice
of our Lord Jesus and in his glorious person, we shall be
forever accepted in God's glorious presence. This opening of the
temple in heaven and the appearance of the Ark of the Covenant means
that the covenant of grace, with all its promises and all its
blessings, are forever ours in Christ. Oh, when the trunk of
God's hand and the dead in Christ arise and we that are alive and
remain are called up to meet the Lord in the air, And we are
assembled before the bar of God in judgment. Children of God,
the sounding of the trumpet declares that the covenant is fulfilled. Salvation is accomplished. And now God Almighty receives
us, even men and women such as we are, into his glory without
any hesitation, without any reserve. He shall receive us in to his
glory. Well, that ungodly water is too
deep for me. That's just too deep for me. But it's so. John said, I saw the temple, the place of God's being, the
place of God's glory. and God, as it were, beckoning
me from the throne, the ark, the mercy seat, to dwell with
him forever. But for the wicked, the unbelieving, the appearance of that ark means
wrath. banishment and death. That ark
will do for the unbelieving what it did for Doeg. It will tear
them apart. That ark will do for the unbelieving
what it did for the Philistines. It will bring curse and wrath
upon them. That ark, you see, Christ Jesus,
is for the people of God, the sons of God, God's elect. Will you hear me while I reason
with you and plead with your hearts and try unto God one more
time to persuade you now to be reconciled to God by faith in
Christ Jesus? Paul said, we are confident,
I say, and willing to be absent from the body and to be present
with the Lord. Wherefore, we labor that whether
present or absent, we may be accepted of him. All my friends,
strive, strive, agonize, labor, toil to find your place of acceptance
with God, not in yourself, not in religion, not in your experiences,
but in Jesus Christ, the substitute, that you may be accepted of him.
I appeal to you on the basis of God's Justice will soon seize you around
the throat and you shall be damned if God in his justice finds you
out of Christ. That thought breaks my heart. But I tell you right now, I tell
you up front, when the day has come, when the day has come,
any of you who now hear my voice and will not believe, in that
day, this voice will say, son of God, there's an enemy who
heard and despised and heard and despised slay your enemies. Because in that day, Wes, we'll
think just like he thinks, and we'll want what he wants. You
mean preacher? I heard that sentimentalist fool
over in Lynchburg last Sunday night. Shelby heard him too. I said, did you hear him? He
said, I can't think of anything more horrible than going to heaven
and some of my family going to hell. Boo-hoo-hoo. And I'm going to tell you, that's
a horrible thought. It's a horrible thought. But God's people, God's
people in that day, Darwin, won't lament. We won't lament the loss
of any wicked one. There won't be a tear shed in
heaven over a damn sinner in hell. Not one. Not one. You can
forget that. For the righteous, Lord, do it.
Righteous. And I appeal to you. on the basis
of the terror of God's holy law, you better flee from the wrath
to come. But that's no appeal. I appeal to you on this basis.
The love of Christ constraineth us. Oh, if you could know, if you
could know, if you could know. the love of God that's in Christ
Jesus. If you could know it, that love
would win your heart. I don't have any question about
it. But you can't know it. You can't know it. What's the basis of appeal? Maybe this is the best. I'm sure
it is. Redemption's work is all done. It's all done. There's not a
thing on this earth that God wants from you. Matter of fact,
he won't even accept anything from you. He won't accept. Only
thing God will accept is his son. And I tell you on the authority
of this book, God will accept every sinner, every sinner who
trusts his son, everyone. Oh, be reconciled to God. Be
reconciled to God by faith in Jesus Christ. That's the only
way a sinner is ever reconciled to him. There's not any reason to perish
because mercy, mercy is readily available, dispensed now to sinners
from the hands of the sovereign Christ to all who trust him. Let me show you a text I ran
across A couple of weeks ago, but I just thought was a real
blessing to my heart. I know it was. Ezekiel 33. Ezekiel
chapter 33. Verse 15. You're familiar with
the chapter. It's talking about the watchman
and the warning he gives. In verse 15, the Lord God says,
if the wicked restore the pledge and give again that he had robbed,
walk in the statutes of life without committing iniquity,
he shall surely live. He shall not die. None of his
sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him. He hath
done that which is lawful and right. He shall surely live. Now how on earth does man measure
up according to that? That's exactly what I do by faith
in Christ. You see, I've restored the pledge. I've given God what He requires.
I've given Him Christ. And in Christ, I've restored
what I robbed. I tried my best to steal God's
glory. and to rob God of His throne.
And in Christ Jesus, I restore it willingly with a willing heart.
Well, you've got to walk in the statutes of life. I've done that
too. I offer to God the perfect righteousness
of Jesus Christ without committing iniquity. Where does that fit? The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. God will never charge us to sin.
He'll never impute sin to his own. He shall surely live and
shall not die. Come then, sinner, trust the
substitute and live. Live. Else you'll meet that same
substitute in judgment and perish. Amen.