[0:00] Why don't I pray for us? Lord our God, I pray that you would make us mindful of the return of Christ and of the day that awaits us.
[0:13] And help us to live for that day, I ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Well friends, we're not at the end of the series because we're about to shift gears from hell to heaven.
[0:25] But I thought I would remind you just where we've come so far in our series so far in the four weeks or three weeks on hell. We started with two really critical truths that I hope are on your mind all the time.
[0:39] And the two truths were, you're going to die soon and you're going to live forever. You're going to die soon. You don't have much time left in the scheme of things. In the big picture, you will die very soon. And so you should be thinking about that.
[0:53] But also you have, the Bible teaches, an eternal destiny. That is, you will outlive the universe. And now there are two destinies, there are heaven and hell, but both are eternal.
[1:05] So either way, you're going to outlive the universe, which is an incredible thought really. We've looked at how Jesus was a preacher of hell and it was a preacher of judgment.
[1:15] It was a common theme. We find most of our teaching on hell on Jesus' lips. He would often tell people about both heaven and hell and of the day to come.
[1:28] And I think between dying and living forever, tonight we're going to focus on what comes in between. And that's the day, with a capital D, the day of judgment. And I think Jesus showed actually his love for people in that he warned people and he taught, repent for the kingdom of God is near.
[1:44] Now, believe the good news. I hope that God is making you more loving like Jesus through this series by wanting to talk to them about the need for repentance and the reality of judgment that awaits.
[1:58] If you love people, you will tell them that. We also have looked at how Jesus himself quite amazingly died to absorb the wrath of God on the cross for us.
[2:09] He drank the cup of the wine of the fury of God down to the very dregs so that we could drink the cup of his blood and eat his flesh.
[2:21] And I really want to make this clear that any view of the cross that doesn't involve that kind of substitution is a lie. Any view of the cross that doesn't see it as that kind of atonement for sin is about as good as those guys who are on the cross.
[2:38] You know how they try and give him that sponge of wine vinegar? It's well-meaning, but in the end it's kind of useless and hopeless. You know, that is what the cross is about.
[2:49] So by being a Christian, you're actually already admitting to God that you deserve punishment and that Christ has taken it. By believing in the cross, you're believing in judgment and hell.
[3:01] You can't be a Christian and not believe in hell because by receiving Christ's sacrifice, you're saying, He went through hell for me. That's what I deserve, but he did it for me.
[3:13] And lastly, we saw last week that when the work was finished on the cross, in victory, Jesus descended to the abode of the dead, to Sheol. And it was something of a victory run, I believe.
[3:27] Proclaiming his victory and judgment over the realm of the dead. And then bursting forth through the grave and the physical resurrection, he ascended to the right hand of the Father.
[3:40] Something I was thinking about during the week was, you may feel like in your own life you have some dark thoughts that you would never tell anyone the thoughts you have. Or you've seen dark things that Christians haven't seen.
[3:53] Or that Christians should never see. But I was thinking, Jesus has actually been through hell. He's absorbed the wrath of God. He's seen the darkest of dark places.
[4:04] And he's your saviour. So, he knows those thoughts you have. And they're part of the things that you have been redeemed from.
[4:15] They're things that you have been forgiven from. No darkness is too dark for the one who has conquered hell. Now, I want to just give you a warning.
[4:27] I worry that we're going to get a bit proud as a church. Because we've done a lot of sermons on hell. And we might be tempted to think, aren't we an advanced church? Who else is doing sermons on hell?
[4:39] And I found it very humbling to read in the book of Hebrews that the church in the book of Hebrews were a dull church, an immature church, because they were stuck on spiritual milk.
[4:52] And listed among the baby doctrines of Hebrews 6 are eternal judgment. It's listed in the list of just the basic Christianity 101 is eternal judgment.
[5:03] So, we have not done anything really advanced or difficult. I mean, it's been difficult, but we haven't done anything that's sort of mature Christianity. We've done basic Christianity over the past few weeks.
[5:16] And I think, I really feel like we've only just scratched the surface as well. But what I hope is happening is, if God is sort of convicting you and showing you that there are parts of the gospel that you're not very aware of, or parts of God's character in judgment that you're not aware of, that you will keep searching and seek them out and explore them with God through the scriptures and know God more deeply and fully.
[5:43] I think it's great general advice. If your Christian life is dry, or if your prayer life is weak or non-existent, or if your witness is cowardly, and you've tried everything that people offer, you've gone to the Christian bookshop and tried the top ten bestsellers, and yet you're not growing, why don't you try meditating on the mercy of God more against the backdrop of judgment?
[6:09] I think meditating on hell and judgment is very good for the soul, very good for focusing us on what our mission is as Christians.
[6:20] It's good medicine, I believe. So please continue exploring it. Now today, friends, we look at the Day of Judgment. Capital D, Day, capital J, Judgment.
[6:31] This is a very important doctrine. A day is coming when everyone will be judged. Everyone. Everyone in this room. Everyone in Doncaster. Everyone in the world.
[6:42] All nations. All people from all nations. Every religion will be accountable to God on this Day of Judgment. It's a huge theme in the whole Bible.
[6:53] And I worry that Christians think because of Jesus, the Day of Judgment doesn't happen anymore. You know, kind of the cross means God has changed the schedule or something.
[7:04] And we bypass that and go to heaven and everyone else gets a Day of Judgment. But it's not true. Everyone will be judged. Let me give you a quote from the Apostle Paul in the Book of Romans.
[7:17] He says in Romans 2, But by your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the Day of Wrath. That's a capital D, Day of Wrath, Day of Judgment.
[7:27] When God's righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will repay according to each one's deeds. Now that's true for everyone. Christian, non-Christian. He will repay everyone for their deeds.
[7:39] To those who by patiently doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life. They'll be repaid with eternal life. For those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there'll be wrath and fury.
[7:56] So two results to the Day of Judgment. But everyone goes there. Everyone goes through the Day of Judgment. And you may be a bit tricky in thinking, Well, actually, I've quoted from Romans 2 and the Gospel comes in Romans 3.
[8:11] So maybe the Gospel of Romans 3 trumps the judgment stuff in Romans 2. Well, I'll take you to Romans 14. So after all the Gospel of Romans 3 to 12 and so on, Romans 14, Paul reminds them again, For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
[8:32] For it is written, quoting Isaiah, Apostle Paul writing to Christians saying, So friends, are you ready to give an account to God on that day?
[8:56] Are you ready? Now, my foolish thinking originally for this sermon was to try and kind of go through the whole book of Revelation, showing you the different themes of judgment, how they play out.
[9:09] Then I realized, A, that would take too long. B, I don't really understand it all. And, yeah, just too hard. And there are some hard things in Revelation 20, I'll tell you. The millennium, thousand-year reign, that's hard.
[9:25] There are overlapping images of judgment in Revelation. So you've got like these seven plagues of God's wrath and seven bowls of God's wrath in the next chapter. I think they're the same thing, but they're just different cycles.
[9:38] It's talking about the same judgment from different angles. But that makes the book very, very difficult. What is clear in the book of Revelation, even to someone dull like me, is that there's a great antithesis between Satan, who is at war with God, and he's particularly at war with God's people, the saints.
[10:01] And Satan and those aligned with him, people who, in effect, worship the beast, who don't want to worship God, there's a war between those two groups.
[10:12] And we are living in that war as we speak. The book of Revelation is written for the persecuted Christian, for the Christian who's at the receiving end of the buffeting of the punishments and the taunts of the world against the Christian believer.
[10:32] It's a good book if you're persecuted for Christ. And I just want to draw your attention to the summing up. Even though the book of Revelation isn't strictly linearly chronological, it does crescendo at the end to this day of judgment in chapter 20.
[10:50] And I'll read from verse 11. And just listen, just imagine yourself there. You're going to be there. And imagine your friends there. Then I saw a great white throne, and the one who sat on it, the earth and the heaven fled from his presence.
[11:08] No place was found for them. It's going to be a difficult day. The earth itself will flee from God. Creation, the universe, will flee.
[11:19] And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. So people who were dead are now standing. This is the general resurrection of believers, unbelievers, standing for the day of judgment.
[11:36] And God keeps records. He keeps records in books of what's really just the mind of God. He's omniscience. He knows your deeds. He knows your words that you've spoken.
[11:47] And He knows your thoughts. And then there's another book. Also another book was opened, the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books.
[11:59] And the sea gave up the dead that were in it. Death and Hades, who were there last week, gave up their dead, the dead that were in them. And all were judged according to what they had done.
[12:11] Very important. All judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.
[12:24] And the lake of fire is that culmination of the place Gehenna, the Gehenna of fire, that rubbish chip of burning corpses, that place of idolatry is sort of evolved in the images, progressed to be an eternal lake of fire where the beast is cast, and all who are aligned with him are cast forever in the Book of Revelation.
[12:48] Now the big surprise of the Bible, the big surprise I think of the New Testament is, we've always known in the Bible about a day of judgment, the big surprise is that the judge is Jesus.
[13:02] Okay, so the judge is Jesus. God in Revelation shares his throne with the Lamb. It's God and the Lamb on the throne.
[13:13] Now let me demonstrate this to you by some teaching from Jesus himself. I'll read from John chapter 5. And just as I read this, this is a great example of when Jesus taught this, he's either lying or he's a lunatic or he's Lord.
[13:31] But what he's saying here, normal people do not say. John chapter 5, 22. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.
[13:43] That's stunning. The Father's given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
[13:53] Very truly I tell you, so listen, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come under judgment, which I think means does not come under the condemnation of judgment, but he has passed from death to life.
[14:11] Very truly I tell you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, and he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man.
[14:34] Do not be astonished at this, and you should be. That's a stunning thing that the Father has given to the Son to be the executor of all judgment. Do not be astonished at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out.
[14:50] Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. So a general resurrection, but one to those who have done good to the resurrection of life or the resurrection of condemnation.
[15:04] Now that little bit of teaching is a great guide, I think, to the book of Revelation. It says salvation is through Christ, through honoring the Son, through worshipping the Son. Whoever is in Jesus does not come under condemnation, but you'll still face this day when you'll be repaid according to your deeds.
[15:26] All will hear his voice for the day he executes judgment, for the day of judgment. And the judgment will be by works. He says those who have done good, those who have done evil.
[15:38] So the judgment is by works. Same as Revelation. And of course the big point is Jesus Christ is the judge. Jesus is the judge of judgment day.
[15:51] When we say, which is this biblical truth, that Jesus is the only way to God, some people read it like we're saying Jesus is like some secret password to some kind of cryptic code that you need to please the judge.
[16:07] But what we're actually saying is he is the judge. There's no other judge. He is the judge. He must be the only way because he's the judge.
[16:18] He's the judge of all on that final day. That's actually the gospel. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is judge. Paul in one letter says, Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead.
[16:34] Or in a sermon in Acts he says, Jesus commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.
[16:45] Jesus is judge of all. And many parables that we've looked at in Matthew 25, he's the judge separating the sheep from the goats. Jesus is the judge of judgment day.
[16:56] When Christ returns, he'll come as a glorious Lord, as judge. The one who bore the cup of God's wrath will be wielding the cup of judgment on that day.
[17:13] Which cup of Christ will you drink is really the question because you either drink his cup of salvation, the cup of his blood, or drink his other cup of judgment.
[17:26] Will you drink the cup of his salvation or the cup of his judgment when he returns? And there are many images and revelations of Jesus as judge.
[17:36] The greatest one is from chapter 19 when Jesus is the white rider on the horse. I'll read you a little bit of it. The armies of heaven were following him riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
[17:52] That's us riding behind him. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. Jesus' word will judge the nations.
[18:04] He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has his name written or tattooed, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
[18:19] So the judge of the universe, friends, is our Lord Jesus. If you know Jesus, you already know the judge. It's not like the day of judgment is God the Father's angry and we come as sinners and then Jesus says, oh no, that one's mine and takes them.
[18:37] You know, meek and mild, Jesus comes in. On the day of judgment, Jesus is the angry judge. He's the one holding you account to every word spoken, to every deed you've done, to every thought.
[18:51] The one who bore the cup of wrath will wield the cup of judgment. I'll tell you a secret, friends. This is actually why people become missionaries.
[19:05] They believe the truth, that Jesus is the judge. And so they want to go around the world to tell people ahead of time and introduce them to the judge before the time to find his mercy, to find his grace ahead of time.
[19:22] It's a good reason to become a missionary for the honor and glory of the judge, Jesus, but also for the good of the people ahead of time before they meet the judge.
[19:33] It's a great reason to become a missionary. Now, Jesus is the judge. What kind of judgment will it be? Well, I hope it's been niggling you already. I want to make it really clear.
[19:44] It's a judgment by works. It's a judgment by works. The books are open in Revelation 20 and the books are the record of our lives, really.
[19:56] And it says, the dead were judged according to their works as recorded in the books. Or in verse 12, all were judged according to what they had done.
[20:07] So it doesn't just say non-Christians were judged. It says, all were judged according to what they had done. It's true that there is a book of life there and we know early in Revelation 13 it's called the book of life of the lamb that was slaughtered.
[20:24] So it's those for whom Christ died, your name is in the book of life. You need your name in that book. Anyone whose name isn't in the book of life is thrown into the fire. But it's still true, you're judged by your works.
[20:40] Jesus taught, I tell you on the day of judgment, you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter. For by your words you'll be justified and by your words you'll be condemned.
[20:53] This is a great truth because it's a guarantee of the justice of God that hell is deserved for those who go to hell. People go to hell because of their works, because of their sinful actions against God.
[21:09] The judgment day is not a quiz where only some of the people can know the answers and some have no idea. Judgment day is according to the works of each one. And anybody who is sent to hell is sent thereby because of their own works.
[21:25] And so, the justice of God is perfect and fair and just. But what about believers? How do we resolve this for believers?
[21:37] Because we're saved by grace, we're saved by the blood of Christ, and you were judged by works. How do we resolve those two? Have you thought about this? You should because you need to be ready for the day.
[21:52] I'll give you three complementary ways to resolve salvation by grace, judgment by works. Firstly, people say, and I partly agree with this, the judgment of works for Christians will result in levels of reward in heaven.
[22:09] So you are saved and guaranteed heaven by the blood of Christ, but the judgment of works will increase your joy of heaven in levels of reward.
[22:22] And so, you know, no Christian in heaven will be incomplete, and there'll be no sin, so no one will be jealous, but, you know, we're building treasure in heaven, and some Christians are building more treasure in heaven than others.
[22:35] I think that's a good motive, actually, to work hard at being a Christian, to build treasure in heaven, to work for the reward of your master.
[22:46] That's part of the story, but not all the story. The second way I think that we need to resolve the tension between a gospel of grace and a judgment by works for Christians is we need to understand what the gospel really means.
[23:02] You see, Paul says once in Romans 2, he says, a day is coming when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.
[23:17] So according to Paul's gospel, it's already got judgment embedded in it. So if your gospel is just free grace, then you don't have a biblical gospel.
[23:28] Another example of this is in Revelation, which I just think is stunning. In Revelation 14, there's this little gospel angel floating around, Billy Graham angel, evangelizing everyone.
[23:42] It says, then John says, I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven. He's come down from heaven and he's kind of broadcasting to the earth. And it says, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.
[23:59] So I wonder what he's going to say. What's his eternal gospel? Is it God loves you and you are special? You know, what's his gospel? Here it is, verse 7 of chapter 14. Fear God and give him the glory for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.
[24:21] That's the gospel. So there's more to the gospel than just your get out of jail free card. There's more to the gospel than just sort of me, me, me, me. It's actually about the glory of God, the lordship of Jesus, the reign of God and the judgment of God.
[24:36] So if you think there's a tension between your gospel and a judgment of works, maybe you need to have a deeper gospel, a less shallow gospel. Now third, and I think this is the best way to resolve it, we need to have a proper view of God as Trinity.
[24:55] And thinking about the Trinity solves a lot of problems in the Christian faith. You see, judgment is not just about the Father and the Son and you appearing before them.
[25:07] Judgment involves the Spirit of God. You see, God's Spirit dwells in you now, and God's Spirit dwells in you now for a purpose.
[25:20] God has promised in the gospel that his Spirit will transform you into the image of Christ from one degree of glory to another. That's the work that the Spirit should be and is doing in you right now.
[25:36] So it's right for Christians to be under a judgment of works so that on that day we will stand out because of the work of the Spirit in us.
[25:47] And we will pass the test because of the Spirit in us. So our faults will be covered by the blood of Christ, but in another sense, because of the transforming work of the Spirit, we will pass the test and stand out against the idolaters of the world.
[26:06] So on that day, not only will we be in status righteous, on that day we will be by the Spirit, by the grace of God, righteous in reality. Now you might say, I trust Christ, but I don't feel ready to be put up against the world and compared my works against theirs.
[26:27] If that's how you feel, then start believing in the promise of God and start walking in step with the Spirit and believing the promises of God in a serious way.
[26:40] So the judge is Jesus, it's a judgment by works, and also it's a judgment by what you worship in the book of Revelation. It's all about what do you worship. See, the critical question is not always how good are you, how moral are you, but it's actually what do you worship.
[26:57] Everybody worships something, even an atheist worships something. The kind of things you worship are the things that you live for, the things that you think about the most, the things that you most worry about losing.
[27:11] They're the things you worship. What takes up your time and your resolve? What do you most highly esteem? Whatever those things are, they're the things that you're worshiping.
[27:25] Now, false worship in Revelation is described in this way. The rest of humankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands or giving up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood which cannot seal here.
[27:45] I'm in Revelation 9. So not only do they do bad things, they worship idols, they worship demons, they worship statues that cannot speak and they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts.
[28:03] You see, all idolatry is sin but also all sin is a form of idolatry, is a form of worshipping the wrong thing. Every sin, you're doing it because you're not worshipping God, you're worshipping something else which is causing you to sin, to please that idol.
[28:22] And even in the book of Revelation, as God's judgment is poured out, people don't want to stop worshipping their idols. Even when they see the judgment of God, they actually keep worshipping the idols.
[28:36] So I'll read to you from Revelation 16. This is verse 8. We're talking about the bowls of the rock, talking about bowl 4, bowl 5. The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun and it was allowed to scorch people with fire.
[28:51] They were scorched by the fierce heat, but they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.
[29:03] See, idol worshippers when they are judged by God or when they are warned by God by the beginnings of judgment, it doesn't make them repent, they just curse God all the more.
[29:13] The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast and his kingdom was plunged in darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony.
[29:24] They chewed their tongues up and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and sores and they did not repent of their deeds. People would chew their tongues out before admitting that God is right, that God is the real God, before admitting that their idols are a lie.
[29:43] People will continue to worship their idols even when they see God in his judgment. This is another reason why I'm convinced that hell is eternal because people keep cursing God.
[29:57] People aren't in hell repenting. Revelation says they just keep cursing God and hating him while under judgment and so they sin continually and therefore their punishment is continual and it goes forever because of what they worship.
[30:17] So judgment is, judgment day is coming, it's by Jesus, he's the judge, it's by works and it's by what you worship. And I want to close now on thinking about what do the saints worship when judgment is going on because this is a common objection that people have had about hell that how can we enjoy heaven when hell is going on at the same time?
[30:42] Have you ever thought about that? How can we be praising God knowing that people are being in torment, being punished by God? Won't that mar our experience of heaven, especially if we know people who are in hell?
[30:55] Do you see the objection? I think it's right to say that one of the big things we're doing in heaven, in the new heavens and the new earth, is praising God.
[31:08] We don't know a lot about heaven and Jono will take us there, but one of the big things over the next few weeks, is we praise God in heaven. There's another little problem here as well, that someone confessed to me in church a couple of weeks ago, they actually came to me and said, Wayne, I don't like singing.
[31:27] And it's okay, it wasn't anyone from this congregation, it was from the morning. They just said, and it wasn't anything to do with this church, they just said, in general I don't like singing. Well, I want to try and help both those problems tonight.
[31:41] Let's look at what they sing about in heaven. I'll give you a couple of examples. Revelation 15, chapter 15, verse 3.
[31:52] Here's what they're singing in heaven. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Great and amazing are your deeds, Lord God, the Almighty, just and true are your ways, King of the nations.
[32:06] Lord, who will not fear you and glorify your name. Great song, for you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your judgments have been revealed.
[32:17] So in the songs of the saints, not only do they add their amen to the judgments of God, they're praising God for his judgments. They're praising God for what he is doing to Satan and what he's doing to the wicked.
[32:31] Another example, and this is interesting because it's happening while judgment is happening. This is between Boal of Roth 3 and Boal of Roth 4 in Revelation 16.
[32:43] The angels sing, You are just, O holy one, who are and were, for you have judged these things, because they, that is, you know, wicked people, they shed the blood of saints and prophets.
[32:59] You have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve. And I heard the altar respond, Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and just.
[33:10] So Revelation pitches us actually not kind of pretending hell's not there or ignoring hell, actually has us praising God for his victory in judgment, praising God for the justice of God over sin, praising God that he's vindicated martyrs who have died for the cause of Christ.
[33:34] And there are many examples of that in Revelation. There's another great one in chapter 19. But I just want to make the point that in Revelation judgment and worship go together. And I think, you know, those people who are really into praise and worship, I'm not sure the songs of Revelation are the kind of songs that are always we're singing.
[33:55] And maybe the people who don't like singing in heaven, here are some battle cries, some war songs, that actually start to grab us. What worship does, friends, worship shows what side of the war you are on.
[34:11] Who do you worship? It shows what side of the war you are on. If you are on God's side, you will praise him for his justice, for his righteousness, for his judgment. If you've ever paid any price for being a Christian, lost a loved one, you know, ever had someone in your family killed for the name of Christ, you will start to enjoy singing these songs longing for the judgment of God.
[34:38] Friends, let me invite you into that kind of worship. Let me invite you to, even if you find it hard to grasp, to trust that God's judgment is by works and it is perfect, and therefore we ought to praise him for it, because we love justice being done.
[34:55] I think it's wrong to think, and I wonder if this is our unspoken assumption, that because of the atonement of Christ, God is now mallowed to the world.
[35:07] So not only did the cross save individual people, but it's made God kind of relaxed and generally more mallow toward the world. Actually, the Bible says the opposite has happened.
[35:19] Because of the cross, God's mercy is magnified, but also is God's judgment. Because if you turn your back on the cross, God has done so much to rescue you, and then you just say, I don't need that.
[35:33] That actually gets God angrier than he was at you before. So the cross actually expands God's judgment on the world. And there are many texts that talk of that.
[35:45] Hebrews 10, how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified and outraged the spirit of grace.
[36:00] For we know the one who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay, and again the Lord will judge his people. It is a dread, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
[36:12] So do you see how if you spurn the blood of Christ, you actually build up more anger against yourself. So the cross of Christ doesn't mallow out God, it actually intensifies his mercy to the redeemed, and it intensifies his judgment to those who reject him.
[36:33] I think the worst parts of hell are for false Christian teachers who are false teachers, because they've had the cross of Christ and the message of salvation, and replaced it with a lie in the name of Christ.
[36:50] Apostasy is a bad sin. To have a taste of the gospel and then to reject it, that leaves you in a very bad place with God.
[37:02] To be baptized into his name and then give your life over to the beast or to an idol, that brings great shame to Christ and therefore greater judgment.
[37:15] So friends, our loyalty is ultimately with Christ. Is that where your loyalty is? Is that where your worship is? Our loyalty is not with sin. Our loyalty is not with God's enemies.
[37:29] We will sing with God, praising him for the victory of Christ. We will sing with all of God's saints, all of the angels who have been crying out for justice, and we will praise God.
[37:44] Hell is not a ma on heaven. They both exist for the same reason, because God is glorious. To dwell with God in heaven is to have delight after delight, but to be told by the glorious one, depart from me, you are cursed, that's hell.
[38:02] They both exist because God is glorious. Hell represents the victory of God, that his justice and judgment are done. Hell doesn't mean that God has failed, it means God has won, and we rejoice in the victory with him.
[38:19] So friends, be really clear, and be clear about the people you know. Judgment day is coming. It's coming very soon, and you know the judge. The judge is Jesus. You know him well, hopefully.
[38:32] He judges by works, and he judges by what you worship. The gift of God is forgiveness through the cross of Christ. And transformation by his spirit.
[38:46] So friends, what do you live for? What destiny are you headed toward? When you look around, do you see people as beings with an eternal destiny?
[38:58] Because that is who they are, made in God's image. How hard are you working to warn people about the day of judgment? See friends, believing in hell, believing in judgment, frees you, to love people.
[39:14] You are now free to love people as Jesus loved people. In light of the day of judgment, you're free to encourage them in light of the day of judgment to know Christ and to warn them of the future of hell that awaits those who don't have a savior, who don't have an atonement.
[39:34] You're free to love them by showing them the glorious hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Let's pray that we would have boldness in doing that. Lord Jesus, we acknowledge you now as our savior, but also as our Lord and as our judge to come on that day.
[39:55] We thank you, Lord Jesus, that as we trust in you, we are transferred from death to life. We are no longer under condemnation and your spirit is deposited in us and begins a work that you will carry on to completion on that day.
[40:11] So Lord Jesus, help us to take our Christian life seriously and also to love others by living in light of the day, by telling people of the day of judgment and showing them of your gracious and wonderful gift of salvation through your death on the cross.
[40:28] So give us boldness, Father, I ask. I pray that you'd make us really believe day to day in the eternal realities that await us.
[40:38] Help us to trust your word and not have a shallow gospel and help us to walk closely with you and be transformed from one degree of glory to another. Amen. Friends, we're going to sing a great hymn now.
[40:52] The traditional title is called Low He Comes. We're going to sing pleading with Christ to come soon and think of his return on that day. each time is without yourself as you as as as as as as as as as as till time will rest let feed them and whenever them will ever have