Judgement
Dr Philip Woodley from Hyde Heath Baptist Church returns with a sermon in the vein of John Wesley and George Whitfield. Judgement is a sermon topic sorely lacking in today's churches but one that The Bible talks of frequently and in the strongest terms: the resurrection of the just and the unjust, the distribution of rewards and punishments and which eternal home we'll be staying in. Is there a more important message for today's world?
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00:00Good evening, it's good to be with you again.
00:08Unusual to have two consecutive Sundays here, but hopefully that will be of benefit to us.
00:16As we start our service this evening, let's turn to Psalm 122.
00:23We were reading Psalm 130 last week, which is one of the later psalms of ascent.
00:28This is one of the earlier ones, a psalm by David that would have been sung as people
00:35went to the house of the Lord to worship him.
00:42I rejoiced with those who said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord.
00:48Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem.
00:53Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together.
00:59That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to praise the name of the Lord,
01:05according to the statute given to Israel.
01:10There stand the thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
01:18Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
01:22May those who love you be secure.
01:26May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.
01:33For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, peace be within you.
01:39For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity.
01:47It was a duty that people had to go to worship God three times a year at Jerusalem.
01:54But this man is delighted that people are saying, let's go to Jerusalem to worship.
02:00Not everybody went.
02:02Not everybody was faithful to the Lord.
02:05But this is a man who delights to be there.
02:08He delights to be among God's people.
02:14And the picture is of Jerusalem, the people of God, both in the Old Testament and effectively
02:20in the New Testament, that we are the people of God.
02:23We are Jerusalem.
02:25There the tribes go together.
02:27Tribes meet to worship God together at Jerusalem.
02:31And we've come to the house of God tonight to worship and to praise him.
02:37But notice too, in verse five, there are the thrones of judgment.
02:46Inside the city, there were the place where people met.
02:50In every town and city which was walled, they had a place where the elders of the town would
02:55meet together to give judgment and advice to those that came to seek help.
03:05And when we get to the New Jerusalem, there will be the throne of judgment that God will
03:10be there.
03:11He will judge his people.
03:14But there too is the throne of David in Jerusalem, the place where God rules, where God's chosen
03:21king ruled in the Old Testament.
03:25It was a place that reminded them that they were together, the people of God, that God
03:31had his chosen one.
03:33And we recognise Jesus as our chosen one, the one who will sit on the throne of David
03:39and rule forever and ever.
03:44Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, the peace of God's people.
03:50We live in a troubled and difficult world, don't we?
03:54And we recognise from our news day by day, the evil that goes on around us.
03:59We need to pray for the peace of God's people wherever they are in the world, that they
04:05may know his help and strength, his wisdom and his guidance.
04:11Pray for our families and our friends, those outside of the kingdom of God, that they too
04:17may come to know the peace which passes all understanding that God gives to his people
04:24as they trust in him.
04:27That the kingdom may prosper.
04:31For the sake of the house of the Lord, I will seek your prosperity.
04:36And for us, prosperity comes with the preaching of God's word, that it may guide our lives
04:42day by day, that it may reach others, that they too may turn to the Lord Jesus for mercy
04:50and for grace.
04:52Moving on from the subject that we were thinking about last week, which was the return of the
04:56Lord, to the return of the Lord, because the return of the Lord means different things
05:03to different people.
05:05And tonight we are thinking about judgement.
05:07And Heather's now going to come and read to us.
05:11To Kings chapter 17.
05:16In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hosea son of Elah became king of Israel in
05:23Samaria, and he reigned for nine years.
05:29He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.
05:35Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up to attack Hosea, who had been Shalmaneser's vassal,
05:45and had paid him tribute.
05:48But the king of Assyria discovered that Hosea was a traitor, for he had sent envoys to sow
05:56king of Egypt, and he no longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year
06:03by year.
06:06Therefore Shalmaneser seized him and put him in prison.
06:11The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria, and laid siege to
06:18it for three years.
06:21In the ninth year of Hosea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and deported the Israelites
06:29to Assyria.
06:31He settled them in Hala, in Gozan on the river Habor, and in the towns of the Medes.
06:41All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who
06:47had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
06:53They worshipped other gods and followed the practices of the nations that the Lord had
06:59driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced.
07:08The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right.
07:15From watchtower to fortified city, they built themselves high places in all their towns.
07:23They set up sacred stones and asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading
07:30tree.
07:31At every high place, they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out
07:37before them had done.
07:40They did wicked things that aroused the Lord's anger.
07:45They worshipped idols, though the Lord had said, You shall not do this.
07:51The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers, Turn from your evil
07:59ways, observe my commands and decrees in accordance with the entire law that I commanded your
08:06ancestors to obey, and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.
08:14But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the
08:20Lord their God.
08:23They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes
08:29he had warned them to keep.
08:32They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.
08:38They imitated the nations around them, although the Lord had ordered them, Do not do as they
08:45do.
08:47They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols
08:53cast in the shape of calves and an asherah pole.
08:59They bowed down to all the starry hosts and they worshipped Baal.
09:04They sanctified their sons and daughters in the fire.
09:08They practised divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes
09:14of the Lord, arousing his anger.
09:18So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence.
09:24Only the tribe of Judah was left.
09:27And even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God.
09:31They followed the practices Israel had introduced.
09:36Therefore the Lord rejected all the people of Israel.
09:39He afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers until he thrust them from his
09:44presence.
09:47When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their
09:54king.
09:56Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit a great
10:02sin.
10:04The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them until
10:10the Lord removed them from his presence as he had warned through all his servants the
10:15prophets.
10:18So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria.
10:25And they are still there.
10:28In Revelation 20 verses 11 to 15 we read.
10:34Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it.
10:40The earth and the heavens fled from his presence and there was no place for them.
10:48Then I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and books were opened.
10:58Another book was opened, which is the book of life.
11:03The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
11:10The sea gave up the dead that were in it and death and Hades gave up the dead that were
11:17in them.
11:19And each person was judged according to what they had done.
11:25Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
11:32The lake of fire is the second death.
11:37Anyone whose name was not found in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
11:48This is the great and dreadful day of the Lord described in Joel 2.
11:56It echoes the passages that we looked at last week in Matthew 24 and refers back to Isaiah
12:0313, which we also referenced last week as the day of judgment for Babylon.
12:10And Babylon is used in the New Testament as a picture of this present world.
12:18The day of the Lord, the day when Jesus returns as King to rule over a remade creation will
12:26be a day of contrast.
12:30As Revelation 20 reveals, it is a day of judgment.
12:35The implications of the books of record are that our sins are all known to God.
12:44We face God's judgment for what we have done.
12:50Hitler killed himself after bringing the most terrible war on this world.
12:57Some might think that he escaped justice.
13:01Stalin, who helped defeat Hitler, also perpetrated widespread and ruthless purges in which probably
13:11millions died.
13:14Yet he died in his bed.
13:17Did these men escape justice?
13:23According to the Bible, the answer is no.
13:27God rules over all things.
13:31We are not simply annihilated when we die.
13:34Instead, we face the judgment and the justice of an eternal God.
13:43The sentence delivered on Satan and on all who follow him is given there in Revelation
13:5020.
13:54And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur where the
13:59beast and the false prophet had been thrown.
14:03They will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.
14:10Offending an eternally holy and pure God is no light thing.
14:17The consequent punishment is also eternal.
14:24Some years ago, Heather and I attended an evangelistic event at a church where we'd
14:29taken some friends to hear an evangelist speak.
14:35The evangelist clearly set out the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus as the
14:40means of our sins being forgiven.
14:45But we noticed that something was missing.
14:50A friend of ours had brought his neighbor to the event too.
14:54And afterwards they'd discussed what the evangelist had said.
14:58The non-Christian neighbor had been impressed by the talk.
15:03But he said he didn't think that there was anything that he needed to do.
15:08Why?
15:09The thing that was missing from the talk was judgment.
15:15Our sins have consequences.
15:19We might escape any official sanction in this world for breaking the law or the clear morality
15:25of this world's society.
15:28But there is a judge with a long memory who we have yet to face.
15:34And he has his own law too.
15:39So tonight we're going to look at this topic of judgment.
15:42It is one of the great themes that runs through the Bible.
15:47Already we have mentioned in this context Revelation, Matthew, Joel, Isaiah.
15:55The Bible is like a rope made up of many strands that run through the length of Scripture.
16:02Judgment twists and turns through the framework to add strength to the message of the eternal
16:10God.
16:13So tonight we're going to look at three things.
16:17Judgment on God's people.
16:20Judgment on God's enemies.
16:23And judgment on God's Son.
16:27So first, judgment on God's people.
16:33Recently we were watching a DVD by Don Carson at our Thursday evening Bible study.
16:41He made the point from Genesis 3 that the first doctrine of God that is denied is that
16:48of judgment.
16:50In chapter 2, verse 17, God had told Adam that he must not eat from the tree of the
16:57knowledge of good and evil.
17:00For when you eat from it, you will certainly die.
17:05But in chapter 3, verse 4, Satan says, you will not certainly die.
17:12Satan's lie helped to deceive Eve.
17:15She ate from the fruit of the tree, and Adam also ate from the tree.
17:22But when God comes to walk with Adam and Eve in the garden, he brings judgment on them
17:28for their disobedience.
17:33The denial of judgment is an illusion.
17:36Adam and Eve were God's direct creation, but God does not balk at judging his people.
17:45Although in his mercy, he gives time to repent.
17:52Earlier in the service, we read from 2 Kings 17.
17:57This passage records a summary of the destruction of Israel, the nation which was built from
18:04the descendants of God's chosen man, Abraham.
18:09Gradually they had abandoned any trust in God.
18:14They similarly abandoned the obedience to and worship of God, or at best put it alongside
18:20the worship of the gods of the nations which God had driven out of Canaan.
18:27In so doing, they dishonoured God.
18:32They even reverted to the Canaanite practice of sacrificing their own children to the imaginary
18:39gods that had been defeated previously under the power of God.
18:47Despite the fact that they are chosen people of God, God does not spare Israel from judgment
18:53which accords with the warnings contained in their scriptures.
18:59Not only were warnings given through Moses, and you can read them in Leviticus 26, you
19:06will see God had long established the terrors that would come on Israel if they failed to
19:14obey God's ways.
19:17But look too at the prayer of Solomon in 1 Kings 8 and God's reply in 1 Kings 9.
19:27They both acknowledge the sentence that God had already proclaimed for disobedience.
19:35And God also sent his prophets to warn his people.
19:41Ezekiel 16 and 23 contain some of the most graphic descriptions of the meaning of the
19:49sins of the nation and the warnings of judgment.
19:56There is no way of getting away from God's judgment on his sinful people in the New Testament either.
20:05Think of the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5.
20:11They lied to the apostles in order to gain status in the early church.
20:17Paul refers to the judgment on the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 for their abuse
20:25of the Lord's table.
20:27And the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 also reveal warnings to repent or
20:35suffer the consequent judgments, particularly on the churches at Ephesus and Laodicea.
20:44So throughout scripture we come across warnings to God's people and judgment on them when
20:50they sin and do not repent.
20:55Those immediate judgments are in this life.
20:59But we've also seen in Revelation 20 that all who trust in the saving work of Jesus
21:05will escape the final punishment for their sins and we will be returning to this later.
21:14But does that mean that we are not accountable for the way that we live our lives in the meantime?
21:21Last week we made reference to the parable of the ten bags of gold in Matthew chapter 25.
21:30And here there is a vague reference to a difference in reward to those who serve their master diligently.
21:40This imagery stands in contrast to the parable of the workers hired to work in the master's
21:45vineyard in Matthew chapter 20.
21:50In that parable all the workers get the same reward irrespective of the time that they
21:56have served in the vineyard.
21:59So we're not clear whether there are different eternal rewards for God's people.
22:05But it is clear from Acts chapter 5 that we cannot play fast and loose with God.
22:11We cannot continue to live in sin.
22:15And 1 John chapter 3 makes this clear.
22:19Verses 6 and 9 say no one who lives in him, that is in the Lord Jesus, keeps on sinning.
22:28No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
22:35No one who is born of God will continue to sin because God's seed remains in him.
22:43They cannot go on sinning because they have been born of God.
22:51This makes sense of the unfaithful servant in Matthew 24, 48-51 and of the five foolish
22:59virgins in Matthew 25.
23:03Apparent devotion to God is worthless if it is not accompanied by true conversion and
23:12action that confirms a new spiritual life.
23:18Second, judgment of God's enemies.
23:24If God judges his own people, will he spare those who defy him, those who are not his
23:31people?
23:34Scripture makes it clear that no one escapes judgment.
23:39The Old Testament is full of examples of God's judgment on sin.
23:45Cain bears the mark of God as part of his punishment for murdering his brother.
23:52The floods of Noah's day, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of
23:57the Canaanites are all examples designed to warn people of the ultimate judgment of eternity.
24:07The Old Testament demonstrates the way judgment comes on those who oppose God's people.
24:15In Amos 1.3-2.3 God sets out the sins of the various nations that surround Judah and Israel.
24:27He sets out the punishments for those sins.
24:32In Habakkuk the prophet laments the sins of Judah.
24:37But when God reveals that he is going to bring judgment on his people by bringing the Babylonians
24:43to punish them, Habakkuk complains that the Babylonians are evil and ungodly people.
24:54But God assures Habakkuk that even though he will use them to bring judgment on his
24:59own people, the Babylonians themselves will not escape their own judgment.
25:07But there is a sense in which these Old Testament judgments, while just, are only there as an
25:14illustration of the eternal consequences of their actions.
25:21See what Jesus says of the Old Testament cities destroyed by his judgments compared to New
25:27Testament cities that have ignored his teaching.
25:33Matthew 11.20-24 Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had
25:42been performed, because they did not repent.
25:47Woe to you, Chorazin!
25:49Woe to you, Bethsaida!
25:52For if the miracles that had been performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon,
25:58they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
26:05But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than
26:11for you.
26:13And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the heavens?
26:18No, you will go down to Hades.
26:22For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would
26:28have remained to this day.
26:31But I tell you, that it will be more tolerable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for
26:39you.
26:41The Jews of Jesus' day had not only failed to take note of the warnings of their own
26:46scriptures, they had also failed to understand who Jesus was and to take note of the warnings
26:56that he gave them.
26:59As an aside, it is interesting to note from this passage that there also seems to be a
27:05grading of eternal judgments on those who reject God's truth.
27:11This may fit with the ideas that we noted earlier that seem to indicate differential
27:16rewards for God's people.
27:20But Romans chapter 1 gives us a striking note for the people of our day, verses 18 to 23.
27:30The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness
27:36of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about
27:43God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
27:49For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and
27:55divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made, so that
28:02people are without excuse.
28:07For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him.
28:14But their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
28:20Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal
28:27God for images made to look like mortal human beings and birds and animals and reptiles.
28:37Paul goes on to speak of God removing his hand of restraint on sinners and gives them
28:44over to their own evil lusts.
28:47The passage is controversial because it highlights the type of society that we live in today.
28:56And many people, including people who claim to be Christians, want to reject the idea
29:03that their lifestyle is sinful before God.
29:08They may use such arguments as, well society has moved on, we have changed.
29:15They ignore the fact that God claims he does not change, Malachi 3.6, and that his word
29:24does not change but endures forever, Matthew 24.35.
29:31We are not judged eternally according to the changing standards of society.
29:38That would be unjust.
29:40We are judged according to the law of an unchanging God.
29:47Many in our society seek to deny that behaviour acceptable to modern society is a sin.
29:56The fact sinners are comfortable with sin should be no surprise to anybody.
30:03It is faithful adherence to the word of God that is a challenge to sinners, nor is it
30:10just particular sins that bring judgment.
30:14Even if we can claim that we have not committed murder or robbery, we do not escape judgment
30:21if we have committed some other sin.
30:25And James makes this point in his letter in chapter 2 verses 10 and 11.
30:31For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all
30:39of it.
30:41For he who said, You shall not commit adultery, also said, You shall not commit murder.
30:49If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
30:58If we sin, we break the whole law of God.
31:03We cannot pick and choose our sins.
31:07It is not our law that we are breaking.
31:12And remember that Jesus defines adultery and murder in broader terms than we might want to consider.
31:21Matthew 5, 21, 22.
31:24You have heard it said to the people long ago, You shall not murder, and anyone who
31:30murders will be subject to judgment.
31:34But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment.
31:43And Matthew 5, 27 and 28.
31:46You have heard it said that you shall not commit adultery.
31:50But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery
31:57with her in his heart.
32:01If the world around us wants to reject God's law, it will even more want to reject such
32:07an interpretation and understanding of what the law really means.
32:13Let me just make this point.
32:18We are not accountable for what God's law says.
32:24It is not our law that people are rejecting.
32:30It is God's law.
32:33People are not accountable to us.
32:36They are accountable to God.
32:40We as God's people are not accountable for God's law, but we are accountable for the
32:46way that we live according to God's law.
32:50And we are accountable to God for the way that we proclaim it.
32:56If people have trouble with God's law, direct them to the author.
33:02Don't try to defend it yourself.
33:05God will defend his own honour.
33:10And that brings us briefly to our third point.
33:13Judgment on God's Son.
33:16I say briefly, not because it's the least important point.
33:19Indeed, it is the most important point.
33:22But because it's simple and straightforward.
33:26God is an angry God, a jealous God.
33:31God is a God of love, yes.
33:34But he is also a God of righteousness, purity, holiness and justice.
33:42He has given his creation laws to live by, because they grant an ordered and blessed
33:48life.
33:51So any infringement of God's law mars the good world that God has created for his creatures.
34:01We cannot expect God to be happy with us if we break his gracious and wise laws.
34:11As we've seen, God is a God of justice who judges mankind according to his own wise counsels.
34:19But the Bible teaches and reminds us that all mankind are sinners.
34:24In Romans 3, Paul sets out a whole string of Old Testament verses that set out how sinful
34:32mankind is, before reaching his conclusion in verse 23.
34:37For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
34:43On this basis, no one is ever worthy of receiving God's good pleasure.
34:50But God is also a merciful and gracious God.
34:56If God judged all mankind according to their sins, none of us could stand before him.
35:04Last week, we read from Psalm 130, which reminds us,
35:09If you, Lord, kept a record of our sins, who could stand?
35:15And the Bible says sinners are spiritually dead.
35:21Ephesians 2, 1-3.
35:24As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you
35:29followed the ways of this world, and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit
35:36who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
35:40All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following
35:49its desires and thoughts.
35:51Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
35:58We deserve the sort of judgments that we have seen as we have looked at Scripture this evening,
36:03both temporal and eternal judgments.
36:07But Paul, speaking to the Ephesians, continues in chapter 2,
36:13But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ
36:22even when we were dead in transgressions.
36:27It is by grace that you have been saved.
36:31And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ
36:37Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his
36:44grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
36:52So how does God bring us forgiveness without overturning his own justice and righteousness?
37:01It is by pouring out his wrath on his own Son, the Lord Jesus.
37:07Only God could bear the wrath of God and survive.
37:15Jesus has borne the judgment for our sins if we have trusted in him.
37:22John the Baptist described Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world
37:29– John 1.29.
37:32The Jews would have been familiar with the idea of a substitutionary sacrifice.
37:39It was the basis of their whole sacrificial system.
37:43The sinner brought the sacrifice to the temple and laid his hands on it to symbolise the
37:50transfer of their sins before the animal was sacrificed.
37:57It pointed towards the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus for our sins.
38:04But as I highlighted earlier, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross does not mean anything
38:09to us unless we recognise that and claim it for ourselves.
38:17We face the punishment for our sins.
38:20It is not the case that Jesus' sacrifice is automatically and indiscriminately applied
38:27to all.
38:28We have already seen that we all face judgment.
38:34Revelation 20 reminds us that it is only those whose names are written in the God's book
38:41of life who escape eternal damnation and are not assigned a place in the lake of eternal
38:50fire with Satan.
38:53We have to repent and believe in the saving work of Jesus on the cross.
39:01In his important sermon to the Jews at Pentecost, Peter says this.
39:08Fellow Israelites, listen to this.
39:11Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs,
39:21which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.
39:27This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge, and you,
39:34with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
39:42But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was
39:49impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
39:56Those who heard Peter or had their conscience pricked, Acts 2 goes on, when the people heard
40:02this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles,
40:06Brothers, what shall we do?
40:10And Peter's reply is interesting.
40:12Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for
40:19the forgiveness of your sins.
40:23And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
40:27The promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, for all whom
40:35the Lord our God will call.
40:42Salvation comes to all who repent and believe.
40:48Who will do that?
40:50Luke here says that it's those whom God calls.
40:54We've already seen that by our human nature, we were dead in our trespasses and sins.
41:01By our human nature, we could not respond to the call of God.
41:06It is God who calls.
41:09In Acts 17, Paul is speaking to the people of Athens and says, God commands all people
41:16everywhere to repent.
41:20And Luke goes on to describe how some wanted to know more about this, but others sneered.
41:26They weren't interested.
41:29Peter in 2 Peter 3 says something that links with the return of the Lord Jesus that we
41:35were thinking about last week.
41:40Above all, you must understand that in the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and
41:48following their own evil desires.
41:52They will say, where is this coming?
41:55He promised.
41:57Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has been, as it has since the
42:03beginning of creation.
42:05But they deliberately forget that long ago, by God's word, the heavens came into being
42:15and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
42:19By these waters also the world at that time was deluged and destroyed.
42:26By the same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for
42:32the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly.
42:38But do not forget this one thing, dear friends.
42:42After the Lord, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day.
42:49The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness, instead he is
42:56patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
43:05But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
43:08The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire and the
43:13earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
43:18Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
43:28You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed
43:35its coming.
43:38That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire and the elements will
43:42melt in the heat.
43:45But in keeping with his promise, we are looking forward to the new heaven and the new earth
43:53where righteousness dwells.
43:56So in conclusion, the Bible clearly shows we all face the judgment of Almighty God.
44:04Whether there are differential rewards and punishments is unclear, but what is clear
44:10is that God's people will escape the final judgment of wrath.
44:17They are claimed by Christ Jesus as his own to live forever with him in glory.
44:26But those who have not sought the mercy of God through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus,
44:32eternal punishment is delivered.
44:37This is not a pleasant thought.
44:40We might well want to view our sins as less deserving.
44:45But it is God who is the judge.
44:50Only the eternal judge decides our final sentence.
44:56If you have not done so already, you need to seek his mercy now.
45:03If salvation is already yours, you have a duty to proclaim these truths to others that
45:10they too might seek God's mercy.
45:15Be faithful to the call that you have been given.
45:26Amen.