We'll get started here. We're doing today from where he will come to judge the living and the dead. And so if you want to follow along, I thought it'd be nice to read the Apostles' Creed again, kind of get it back into our minds. So if you want to follow along, you can turn in your Trinity Psalter hymnal to page 851. You can have a copy of the Apostles' Creed as we read it together. Or not together. I will read it. You can listen. We'll put it that way. We'll get it back in our minds. All right. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day, he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From there, he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Let us pray together. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are our Lord and our God, that you have created us, that you sustain us, that you sent your Son to die on the cross to redeem us. Lord, we are unworthy, we are sinful, And yet you are a holy God who has loved us so very much and has demonstrated that love. And yet we know that you will come again to judge the living and the dead. Would you give us this urgency to share the gospel with the lost and to bring honor and glory to your name? We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. A reminder, if you do not know who I am, my name is Austin Lowen. I'm a third year student at Greenville Seminary. It has been a wonderful, privilege to be studying there and to be attending this church, which I've been doing since my first year. And starting in September, Devin Baker and I were made interns, and so you'll see a little bit more of us as Peter and Jeremiah and Ryan and the elders, they train us up and they show us the ropes and prepare us for ministry. So we're grateful to have opportunities to teach and to be in front of you. Our section of the Apostles' Creed says that he, that is, Jesus, will come to judge the living and the dead We could really stop the entire creed right there and be very, very blessed to just meditate on those words that Christ will come again. It's a good reminder that we are not forgotten. We have not been abandoned. We have not been left to suffer in this world without hope and without restoration. Because the righteous King, He will return. All wrongs will be made right. He will wipe away every tear from the eyes of His saints. The promise of Christ's return is a wonderful and beautiful promise. He will come again. It also combats those who scoff at that idea that Christ will return. I've heard actually quite a few people here and there, not always directly, but just kind of hearing conversation or sidelined, that people make the comment that Jesus has not returned for 2,000 years. Clearly he's not coming. The Bible said he was gonna come very soon. It has been a very long time. Your faith is in vain. Give up, don't be a Christian, you're wasting your time, you're wasting your life. However, as scripture clearly teaches and what we're gonna look at today, God has decreed the return of Christ, and his delay in returning is not to be counted as slowness, but mercy, so that all would come to repentance. Christ is indeed coming again, and yet there's been some urgency that's been lost in our day. There's numerous reasons for this, but I think a lot of us have become, not necessarily in this room, but in general, a broad brushstroke. A lot of us have become less expected of Christ's return. We've been tricked into making this our home. We've been tricked into just wanting to pile up materials and wealth and comfort for ourselves. And at the same time, we can be falling asleep. forgetting that Christ is coming, that we are to be awake, we are to be expectant, we are to be watchful. And so one goal that I have for this session this morning is to reinstill some expectancy, some hope, and some joy in the coming of Christ. So as stated in our thesis, if you look at the handout, the piece of paper, you can follow along where we're gonna be going. We will look at why Christ will return to judge the world, why this judgment is gonna be a joy to believers and why this judgment is going to be a terror to unbelievers. So firstly, why will Christ return to judge the world? Three reasons that we have here. The first being Trinitarian. Christ will return to judge the world because God of the Father, as God of the Father, the Father does all things through the Son. Our confession in 33.1, it says this, God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father, in which day not only the apostate angel shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon the earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds. and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil." It's a very good statement. It boils a lot of things down into something that is clear and concise. But what we're getting from it is that Christ will be the one to judge the world at his return, because God the Father does all things through the Son, as stated in John chapter 5, verse 22 to 27. I'll read only two verses from it. John 5, 22. For the father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the son, and then skipping down to verse 27, and he hath given him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man. I said elsewhere, in 1 John, no one who denies the son has the father. Whoever confesses the son has the father also. So to summarize these verses, kind of putting them together, The Father has given all judgment to the Son, and all those who do not honor the Son, they do not honor the Father, they do not have the Father, and therefore they will be liable to that judgment. This leads us right to our second point, because this is already starting to sound a lot like Psalms 2. And so the second reason has to do with the incarnation of Christ. The first being Trinitarian, the second being the incarnation of Christ. Christ will return to judge the world because as the incarnate son, the father has given him the nations as his inheritance. I'll read a couple verses also from Psalm chapter two and put that before us. Psalm chapter two. Starting at verse 7. I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, you are my son today. I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. It says, starting at verse 10, now, therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned. O rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Keeping with the sobering nature of judgment, there is a great warning in this passage. In this text, there's a warning for the kings or the rulers of the nations, these mighty people with all this prestige and money and power, which I would also include the unbeliever, the unrepentant, those who are against Christ, they're just building a life for themselves. There's a warning to be wise, to turn away from their rebellion, To serve the Lord with fear, to rejoice with trembling, to kiss the Son lest He be angry and they perish in the way. The warning here is really to take refuge in God, to take refuge in Christ. Because those who are found outside of Christ, they remain dead in their trespasses and sins. They remain in rebellion. They reject the very God who created them. while using the very breath that he gives to them to curse his name, to blaspheme his name, and to go their own separate ways. And so they will experience the judgment of Christ when he returns, because his wrath will be kindled against rebellious sinners. Very sobering judgment, a very sobering warning. Christ is the one who's coming to judge, and those who are not found in Christ are gonna be liable to that judgment. And yet, there's always hope that those who heed this warning, who turn from their sins and turn to Christ alone for salvation, who kiss the Son, become children of God. Inheritance of the nations, given as a gift to the Son by the Father, through the Holy Spirit regenerating their hearts, breathing new life into them, they become a child of God, a Christian. Those who are going to be covered in the righteousness of Christ, and who therefore can stand in the judgment that is to come. And so we have a judge, and that judge is Jesus Christ, and we have a warning for all people to repent lest they be found under the wrath of Christ at his coming. Is there any questions so far? We're going to be moving very quick. There's a lot of really good things in this aspect, and yet at the same time, as you know, just by the verses we've read, by the content so far, it is a sobering talk. It is a sobering lesson. that there's judgment, there's death, heaven and hell are on the line. So is there any questions of what we've covered so far, what we've looked at? Christ is coming to judge and there's a warning to repent or you'll be in the judgment. And if not questions, any comments or anything that you think would be helpful for the group is also a valid option. If you weren't able to hear, the Savior will also be the judge. And he mentioned a key word that gets right to our next point of vindication, is that all will be under the judgment of the Son. who was, as C says on your outline, because the unjustly condemned man will be the just judge of all men, of all. That he who was crucified, who was mocked, who was beaten, a crown of thorns on his head, nails in his hands and in his feet, unjustly, an innocent man, We'll be the just judge of all. Unjustly judged, but we'll be the just judge. We'll turn to that point now. If you wanna turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 17, Acts 17, 31. We have an important verse here for us. Acts 17, 31, I'll start at verse 30. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed the day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Christ is returning. The day is fixed. And even though we on earth nor the angels in heaven, they do not know that day, that particular day when judgment will take place, the day is fixed. It is certain it'll come. And God has appointed Christ as the judge to return to judge the world in righteousness. The Christ who was unjustly condemned, who was crucified and later raised from the dead to assure everyone that he will be the judge. In Peter's sermon, in the beginning of Acts 2, if you turn back a couple of chapters, in Acts chapter 2, verse 23, it says, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. This is reinforcing that this was an innocent man who was judged unjustly. It was all a part of the definite plan of God, and now there's a definite plan at the end, the fixed judgment of this man, of the Christ, the God-man, who was under unjust men, will now be the judge of all men, and he was innocent, killed by the hands of lawless men, the sinless son of God. I like the verse in Luke, Chapter 23, it has the Roman centurion. When Jesus died on the cross, he looks at this whole event, everything that's happening, and he just proclaims in awe and in wonder, certain man was innocent. You think of everything that took place, of people chanting and shouting, crucify him, of him being paraded, carrying his cross, and being hung on the cross, and all these things that happened, the darkness covering it, the veil torn when he gave up his spirit, with all of these amazing things to happen, and you have what you would assume to be an ungodly man, someone who was a part of all this, allowing it all to happen, kind of like Saul when he was applauding The martyrdom of Stephen, just someone who's nearby, who's not on the side of Christ. And even when all this takes place, you have him seeing the innocence of this man. This must have been the Son of God. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 also confirms that Jesus was sinless. It says, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. And of course, if we go back a little bit farther again, Pilate found no fault in Jesus, but he washed his hands and he delivered him over to death as an innocent man. We could go on and on, but the point is made, Jesus was unjustly condemned by lawless men, and he will return, he will come as the just judge of all men. And one thing that's important to say here is he's not going to come back in a mere unrighteous revenge. I think about it when you're playing sports and you're against your rival team either playing or watching and they get the upper hand and they maybe win a point or they win the whole game and now you're really upset and you're going to come back and you're going to win that game, you're going to win that next point, you're going to make sure that you are the victor in the end. Revenge is your goal because you are better. There's no hint of unrighteousness in Christ returning to give all of this kind of revenge and this and that, but as we already read in Acts 2, what Peter is proclaiming is this is the definite plan of God. He was delivered over and this was all according to God's plan. But he will come back and he will reign in righteousness. This is not a matter of mere pride. But Jesus' judgment will be righteous. It'll be perfectly righteous and just. No one will be punished too severely. No one will be punished not severely enough. That God will be the perfect judge of all. And as we've said, this judgment is fixed. The crucified Christ will return as the conquering and king. And so to link all these three points together, why will Christ return to judge this world Because the father judges through the son, he's promised an inheritance to the son as his reward, and the son who was unjustly condemned will judge in perfect justice and righteousness. Included in being judge of all, since I've not really established or commented on the Apostles Creed itself, where it says that he will come to judge the living and the dead. What is meant by that? I'll quote a couple verses from Revelation chapter 20, verses 12 to 15, hopefully to give us a bit of a bigger picture and get our minds a little bit more set. Judging the living and the dead, Revelation 20, 12 to 15, and I saw The dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And the books were opened. And then another book was opened, which was the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they've done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one of them, 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 if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. To summarize, the judging of the living and the dead will include all mankind, the apostate angels, where those who have died will be resurrected. Those who are still alive when Christ come will be gathered towards them. They'll be judged, both of them, the dead and the living, by their deeds. And they will appear before the judgment seat of Christ where the books will be opened. Judgment will be made, and a verdict will be established. So there's a couple things that have all been communicated here. There will be a coming judgment. It is fixed. It is clear. It is happening. Jesus Christ will be the judge. Jesus will judge in righteousness, and Jesus will judge all people, the wicked, the righteous, the angels, the living, and the dead. All will be judged by Christ. This is very difficult to wrap our heads around, and so I almost hesitate to open it up to questions. But if anyone has more questions of what is exactly happening here, or if you have more comments to make that can help our minds track with this coming judgment, please, we'd love to hear from you. Yes? Okay. Mm-hmm. No. So that passage in Matthew speaks to Jesus Christ being the judge. Mm-hmm. Specifically. The second one that I'm thinking of is in Revelation chapter 5, chapter 6. Revelation chapter 5, the Lamb is the only one who is found worthy to open the scroll. And that scroll is about the judgment. Mm-hmm. The judgment that actually takes place, the one that really caught my attention going back to your beginning question about, it's been 2,000 years, why not yet, right? Verse 9, sorry. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? That's the question. Verse 11, then they were each given a white robe and were told to rest no longer until The number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete through and until the day of self-examination. So, the answer to the question, why not yet, is the work is still ongoing. The total number of the elect is not yet. There's still more souls to be added to the total number. That's right. To attempt to summarize for those in the back, Two passages came up, Matthew 25 and then Revelation 5 and 6, is I think what you were talking about. So we have the separation of the sheep and of the goats, and so we have this. This big declaration of Christ being the judge and that those who are not found with good deeds and those who are found with good deeds are separated into judgment. And then we have Christ alone is worthy to open the scroll with all the judgment that is gonna be incoming. And then the statement of why 2,000 years, why so long before Christ is returned is the proclamation that the elect has not fully yet come in. forgiveness of sins, there's repentance that is being offered to those who would believe in Jesus Christ, that they would not face judgment, but they would join the elect, they would join the church and come to faith in Jesus Christ. So there's certainly a big aspect of God's mercy and grace and patience, and not simply just coming to judge and throw people into fire. I just know, my mind is turning on one of my best friends growing up, maybe I've shared this illustration before, but I had kept inviting him to church, and he always said no, he never wanted to come to church. And his reason, as he said, is I'll burst into flames when I come in the door. In some sense, he saw the sinfulness of his life, and I don't exactly know what his understanding was, but he was assuming that coming to a church would be like coming near a holy God to whom he could not stand in front of. And in some ways, he has some good theology that's building. But he missed the person of Jesus Christ, right? The free offer of the gospel, forgiveness of sins, of goodness and love. And so sometimes people think of judgment as God's frowning face where he is just this mad dictator just trying to throw people in hell and that they are gonna be burnt up. We miss the opportunity to repent, the gracious patience and love of God. Any other comments or questions? Yeah, Jeremiah. will be an account in a day of judgment. Also, 1 Corinthians 3, 11 through 16, where it's talking about building upon a foundation of pride. But there's a passage I personally kind of struggle with exactly as to what it means. It says, if anyone's worth is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. And so I think I'll give you an example Let's say there is a ministry that is just a gospel congregation by faith alone, but it's very man-centered, very entertainment-driven, but they're doing it out of ignorance. They have faith. It's a genuine gospel. It's nothing else. And so there's a lot of errors with it. Will there be on-judgment faith? Will there be on-judgment faith by faith alone? Yes, I would say the faith has none. I'm hoping I'm not dancing around the question, but one thing I want to make sure... Sure, yeah. Some of these things get into the secret things that belong to the Lord. Amen. Don't you have any advice for me to try to answer something that belongs to Him? But the question being, what is required for, for, uh, for there to become a belief? Faith in Jesus Christ. We all have our incorrect thoughts, but by God's grace and mercy, over a long period of time we learn what I am through the Word and the Spirit. So even if a particular denomination teaches something and we don't, To do some summarizing, which I forgot to summarize Jeremiah's question, but do some summarizing here. I'll read Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret things belong to the Lord, our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. We may do all the words of this law. There's a great freeing reminder here that we cannot know all things, and if we could, then congratulations, you are God. And then all of this is completely in vain. So we know that if we have a God that is incomprehensible, that we cannot know all of these things, we cannot understand even what is revealed clearly all the time, because God is so grand and so majestic and amazing that we are worshiping the right God. So that is the first one. We cannot know all things. Even what is revealed, there's mystery that is steeped around a lot of it. And so that's very important to know as we open it up. And so when we get to questions like if they understand justification by faith alone, but they're not necessarily living this way, or some of their works don't seem to be pointing this direction. And so there's a lot of things here. We are free to know that we are not the judge in one thing. And so what Vernon had mentioned is that Christ will be the judge, and we are to be in Christ. And one thing, it doesn't really mean too much to be like, oh, I believe in justification by faith alone. You kind of get to where James talks about like even the demons believe and they shudder. There's an idea that you can have good theology, good thoughts of God, things that are correct and biblical and true without actually putting your faith in Jesus Christ and being saved. And so there's a really fine line where we are not the judge. We can look at fruit, we can, certainly kind of put our best guess, I don't really want to say it in that phrase, of where someone is, but we want to trust that Christ alone will be the judge and that they are to put their faith in Christ. Just before, I see Jeremiah's hand over here first too. I think it's good for us to remember James 3.1. My brother and I, not many of you become teachers knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. And then that, in 1 Corinthians 3, I think what Paul's getting at there is the idea of future judgment as the reality that should be on the heart of every one of these ministers. teaching and preaching the word. There's a coming day, a morning, and a day, and that everyone agrees, and hopefully when the break off is over with us, that all of us who work, teach, preach, are working for one day. There's a coming day, we can't wait for the word, and the reality of what we've built upon, what we've taught, according to the word, We're certainly called to be faithful. Dr. McGraw. And if there are things that are burned up, then how can we not suffer loss? Yes. And I think that it's a natural question. So it's not so much going after other people as much as saying, the idea there in terms of the history seems to be the refinement of fire. So we have this fire, and despite metal, this fire is safe. It's hurt, it's lost, it is lost. I think what we have to say is that thought is humbling. because we will all have things at the last day that are good and bad, and I think we'll be surprised at the mercy of God accepting the things we've done. where the righteous are saying, when did we do these things? Because they realize their own weakness and guilt and what they did. But I think on the other side, we have to say that we will be righteous in Christ, and we will agree with His judgment. So even if we lose some of the things that we did in this life, and we doubt that we will, We'll rejoice in the right commitment of God as well. So he accepts us, and he accepts our service, which encourages us as we serve. But we also recognize, I think, the Corinthians, humbling them to what he is proposing, and we realize that we build right here on the foundation of the love of the Lord. If we don't, it's a separate loss. So that's the bottom line. Take them on our side, and keep your eyes the same here, not for yourself. So what's lost there is actually selflessness versus Christ-centeredness. And I think that's the division that we're going to go with. That's a lot to summarize. Keep your eyes on Christ. Yes. I can't hear all the learned contributions behind me, so someone may have touched on it. But the one thing that stands out to me is that that the scripture says plainly, it will be such an hour as you think not. So, we should live every day in the knowledge that it's in such an hour as we think not. We shouldn't spend a great deal of time thinking about, well, it can't happen yet because so and so and so, because God chooses to keep us in the dark, so to speak, until it's time. So we need to live awake every morning, such an hour as you think not he may return. Now we have the helpful reminder that we do not know the day or the hour, but it will come at a time we do not expect. So there's certainly a charge to be watchful, to be awake, to not be found like a foolish virgin. but then also the hope that he is coming at a time that he has secured. So we do not need to be always a newspaper theologian where we're seeing every single earthquake, every single thing, and saying, aha, it has to be May 21st, or we don't have to be pointing fingers there, but trust that we want our hearts right with God, and that there are people all around us that do not have a standing with Christ, and so we need to be sharing the gospel with them, because we do not know if it'll be tomorrow, or in another 2,000 years, right? The whole idea that it's left up to God and we are to be faithful where we're at, found faithful and awake and alert. I think there's lots of good comments here. I'm thankful for your contributions. I'm gonna keep going a little bit, looking at the time. We're gonna get to our second point. Why will Christ's judgment be a joy to believers? This section is mainly drawn out of the Heidelberg Catechism 52. So you can have it open to your Trinity Psalter hymnal, or it's pretty much summarized in this spot, but I'll read it for us anyways, and we'll track through the points together. So the Heidelberg Catechism, question 52, says, what comfort is it, what comfort is it that thee that Christ shall come again to judge the quick and the dead, so the living and the dead, what we've had before, and the answer, And in all my sorrows and persecutions with uplifted head, I look for the very same person who before offered himself for my sake to the tribunal of God and has removed all curse from me to come as judge from heaven, who shall cast all his and my enemies into everlasting condemnation, but shall translate me with his chosen ones to himself into heavenly joys and glory. And so to break. this whole answer to this question down to four parts. Firstly, I'll do parts A and B, I'll do those together. It's a why Christ's judgment will be a joy to believers. And it's simply because the one who offered himself for you at God's tribunal will not forsake you there. And the one who was cursed through sorrows and persecutions has removed all curse from yours. 2 Corinthians 5.10, proclaims that all will stand before the judgment of God. It says we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. We were just alluding to some of those things just previously with some of the other questions. And yet we can be comforted that Christ, who is our mediator, who died on the cross for our sins, satisfied divine justice on our behalf. The one who was cursed by God, removed God's curse, which is what we really get in 2 Corinthians 5.21. For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God. And then adding in there Galatians 3.13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. All this is to say that Jesus made atonement for us. He died in our place. He took the wrath of God that our sins deserved. And so when he returns, when he comes back in God's judgment, we will not stand before God alone or in our sins, but we will stand before Christ, in Christ, clothed in his righteousness, not abandoned, not forsaken, but as a child of God whose tears will be wiped away. so as Dr. McGraw was helping us see a little bit more, a little bit more clearly, is that we will experience loss. We're not going to be living this life perfect, perfectly. We're not glorified. We are being sanctified. We are being renewed each and every day to be more into the image of Christ and honoring and glorifying to Him. But that day has not yet come, and so we will sin. We will fall short. We'll still have thoughts that are not glorifying to God, but all those things will be pushed away is in the very end we have assurance of salvation that we who are in Christ will be judged by Christ and we will be in his righteousness and not judged in our own, which we'll get to in a little bit here too as well. So, said another way, Christ's judgment, it will be a joy to believers because believers can be assured that they will not be abandoned, they will not be forgotten, they will not be forsaken. I think of, this is kind of a silly illustration, but I think of growing up, I went to public school and I would ride the bus. It would come pick me up at my house. I lived on an acreage outside of the town and the city. And so it would come to pick me up and there were times where I was maybe not watching the clock very carefully and I would miss the bus and it was due to my fault that I was not standing outside and at the stop when I should. And there were other times when I missed the bus and it was because the bus forgot to stop for me. And so it wasn't my fault. But that is something that we will never see in Christ's return in judgment. He will not forget us. We will not be missing the bus in any way. That all will be judged by Christ. And those who are in Christ, they will be sure not to be forgotten. They will not be left out. And those who will be judged by Christ in unrighteousness, certainly they will not be left out or forgotten at all as well. So. Moving to the next one, C, Christ's judgment will be a joy to believers because the one who made you friends when you were his enemies will deliver you from his and your enemies. We can do a big reminder of the gospel here, that we are not saved because we chose God. We're not saved because we were so eager to serve him, that we were full of good works and doing all these amazing things, and God looked at that and said, that's the one I want, that is a faithful servant, I'm gonna choose him. It's not any of that. We have Romans 5.10 that tells us that we were enemies of God, Ephesians 2, that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, and yet God showed his love in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We were reconciled to God through the death of his son. So those who were once enemies of God are now friends of God. They are the adopted children of God. They are perfectly protected from God's enemies in the sense that they will not be able to take us away from God. We will still experience persecution and troubles in this life, the effects of the fall, famine, plagues, diseases, all those things, the righteous and the unrighteous experience together, but in the end, we will be saved from the enemy and the enemies of God. We will be in Christ and secure. There's a good allusion, at least in this language, that for me brought me right back to the Shorter Catechism of Christ fulfilling the office of our king, and so I'm gonna read that for us as well. Shorter Catechism 26, how doth Christ execute the office of a king? The answer is subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies. We belong to Christ. We are under his kingship. We are friends of God, brought near, brought close by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are safe and secure in him. And so that his coming judgment is not to be feared, but will certainly be a joy as we are with Christ. D, the one who knows joy in God's presence will bring you into his heavenly joys and glory. Mainly for this point, I have to read one text that is beautiful, and so I'll definitely do that here. Revelation chapter 21, feel free to turn there yourself. A beautiful, beautiful passage that all of us would be really benefited by meditating upon. Revelation 21, one to four. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Similarly, we have Psalm 16, that in the presence of God, there's fullness of joy. At his right hand are pleasures forevermore. Jesus knows the joy that is in the presence of God. and he is bringing all of us to be with God. And even more significantly, I could phrase it this way, just reading Revelation, is that heaven is coming down to earth. The new heavens, the new earth, God's dwelling place will be with man. Everything that the Old Testament has been pointing towards, the tabernacle, the temple, being close to the dwelling place of God, having God in the people's midst so that they could never be afraid of enemies, they could be assured in all things that their God is with them. Jesus Christ will dwell with man, new heavens and new earth. Everything will come together. It'll be a beautiful picture where there's no more pain, no more death, no more sin, but Christ is there and we are with Christ. We're gonna keep moving along pretty quickly here. The same cannot be said for the unbeliever at Christ's coming judgment. And we'll get to, we'll be able to summarize some of these fairly quickly. Why will Christ's judgment be a terror to unbelievers? I think all of us can give an answer to that very, very quickly. We've learned about heaven, we've seen the glories of Christ, but we also know that there is hell, there is the judgment that is going to come. And so simply stated, the worst place to be when Christ returns to judge is outside of Christ. To be outside of Christ is the worst place to be when Christ comes. The righteous will be judged in Christ, as we've already seen, but the wicked will be judged according to their deeds, and the rejection of the gospel. I think of the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. He has an anguish in the flame and he thinks even just a drop of water would make all the difference, would make all of his suffering so much lesser. And so he begs for just that drop of water. And there's also the sobering words of him asking to have Lazarus resurrected from the dead and to go proclaim to his family and his friends, make sure that no one ends up in this flame like he has. And the simple answer, if you can remember, is that they all have Moses and the prophets, right? And even if a man were to rise from the dead, who would believe, right? We have Jesus Christ who did rise from the dead, the resurrected Christ who we proclaim Lord's Day by Lord's Day. And when we are with our friends and family members that do not know Christ, we proclaim the resurrected Christ and he is still rejected today. And there will be anguish in that flame. I'll skip on a little bit more to see. Christ knows our thoughts. He knows the thoughts of the wicked. There's a children's catechism question that has really helped me many, many times. You should learn the children's catechism as well. It says, does God know all things? And the answer, you could just stop at yes. But we're going to go a little bit farther. Yes, nothing can be hidden from God. I think that's an important truth that is very sobering and also very helpful, that God knows all things. Nothing can be hidden from him. Your thoughts cannot be hidden. The motivations of your heart cannot be hidden. You may be able to deceive your spouse, your best friend, the church, and the way that you're living your life, the things that you are doing, but you cannot deceive God ever. God knows our hearts. He knows our thoughts. He knows all about us. Psalm 139 reminds us, you have searched me and known me, you know when I sit and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar, you search out my path and my lying down are acquainted with all my ways. Even before word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all together. You hem me in behind before you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. The point being, you cannot hide from God. There is no escaping an all-knowing and everywhere present God. This is a terrifying realization for the wicked, because they will be rightly judged, accountable for every idle word, every idle thought, Every sinful action would be like a log being tossed into the fire. This is a terrible and sobering reality. And so I wanna actually turn our hearts a little bit further to preaching the gospel. I'm gonna reference this really famous quote. I'm sure you've heard it from Charles Spurgeon. He said, If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped around their knees, imploring them to stay. And if hell must be filled, let it be filled with the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go unwarned and unprayed for. I hope that this encourages us to pray with a new zeal for those who are lost, Share the gospel with more urgency, with more expectancy of the Lord's return. Because heaven and hell are indeed on the line. And the judgment is sure. Our last point here, I believe. Christ will wipe away all tears from his people. We saw this from Revelation chapter 21, one to four. But he will leave his enemies to weeping and gnashing of teeth. We have another sobering contrast before us. Christ coming is a joy for believers because Christ will wipe away all the tears from his people. Yet for unbelievers, those who are outside of Christ, they will experience the full justice of God resulting in damnation being thrown into hell where they'll be weeping, there'll be gnashing of teeth. This is where, what Jeff was referring to, the separation of the sheep and of the goats. Matthew 25, verse 34, then the king will say to those on his right, come, you are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom. And then skipping down to verse 41, he will say to those on the left, depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Now in order not to end on a sober note, which is hard to do, I want to remind you of the patience and the mercy of God in the coming of Christ to judge the living and the dead. It's worth adding here, I'll read a section from our Confession again, 33.3. As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity so that He have that they are known to men, that they may shake off all carnal security and be always watchful, because they know not what hour the Lord will come, and may be ever prepared to say, come Lord Jesus, come quickly, amen. Judgment is coming, the day is fixed, and because it has not come yet, there is an opportunity for repentance. There is an opportunity to be sharing the gospel. to be as the quote from Spurgeon, to be clinging around the feet of people, to stop them from going any farther away from Christ's presence, and to turn and believe and have faith in the Son of God who will come to judge the living and the dead. It is not counted as slowness, but patience, that all the elect may come in, that those who are not in Christ will come to Christ and bow the knee, will kiss the Son and live in the presence of God. In the final words of the Bible, Revelation 22, 20 to 21, he who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. May we also be ready to say these words at all times, to be in Christ, to be secure, to desire him to come. while wanting everyone around us to do the same, to be ready for Christ, to be found in Christ and not outside of Christ. May we pray for that, may we meditate upon these scriptures and increase that urgency and that expectancy of the Lord's coming. Let's pray together. Gracious Lord, we do recognize that there is much that we do not know, much we do not understand, and yet what is clear is that you are coming again, that you are the righteous judge, you are holy, and that you will do what is right. We trust all of these things to you, but we ask that you would make our hearts to love you more, to share the gospel with others, to see where they are going to end up, where we were going to end up before you saved us. Help us not to be complacent. Help us not to grow lazy, to grow slothful. but with urgency to love you and to share your love with others that you died for sinful men to reconcile us to God. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.