like to do this evening and to minister to you from God's precious and holy Word. Mr. Byrd was just reminding me that this day, 36 years ago, I preached in the Lurgan Town Hall on the ecumenical movement and upon the perversion known as the New English Bible. I wonder how many people were there thirty-six years ago. Well, a few of us have survived. And I'm glad of that. And all the others must be very young indeed. So I will one day welcome you to the club of the old people, just like myself. David has not yet arrived there. But mind you, better hurry up, for he's losing his hair very badly. So he better hurry up. Well, the reading tonight from the Word of God taken at the 20th chapter of the book of the Revelation. And then I'm going to take my text from the book of the Acts chapter 17 verses 30 and 31. I have a most solemn and a most serious subject to preach on this evening, the great Judgment Day, Revelation chapter 20. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it from hers face The earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. And death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. The book of the Acts of the Holy Ghost through his apostles. Chapter 17, reading at the verse 30. Acts 17, verse 30. And the tides of this ignorance God waiteth, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained, but of he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. God will stand with his own divine approval, this reading from his very own infallible word. Let's stand to our feet for prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, we have come to this meeting house this evening to hear the sweet and blessed Word of God. But we know that sometimes The word must be upon a subject of terror, a subject of wrath, a subject of judgment, and a subject of agony. And O God, tonight we have come to hear about the great Judgment Day, the last great Assize Day, the final day of Judgment. O God, intensify the sense of Thy holy presence. May man and woman tonight Forget about the preacher and the people and may they be shut in with the mighty power of God. Intensify in this house as never before the fact that thou art amongst us. the beable sounds of man. Take away all the distracting and attracting thoughts from mind and heart. But O God, this night reveal to us something of the majesty, something of the awe, something of the terror, something of the solemnity, something of the darkness and the doom and the damnation of the great judgment day. And those whose sins are unpardoned, whose souls are unseen, whose lives are unchanged, Grant that this night they shall flee from the wrath to come. And they shall hide their souls in the wounds of the eternal rock of ages. Rock of ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let that be the cry. and the experience of every man and woman and boy and girl in this house tonight. As our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed in prayer, could I remind you that 90 years ago, in the Principality of Wheels, a great revival was sweeping the country. And at every meeting, the Christians and the congregations prayed together a simple prayer of four sentences. The first sentence was, Lord, pour out thy Holy Spirit upon me now. The second sentence was, Lord, pour out thy Holy Spirit powerfully upon me now. The third sentence was Lord pour out thy Holy Spirit more powerfully upon me now. And the last sentence, the fourth sentence was Lord pour out thy Spirit still more powerfully upon me now. And at the end of every sentence, they said, for Jesus' sake. I ask and invite every believer here tonight to join me now in repeating those four simple yet sublime petitions. Lord, pour out Thy Spirit upon me now, for Jesus' sake. Lord, pour out Thy Spirit powerfully upon me now, for Jesus' sake. Lord, pour out Thy Spirit more powerfully upon me now, For Jesus' sake, Lord, pour out Thy Spirit still more powerfully upon me. For Jesus' sake, to this end I take the promised Holy Ghost, the blessed power of Pentecost, to fill me To the uttermost, I take. Thank God He undertakes for me. And the people of God said, Amen. You may be seated. The 17th chapter of the book of the Acts. at the verse 30 and the verse 31. And the times of this ignorance God waketh, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead." We are all morally accountable to the God who made us. That's the difference between man and the beasts of the field. The beasts of the field are not morally accountable beings, but we are. Within every one of us, there is a divine mechanism. It's called conscience. It proves to us day and daily that we are morally accountable to the God who made us. Conscience either accuses us for our thoughts and for our deeds or else excuses us. for our thoughts and for our deeds. Conscience is a God-placed marker in the human soul. It is a danger signal that sends out its flashing light. When we disobey our God, and break and violate his commandments. And a low fallen man has also a fallen conscience, for conscience did not escape the fall. Yet fallen conscience, even when it's seared as with a hot iron, and polluted because of willful disobedience to God. It still rises up at times and blows the trumpet in our souls. But what doom it sounds as it calls a halt to our sinful madness and reminds us that we're uncountable to God. But conscience is also a daily reminder that there is a day when we'll stand before God and give account of the deeds done in our body, whether they be good or whether they be bad. Conscience is a forerunner, the harbinger of the judgment day. So you carry within your breast your own accuser. Your conscience is your accuser and well you know it. It would be utter folly for you, my friend, in view of the fact of your own conscience and its activity for you to forget about the day of judgment. The person who tries to forget that he's one day going to meet his maker is a joke of the devil. and is filled by sin himself. What utter folly for you to think that you will escape the day when God makes up the accounts and balances the books as far as your life and your attitude to him is concerned. My text has four things to say about the great judgment day. Notice firstly its establishment. God has given assurance unto all men in that he has raised Christ from the dead. What for? That they may never doubt the fact that the judgment day is established. Notice secondly the appointment of of the judgment day. God has appointed a day. God has appointed a day. God has appointed a day. Never you forget it. It's the day of God's appointment. Thirdly, there's a requirement of a judgment day set out in my text. And finally, there is the commandment of a judgment day. So I want to speak tonight on this solemn subject under these four simple headings. its requirement, its appointment, its establishment, and its commandment. The establishment of the judgment day. There is nothing more firmly established than the fact that there is going to be the great judgment day. Honesty, justice, righteousness, and truth demand such a day. We live in a world of wrongdoing. but someday the wrongs must be put right. We live in a world of injustices, but one day the injustices must be remedied. We live in a day of evil, But one day, evil must be everlastingly overturned. We live in a day of deeds which deserve punishment. And there's a day coming when those deeds will be punished and none shall escape the punishment that they deserve. There are situations in this world that justice demands must be reversed. And let me say to you tonight, those situations will be reversed. And the topsy-turvy world will be changed, because at long last, Justice, inflexible, immutable, holy justice of a thrice holy God shall reign supreme and eternally over all the creatures of God. Yes, justice, decency, honesty demands that there must be a judgment day. but in case some doubt might linger in your mind. In case some dark thought might be suggested to your heart that there's no such a thing as a judgment day. God has founded his judgment day upon impregnable rock granite. What is that rock granite that he has founded his judgment day on? It is the rock granite of our Lord's resurrection. Listen to what the book says. Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead." The resurrection of Christ is the best attested fact of all history. A few weeks ago I was in the Principality of Wies. We were opening our first church in Borival. I took a little time off to visit the city of Bari, near to Cardiff. It was there that I commenced, during the war years, my studies for the Christian ministry. in a place known as the Barre School of Evangelism, which eventually became the South Wales Bible College, and now is the Theological Seminary of Wales, situated now in Bridge End. I went to Barre not only to see the old college building, but to go to a place that will ever stand out in my career. It is Barre Island. It's the part of Barre that's at the seashore. And Barre Island is a place of amusement. A place where vast crowds congregate. A place where men and women, especially on a Sunday, seek all the pleasures that its great entertainment can offer. And in 1942, when I was there, it was the war years. And in Barrie Island on a Sunday afternoon, thousands of servicemen Thousands of servicewomen thronged to that place, going from entertainment palace to entertainment palace, from pub to club, seeking excitement and pleasure and sinful satisfaction. And some of us on a Sunday afternoon held an open-air service. It was always a unique service because the man that led it was a man called Teddy Sherwood. Teddy had lived for sin and for the devil. He was a boxer. He was a champion boxer. He was a champion welterweight for the whole of the south of England. And then one day, Christ met him. Christ saved him. Christ transformed him. And the energy and zeal that he had for the devil was turned into energy and zeal and consecration for his Lord. Teddy Sherwood always got a crowd to listen to him, for he brought with him his gold champion belt. And the last hole of the strap that went into the buckle of that belt. He plaited three pieces of string into a little whip. And he used to take that great belt. I can see it now glittering in the summer sun. And he would swing it around his head and then he would crack it. 15 minutes, and the crowd came, and they looked at him, and they nodded, what's he doing? What's he up to? And more and more people came, and then he would stop, and he would put his hand to his ear, and he would say, would you like to feel that cauliflower ear? That's what the devil gave me. Then he would put his hand to his other ear, and he would say, would you like to feel that cauliflower ear? That's what the devil gave back. When he said, oh my, if you could open my bosom, man and woman, you would see the white heart that Jesus gave back. He would start to preach. A powerful preacher. I was talking to him some little time ago on the telephone. He's an old man now. He's over 80, along to 90, but he still has a strong voice. But there's one thing about Teddy no one ever taught him how to use his voice. He didn't speak from down here as every speaker does. He spoke from his throat. And of course, after he went on for ten minutes, he got husky. And after he went on another five minutes, he was speechless. And he said, I need to get my second wind. And so he would take me along. I was only a young fellow, sixteen. And when Teddy lost his voice, he would get me and push me into the ring. And he would say, Ian, preach now, till I get my second win. That's how I learned to preach. I remember a Sunday in 1942. It was June of that year. Hundreds were there, Navy men, Air Force men, Army men, members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, and the Women's Auxiliary Navy Force, the Red, the White. And then the Army, the Land Army girls, all there, hundreds of them. And Ted was having a great time, and then his voice broke. And he pushed me up. He said, Ian, get in there and preach. So I started to preach. And I wasn't very long started until a young woman in the uniform of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, she stepped out into the ring. And she said to me, how do you know there's a Jesus Christ anyway? How do you know? I was only 16. I believed a lot of things then, and I don't believe now, but I have learned by experience. And I thought then in my utter foolishness, and what a foolish boy I was, that I could top down a woman. You couldn't top down any woman ever born. So I went on preaching. And I turned up the power of my lungs. But she went on saying, How do you know there's a Jesus Christ anyway? And the crowd, who were not friendly to the gospel, they took up the cry, Answer! Answer! Answer! And I saw a great big pit that I was going to fall into. What do you do in circumstances like that? You send a telegram to heaven. So I sent a telegram to heaven, and I said, oh, God, I'm a ninja. It doesn't really matter much about me, but I want you to be honest. Help me. I want nowhere to fasten on these men and women. Help me. And like a flash, I got there. I said, young woman, I've answered your question. I come from Northern Ireland. I said, we have a habit of getting those that ask questions to answer them themselves. And then when you answer yourself, you'll be satisfied. You wouldn't be satisfied with my answer. But when you answer the question yourself, you're bound to be satisfied with your answer. I said, could you answer three simple questions? Number one, what day is it? She says, don't you know? It's Sunday. I said, very good. It's Sunday. Now tell me, What month is it? She said, it's the month of June. I said, very good. Just one last question. What year is it? The man in the crowd saw what way I was going and they started to cheer at her and said, come on, tell him the year. What year is it? And eventually, she said, 1942. I said, hold it! Where did that year start from? When was year one? You say it's now 1942? She wouldn't answer. And the crowd, they were laughing. and jeering at her as they jeered at me before I answered the question. And I said, 1942, Anno Domini, the year of our Lord. You ask me how did I know there was a Jesus Christ. Every time you look at the calendar, every time you open your diary, Every time you mention the year that's now ended, you're admitting there's a Jesus Christ. But mark you, it's the year of our Lord. He's living over 1,942 years. Yes, he died, but he lives. It's the year of our Lord. That was the end of the ark. There's a little appendix I should tell you before I pass on. When I was preaching in Bowringport at the opening of our church, I mentioned and told that story I've just told to you. And at the end of the service, a man came up and he shook me warmly by the hand as I sat in the pulpit. And he said, you'll not believe this, but it's true. He said, I was in the Navy and I was at that service on Maury Island. I heard you utter those words to that young woman. He said, I was a sinner headed for hell. And he said, not until 17 years afterwards did I meet the Savior, but I never forgot that incident. Never forgot it. My friend, let me tell you the best attested fact in history is the resurrection of Christ from the dead. And upon that rock, granite, First, the establishment of the great Judgment Day. It's established. It's immutable. It's God's building that'll stand forever. Secondly, the appointment of the day in the calendar of God The day is set. It will not be altered. It will not be changed. It will not be possible. It is there. And when the time comes and the prophetic hour strikes in the great timepiece of the Almighty, the judgment day will have dawned. Let me tell you something. We're nearer to it than we've ever been before. I think The shadow of the judgment hour is a thwart this old generation in which we live. Do you know that God's appointments are always absolute? They're never watered down. They're never diluted. They're never altered. They can never change. Man's appointments are relevant. They relate to whether he's well enough to keep them. They relate whether he intends to keep them. They're relative to the circumstance that might happen so that he couldn't keep them. It would be beyond his power to keep them. But God's appointments are absolute. They cannot be changed. They will not beat Him. God has appointed the great judgment day. The day of judgment is the great focus day. Everything is focused on that day. All of the purposes of God's All the plans of God, all the programs of God converge on the Judgment Day. My Bible tells me in the 8th chapter of Romans, the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together unto the wedding. What for? Judgment Day. when the sons of God will be manifested and the sons of the devil will be manifested eternally. The sun shines, its shining is toward that great judgment day. The moon at night reflects the sun's light, that reflected light shines towards the judgment The stars in the sky are the great lights of God on the great road to that Judgment Day. The earth revolves, it's rolling forward to the Judgment Day. And the faces of all generations are facing the Judgment Day. The day you were born, your face was set towards the judgment day. And all through life, you are walking towards the judgment day. It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment It's a tremendous company who are marching towards the Judgment Day. I hear the trump, trump, trump of the generations of man. From Adam, every generation, till Jesus Christ came, and every generation since Jesus Christ has come. And they're all marching, marching, marching towards the judgment. The march grows larger with each generation. With each birth, it grows larger. What a multitude of marching human souls, marching to the great judgment day of God. But could I remind you there is a parallel march, and that march is far greater in its numbers than the marching of the souls of all generations of men and women. I know that no one could number. It's a great number which no man can number, the generations marching towards the Judgment Day. But there is another march, marching parallel with the march of human souls. It's the march of sin. And the sins of all ages and of all men have marched from the day they were committed towards the judgment day. The sins of heaven The sins of feet, the sins of eye, the sins of ear, the sins of mouth, the sins of the body, the sins of the soul, the sins done in secret, the sins done in public, the sins done alone, the sins done in company, the sins of childhood, the sins of youth, the sins of maturity, the sins of old age, all marching, marching, marching, marching towards the judgment day. And one day, except those sins are obliterated, in the crimson blood of the Son of God. Every one of them will point their finger at you as you stand at the judgment bar. And they will shriek with a shriek that has within it the doom of the damned. Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Be sure your sin will find you out. They'll find you out at the great judgment day. Could I come to the requirement? What is required at this judgment? First of all, there is required the institution of the judge. Where can a judge be found strong enough, gracious enough, pure enough, holy enough, with wisdom enough to preside at the judgment of those who come on that terrible day? There's no one among the angels of heaven fit for this task. There's no one among the multitudes of men that walked on mother earth, either before this day or after it, are fit for this task. There's no demon in the pit of hell. There is only one. Listen. What does the text say? It says, he hath appointed the day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. A God-ordained judge. We sang in Sunday school, gentle Jesus, meek and mild. Look upon a little child. The gentle Jesus is going to be the judge. But the gentle Jesus, for that judgment will be transformed. I saw a great white throne, and him who sat upon it, from whose face the heaven and the earth did flee away, and there was found no place for them." The institution of the giant. The man that died to save sinners on the middle cross is going to sentence sinners from his throne. The man that stood and welcomed sinners to come and receive his pardon from his presence to eternal burdens on the day of judgment. Second requirement, the identification of the accused. Who's going to be judged? The world! The world! says he will judge the world. Oh you'll be identified all right. The whole world will be identified. There'll be no hiding place in that great day. Why, no man will call to the rocks and the mountains to hide them from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the Lamb for the great day of His wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand? I dreamt that the great judgment morning had dawned and the trumpet had blown. I thought that the lost ones had gathered for judgment around the white throne. From the throne went a bright shining angel and he stood in the land and the sea and he swore with his hand raised to heaven that time was no longer to be. Then all went a-weeping and weeping and lost one's hair under their feet. They cried to the rocks and the mountains. They cried with their prayers. You'll be identified. You'll be arrested. You'll be brought on the warrant of God Almighty for the judgment of His Son. Three, the irreproachability of the trial. He's going to judge the world market in righteousness. There are false courts of justice and false sentences are passed in the courts of men. And evidence is changed and perjury in oath is given. And the whole machinery of justice is twisted and contorted and stamped with men's sins. But there is a judgment court where all the evidence will be given as it is. There is a judgment court where the judge will be as white in his character as the whiteness of the throat on the cases. And you're going to get justice, sir. You'll not get mercy. You'll get justice. You'll get pure, unsullied justice. At the end of the judgment, we read that all of the world will be silent. Not by one protest, but not by one man who said, you're judging me wrongly. I know. This will be the day when their accounts will be settled, and the books will be opened, and the record will be read. And you'll know that every word God wrote about you was eternally true and is eternally true. The irreproachability of the trial, the irrevocableness of the sentence. As the tree falleth, so shall it lie. God takes the acts of judgment and fells your tree. As the tree falleth, so shall it lie. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still. He that is unclean, let him be unclean still. He that is lost, let him be lost forever. He that deserveth hell, let him feel its burnings. He that must be tamed up forever, let him be tamed. He that is to be damned, let him be damned. God help you if you hear that from the lips of the Savior that day. For then will be no hope, can never be changed. When he says, depart from me, he cursed. It's forever. It's forever. It's forever. One final word, the commandment of the judgment day. God commandeth all men everywhere to repent. You should thank God that you're still in time. You should thank God that the great door of God's mercy has not closed. You should thank God that you're still in the body. and freed from death. You should thank God that now for you is the accepted time and now is the day of salvation. You should thank God for that. What is it to repent? I'll tell you what repentance is. Repentance is three things. Number one, to repent is to come to a full stop on the road to hell. The sinner is facing hell. He's going down the broad road every day, getting nearer to the everlasting burden. But suddenly God brings him to stop. It's a full stop on the road to hell. Isn't it about time you stopped on hell's road? You're far too near the pit already for safety. You better stop on hell's road. Repentance, secondly, is a right about turn on the road to hell. The man is facing hell and going down the pathway. He not only stops, but he turns around. Hell is now behind him and the path to heaven is before him. He's done a right about turn on the road to hell. And thirdly, repentance is quitting the road to hell altogether. Wide is the gate, broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many, many there are who go in the right. Straight is the gate, narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. If you don't find it, you'll go to hell. You say, preacher, I would repent if I could, but I have tried to repent and I cannot. Therein you speak honestly. You can't repent. I had a man came to me some time ago, and he said, I'd love to repent. I'd love to have done with my sins. I'd love to get the freedom that you talk about, Mr. Paisley, but I can't. I've prayed, I've made resolutions, I've said I'll leave the old paths, I'll leave the old sin. Before I know it, I'm tied up in it again and overthrown. I said, you're absolutely right. He says, what? I said, you're absolutely right. You can't repent. I said to him, you know what repentance is? It's God's gift. And I turned to Acts chapter 5, verse 31. Him, that is the Lord Jesus, hath God exalted with his right hand. to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." You can't forgive yourself. You can't repent enough of yourself. But God can give you, for the asking, the gift of repentance. And we knelt down and he says, Oh God, I tried to repent, but I cannot give me now what your son died to give me, repentance and forgiveness. With a clap, the work was done. And that man stood up and he says, I see it now. It's not what I have done. It's what Jesus has done. There's not any payment I could make. It's the payment He made. Jesus paid it all. You say to me, preacher, it seems very simple. It wasn't simple for Jesus Christ. It was not simple for Him. It meant that for all time, He would link Himself to a human body. Before His incarnation, He was the invisible God. No angel I had ever seen. The only eye that ever rested upon Him was the eye of the Father. But He forfeited forever to remain in this state of His Godhead without command. And He took into union with His Godhead, He became the God-man, the man Christ is. You know what he did it for? Because he loved you. And upon that body, God laid your sin, your filthy sin, your diabolical wickedness, your heinous, hellish sin, God laid it. He bared his breast for the sword of God to drive its spleen into it, to the head. He bared his back that the wrath of God, of the scourge of God should punish him and merciful upon that tree. He took the cup of hell and he drained it to its drag. He went out into the night and he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why did he cry that? Because he was in your hell and in my hell, separated from God in the flames of the blackness of darkness for you and for me. He cried, I thirst. Why? Because the flames of hell wrought a dryness in his tongue that no one could measure. Remember, he didn't endure one person's hell. He endured the hell of all who put their trust in him, all of the elect of God. It wasn't a million hells he endured. It was the hells of a great multitude which no man can number. For a death Oh, what love! Oh, what a sacrifice! Oh, what agony! Oh, what pain! Oh, what anguish that Jesus endured in order to save us! And today he says, come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Believe the gospel. Receive repentance and forgiveness of sins. For whosoever that takes you in shall call on the name of the Lord, that's it, shall be sealed. That's an eternal fact. May God save you from the great judgment day. Amen. Let's bow our hands. O God, our Father, this has been a solemn time. We thank thee, blessed Jesus, that time has not run out for sinners, that it's still a gospel opportunity night, and there's still power in the blood to cleanse men and grace in Christ to save them. Lord, may not an unconverted man or woman, boy or girl, go out of this house tonight. May not a backslider go out of this house tonight, but may everyone be made safe and be saved through the blood of the Lamb. As our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're perfectly still and quiet before God, you know how it is with your conscience. You know whether it is accusing you or excusing you in God's house today. You know whether you're saved and walking with God in the light of his word, or whether you're saved but you're backslidden, you're prayerless, Bible-less, careless, and sinful, you know. And you know if you've never come to Christ, never made a decision for the Savior, never embraced him, freely offered to you in the gospel, you know, if you're a lost soul and you've never been to the cross. Now tonight, I have told you from his word that there's pardon for you for the asking. You can get repentance tonight and you can get pardon tonight by simply calling on the name of the Lord. God, write thy heart. Write the blood of the Son upon men's hearts tonight. For if you see the blood, you'll pass over. O God, speak tonight. Speak with power. Let not men and women go away without Christ. Let them come and receive the sin for Jesus' sake. Amen. I'm going.