Alright, if you have your Bibles with you, please take them out, open them to the book of Hebrews. The sixth chapter. Hebrews chapter 6. Join me in standing out of reverence for the reading of God's word. Hebrews chapter 6, beginning at verse 1. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of the laying on of hands, of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permits. Let's pray. Father, I ask that you would give to us grace in this day, that you would grant to us wisdom Grant to us understanding. Help us approach your word with reverence, with obedience, and with hearts that are submissive to you. God, remind us that the truth of your word is that judgment awaits, and that none of us will escape it entirely. And we pray, God, that that would impact not only how we live, but how we die. Teach us to walk in truth. In Jesus' name, amen. Now, I know that it's a well-known fact that the Bible has only one verse about judgment. Judge not lest ye be judged. At least that's what the world thinks. Judgment is, however, woven throughout Scripture. It's an integral part of the faith, and the Scripture in the whole speaks over 500 times about judgment. 196 of those are in the New Testament. It's not something to be dismissed with a t-shirt or a church sign. It is both our responsibility and a coming appointment with Christ Jesus himself. And we need to rightly understand this complex and important issue. Now, the focus of the passage is eternal judgment, and we're going to focus most of our time on that. But it's important for us to understand that that's not an isolated thing. It's connected to how we live. It's connected to the way that we walk in this life. It's connected to the things that we do and the things that we say and the things that we are. And it's connected to our relationship with Christ, our hope for escaping the judgment, wrath anyway, is our relationship with Christ, and it is nothing else. It's not about our works, it's not about our labors, it's not about any of our actions. It is 100% about being known by Christ. Now, Scripture, when it speaks about judgment, has two basic distinctions. There are two main divisions. First is judgment in this life. And that judgment is temporal, meaning it's temporary, it's a passing thing, and it can be rectified. So if you're doing something, acting in a way that incurs the judgment of God in your life, and you repent of it and turn away from it, that judgment can be turned away from you. Scripture attests to this in many, many places about doing this and God's wrath can be turned, His anger with you can be turned away. However, the judgment in the next life is eternal. And it cannot in any way be rectified. So the moment that you stand in front of Christ for the day of judgment, it is too late. You cannot change what has been done. You cannot change what has not been done. You will have no do-overs. You will have no opportunity to get it right. It is the book has been closed. It has been sealed. It has been finished. God has written across the book of your life, done. Well done or it's done, hard to say, but done, right? So that means right away that millions upon millions upon millions of people who are expecting to either die and be born anew to get a chance to live another life and somehow get it better, or who are expecting to die and stand before God and be told, okay, you really messed it up, but if you go to this place of some temporary sort of punishment, after a while, I'll bring you out and you'll be okay. All of those hopes, according to Scripture, are based in nothing. There is no such thing as purgatory, and there is no such thing as reincarnation. The Scripture teaches us very plainly and very simply that it is appointed unto man but once to die, and after that, the judgment. And there are other places in Scripture where it tells us that after we have stood before the throne of judgment, God will tell us either enter into the joy of my Father or depart from me into the lake of fire. Those are the only two destinations which are open to you. And I mentioned in our Bible study yesterday morning that whether people recognize it or not, everybody is going to live forever. It's just a question of your address. Are you going to live someplace where it is good? Or are you going to live someplace where you are under the personal, specific wrath of God? for all of your sin, for all of eternity. Those are the only two options that are open. And those are the only two choices that are going to be open for your final dispensation. God will decide which of those two places you go. And he will decide it based on one fact and one fact only. And that fact is, are you washed cleansed, sanctified by the blood of Christ. In other words, are you found in the Lord Jesus among his children and a part of his bride? That's the only thing that is going to determine where you end up. But that doesn't change the fact that the temporal judgments of this life and the eternal judgment that you will face on the day when you stand before God are somehow connected. They are, in a very real sense, a continuum of God's working in your life. How we live in this life can incur temporal judgment. Or, God can choose to simply not issue temporal judgment and leave it until the end. That's his choice. And so sometimes we see wicked people doing wicked things and they are not being punished for the wickedness that they are engaged in. And the psalmist said, this distressed me. And if I could paraphrase Psalm 73, he said, God, I have a problem with the way that you run the world. I look and I see the wicked and I see them prospering. And I thought about all the bad things that they do. And I don't think you're behaving in a way that is fair. But then, He says, I considered their end. And in that moment, the tenor of the psalm changes. And in that moment, the way in which he considers them and considers the working of God in their lives, alters. And it should alter ours as well. Because so often when we're experiencing the temporal judgment of God, our response to it is somewhat infantile. We get angry. We get petulant. We get pouty. We get sulky. We get ugly. When really, as Brother Gene pointed out, we should be grateful for our flat tires or whatever else is going on. Right? We should look at whatever God brings into our lives as an insertion of grace designed to produce Christlikeness. And whether it's a big judgment or a small judgment, whether it's an inconvenience that causes that momentary flare of, ah, to come out of you, or whether it's something really huge that could really be a matter of life and death, God's purpose in doing it is exactly the same. It is to conform his children to the image of Christ. And if you're not his child and he's bringing these things into your life, it is the tool by which he is tapping on your forehead and saying, hello, anybody in there? Now we know that until he puts life in there, there is nobody in there, but it's still true. He uses all of these things to draw us to himself. He uses all of these things to correct us. He uses all of these things to shape and to mold, which means that the temporal judgments that you endure are directly connected to the eternal judgment that is waiting. I want you to understand the fullness of this because it is, I'm not saying for one minute that if you do well in the judgments here, say there's a person that just is a decent, mellow person, has a steady personality, and walks with an equanimity throughout all the days of their life, but doesn't know Jesus, how they endure those judgments isn't gonna do them any good. Okay? But God is using those judgments to perfect the character of his children. And He is using them with an eye towards the final judgment that we will all stand in front of Christ with. That make sense? In the end, all sin will be judged. Romans 6.23 tells us the wages of sin is death. Period. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Every single sin must be paid for. The only question that's really in play is, are you going to stand and attempt to pay for your own sin? Or is your sin going to be paid for in the blood of Christ? Because every person who says, you know what, God, we're going to sort this out when I get there. I think I mentioned this last week. Oh, you'll sort it. But you won't like how it's sorted. Because the only one doing the sorting is God, sorting the sheep from the goats, the chosen from the rejected. It's His will. And it's His purpose. And it's His work in our lives. And how we go through this particular existence is both a preparation for that and an indication of what's going on. But we need to be very mindful of the fact that nobody, and I mean nobody, gets away with anything ever. Okay? God always makes certain that in the end His righteousness is upheld and every sin is paid for. every single one. Now, what that means to us, as we watch the world going crazy, no longer slowly, around us every day, more and more, with greater insanity, just constantly ramping up, is that while we need to be concerned to advance the gospel, and concerned to advance the kingdom, and concerned to stand for righteousness, We do not need to lose our minds over the things that are going on, because every sin is going to be paid for. Look at Psalm chapter 7. Psalm chapter 7, the psalmist gives us a perspective that I think is important for us to keep in mind, both as a caution and as, in some sense, an encouragement. Psalm chapter 7, starting at verse 9, Let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just, for the righteous God tests the hearts and minds. My defense is of God, who saves the upright in heart. God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he does not turn back, he will sharpen his sword. He bends his bow and makes it ready. He also prepares for himself instruments of death, He makes his arrows into fiery shafts. Behold, the wicked bring forth iniquity. He conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood. He makes a pit and dug it out, and he has fallen into the ditch which he has made. His trouble shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own crown. I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the Most High. Here's why I feel like we all need to hear this. Because sometimes seeing the insanity in the world can lead us to respond in ways that might make others question our salvation. Or am I the only one? Beloved, we need to keep in mind that whatever it seems like anybody's getting away with, In the end, they won't. Now, understand this as well, lest we become exalted. You weren't getting away with it either. Okay? Because you were every bit as wicked as the wickedest of them. You maybe just didn't have opportunity to make it known. Or maybe you did. See, every single one of us thought we were going to get away with something. Every single one of us thought God doesn't see, God doesn't know. I dodged that one. Every single one of us thought that we were okay. But it wasn't until the grace of God intervened and interjected himself into us that we began to see the world differently. which means that our attitude towards them should not be one of joy that their destruction is coming. Our attitude towards them should be one of pity and a heart of mercy that says, you know, I want to tell you the truth of how you can avoid the things that are coming. Now there's a two-fold advantage to looking at it this way, and the first one is this. If God is pleased to save your enemy, they're not going to be your enemy anymore. They're not going to act the way that they're acting. They're not going to do the things that they're doing. They're not going to think the way that they're thinking, and they're not going to behave in the ways that make you crazy. If God were pleased right now to somehow, through his miraculous intervention, pour out his spirit on the swamp in Washington, D.C., and save every single evil person there, they would stop making the decisions that they've been making. Because their hearts would be changed and their minds would be changed and all the stupidity that we hear about how a man's religion shouldn't impact his politics would go away because that's just nonsense. Who you are should impact every part of your life. It should affect and guide and influence everything that you do. Which is why scripture tells us to pray for kings and those in authority. And it goes on to say, so that you might live peaceable lives. Which means if we're not living peaceable lives, have we been praying for them as we ought? Probably not. Have we been crying out to God to save them? Probably not. Because we have access to way too much information which gives us a right to simply scream and yell and rant and rave and holler about the stupidity that's going on around us. I'm not saying you shouldn't be informed. I am saying you should make scripturally informed judgments about the information that you receive. And it should change the way that you look at it. because judgment is coming. Nobody escapes it. Not you, not them. If we take this thought and apply it very locally to this body, it means that we have an obligation to exercise judgment in a scriptural fashion. The Church has a responsibility to judge. The Church has a responsibility to judge those within the Church. All who name the name of Christ must be subject to the judgment of the Church. And the judgment of the Church, properly executed, will unite us. You say, well, how come judgment is so often such a divisive thing? Because it's not the church judging, it's church members being judgy at the back door, and there's a difference, right? When the church unites in judgment, it unites us in how we think and how we act, and we present to the world and to the sin that we're dealing with a united front of righteousness, and we're unashamed about it. We are unapologetic for the fact that sometimes scripture tells us that a church member who is unrepentant in their sin must be removed from the body and treated like an unbeliever. And the church collectively looks at the situation and says, I understand what's going on, I understand we have gone to them, we have obeyed the scripture, we have spoken to them, we have done our best to draw them out of this, and they are not repenting, therefore we hand them over and let God deal with them with temporal judgment, hoping, praying, seeking for their restoration so that they will not be lost. But that means then that we have a responsibility to view the judgments of God, both temporal and eternal, as a real thing. Okay? We have a responsibility to view them in such a way that we recognize that God is always at work refining, correcting, and purifying his people, and that there awaits those who are wolves in sheep's clothing a final judgment that we really shouldn't want them to have to endure. Amen? We really shouldn't want anybody to go to hell, because that's the consequence of facing the judgment of God apart from the blood of Christ. And that should not make us happy. It should not make us filled with joy that, oh, they'll get their comeuppance when they stand in front of God. And I've heard Christians say things to that effect. Beloved, our hearts need to be transformed. We think about this issue in a biblical fashion. It will humble us and it will cause us to remember that when a brother is persistently walking in error, that our responsibility is to go to him to do our best to draw him back from the brink. That's our job as the body of Christ. We care about each other enough to be open and upfront in our dealings with one another to go to somebody in love and say, look, what you're doing is a problem. It needs to stop. Right? If they don't listen, then what? Well, then you take a brother or two with you and you go to them again. And you say, look, this is a problem. And if they still won't listen, you take it to the church and the church collectively says, look, this is a problem. And if they still won't listen, the scripture tells us at that point, you treat them as an unbeliever. But it's important that we understand how we treat unbelievers, isn't it? How do we view unbelievers? We pray for them and we view them as people who need the gospel of Christ. It doesn't mean that we shun them. Oh, I saw them in the grocery store, so I hid. No. You go to them and you preach the gospel in the grocery store. If somebody's going to do the hiding, let it be them. Amen? You speak the truth. You tell them you're praying for them and that you still love them and that you want to see them restored. Beloved, God can break down such walls if the church gets this right. He can break down such barriers if we just walk in grace and truth instead of making sure that everybody knows everything that you know about what that person did and how terrible it was so that everybody can collectively hate them together. In case you missed the memo, that would be cause for removal from the body if you didn't stop it. Okay? This is not a minor issue. This is not something that the church can take a pass on. This is something that the church needs to be collectively unified in our approach. Look at me at 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, starting at verse 6. And I want you to hear how Paul addresses this issue with the church at Corinth. We'll deal with the question of suing the brothers. But he says, "...dare any of you," beginning at verse 1, "...dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world, and that the world will be judged by you? And are you unworthy then to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, then, the things that pertain to this life? If you, then, have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brothers? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers. Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brothers. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, dear brothers. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, and you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." Notice what Paul did. He pointed out the sin that was going on, and he reminded them across the board that you guys were guilty of the same sorts of things. You have a duty to exercise judgment within the body. You cannot just take it to court. You cannot just go about your way. You cannot ignore it. You must deal with it, but you must deal with it in a way that is biblical, in a way that is faithful to the instruction of Scripture. Now, I want you to back up with me to 1 Corinthians 1. In verse 10, we're just going to read the one verse. I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly together, perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." So, what does this tell us? If the church gets this right, it is something that unites us rather than divides us. Okay? It's going to draw the true church closer together. It's going to unite those who actually belong to God in a single purpose and in a single determination and all of it rooted and based in the Word of God from which we draw our authority and we take our cue and we look at it, we can read the same Bible and we can see the same thing and we say, you know what? This isn't just some crazy pastor's opinion. This isn't just the fact that so-and-so got mad because they didn't get honored the way they thought they should. This has nothing to do with this person not liking that person. This has to do with the Word of God giving us clear instruction, and together we are united in that purpose. And when we are, then the judgment that the Church exercises becomes a very sharp and a very precise tool in the hand of God to discipline, refine, and ultimately restore an erring brother. But if we get this wrong, our action makes it worse. Okay? I'm going to remind you one more time before we go on, that all of this happens not in a vacuum, but under the shadow of the impending eternal judgment. Because it is appointed unto man but once to die, and after that, the judgment. But here's the part that we need to pay attention to. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Now, this specific instruction is about the Lord's Supper, but there's something in the middle of it I want to really draw your attention to. So 1 Corinthians chapter 11, starting at verse 27. Therefore, whoever drinks this bread or drinks, eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep." Now what Paul has just told them is that because they didn't exercise good judgment in dealing with this issue, God has exercised judgment and some of them are dead. When it says some sleep, he's talking about dying because they didn't do this right. Okay? Verse 31, Now that's the verse I really want to just draw your attention to. If we get this right, and actually exercise proper judgment and judge ourselves both collectively, corporately, and individually, because there is a double-sided edge here, right? On one hand, a man is supposed to examine himself and judge himself honestly about the things that are going on. And if we would do that, if we would examine ourselves, repent for our sin, turn back to God, ask for mercy, then we will avoid the temporal judgments that are coming. At least the ones coming for that specific sin. I'm not saying you can have a life without judgment, because you're never going to get this completely right. But when God points it out to you, He gives you an escape clause every single time. Okay? Him pointing it out to you is your escape clause. You know what you do to get out? Repent! It's really that simple. turn from your sin, and you will find that the judgment that was steamrolling down the hill towards you suddenly gets averted. Because if we will judge ourselves, we would not be judged. And if a church will exercise good judgment, then that church will enjoy the blessing of God and not find itself vanishing. Amen. That church will be strong even though it might be small. It will be united. It will be a blessing. It will be a testimony of grace. It will be something beautiful. But it begins with us being earnest about judgment and keeping in mind that underneath and around it and over it and surrounding it completely is the impending reality of eternal judgment. Because you can take what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11 31 and you can turn it on its ear and it's still true. If we would judge ourselves we would not be judged. Therefore if we do not judge ourselves We will be. Amen? Because God will judge. Nobody escapes. 2 Corinthians 5, 10. Turn there if you would, please. 2 Corinthians 5, 10. It says this. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But we are well known to God, and I trust we are well known in your consciences. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. You say, but I'm a Christian. I'm not supposed to have to be judged. Well, you got an issue with Paul, not necessarily with me. So let's shed a little light on this. You're going to stand and you're going to give an account and receive the reward for your life. In the process of that accounting, Exactly what Christ has paid for will be made manifest. There's a couple of reasons for this. First of all, it will make Him more beautiful in our sight to see exactly what He's done on our behalf. And yes, I expect there will be tears. Revelation says He will wipe away every tear from their eye, but that's a little bit in the book, right? You've got to wonder, why are we crying? I think it's connected to 2 Corinthians 5.10. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things done in the body, whether good or bad. And we're going to stand and we're going to have a conversation that will likely be, at least for a little bit, extremely uncomfortable. But if we belong to Christ, the judgment is going to be pronounced like this, paid in full. The judgment still has to be pronounced. You don't get away from that reality. But the judgment is that you are forgiven. That it has been paid in full by the death of Christ. And all of your transgressions have been nailed to the cross and taken out of the way. All of your sin, all of your rebellion, all of your weakness, all of your failure has been removed by the death of Jesus Christ, having stood as a substitute for you. Now, Paul's statement, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men, gives us the picture that he had a pretty good balance on this question. Because he understood the terror of the Lord that was waiting for them, but he also had a healthy fear of the Lord for himself. And he understood the responsibility that was his as a man of God. Because in the end, what we need to remember is this, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is our confirmation that God has accepted payment on our behalf. But it is also a confirmation of the judgment which is coming. Look with me at Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9 says this in verse 27. I want you to see it. As it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. Right? So what do we see? We see that the judgment is directly connected to the work and finished work of Jesus Christ. He died to bear our sins. and the judgment that awaits is specifically, completely connected to His work. Are you covered in it or are you not covered in it? Are you found in Christ or are you apart from Christ? Are you His or are you not? Now, let me ask you this question. How is it that Christ's blood is applied to your sin? if you never talk about it? On what grounds do we have the judgment of God for the sins that you're guilty of if they're never brought up in any capacity? You see, they will be discussed and Christ will pronounce, these are covered. These are atoned for. This one is mine. And those are the words that give us hope. You see, the truth that has been given to us is that God himself has made us his own. Look, I don't want any part of that. I don't want there to be even one scrap of the work that makes me God's to depend on me. I am very well aware of my infinite capacity to mess things up. I am very well aware of my seemingly endless capacity to do the wrong thing when I should do the right thing. I am very well aware of the fact that in me no good thing dwells. Which means that if I have any lasting hope of salvation, It had better all be of God from start to finish. It had better be God who chose me, God who sanctifies me, God who holds on to me and doesn't let me run away. God who makes certain that I am His from the time that He began the world's work. Scripture tells us in Ephesians 1 that we were chosen in Christ before the foundations of the world. So before God ever did anything else, He'd already picked the ones He was going to save. So it's His work then, and it's His work when I encountered Him and was saved, and it's His work when I'm going to stand before Him and have my list of sins laid out before Him so Jesus can stand up and say, it's okay. I paid for them all. He's mine. And you know what? Even if instead of hearing, well done, I hear, well, that's done. I'm okay with that because I'm His. Amen? I'm His. And that's the only thing that matters. Because the judgment might be uncomfortable, but I know there's something at the other end of it that is my hope and is my surety. Look, I carry in my own mind and heart a record of my transgressions. I know what I am. I know from what God has saved me and I know what I have done since then. But those things, rather than destroying me, cause me to lean on Him all the more because they give me such a love for His grace and such a passion for His glory because He has saved me. I can't imagine wanting to have any part of that glory. I can't imagine being so filled with my own ego that all I want is to make sure that I can stand at the Day of Judgment and go, look what a good job I did. No. Because I didn't. And I would be a liar of biblical proportions if I thought for a minute that I had. He's done this work. He has redeemed me. He has made me His own. He has changed me and He is still in the process of changing me. By His grace and for His glory through temporal judgments that seem to come all the time. By the reality that every single day I get up and I'm reminded how greatly I can mess things up. By the fact that I still don't have a solid hold on the temper that I used to be so proud of. that I still have to fight, that I still have to do my best to walk in grace and extend grace to other people. I'm reminded constantly of my need for a sovereign God and a majestic, glorious, omnipotent Savior. And I'm reminded of that, at least in part, by knowing from what I have been saved by knowing the record of my wrongs, by being aware of it, and by understanding that there is a tension between this. I don't have to just go, you know what, these things are gone forever, I'm never going to talk about them, because it's out of that filth that the glory of God is made more beautiful. And if the Day of Judgment is about the exaltation of Christ over all things, and if we read Philippians 2 aright, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord over all forever. Amen? That means that His glory is being manifested at the Day of Judgment. Well, riddle me this. Batman, if you're out there. Riddle me this. How much glory will he get by a bunch of clean-slated people having no mention of their sin and just, oh, he saved these wonderfully, perfectly clean people because there's no record of their wrong. It's gone forever. We don't have anything to talk about. Does he receive glory from that? Well, he was willing to save somebody, so I guess there's a little glory. But I want Jesus to receive maximum glory, which means, unfortunately for me, that all of my sin will be laid out before not only him, but maybe others. That's a little frightening. But certainly before him. And we'll have that conversation that will be uncomfortable, but holds in it the promise of final glorification and a welcoming into his kingdom, cleansed from all of it. with a greater love for Him because of what He has saved me from than I ever would have if my mind were wiped clean. Amen? Hard. Potentially painful. But at the same time, so beautiful, it is inexpressible. Because it's not just my filth that he died for. It's yours. It's every single believer who has ever been, or who ever will be. And all of that, by the grace and the glory and the majesty of God, translated into glory for Jesus. is an incredibly beautiful thing. So what do you do with this? Well, first of all, this should ignite our passion to proclaim the gospel. 2 Timothy chapter 4. I want you to see the way that Paul applies this to the ministry. and understand that we're all called to minister in some capacity. 2 Timothy chapter 4, Paul writes this, I charge you, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, so there's that judgment again, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure affliction, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Paul says, look, let judgment inform your message. Let judgment inform your proclamation of the gospel, because judgment is coming. Now this is hard to get our head around sometimes, because we tend to lose sight of the fact that God is completely righteous, 100% holy, and always does what is right. We tend to let our own egos get the best of us, and we tend sometimes to look at what God has done and say, God, what are you doing? Eventually, Job, throughout his difficulties, got to the place where, at the beginning, he did not sin with his lips, the scripture tells us plainly. Job said, blessed is the name of the Lord, the Lord gave, the Lord took away. Praise be his name. And the scripture says, in all this, Job did not sin. Didn't sin with his lips, didn't say anything wrong. In other words, the Bible gave its affirmation that that statement was truth. But by the time we get to the end of the book of Job, God says to Job, who is this who darkens my counsel without wisdom? In other words, Job, you've gone off the deep end, buddy. You started off getting it right and now you have blamed me for things that you do not understand why I do what I do and think that you have the right and the power and the wisdom to stand in judgment over what I do. So let's ask some questions here, old man. I'm going to question you and you're going to answer me. And he starts off with, where were you? And he goes on for about four chapters, and after the first round, Job says, I repent in dust and ashes, I cover my mouth, I'm sorry I said anything, and God says, oh no, we're not done yet, I'm still going. And the heart of the entire book of Job, and honestly, the heart of the whole scripture is unpacked for us in those four chapters of Job. And here's it is. God says to him and to us, I'm God and you are not. You deal with it. Trust me and trust my judgments and remember that whatever I do is right. That needs to inform us as we deal with the question of eternal judgment. We can trust that God will do what is right, regardless of what it looks like to us. So when that little voice rises up in you and we say, I think God got this wrong, we need to recognize that as sin and immediately repent. God, you've done what is right. Abraham challenged God with that question when he was discussing Sodom and Gomorrah. Will not the judge of all the earth do what's right? God didn't smite him for it. In fact, God engaged in the discussion. Yeah, I'll do what's right. What are you asking me, Abram? Was it changing God's mind? No. Was it helping Abraham understand? Yes. Was it teaching us? Because if you think about it, pleading for the mercy for an entire city, if only ten righteous people could be found, is a remarkable thing, right? And I've often said, just quippingly, that Abraham stopped too soon. That if he'd come down to say, what if there was only one? That God probably would have said, sure, I'll save it for one. But just stop where he stopped, because something dawned on Abraham in the course of that conversation. Surely there's 10. Right? Surely there's got to be 10. I think I'm safe here. But what does the scripture show us after what happened? There weren't. There weren't 10. And God did what was right. And Abraham had to come to grips with the fact that he just didn't know everything he thought he knew. Amen? And sometimes when we look at the world around us, we tend to think that God's a little bit too harsh, that things are not really as bad as some people say they are, that things are not really as chaotic as some people say they are. This is all just smoke and mirrors, and it's okay. But in the end, remember that God knows everything that can be known, and the judge of all the earth will do what is right, always. So that should inform our thinking and it should inform our action. It should enlighten us or inspire us to make certain that we are articulating the gospel, but it should also cause us to make certain of our own soul. Amen. There's a tendency that runs in Baptist churches for sure, wherein somebody will say, you walked the aisle, you said the prayer, you made the confession, we signed the paper, don't ever question it. And that counsel sends, I have no idea how many people straight to hell. Because the scripture says something completely different. The scripture says, examine your soul to see whether you are in the faith. So as you think about judgment, it should cause you to examine your own soul. And if you look at your soul and you say, you know what, I'm still a ruined sinner, but I belong to Christ and I know it because I have the Spirit of God dwelling in me. I love Him. I love His Word. I love His people. I love the things of God. Everything about Him just ignites in me a passion and I know that I'm His. Then you're encouraged. But if you examine your soul and you think to yourself, will that fool ever shut up? Well, I am a fool and maybe I sometimes do go on too long, but maybe, just maybe, it has something to communicate to you about the condition of your soul and its response to the truth. So examine your soul. When you think about eternal judgment, check yourself. Make sure that you're in the faith. Make sure that Christ's imprint is on your life. And then be faithful to live out the faith so that you are not a stumbling block to somebody else because you can't control yourself. Amen? Because there's a lot of people that are genuinely saved that I really wish would just So check yourself in that capacity as well. Make sure that you understand that you are called to be a witness and a testimony to the people around you. And then be careful of one another as the body of Christ. In other words, be mindful of the fact that when a brother's gone off the rails, there are signs. Okay? And we need one another to look out for each other because the signs are not always obvious to us. The signs are not always going to be plainly evident to the person who's in trouble. But they will be evident to the people who are around them if their eyes are open and they're awake and aware. They will be evident to the body, which is one of the reasons why we need the body. Be mindful of each other. Be careful of each other. Look at James chapter 5. James ends his book with this counsel. James chapter 5 and verses 19 and 20. He says this, Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. God says to us, look, I've given you one another. I've given you the body because judgment is coming and you need the body to make sure that you are walking in grace and truth all the days of your life. Because when you fall off the path and you start to walk in ways that are not wise, you may not see the signs, but the people around you who love you will. So he gives to them the responsibility to draw you back away from the edge. This means that you have a responsibility to inject your care and love and guidance into somebody else's life. Now, I'm going to say this again. I'm going to say it very specifically. If you see somebody in error, you have a responsibility to inject yourself into their life to try and draw them back. You do not have the responsibility or the right to get together with somebody else and badmouth what they're doing. Okay? Is that plain? I don't care who it is. I don't care whether it's your wife, or your mother, or your daughter, or your brother, or your cousin, or their sister, you go talk to them first. If you have to talk to anybody, you simply give them as little detail as you can and you ask them, pray for me, I've got to go do this. Okay? Because we need to be mindful of each other, and we need to be mindful of the fact that God has called us to be accountable for each other and to each other. One final piece I just want to touch again before we're done. The reality of the impending judgment of God, its looming truth in the horizon of human history. should make us all the more vocal and all the more passionate about our declaration of the gospel. Because the world is perishing. And that means that there are lives and hearts that are not giving glory to Jesus. And he deserves it. He deserves the fullness of the glory that can be achieved. Go to them with the gospel. Proclaim the truth of who Christ is and what He's done, that they might love Him as well. Father, we ask that you give to us grace in this moment and that you would teach us what it looks like to walk in the reality of the impending judgment. That our lives would be shaped according to it. That our minds would be formed and that our hearts would be changed. And God, even though it's scary for us to consider, it's also incredibly encouraging that at the end of that proclamation is the statement. God, let that be true for every single person within the sound of my voice. Let that be true in every heart, in this community that you've given us to work in. Let that be true in whatever field you plant us. And we ask it in Jesus' name, that he might receive the fullness of the glory that's his own.