Welcome to another edition of the Morning Devotional. My name is Pastor William Hill, the pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church located in Evansville, Indiana. Today is Monday, October 16th, 2023. This is edition number 178 of season eight. As we continue looking at the Westminster Confession of Faith, we begin the final chapter, chapter 33 of the Last Judgment. Today we'll take up paragraph number one. Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven, as we come to your word once again to sit at your feet and to hear from your spirit as he teaches and guides us, we pray that you would open our eyes and our ears to the truth of your word, that you would help us and that you would forgive us for the many ways in which we fall short of your glory. May you be gracious to us now as we consider these very sobering matters. And may you help us as we look for the coming of our Lord and we wait for that great day in which the wicked will be judged and receive unto themselves the due consequences of their sin and the redeemed of the Lord will enter into your presence there always glorying and praising you for your infinite grace given to sinful people. These things we pray for Christ's sake, amen. Well, chapter 33 is the final chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith. There's three paragraphs in this chapter. Today, we're going to consider paragraph number one. Just to give you a brief update as to where we are headed, I will complete a study of the Westminster Confession of Faith season eight on Thursday, October 19th, with a conclusion in which I will just briefly go through each chapter, summarizing each chapter applying various things as we go. Then I will take an extended break from October 20th through up to December 6th when I will begin season nine in a study of the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. Today we're in paragraph number one of chapter 33. 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 angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon 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." Well, let's first begin by looking at Paul's words in Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17, and we find there in verse 31, really jumping into a rather lengthy context. Maybe I should just back up to verse 29. Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imaginations of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a 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." And so we note right away in this first paragraph that God has indeed appointed a day when he will judge the world in righteousness. And by that man that's mentioned here by the Apostle Paul, by that man, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who he has given into his hands all authority, all power, and the duty and right to judge the living and the dead. We note that he's appointed a day. That means that day is fixed. That means that there is a day coming in which the end will arrive. Those that are still alive when that occurs will enter into the tribunal of Christ. Those who have died will be reunited to their bodies, their souls and their bodies reunited and they will 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. This day is fixed. No human being knows what that day is. and it is not changeable. God has decreed it from eternity past upon which day this will be and the day in which we will enter into this particular time in which he will judge the world by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he has given the Savior all power and judgment and that was given by the Father himself. John chapter 5 verses 22 and 27. John chapter 5 verse 22, the father judges no one but has given all judgment to the son. And then in verse 27 we also read there, and he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man. And so the Savior came in his first advent as a suffering servant, but he will come as a judge of all the earth upon his return." In this judgment, the opening paragraph of this chapter mentions both the apostate angels as well as all mankind. The apostate angels are mentioned in various places in Scripture, but perhaps the most common or well-known mention of it is in Jude 6. When I say Jude 6, I mean Jude 6. There are no chapters in Jude. or if you prefer, there's one chapter in Jude. But anyway, Jude, verse six, there we read, and the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal change under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. It is true, of course, that there was a number of angels. We don't know how many of the angels fell in heaven. They are created beings and they rebelled against the God of heaven. and they became apostates with no possibility of redemption. But also, people that have lived upon the earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds." Now this expression, thoughts, words, and deeds, is also repeated in the Shorter Catechism in that we sin daily and thought, word, and deed. And it's important as Christians that we are daily living lives of repentance, that we might retain and maintain that fellowship that we have with God. But man will give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds, and receive, according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil. 2 Corinthians 5, again, a verse that I suspect most of you know, but 2 Corinthians 5, and in verse number 10, For 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. And so what we learn from this first paragraph is that God has indeed appointed a day. It cannot be avoided, and there's no possibility of escape. Every man and the apostate angels will in fact stand before the just judge of heaven and earth to give an account of the deeds that they've done, thought, words, and deeds that they have done in their lives, they have done in the body. It is a sobering reality that the just judge of heaven and earth will indeed judge us. If we are found outside of Christ, we have no possibility, no hope whatsoever. If we're found in Christ, then we are then ushered into the comfortable presence of God. But it's sobering in the reality that we will be judged by one who knows all things. The infinite God who is infinitely wise, omniscient in every respect. There will be no need to present evidence. There will be no jury. that it will simply be the just judge of heaven and earth who will judge all of mankind for the things that they have indeed done. This is why it is so vitally important, friends, that we are found in Christ, that we, though guilty, are declared not guilty only for the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, though our thoughts, words, and deeds, even as redeemed people, will fall short of God's glory, we as the redeemed of the Lord will be ushered into the comfortable presence of the Lord. But if you are outside of Christ on that great day, the tribunal of Christ, you will have to demonstrate to him that you have lived a perfect life. That will be impossible for you to do, for you have not done that in thought, word, or deed any moment of your life. And so it's vitally important that if you do not know this Savior today, that you acknowledge the fact that you are a sinner. That if you were to stand before the just judge of heaven and earth on your own, you will be destroyed. You will not be ushered into the comfortable presence of the Lord, but you will be cast into hell for all of eternity. And so I appeal to you as I appeal to you in the Friday edition. You must look to Christ. You must lay your hope and faith in Him only. There is no other hope. There is no other means by which you will escape the tribunal of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a certain fact as appointed by God. It will come and you will stand before Him naked and exposed and you will have nothing to offer. And so I appeal to your conscience. I appeal to your heart, to your mind. that you look to Christ alone for salvation before this day comes. It could be today. It may not be, but it very well could be. And so make, as it were, make things right with the God of heaven now by simply placing your hope and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He will forgive and He will indeed save and spare you from the searing, all-searching eye of a God who cannot be conned, a God who cannot be lied to, a God who knows all things. Well, I trust these times are helpful for you. I hope they are. If you have any comments or questions, you can leave me a note. The way to reach me is there before you on the screen. And so until the Tuesday edition, when we consider paragraph number two, may the Lord help you today. May you strive through all the means that he has given you to walk according to his ways. God bless.