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 For many Christians, the whole idea of God's judgment is something that is uncomfortable,

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 something that's embarrassing when people bring it up, and something that most Christians I know

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 altogether avoid if they can help it. Over the years, as I've talked to people who are not

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 Christians, this is one of the things they point to when they say, that's why I would never consider

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 such a faith. The idea that there is a God out there who's going to judge everybody. That's not

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 what the world needs. And it sounds to most people, when we talk about this, so judgmental to talk about

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 a God of judgment. Now, what's interesting about that is that if you look at the Bible and all of

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 the references to God's coming judgment, the vast majority of these references are positive.

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 In other words, God's people all throughout history in Scripture are shown as longing for God

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 to bring judgment, praying for God to bring judgment. It's something that they yearn for when they look

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 at the brokenness of the world. The judgment of God is what causes people to shout for joy. It causes

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 the trees of the field to clap their hands. In short, in the Bible, we see that God's judgment

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 is good news for the world. So, obviously, there's some misunderstanding here. Either the Bible has

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 misunderstood judgment or we have misunderstood judgment. And so, we're going to look more closely

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 at God's judgment by looking at this passage in Revelation. This is the vision or series of visions

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 that God gives the Apostle John. And we're here in our study of Revelation at chapter 20, verses 11

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 through 15. This is God's vision of the final judgment. And we're going to see three reasons

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 why God's judgment is good news for the world. So, let's pray and then we'll open the word together.

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 Lord, we thank you for your word. And we thank you that there are parts of the word that are

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 immediately comforting and immediately inspiring. There are places in your word that give us

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 a vision of how to live life. But we also thank you that there are parts of your word that are

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 challenging to us, maybe even offensive to us. One of the things that shows us is that this isn't

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 entirely written by us for us, but that it's written by you for us. And there are things that you know

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 we need, Lord, even if we do not. And so, we pray that we might sit under your word and that through

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 it we might actually encounter your living word, Jesus Christ, because we know that he is the one

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 we most need. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen. So, God's judgment is good news for the world.

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 Why? Why would this be something that Christians long for and celebrate throughout history? Well,

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 the first reason that we see in Revelation 20 is that God's judgment shows us that our actions matter.

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 It shows us that our actions have meaning. There was an article in the New York Times a few years ago,

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 I don't know if anybody saw it, but it was from a philosophy professor. And he, to his great dismay,

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 discovered that his son's second grade class was teaching that there was no such thing as moral truth.

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 So, any moral valuation, saying that it's right to be honest, saying it's wrong to murder an innocent

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 person, anything that has language like right or wrong, good or evil is considered opinion. No such

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 thing as moral fact, no such thing as moral truth. And the philosophy professor says, you know, most of the

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 professional philosophers that I know would not fully agree with this, and yet this is a part of the common core

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 curriculum that's taught in the majority of schools throughout our country. There's no such thing as moral truth.

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 And I think many people at a popular level would agree with this sentiment. I think most people love the idea of

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 morality as a kind of personal preference, you know, kind of like wine tasting. Some people prefer this kind of

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 morality, some people prefer that kind of morality, but it's all within the realm of personal opinion. And I think most of the

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 time when people say that, it's because they're thinking of their own life. And they're thinking of their own choices. And

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 they, frankly, don't want anyone else to feel like they have the right to tell them what they can or cannot do. And you know,

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 this is understandable. Nobody likes to be told what to do by somebody else. But I think when we think that way, we're

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 thinking on a personal level. Now, think about society as a whole. And think about the implications of this for

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 society as a whole. Because if we say that morality is entirely a matter of opinion and personal preference,

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 and if there's no ultimate right and wrong, what that means about our actions is they're essentially

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 meaningless. Right? They're meaningless. I mean, you may think it's right to do this,

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 I may think it's wrong, but there's no real meaning involved. It's all just opinions. And so if we say

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 that, then when it comes to society, we have to say that each society has to decide for itself

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 right and wrong. So you say, okay, we have cultures and societies all around the world. Let's just let

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 every society decide what is going to be right and wrong for that society. That should make everything

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 work fine. I say, fair enough. But what about an issue like slavery? Right? If we say that there's no

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 moral truth, then we cannot say that slavery is categorically wrong. What we have to do is we have

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 to say, okay, well, we leave it up to the societies of the world, the cultures of the world, to decide

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 for themselves whether or not slavery is okay. Is it right or is it wrong? Is it legal or is it illegal?

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 And in fact, what you see is that many societies around the world throughout history have decided

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 that slavery is totally fine. And the reason is pretty practical. It's because slaves make for

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 very cheap labor. And so slavery is very beneficial to any nation that wants to build wealth and power.

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 The means of production with slavery is hard to argue with from an economic standpoint, right?

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 So this was the chief argument in support of slavery in Britain. The pro-slavery people were saying,

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 if you abolish slavery, the British economy is going to collapse. And so the question is,

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 how do you argue against something like that? How do you mount an argument for something that's

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 actually bad for your nation? There's only one way. William Wilberforce was a Christian and he was

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 one of the leading abolitionists against the slave trade in Great Britain. And here's what he says at

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 the end of his argument. He presents this argument at the British House of Commons and he lays out some

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 reasons why slavery or, you know, abolishing slavery may be good at a political level. But then here's

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 what he says at the end. Policy, however, is not my principle and I'm not ashamed to say it. There is a

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 principle above everything that is political. And when I reflect on this, believing the authority to be

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 divine, how can I dare to set up any reasonings of my own against it? When we think of eternity and of the

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 future consequences of all human conduct, what is there in this life that should make any man

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 contradict the dictates of his conscience, the principles of justice, the laws of religion,

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 and of God? You see what he's saying there? The reason that we should abolish slavery is not simply

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 because it's good policy. It's because there's a standard of right and wrong. There's a standard of

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 good and evil that sits above every human standard. It sits above human opinion. It sits above politics.

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 And by that standard, slavery is a violation. Slavery runs against the grain of the created order.

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 And of course, when he talks about the future consequences of all human conduct, he's talking

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 about God's final judgment, which we read about in Revelation 20. Right in Revelation 20, John sees

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 books that are all of the things that are all of our thoughts, all of our feelings, all of our

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 choices. It's all there. It's all written down. It's all accounted for. And what this shows us is that

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 all of our actions are recorded and will be judged. And God will evaluate them based on his standard of

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 good and evil, which is what the Bible calls righteousness. And you know, this may be a hard pill to

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 swallow. When I think about my own life, that I can't just do what I want. Right? That one day I will be

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 held accountable for everything that I ever thought, felt, said, or did. That's a hard pill to swallow.

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 But it also means that no government can create totalitarian laws. It means that Christians have

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 a foundation from which to challenge totalitarian governments on the right and on the left, as they

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 have done throughout history. It means that there is a law that sits above human law. It means, as

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 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. beautifully articulated in his letter from a Birmingham jail,

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 it means there's such a thing as an unjust law that doesn't accord with God's law. And in those cases,

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 when we encounter such laws, we have only one option, and that is civil disobedience.

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 It may be a hard pill to swallow at a personal level, but what it shows us is that when it comes

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 to something like slavery, we can point to it and say, that is categorically wrong. And that's not just

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 my opinion. That's a fact. The good news of God's judgment is that our actions matter, and there is such a

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 thing that God's judgment that God loves this world. And that's good for the world. The second reason why

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 God's judgment is good news is that it means God loves this world, that God loves this world. He loves

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 every human being that He has made. You know, years ago, I was in Rwanda in a place called Niamata,

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 and I was standing in kind of a cool, dark room, and the room was filled with metal shelves, and the

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 shelves were stacked with human bones. Bones of men, bones of women, bones of small children. You could

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 tell by the size of the skulls. Some were very small children, even babies. The Hutus and the Tutsis had

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 lived together for years and years and years in Rwanda in perfect peace, next to each other, working

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 together, going to school together, living in the same villages side by side. But in 1994, the radical

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 Hutus suddenly turned on the Tutsis, and so men and women and children were slaughtered with guns and

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 machetes. They were herded into schools and churches for mass executions. In some cases, even pastors and

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 priests took part in the killing. It was like the whole country had gone mad. Roughly a million people

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 were killed in about a hundred days. So if you dislike the idea of a God of wrath, if you prefer the idea

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 of a God who's simply willing to overlook all the bad stuff, I don't think you've ever been to Niamata.

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 A God who could watch something like the Rwandan genocide or the Jewish Holocaust and then just

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 sweep it under the rug, that's a sociopath. Not worth our time, certainly not worth our worship.

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 What we need to understand is that God's wrath is the flip side of God's love. Imagine creating your

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 greatest work of art, your magnum opus, and then imagine pouring yourself into that art as God did

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 with human beings. Anyone who defaces God's masterpiece, which you are, anyone who defaces God's magnum opus

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 comes under God's wrath. That's because God loves his creation. So even when we're the ones defacing

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 ourselves, God is right to be angry because that's what love does when something like that happens.

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 It grows wrathful. Right? So when the genocide broke out in Rwanda, despite their pleas for international

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 aid, countries around the world, including the U.S., simply looked the other way. It was too much.

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 We had other more pressing issues. So people turned away. But the good news of God's judgment is that God

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 does not simply look away. Because he loves this world, because he loves every single human being in it,

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 God does not look away from such evil. He responds. That's the good news of God's judgment.

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 Right? So God's judgment shows us that our actions matter. It shows us that God loves this world,

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 that wrath is the flip side of love. But the third reason that God's judgment is such good news is that

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 it means true justice will be done. True justice will be done. Jeffrey Epstein, some of you are

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 familiar with the story, was a millionaire who was recently arrested for allegations of trafficking,

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 abusing, and raping young girls. And he was arrested and he was in jail awaiting trial and he committed

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 suicide in a New York jail before he could go to trial. And his suicide, as many of you know,

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 has sparked waves of outrage. Because now that he's dead, people say justice cannot be done. He's

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 escaped. Justice. Jenna Lisa Jones is one of the women he allegedly victimized when she was just 14 years

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 old. And listen to what she said in an interview. She says,

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 I'm extremely mad and hurt, thinking he once again thought he was above us. And he took the easy

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 way out. He's escaped judgment. But then listen to what she says. But God will have his judgment now.

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 God will have his judgment now. Now, I don't know what her religious background is,

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 but I can tell you that this sentiment is extremely common among victims of violence and abuse. Years

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 ago, when I worked with and counseled victims of childhood abuse, every now and then I would meet

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 with a person with a religious background. But this was in Boston. A lot of people there had left

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 religion behind. But when you talk to victims of such violence and abuse, the most comforting idea

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 is the idea of some ultimate judgment. Right? Because even if the person was caught and arrested

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 and tried and sentenced, there's still a sense in which that can't make up for the damage that was

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 done. That it approximates justice. But it can't ultimately, ultimately bring a sense that justice has

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 truly been done. Right? The only comfort for victims like Jenna Lisa or any of the other people who've

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 experienced such horrible things is that God might someday judge those people who escaped justice

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 in this life. Because frankly, we live in a world where if you're rich enough or powerful enough,

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 you can escape justice. You can bribe somebody or pay somebody off or hire a bunch of amazing lawyers.

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 You can flee the country. If all else fails, you can take your own life.

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 But Revelation chapter 20, verses 11 and 12 says,

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 From the presence of God's throne, earth and sky fled away.

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 Right? So in our world, you can flee from justice.

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 But you cannot flee from God's justice.

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 The throne room encompasses all of creation.

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 There's no place you can go to escape the throne room.

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 All the world becomes the great throne room.

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 And then it goes on to say,

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 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne.

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 As I said before, in our world, if you're great,

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 if you're rich and powerful and have influence,

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 you can escape justice.

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 If all else fails, you can take your own life.

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 But when God brings judgment, the great and the small stand equally before the throne.

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 And God is even able to raise the dead for judgment.

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 And this is good news.

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 Because frankly, and I don't think I have to convince you of this,

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 the human capacity for evil goes far beyond the human capacity to exact justice.

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 Right?

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 We'll never catch up.

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 This was the problem in Rwanda.

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 What do you do in the aftermath of the genocide

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 when a certain amount of peace has been established

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 and people are calling for justice,

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 and you look around,

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 and the majority of the surviving population are perpetrators?

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 You literally cannot imprison all of those people.

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 And if you kill all of those people,

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 if you execute them,

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 you won't have anybody left.

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 So what do you do?

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 Right?

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 The human capacity for evil far, far outpaces

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 our capacity to bring any kind of justice.

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 The good news is,

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 as the bones of Nehemiah cry out for justice,

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 as victims of violence and oppression cry out for justice,

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 God will answer.

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 God will answer.

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 And one day this says,

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 even death itself will be judged and cast into the lake of fire,

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 and evil and suffering will be no more.

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 Now that is where you can put your hope.

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 That is a hope that will not let you down.

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 That is a hope that will lift you up even in the darkest of times.

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 So for all of these reasons,

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 God's judgment is good news for the world.

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 But of course there is one remaining problem.

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 God's judgment is good news for the world,

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 but is it good news for us?

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 Right?

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 Me as an individual.

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 Because on the one hand,

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 we said that God loves every single human being that he has made.

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 Every single one of you is God's magnum opus.

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 But on the other hand,

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 it says all of our actions will be recorded and judged by God's standard.

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 And it says the true justice is that nobody is above the law.

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 Nobody's above the law.

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 And the hard truth that we have to swallow

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 is that when you look at God's standard,

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 and then you look at your own heart and your own life,

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 what you realize is that no matter what has been recorded in those books about our lives,

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 no human being can ever live up to that standard.

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 Right?

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 No human being can attain to that standard.

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 And this is where Christianity starts to become utterly unique.

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 Because, you know,

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 all religions have some version of that stack of books.

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 I mean, all religions have that stack of books.

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 And all religions say that at the end of time,

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 you know,

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 when you die,

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 when your time is up,

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 the record of your deeds is going to be looked at.

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 And if the good deeds outweigh the bad,

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 good things happen.

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 And if the bad deeds outweigh the good,

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 bad things happen.

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 All religions,

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 you know,

00:20:38.600 --> 00:20:39.259
 Buddhism,

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 Hinduism,

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 Islam,

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 they all have some version of that.

00:20:43.420 --> 00:20:45.220
 And even for non-religious people,

00:20:45.340 --> 00:20:47.000
 this is how the world works.

00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:47.880
 You know,

00:20:47.900 --> 00:20:49.640
 we live in a karma world.

00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:52.840
 You do good things,

00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:53.820
 good will come back to you.

00:20:53.860 --> 00:20:54.660
 You do bad things,

00:20:54.860 --> 00:20:56.060
 bad will come back to you.

00:20:56.759 --> 00:20:56.960
 You know,

00:20:57.000 --> 00:20:58.460
 it's all a great meritocracy.

00:20:58.620 --> 00:21:00.080
 It's certainly this way in D.C.

00:21:01.280 --> 00:21:01.640
 Ultimately,

00:21:01.940 --> 00:21:03.300
 you look everywhere else,

00:21:03.420 --> 00:21:04.800
 and there's some version of this.

00:21:05.660 --> 00:21:06.360
 Your worth

00:21:06.360 --> 00:21:08.540
 is determined by your works.

00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:10.120
 You know,

00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:10.540
 in D.C.,

00:21:10.540 --> 00:21:11.680
 you're only as good as your resume.

00:21:11.820 --> 00:21:13.500
 You're only as good as your best accomplishments.

00:21:13.500 --> 00:21:16.759
 But the gospel is utterly different,

00:21:16.859 --> 00:21:18.299
 because only the gospel says,

00:21:19.079 --> 00:21:19.779
 there's another book.

00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:22.319
 There's another book.

00:21:24.759 --> 00:21:25.519
 Verse 12,

00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:26.759
 then another book was opened,

00:21:26.839 --> 00:21:27.920
 which is the book of life.

00:21:28.519 --> 00:21:28.799
 And you say,

00:21:28.859 --> 00:21:28.960
 well,

00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:29.799
 what is the book of life?

00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:31.180
 It shows up a number of times

00:21:31.180 --> 00:21:32.019
 throughout Scripture.

00:21:32.339 --> 00:21:33.339
 In Luke chapter 10,

00:21:33.660 --> 00:21:35.160
 Jesus' disciples go out,

00:21:35.220 --> 00:21:37.099
 and they do all these amazing things.

00:21:37.460 --> 00:21:37.599
 You know,

00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:37.839
 they go,

00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:39.740
 and they do all of these good works for God.

00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:40.680
 They go,

00:21:40.740 --> 00:21:42.599
 and they preach Christ boldly.

00:21:42.599 --> 00:21:43.119
 They go,

00:21:43.179 --> 00:21:44.139
 and they heal the sick.

00:21:44.399 --> 00:21:44.599
 They go,

00:21:44.679 --> 00:21:45.719
 and they cast out demons.

00:21:45.980 --> 00:21:47.259
 And then they come back to Jesus,

00:21:47.379 --> 00:21:48.299
 and they are thrilled,

00:21:48.439 --> 00:21:48.799
 and they say,

00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:49.899
 that was amazing.

00:21:50.139 --> 00:21:51.500
 Look at all of the things we did.

00:21:51.699 --> 00:21:54.639
 Even the demons are subject to us in your name.

00:21:54.980 --> 00:21:55.639
 And Jesus,

00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:56.139
 you know,

00:21:56.199 --> 00:21:57.579
 you expect that Jesus is going to say,

00:21:57.939 --> 00:21:58.719
 good job.

00:21:58.779 --> 00:22:00.139
 I told you you could do it.

00:22:00.419 --> 00:22:01.219
 Go and do more.

00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:01.819
 Well done.

00:22:01.859 --> 00:22:03.219
 I'm so proud of you.

00:22:04.179 --> 00:22:05.859
 But that's not what Jesus says.

00:22:06.859 --> 00:22:07.539
 Jesus says,

00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:09.459
 do not rejoice in this,

00:22:10.379 --> 00:22:12.139
 that the spirits are subject to you.

00:22:13.159 --> 00:22:15.799
 But rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

00:22:16.399 --> 00:22:18.759
 And this is sending a point home loud and clear.

00:22:19.019 --> 00:22:21.179
 The only thing that matters in the end

00:22:21.179 --> 00:22:25.199
 is not all of the good things that we might have done for God.

00:22:25.399 --> 00:22:27.259
 And this is a room full of amazing people.

00:22:27.439 --> 00:22:29.759
 And you guys have done a lot of amazing things in the world.

00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:33.139
 But this is telling us something that we need to listen to.

00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:34.419
 At the end of the day,

00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:37.579
 what matters is not all the great stuff we think we might have done for God.

00:22:37.579 --> 00:22:39.099
 I mean,

00:22:39.199 --> 00:22:40.559
 the funny thing about Luke 10 is,

00:22:40.699 --> 00:22:43.759
 the only reason they were able to do any of those good things is because of Jesus.

00:22:44.639 --> 00:22:45.519
 Because of his name.

00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:51.439
 What matters in the end is not the good works you did for God,

00:22:51.500 --> 00:22:53.359
 but whether or not your name is written in the book of life.

00:22:55.460 --> 00:22:59.460
 Everyone who's put their faith in Jesus Christ will have their name written in that book.

00:22:59.460 --> 00:23:01.900
 And here's what that book means.

00:23:02.100 --> 00:23:03.700
 If your name is there,

00:23:03.960 --> 00:23:05.940
 then when you stand before the throne of God,

00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:08.900
 you're not going to be judged based on your record,

00:23:09.019 --> 00:23:10.960
 based on what is written in that stack of books.

00:23:11.819 --> 00:23:13.440
 You're not going to be judged based on that.

00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:18.799
 It's as though God will take your resume and just set it aside.

00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:21.240
 And instead,

00:23:21.360 --> 00:23:24.299
 you're judged based on the record of Jesus' works.

00:23:25.539 --> 00:23:27.019
 An entirely different resume.

00:23:28.259 --> 00:23:29.299
 His good works,

00:23:29.660 --> 00:23:30.360
 his obedience,

00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:31.660
 his faithfulness.

00:23:32.299 --> 00:23:35.299
 That will be the standard by which you are judged.

00:23:36.100 --> 00:23:37.380
 That will be your resume.

00:23:37.380 --> 00:23:45.220
 And Jesus' willingness to take our sin on himself when he died on the cross.

00:23:46.540 --> 00:23:49.800
 And the good works that he lived out,

00:23:49.880 --> 00:23:53.340
 his faithfulness given to us as our own record.

00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:55.920
 Because of that,

00:23:56.020 --> 00:23:59.820
 we have hope of entering into the new heavens and the new earth.

00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:03.320
 And this is where Christianity is utterly unique.

00:24:03.460 --> 00:24:04.440
 Other religions say,

00:24:04.440 --> 00:24:06.900
 your salvation is based on what you do.

00:24:07.380 --> 00:24:08.880
 Only Christianity says,

00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:12.500
 your salvation is based on what Jesus has done.

00:24:13.640 --> 00:24:14.580
 Completely different.

00:24:15.780 --> 00:24:20.300
 So all of this shows us why God's judgment is such good news for the world.

00:24:20.380 --> 00:24:21.800
 Actually, unparalleled news.

00:24:23.140 --> 00:24:23.460
 And you know,

00:24:23.540 --> 00:24:24.460
 coming back to the beginning,

00:24:26.320 --> 00:24:30.000
 understanding God's judgment as we've just talked about it,

00:24:30.060 --> 00:24:32.540
 actually makes you a less judgmental person.

00:24:33.120 --> 00:24:34.920
 The more you understand it,

00:24:35.280 --> 00:24:37.020
 the less judgmental you will be.

00:24:38.380 --> 00:24:39.660
 Because on the one hand,

00:24:39.740 --> 00:24:41.760
 we do believe that our actions matter.

00:24:42.080 --> 00:24:44.620
 We do believe that there's such a thing as right and wrong

00:24:44.620 --> 00:24:46.000
 that is not a matter of opinion,

00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:47.720
 that is an objective fact.

00:24:49.700 --> 00:24:50.360
 And yet,

00:24:50.440 --> 00:24:54.840
 we would never dare look down on somebody else for the choices that they've made.

00:24:55.160 --> 00:24:59.100
 We would never dare think ourselves above anyone in this world.

00:24:59.099 --> 00:25:03.579
 Because we know that the only way we will survive judgment

00:25:03.579 --> 00:25:06.339
 is that God sets our record aside

00:25:06.339 --> 00:25:08.019
 and looks at Jesus' record.

00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:09.439
 And that's profoundly humbling.

00:25:09.779 --> 00:25:11.259
 It means we have no right to brag,

00:25:11.419 --> 00:25:12.259
 no right to boast.

00:25:12.740 --> 00:25:13.939
 Even our best works,

00:25:14.159 --> 00:25:15.359
 even our best accomplishments,

00:25:16.019 --> 00:25:18.339
 our only hope is that that's set aside.

00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:22.579
 So our hope rests not in our own moral excellence,

00:25:22.579 --> 00:25:24.859
 but in God's mercy.

00:25:25.740 --> 00:25:26.259
 Let's pray.

00:25:26.259 --> 00:25:29.200
 Lord,

00:25:29.259 --> 00:25:31.359
 we thank you again for the gospel.

00:25:32.420 --> 00:25:35.480
 We thank you for the profound hope it offers us.

00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:38.220
 We thank you that there is another book.

00:25:39.019 --> 00:25:42.079
 We thank you that we can seek to serve you

00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:43.759
 and seek to live lives of holiness,

00:25:44.700 --> 00:25:46.940
 boldly knowing that we will fail.

00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:49.319
 And knowing that in the end,

00:25:49.420 --> 00:25:51.759
 it's not a matter of the good outweighing the bad.

00:25:51.860 --> 00:25:55.600
 It's a matter of Jesus accomplishing something for us

00:25:55.600 --> 00:25:58.019
 on our behalf that cannot be taken away.

00:25:59.380 --> 00:26:01.559
 I pray that that would be the hope that we share,

00:26:01.700 --> 00:26:02.600
 that unites us,

00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:04.019
 the hope that we proclaim to the world,

00:26:04.019 --> 00:26:07.559
 and the hope in which we pray, sing,

00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:09.700
 and come to your table together.

00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:11.500
 In your son's name,

00:26:11.660 --> 00:26:11.839
 amen.