WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:07.520 Good morning, church. Would you turn with me to Revelation chapter 19, verses 11 through 21? 00:00:08.660 --> 00:00:18.120 It's page 976 in the Pew Bible. We are continuing our series in the last book of the Bible, 00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:27.039 the book of Revelation, chapter 19, verses 11 through 21. I think many of us can look out at 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:37.600 the world, and we can wonder at times, where is God? And if there is a God, why doesn't He come 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:46.179 and make things right? If God is all good and all powerful, why doesn't He do something about the 00:00:46.179 --> 00:00:54.019 deep brokenness of the world, the evil and the injustice? Well, in our passage this morning, 00:00:54.020 --> 00:01:01.880 our passage this morning is about just that. It's about the return of the world's true King 00:01:01.880 --> 00:01:07.260 to bring perfect justice. So let me pray, and then I will read. 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:17.040 Father, indeed, all of our days are numbered and in Your hands, and we know that You have numbered 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:25.520 this day and ordained this day for us. So we pray that as we now attend to Your Word on this first day 00:01:25.520 --> 00:01:32.960 of the week, this day of Christ's resurrection, by Your Spirit we would hear what You are saying to us 00:01:32.960 --> 00:01:40.320 and that we would respond with faith and with obedience. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:45.659 All right, Revelation chapter 19, starting in verse 11. 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:40.299 Verse 12. 00:02:40.300 --> 00:02:48.780 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly 00:02:48.780 --> 00:02:56.700 directly overhead, Come, gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, 00:02:56.700 --> 00:03:03.200 the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, the flesh of all men, both free and 00:03:03.200 --> 00:03:10.280 slave, both small and great. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their arms, 00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:16.759 gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was 00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:21.800 captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:27.800 those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:33.560 alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur, and the rest were slain by the sword that came from the 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:40.039 mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh." 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:52.039 Now, this text is not the last thing that Revelation is going to say about how God deals with evil and 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:59.560 renews His creation. We will see in a couple of weeks that there's also in store a healing of sickness and tears, 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:06.039 and a remaking of the created world to shine with the beauty of God's presence. 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:16.439 But we can't simply skip over the present passage. In many ways, this passage has been foreshadowed again 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:22.439 and again in the book of Revelation. In chapter 6, remember the vision of the seven scrolls, we 00:04:22.439 --> 00:04:29.240 encountered there the great day of the wrath of the Lamb. In chapter 11, in the vision of the seven 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:33.959 trumpets, we heard the angels declare, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and 00:04:33.959 --> 00:04:40.680 His Christ. In chapter 14, in the midst of the vision of the dragon and the beasts, we saw the image of a 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:48.120 great harvest as the Son of Man reaped the whole earth. In chapter 16, in the vision of the seven bulls, 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:53.160 we saw a great gathering of the armies of the world to battle God, and then a loud voice came from the 00:04:53.160 --> 00:05:00.600 throne of God saying, in triumph, it's done. In chapter 17, in the vision of the fall of Babylon 00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:07.240 that we finished up last week, we saw that these evil forces will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb 00:05:07.240 --> 00:05:15.240 will conquer them, for He is the Lord of lords and King of kings. So, in every major section of the middle 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:22.600 part of Revelation, we've seen a foreshadow of the return of Christ to defeat evil. Each of these 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:30.199 overlapping visions that make up this book have given us a glimpse of a coming King. And finally, 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:38.040 here in Revelation 19, we get the fullest description of them all. And what our passage, I think, wants to 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:48.040 convey is this, that there is a perfect judge who is coming with perfect judgment. There's a perfect judge 00:05:48.840 --> 00:05:56.360 coming with perfect judgment. Look at verse 15. It says, from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which 00:05:56.360 --> 00:06:01.560 to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:09.560 fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. In that verse, John is gathering together a number of Old Testament 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:15.319 texts about the coming Messiah who would come and judge evil and liberate God's people from their 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:22.600 oppressors and bring about, in consequence, the renewal of creation. So, John is saying all those threads 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:30.439 are about this coming day. The first of those texts is Isaiah 11, 3-4. The prophet Isaiah says 00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:35.639 that this coming King shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 00:06:35.639 --> 00:06:41.719 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. 00:06:42.360 --> 00:06:48.040 And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill 00:06:48.040 --> 00:06:54.759 the wicked. The next verse comes from Psalm 2. In Psalm 2, we hear about the nations raging and the 00:06:54.759 --> 00:07:00.040 peoples plotting in vain against the Lord and against his anointed. But in that Psalm, the Lord says to his 00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:05.400 son to the king, you shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. 00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:13.160 And the last text that John is pulling from here is Isaiah 63. In Isaiah 63, the prophet has just seen 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:18.520 God save His people from His enemies, and then he asks, why is your apparel red and your garments like 00:07:18.520 --> 00:07:25.320 his who treads in the winepress? And God answers, I've trodden the winepress alone and from the peoples, 00:07:25.319 --> 00:07:29.639 no one was with me. I trod them in my anger, trampled them in my wrath. 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:36.519 So you see, the Old Testament looked forward to a day when the perfect judge would come 00:07:37.319 --> 00:07:46.360 with perfect judgment. And this would be the end, the final end of evil and suffering and wrong. 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:53.639 And Revelation 19 tells us that this promise will reach its fulfillment when the Lord Jesus returns. 00:07:56.680 --> 00:08:02.280 Now, I wonder how this idea strikes you. You know, if you're new to Christianity, 00:08:02.280 --> 00:08:06.920 it might seem a bit far-fetched, a perfect judge coming with perfect judgment. 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:16.840 And yet, let me encourage you for a moment just to suspend your judgment and look first at the 00:08:16.840 --> 00:08:23.080 character of the judge that's presented here. That's really the first thing for us to see as we 00:08:23.080 --> 00:08:28.120 push a little deeper into this text, and this will be our first main point this morning, is the character 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:34.759 of this judge. And we see his character in verses 11 through 16. And I think we can sum up what these 00:08:34.759 --> 00:08:39.879 verses tell us about the character of Jesus, the coming judge, in two ways. First, he's a righteous 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:46.200 judge. Look again at verse 11, then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse, the one sitting 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:55.879 on it is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. You know, doesn't a good deal 00:08:55.879 --> 00:09:03.480 of our resistance to judgment come from the fact that so much of our earthly experience of it is so deeply 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:11.879 flawed. Human judges are not perfect. Too often we are swayed by public opinion or prejudice. We're 00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:18.200 liable to deceit, to inconsistency, to acting in self-interest. But here is a judge who's none of 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:27.240 those things. He's faithful and true. Now, this isn't the first time Jesus has been called faithful and 00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:32.600 true. In the book of Revelation, we saw in chapter 1 he's called the faithful witness. Again, in chapter 3, 00:09:32.600 --> 00:09:37.240 he's called the faithful and true witness. Faithful and true. 00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:50.040 Consider, friends, every word of Jesus is true. When you take metal ore out of the ground, 00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:56.840 it's full of impurities, it's full of imperfections. And what metalsmiths do is that they'll blast the ore 00:09:56.840 --> 00:10:02.519 in a furnace and melt it down so that all the impurities can be separated and removed. And what's 00:10:02.519 --> 00:10:11.160 left is the metal in its truest state. You know, so often our words are riddled with impurities and 00:10:11.160 --> 00:10:18.440 imperfections. We shade the truth to win approval, to avoid embarrassment, to serve our own self-interest. 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:32.040 But Jesus is always completely true. His words are like shining silver in an ocean of dross. 00:10:32.039 --> 00:10:41.719 But he's not just true. He's faithful. He's utterly reliable. What he sets out to do, 00:10:41.719 --> 00:10:48.919 what he promises, he fulfills. And he never disappoints. It's like the arrow that always 00:10:48.919 --> 00:10:55.559 flies straight and always hits its target despite the wind, despite the interference. It's faithful. 00:10:55.559 --> 00:11:05.159 Jesus is a righteous judge because he's faithful and true, but also because he sees everything that 00:11:05.159 --> 00:11:13.799 there is to see. Verse 12 says, his eyes are like a flame of fire. You know, earthly judges can't 00:11:13.799 --> 00:11:23.079 possibly render a final judgment, right? Because they don't see everything that needs to be seen. 00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:26.200 All of our judgments in this life are provisional. 00:11:29.480 --> 00:11:35.879 And our judgments are always imperfect, and they're often flawed because we don't see everything. We 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:45.480 can't. But there's nothing hidden from the sight of this judge. How does the human eye work? The human 00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:52.520 eye works by receiving light, right? It can only see what it receives. But we're told here that the eyes of 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:59.079 this judge are like a flame of fire are like a flame of fire. They carry their own light. They bring to 00:11:59.079 --> 00:12:08.600 light everything that can or will be seen. So, if our hearts long for justice, if we look out at the 00:12:08.600 --> 00:12:17.319 world and we say, where is God? Then what we need is a judge like this, don't we? One who is faithful and 00:12:17.320 --> 00:12:25.640 true, one who sees everything that needs to be seen and can judge justly. And that is who Jesus is. 00:12:26.760 --> 00:12:31.480 The character of this judge is that He's a righteous judge. But He's more than that, actually. 00:12:32.040 --> 00:12:35.080 The character of this judge is not just that He's a righteous judge. 00:12:36.040 --> 00:12:44.040 We're shown here that He's also the rightful judge. He's the rightful judge. If there's to be perfect 00:12:44.040 --> 00:12:50.520 justice, then we don't just need a judge who's able to judge. We actually need one who has the right or 00:12:50.520 --> 00:12:57.720 the authority to judge. And that's how Jesus is described here. Picking up in verse 12, we see that 00:12:57.720 --> 00:13:04.120 on His head are many diadems. That is, He's the sovereign ruler of creation. He wears the crown of 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:12.060 every place, of every people. As verse 16 says, He's the king of all kings. He's the lord of all lords. 00:13:12.060 --> 00:13:19.660 But how could that be so? How could He be this sovereign? Well, because this is no merely human king. 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:25.620 Notice the next phrase, He has a name written that no one knows but Himself. 00:13:25.620 --> 00:13:32.200 Now, what does that mean? That's a cryptic phrase, isn't it? He has a name written that no one knows 00:13:32.200 --> 00:13:39.240 but Himself. Well, a name in the ancient world was a metaphorical way of talking about someone's 00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:49.659 nature. And if Jesus' nature is so profound, so majestic, that no one can fathom it, no one but 00:13:49.659 --> 00:14:02.000 Himself. What must that mean about who Jesus is? Friends, there's only one whose nature is so profound 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:09.139 that only that one can fully understand it. And that one is God. 00:14:09.139 --> 00:14:19.960 Jesus is God. And because He is God, only He can understand the depths of who He really is. 00:14:21.080 --> 00:14:25.879 His ultimate nature is beyond merely human comprehension. 00:14:25.879 --> 00:14:33.519 And that makes sense of what we see in the next verse, the name by which He is called is the Word of 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:41.120 God. That is, Jesus is the very self-expression of God Himself, God making Himself known. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:46.360 This is what we see in the Gospel of John, chapter 1, where John writes, 00:14:46.439 --> 00:14:51.940 in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Revelation shows us 00:14:51.940 --> 00:14:57.800 again and again that there is one and only one God. This book is exclusively monotheistic, 00:14:58.100 --> 00:15:06.920 and Jesus Christ is included in the eternal being of that one God. Jesus isn't some second God or some 00:15:06.920 --> 00:15:13.040 lesser God, but He's one with the very nature of the God of Israel, the source and the goal of all things. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:19.120 So this judge that we see here is the rightful judge, 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:24.179 because He is the creator and originator of all things. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:30.399 This one upholds the universe by the word of His power, as Hebrews 1.3 says. 00:15:31.319 --> 00:15:35.019 In Him we live and move and have our being. 00:15:35.019 --> 00:15:41.980 We exist because each moment He wills our existence in His good pleasure, 00:15:42.939 --> 00:15:48.419 and if He were to withdraw it, we would dissipate faster than a snowflake on a summer day. 00:15:51.620 --> 00:15:58.659 He's the only rightful judge because He is our creator. Because He is our creator, He is our 00:15:58.659 --> 00:16:07.980 rightful judge. But He is our rightful judge for one more reason. John sees His clothing in verse 13. 00:16:08.679 --> 00:16:16.679 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. And yet this can't be the blood of His enemies, 00:16:17.059 --> 00:16:25.019 not yet, because the battle has yet to begin, right? Whose blood then marks the robes of this 00:16:25.019 --> 00:16:36.539 righteous and rightful judge? The blood is His own. It's His own. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, 00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:44.600 who has the right to take up the scepter and rule and judge the nations, is the Lamb who was slain. 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:53.460 What John is showing us here is that this judge has stood in the place of the judged. 00:16:55.019 --> 00:16:59.399 stricken in punishment for rebels and sinners in their place. 00:17:01.500 --> 00:17:08.779 What Revelation 19 shows us then is not a slaughtered lamb turned slaughterer, 00:17:09.500 --> 00:17:21.139 but one who in perfect truth and perfect mercy comes in perfect justice. A king who has laid down 00:17:21.140 --> 00:17:28.200 his life for rebels. A king who has extended his mercy to the ends of the earth through the non-violent 00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:36.040 witness of his suffering church. A king who now comes to reclaim his creation and remove every ounce 00:17:36.040 --> 00:17:45.020 of evil and injustice. He's the rightful judge because his robes show the stains of his own willingness to 00:17:45.019 --> 00:17:54.940 save. They show the stains of the cost He was willing to pay to procure mercy for all who simply believe, 00:17:54.940 --> 00:17:58.319 from every nation, every tribe, and every tongue. 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:09.279 So, Jesus is both the righteous one and the rightful one. If there's going to be justice, 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:15.819 who else should stand in the place of the judge? Who else but Jesus? 00:18:15.819 --> 00:18:24.019 We can trust Him to render judgment that is perfectly just, perfectly impartial, perfectly good, 00:18:24.019 --> 00:18:28.639 and the stains on His robe prove it to be so. 00:18:32.259 --> 00:18:36.480 Now, before we move to the second paragraph and our second point, let me pause just for some 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:43.039 application here. If you believe that Jesus is this coming judge, that He's the only one who has the 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:50.819 right to make the final judgment, then this should change how you and I approach wrongdoings in this 00:18:50.819 --> 00:18:59.059 life, from minor offenses to major injustices. We reflected on this earlier in our series in 00:18:59.059 --> 00:19:05.399 Revelation, but it's worth mentioning again. Only a belief in the coming justice of God will allow 00:19:05.400 --> 00:19:14.540 you to be just in this life. Here's what I mean. You know, if there is no perfect and final judgment 00:19:14.540 --> 00:19:19.500 for wrongs in this life, then our hearts will seek to enforce that judgment ourselves. 00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:26.000 And if we aren't able to enact it, then at least we'll be enforcing it in our own hearts, in our own 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:34.040 minds, in our own thoughts. But inevitably, we will not do so perfectly. We will always exact more than was 00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:42.180 taken. We'll always want to make the other pay. And that simply just perpetuates the cycle of offense 00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:49.779 and the cycle of violence. You hurt me, I'll hurt you, and on it goes. And the only way to de-escalate 00:19:49.779 --> 00:19:57.619 that cycle of offense and violence is to not retaliate, to not pay back. 00:19:57.619 --> 00:20:04.239 Now, this doesn't mean we don't remove ourselves from those who are harming us. We should. 00:20:05.079 --> 00:20:09.919 This doesn't mean that we don't call evil evil in this life. We should. This doesn't mean that we 00:20:09.919 --> 00:20:15.819 refuse lawful means to protect those who are being harmed and to stop those who are doing the harming. 00:20:15.919 --> 00:20:23.539 We should. But the only way to act from a place of something that approximates real justice 00:20:23.539 --> 00:20:34.559 and not vengeance is to believe that the real and perfect justice will come. I don't have to make 00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:41.339 the other person pay. I can even pray for their repentance. I can even pray for their good. 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:49.720 And even if reconciliation in this life is not possible, I can forgive them and not seek their harm 00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:59.759 because there's a perfect judge, a righteous judge, a rightful judge, and we can entrust the work of 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:10.279 final and perfect judgment to Him. So, John shows us first the character of this judge. That's verses 11 00:21:10.279 --> 00:21:17.400 through 16. Next, he shows us the reality of the coming judgment. There's a perfect judge coming with 00:21:17.400 --> 00:21:24.740 perfect judgment. We see the reality of this judgment in verses 17 through 21. Now, on the one hand, 00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:33.680 the reality of judgment is good news. John speaks of the beast and the false prophet being thrown alive 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:38.320 into a lake of fire. Now, you'll remember that the beast and the false prophet were introduced back in 00:21:38.320 --> 00:21:44.340 chapter 13, and they represented sort of two parts of an unholy trinity along with the dragon, 00:21:44.339 --> 00:21:49.699 that great accuser and enemy of God and His people. And we saw in that chapter that the beast rose up 00:21:49.699 --> 00:21:56.699 imitating the work of Christ, but instead of peace, he came with power and with violence and made war on 00:21:56.699 --> 00:22:03.980 the saints and drew the whole world away after him. And then the second beast rose up, the false prophet, 00:22:04.119 --> 00:22:09.319 imitating the work of the Holy Spirit and issued forth the propaganda of the first beast, 00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:13.679 convincing the world to rush headlong after him in worship. 00:22:16.179 --> 00:22:23.619 And of course, there have been many, many manifestations of this beastly activity throughout 00:22:23.619 --> 00:22:34.000 history as human-centered empires rise and issue forth their propaganda and go about their agendas of 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:44.940 conquest and victory and prosperity. These two beasts are the heart of injustice, oppression, 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:53.539 the strong devouring the weak, the haves over the have-nots, and all the sad reversals of the oppressed 00:22:53.539 --> 00:22:57.200 then turning and becoming the oppressors themselves. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:06.840 But worst of all, here is the heart of the dethroning of God as the rightful king of creation. 00:23:07.819 --> 00:23:13.299 The beast and the false prophet put themselves in the place of God and direct worship away from the 00:23:13.299 --> 00:23:21.140 true God to their own distorted image. And this twisting of human worship away from the only one worthy of 00:23:21.140 --> 00:23:30.560 worship, that drawing humanity away in false worship is what brings death and violence and lust and greed 00:23:30.560 --> 00:23:45.240 and boredom and exhaustion. And the tendrils of these metaphorical beasts seem so deep, so intractable, 00:23:45.240 --> 00:23:55.799 that we seemingly cannot extricate ourselves. If there is no final judgment, what hope is there for the world? 00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:06.019 We need a righting of these wrongs. We need an end to the deception, to the lies, to the oppression, 00:24:06.019 --> 00:24:14.720 to the false worship, to the violence. If there is no final divine judgment, what hope is there for us? 00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:24.180 And yet that is what we see here. The beast and the false prophet gather their armies, but the battle 00:24:24.180 --> 00:24:30.299 is seemingly over before it begins. Suddenly, swiftly, they are thrown into the lake of fire, never to 00:24:30.299 --> 00:24:39.319 return. Deception, lies, oppression, all gone. They are judged perfectly once and for all. 00:24:39.319 --> 00:24:47.659 Creations finally liberated from their destructive hold by the perfect judgment of the one true King. 00:24:49.319 --> 00:24:51.019 There is hope for the world. 00:24:51.019 --> 00:25:01.279 And Christian, I hope you see that if this is how history ends, then as we walk in the midst of history, 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:10.879 we need not fear the powers of this world, and we need not live for their approval. These things that 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:21.920 look so magnificent, so scary, so powerful now, we need not live in fear of them. We serve a greater King. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:30.019 So, on the one hand, this reality of judgment is good news. God will right the wrongs. The perfect judge 00:25:30.019 --> 00:25:38.060 does see the wrong and evils that you see, and He will come with all power and all goodness and make 00:25:38.059 --> 00:25:47.919 an end to all that has gone wrong. But on the other hand, if this reality of judgment is good news, 00:25:48.919 --> 00:25:52.359 on the other hand, the reality of judgment is deeply unsettling. 00:25:54.359 --> 00:25:57.539 We know that the only hope for the world is perfect divine judgment, 00:25:58.200 --> 00:26:02.859 but if there is perfect judgment to come, what hope is there for me? 00:26:02.859 --> 00:26:12.539 And what hope is there for you? Because when the King returns, all will be judged. 00:26:14.399 --> 00:26:22.059 The picture of the birds gathering to a feast, friends, it's meant to be arresting. It's meant 00:26:22.059 --> 00:26:32.819 to be shocking. If that image shocks you, it is supposed to. And the point of verse 18 is that this 00:26:32.819 --> 00:26:38.500 judgment that is to come will be completely impartial. None will be exempt. 00:26:41.700 --> 00:26:48.339 So, when the perfect judge comes with perfect judgment, where will you stand? 00:26:50.579 --> 00:26:56.359 The reality is it's easy to point a finger at evil and oppression out there, right, 00:26:56.679 --> 00:26:59.319 done by the greedy, done by the powerful. 00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:09.159 But are those not the same threads in my own heart? Do I not also reject the rightful place 00:27:09.159 --> 00:27:13.299 of God in my life and seek to chart my own course according to my own ends? 00:27:15.500 --> 00:27:23.579 And friends, don't you as well? And in so doing that, it's not as if we've put ourselves in a 00:27:23.579 --> 00:27:32.460 neutral position in the cosmos, right? We don't occupy a sort of spiritual Switzerland. There's no such thing. 00:27:34.460 --> 00:27:42.460 No, in our sin, in our self-centeredness, we've actually allied ourselves with the armies gathering 00:27:42.460 --> 00:27:50.879 against God in Revelation 19. We've put ourselves in league, wittingly or not, with the very systems of 00:27:50.880 --> 00:28:00.340 beastly deception and oppression that we profess to despise. The very activity that we point to and say, 00:28:00.340 --> 00:28:08.140 where is God? We ourselves are the participants. And the finger points to us. 00:28:08.140 --> 00:28:21.980 So where will you stand in this judgment? Evil, friends, must be punished. God is too good 00:28:21.980 --> 00:28:31.800 to let evil simply be ignored or excused. And our lives will all meet the gaze of the one 00:28:31.799 --> 00:28:44.039 whose eyes are like a flame of fire. All will be revealed. And perfect judgment will be rendered by His Word. 00:28:46.039 --> 00:28:49.240 How will you face this judgment? 00:28:49.240 --> 00:29:02.420 The only hope is this. The only hope for sinners, for you and me, is the blood on the garments of the 00:29:02.420 --> 00:29:13.880 returning King. Evil must be punished. That is how good God is. But in His infinite mercy, He willingly died 00:29:13.880 --> 00:29:22.120 as a substitute to pay the punishment for every evil, every wrong, every lie, every act of pride, 00:29:22.120 --> 00:29:28.880 every act of cowardice, every selfish motive of everyone who repents and believes in Him. 00:29:30.300 --> 00:29:36.480 The only hope is to bow yourself before this King and accept His death as the rightful 00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:40.700 and righteous payment for your sins and take Him as Lord. 00:29:40.700 --> 00:29:46.100 But the time to make this choice is now. 00:29:49.660 --> 00:29:51.940 C.S. Lewis writes this in Mere Christianity. 00:29:54.019 --> 00:30:00.000 He says, God will invade the world to put an end to evil and injustice. 00:30:01.740 --> 00:30:09.680 And he goes on and says, but I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:13.980 in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does. 00:30:15.500 --> 00:30:18.640 When that happens, it is the end of the world. 00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:23.560 When the author walks onto the stage, the play is over. 00:30:25.080 --> 00:30:31.520 God is going to invade, all right, but what is the good of saying you are on His side then? 00:30:32.640 --> 00:30:36.900 When you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else, 00:30:37.340 --> 00:30:40.660 something that never entered your head to conceive, comes crashing in, 00:30:40.660 --> 00:30:48.420 something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left. 00:30:49.940 --> 00:30:54.580 For this time, it will be God without disguise, 00:30:55.580 --> 00:31:04.480 something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:08.160 It will be too late then to choose your side. 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:16.420 There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. 00:31:18.599 --> 00:31:20.559 That will not be the time for choosing. 00:31:21.620 --> 00:31:26.019 It will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, 00:31:26.519 --> 00:31:28.680 whether we realized it before or not. 00:31:28.680 --> 00:31:35.539 Now, today, this moment is our chance to choose the right side. 00:31:36.600 --> 00:31:40.480 God is holding back to give us that chance. 00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:42.920 It will not last forever. 00:31:43.860 --> 00:31:46.140 We must take it or leave it. 00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:51.799 The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, 00:31:52.560 --> 00:31:54.860 now is the favorable time. 00:31:55.860 --> 00:31:57.840 Now is the day of salvation. 00:31:58.680 --> 00:32:02.200 God made Christ to be sin, 00:32:02.519 --> 00:32:03.980 who knew no sin, 00:32:04.519 --> 00:32:09.039 so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:32:10.779 --> 00:32:14.420 There's a perfect judge coming with perfect judgment. 00:32:15.080 --> 00:32:20.320 Place your trust in Him now and bow your heart to Him as King. 00:32:21.600 --> 00:32:25.519 When this justice comes, the world will be put right. 00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:28.559 The earth will be liberated from evil. 00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:31.539 The trees will clap their hands. 00:32:31.980 --> 00:32:34.660 The rivers will rejoice when the King returns, 00:32:34.660 --> 00:32:38.579 because the curse of sin will be lifted once and for all. 00:32:38.579 --> 00:32:45.879 And the choice before all of us is whether we will lay down our arms now 00:32:45.879 --> 00:32:52.139 and surrender to the love of this King before the final judgment comes. 00:32:53.419 --> 00:32:59.220 Because, friends, He offers forgiveness and amnesty to all who believe, 00:32:59.879 --> 00:33:01.279 simply through faith. 00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:02.859 He's done it all. 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:07.240 And if you receive His grace now, 00:33:08.240 --> 00:33:12.299 then you can face that day with confidence and with joy. 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:18.559 And you can face every day until then with confidence and with joy. 00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:20.720 Let's pray together. 00:33:28.460 --> 00:33:31.740 Lord Jesus, we acknowledge that before You this morning 00:33:31.740 --> 00:33:37.480 that we have often had such a small view of who You are 00:33:37.480 --> 00:33:40.700 in Your majesty, Your glory, and Your holiness. 00:33:42.200 --> 00:33:47.200 Lord, forgive us as Your church for domesticating You. 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:48.200 Lord, we thank You for domesticating You. 00:33:50.200 --> 00:33:54.039 You are the coming King and the perfect Judge. 00:33:54.799 --> 00:33:56.299 We worship You this morning. 00:33:59.779 --> 00:34:03.519 But we thank You that Your heart is a heart of mercy towards sinners. 00:34:06.340 --> 00:34:10.320 We acknowledge that because of who You are, our Creator, our Redeemer, 00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:12.179 there is no refuge from You. 00:34:12.179 --> 00:34:18.159 But because of Your merciful heart and the work of the cross, 00:34:18.719 --> 00:34:23.759 there is abundant and ample refuge in You and with You. 00:34:26.919 --> 00:34:28.980 So even now, God, I pray 00:34:28.980 --> 00:34:35.519 that You would cause a turning of hearts to You 00:34:35.519 --> 00:34:39.099 in true repentance and faith 00:34:39.099 --> 00:34:42.840 that today might be the day of salvation, 00:34:44.119 --> 00:34:45.559 the favorable day. 00:34:47.719 --> 00:34:50.559 And would we, Your church, live as those 00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:55.000 who know that perfect justice is coming? 00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.900 Would we continue to lay down our arms of bitterness, 00:35:01.500 --> 00:35:04.579 of unforgiveness, of animosity, 00:35:05.679 --> 00:35:09.579 of thinking that the petty political machinations of this world 00:35:09.579 --> 00:35:11.260 have any eternal significance? 00:35:11.480 --> 00:35:12.539 God, forgive us. 00:35:14.820 --> 00:35:16.519 And let us live as Your people 00:35:16.519 --> 00:35:21.420 in the abundance of assurance that comes from knowing 00:35:21.420 --> 00:35:22.659 we serve a risen King. 00:35:23.960 --> 00:35:25.860 And would we go forth after Him 00:35:25.860 --> 00:35:29.039 to love and even to suffer 00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:31.480 as You have done for us, Lord Jesus. 00:35:32.119 --> 00:35:33.559 We pray this in Your mighty name. 00:35:34.059 --> 00:35:34.340 Amen.