Here Comes The Judge 
Jude 1:14-1:16
INTRO.-
ILL.- A young Bible college student was witnessing in a suburb of
Atlanta. As he approached one house, there was an elderly gentleman
sitting on the porch. He said, "Are you a Christian?" The old man said,
"No, I’m a Smith. The Christians live two doors down." "You don’t
understand. I mean, are you lost?" The old man said, "No, sonny, I
ain’t lost. I’ve lived here for 25 years." "But are you ready for the
Judgment Day?" The old man said, "When’s it going to be?" The young man
said, "Well, it could be today or it could be tomorrow." The old man
replied, "WELL, PLEASE DON’T TELL MY WIFE, BECAUSE SHE’LL WANT TO GO
BOTH DAYS."
Make no mistake about it, judgment is coming and it
won’t be a fun day for some people! It won’t be a fun shopping day like
the day after Thanksgiving! Many people will not want to experience
that day! As it says in the book of Hebrews, "It’s a fearful thing (or
dreadful thing) to fall into the hands of the living God! (Heb. 10:31)
HERE COMES THE JUDGE!
ILL.- The idea of hell and judgment are
nowhere to be found in Betty Eadie’s book, (1992) Embraced By The
Light. At one time it was on the N.Y. Times bestseller list for more
than 40 weeks, including 5 weeks as #1. In November 1973 Eadie
allegedly died after undergoing a hysterectomy, and returned five hours
later with the secrets of heaven revealed by Jesus. Eadie says that
Jesus "never wanted to do or say anything that would offend me" while
she visited heaven.
Someone commented: Indeed, Jesus seems to
be relegated to the role of a happy tour guide in heaven, not the
Savior of the world who died on the cross. And that book contains many
fallacies, that is, in opposition to the Word of God. Jesus is not
pictured in scripture as some kind of happy tour guide or as Santa
Claus. He is Savior! He is Lord! He is God in the flesh! HERE COMES THE
JUDGE!
ILL.- Just before the death of actor W.C. Fields, a
friend visited Fields’ hospital room and was surprised to find him
thumbing through a Bible. Asked what he was doing with a Bible, Fields
replied, "I’m looking for loopholes."
There are no loopholes at the judgment but there is hope, but only in Christ as our Savior!
ILL.-
Court cases are sometimes labeled: "Stevenson vs. The People" or "Jones
vs. Texas." But at the Last Judgment, every case may be labeled "Such
and such vs. God!"
The Lord will judge everyone! Me too? The
Lord is not a respecter of persons when it comes to judgment. However,
the conclusion is yet to come.
II Cor. 5:6-11 6Therefore we are
always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we
are away from the Lord. 7We live by faith, not by sight. 8We are
confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home
with the Lord. 9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at
home in the body or away from it. 10For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for
the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 11Since, then,
we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.
PROP.-
Everyone and every thing will be judged on the judgment day but there
are some specific matters that the Lord may judge more critically. Here
they are:
1- God will judge ungodly acts
2- God will judge ungodly words
I. GOD WILL JUDGE UNGODLY ACTS
14Enoch,
the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is
coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15to judge
everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they
have done in the ungodly way. What a way to say it.
ILL.- The
floorwalker got tired of his job. He gave it up and joined the police
force. Several months later a friend asked him how he liked being a
policeman.
"Fine," said the ex-floorwalker. "The pay is good and
so are the hours, but what I like best of all is that the customer is
always wrong."
Some people are wrong and the police are going to
get them! Some people escape being caught for their wrongdoing for a
while. Eventually they’ll be caught, however, not by the police but by
God almighty!
ILL.- A Milwaukee woman’s funeral was over, and
the body was about to be cremated when suspicious officials ordered an
autopsy. This revealed that death had been caused by strangulation. The
medical examiner called it murder. The victim’s sixteen-year-old
daughter was arrested and held without bail. Had the authorities acted
a few minutes later than they did, the evidence would have been
destroyed forever.
No, not forever. Whatever happens in this
world (murders, rapes, abuse, violence, etc.) is carried over into the
next world, meaning that God sees it and will make the right judgment
about it. NO ONE GETS AWAY WITH ANYTHING. God sees everything and will
judge all. And all the ungodly acts committed by ungodly people are
multitudes.
ILL.- In Chicago, a man named David Johnson was on a
scaffold eight stories high, when he heard a snap and saw his partner
fall and felt himself sliding into space. "My whole life flashed before
me," he said. "It was very clear. I could remember when I was a kid.
But it happened so fast that I can’t remember much of it now."
Johnson
seized wildly at a hanging cable and found himself perched on top of an
air conditioner. Johnson slipped through the window unharmed. Asked
about going up again, Johnson said, "That’s it for me. I’ll never go up
there again. I’ve got to find a new trade. It’s hard to explain how
terrified I was."
Some people should be terrified at the thought
of death and the judgment! I can even name some of those people but the
Lord knows them better than anyone.
I Timothy 5:24-25 "The sins
of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them;
the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are
obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden."
II
Timothy 2:19 "Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed
with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and,
"Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from
wickedness."
No one gets away with anything. God will judge the ungodly acts of people. And the Lord knows those who truly belong to Him.
II. GOD WILL JUDGE UNGODLY WORDS
14Enoch,
the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is
coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15to judge
everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they
have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly
sinners have spoken against him."
ILL.-
Lynchburg, VA—In 1983-84 The Rev. Jerry Falwell filed a $45 million
lawsuit against publisher Larry Flynt and Hustler magazine, claiming a
fake advertisement damaged his reputation. The full-page ad in the
issue of Hustler was entitled "Jerry Falwell Talks About His First
Time." It described what the magazine said was the television
evangelist’s first encounter with Campari liquor and sex.
Falwell,
founder of the Moral Majority, contended in his suit filed in U.S.
district court, that the ad portrayed him as immoral and an alcoholic.
Larry Flynt, from his Los Angeles home, said he was "really tickled"
about the lawsuit "because I want to get him in the courtroom."
Flynt
said at the bottom of the ad that it was not to be taken seriously," he
said. "I don’t really think any of it is true, do you?"
In his
suit, Falwell said the ad’s "inferences and innuendos" falsely said he
"commits illegal, immoral and reprehensible acts, that he is an
alcoholic and that he is insincere and hypocritical in his work as a
fundamentalist minister."
Larry Flynt is still alive and still slandering others in order to get a hearing and sell his magazine.
In
June 2007, he placed an ad in the Washington Post offering $1 million
for documented stories involving sex with current congressional members
or high-ranking government officials.
It’s one thing to speak
harshly to other human beings or about them but it may be an entirely
different matter to speak harshly about the Lord!
"See, the
Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15to
judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts
they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly
sinners have spoken against him."16These men are grumblers and
faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about
themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
ILL.-
Comedian Kathy Griffin joked at the Emmy awards (Sept.2007) and one of
her jokes wasn’t very funny. She said, "A lot of people come up here
and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less
to do with this award than Jesus. This award is my God now!"
Later she said, "I hope I offended someone. I would hate to think I got this award for nothing."
Kathy Griffin, no doubt, thought she was being funny, but in reality she was offensive to God almighty!
ILL.-
Comedian George Carlin died June 22, 2008, at the age of 71. And to
many he was a very funny man. He did say some very funny stuff but he
also said some very bad stuff.
Here is another bad quote of his:
"When it comes to big-time, major league baloney, you have to stand in
awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims,
religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the
greatest baloney story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually
convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who
watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible
man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if
you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire
and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you
to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and
ever ’til the end of time!"
"But He loves you. He loves you, and
He needs money! He always needs money! He’s all-powerful, all-perfect,
all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can’t handle money! Religion
takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a
little more. Now, you talk about a good baloney story...."
Carlin has met his match. He has met his maker and don’t you wonder what he’s saying now?
"The
Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15to
judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts
they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly
sinners have spoken against him."
No person dare speak badly
about the Lord God Almighty. People do, but these people (no matter who
they are or how rich and famous they are) are wrong.
CONCLUSION-------------------
God will judge all the ungodly of their ungodly acts and harsh, ungodly words. But where does this leave us who are in Christ?
ILL.- Baptist preacher, Harry Ironside, once told this story:
It
was of pioneers who were making their way across one of the central
states to a distant place that had been opened up for home-steading.
They traveled in covered wagons drawn by oxen, and progress was
necessarily slow. One day they were horrified to note a long line of
smoke in the west, stretching for miles across the prairie, and soon it
was evident that the dried grass was burning fiercely and coming toward
them rapidly.
They had crossed a river the day before but it
would be impossible to go back to that before the flames would be on
them. One man only seemed to have understanding as to what could be
done. He gave the command to set fire to the grass behind them. Then
when a space was burned over, the whole company moved back on it.
As
the flames roared on toward them from the west, a little girl cried out
in terror, "Are you sure we shall not all be burned up?" The leader
replied, "My child, the flames cannot reach us here, for we are
standing where the fire has been!"
Ironside said, "What a picture of the believer, who is safe in Christ!"
"On Him Almighty vengeance fell,
Which would have sunk a world to hell.
He bore it for a chosen race,
And thus becomes our Hiding Place."
The
fires of God’s judgment burned themselves out on Him, and all who are
in Christ are safe forever, for they are now standing where the fire
has been. OUR HOPE AND SALVATION IS IN CHRIST, NOT OURSELVES.
