Participants:
Series Code: HHJ
Program Code: HHJ000013S
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00:06 Music...
00:15 And welcome back to the Hour of His Judgment. 00:18 We are in our third presentation. 00:19 We are going to be looking at the context 00:22 of God's judgment hour 00:24 in relation to the everlasting gospel. 00:27 Have you've ever felt guilt... 00:28 have you ever felt shame... 00:29 have you ever felt overwhelmed 00:31 with a sense of your unworthiness? 00:33 Welcome to God's Judgment Hour Part 3. 00:35 We're going to begin with a word of prayer 00:38 and then we'll get right in to the Word of God. 00:39 "Father in heaven, 00:40 we just want to thank You again for Your Word, 00:42 we want to thank you for Jesus, 00:44 we want to thank You that we come to Your throne in His name 00:46 and that we can receive help and grace in our time of need 00:49 and we lift up our hearts to you right now... 00:52 I lift up each Viewer and my own heart... 00:55 ask that you will guide, direct 00:57 and speak to us through Your Word... 01:00 that You'll send Your Holy Spirit to touch our hearts 01:02 and that we will see a big picture of who You are 01:06 and the great controversy that we're involved in 01:08 between good and evil... 01:10 light and darkness... 01:11 right and wrong... 01:12 guide our hearts now as we open Your Word. 01:14 We pray in Jesus' name, amen. " 01:17 So, we are going to begin in the book of Revelation 01:20 chapter 14. 01:22 We're going to do a little bit of a summary, 01:23 Revelation chapter 14 brings us 01:26 what we have identified as the everlasting gospel. 01:29 Revelation 14 verses 6 and 7 01:32 kind of bring us the theme that we're looking at here. 01:34 "I saw another angel... " John says, 01:37 "flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel 01:40 to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, 01:43 to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, 01:45 saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; 01:49 for the hour of His judgment is come: 01:52 and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the seas, 01:54 and the fountains of waters. " 01:55 This is God's last message for the world 01:59 and we know that because right after this message is delivered, 02:02 we see a picture of Jesus returning to the earth 02:05 to reap the harvest both good and evil 02:07 so the last message to the world... 02:10 God's last message to the world 02:12 includes a call to His judgment hour. 02:14 Now, this call is verified over and over again in the Bible. 02:19 Jesus Himself talked about an hour of judgment. 02:22 In Matthew chapter 12, we looked at this verse, 02:25 we looked at this verse previously 02:27 but we'll looked at it again here in Matthew chapter 12, 02:30 if we look here at verses 36 and 37, 02:33 Jesus is speaking and He says... 02:36 Matthew 12:36, 02:38 "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, 02:42 they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. 02:45 For... " verse 37... 02:47 "by thy words thou shalt be justified, 02:49 and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. " 02:51 Now, we need to open this up a little bit more 02:53 and understand exactly what Christ is saying here 02:55 but what we clearly see here 02:57 is that there's going to be accountability 02:59 for our words 03:00 in what Jesus identifies as a day of judgment. 03:03 The same thing that Revelation 14 03:05 is identifying for us... 03:07 and then we looked at another verse, 03:08 this verse is found in James chapter 2 and verse 12, 03:12 it also speaks about the time of judgment... 03:15 James chapter 2 and verse 12 03:19 and it says that we should speak 03:22 and we should do, as they that shall be judged 03:25 by the law of liberty. 03:27 So, we see clearly here in the New Testament... 03:30 in the words of Christ... 03:32 in the words of James 03:33 and again, in the book of Revelation 03:35 authored by John... inspired by the Holy Spirit 03:38 that we have a clear Biblical teaching 03:41 of the hour of judgment... an hour of accountability... 03:44 an hour of accountability for our words. 03:46 We also see this in the Old Testament, 03:48 Ecclesiastes chapter 12... 03:51 Ecclesiastes is following the book of Proverbs 03:53 which is right after Psalms... 03:55 Ecclesiastes chapter 12 03:58 and we're going to look at the last two verses of this chapter, 04:01 Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verses 13 and 14, 04:04 it says here, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: 04:08 Fear God, and keep His commandments: 04:11 for this is the whole duty of man. 04:13 For God... " verse 14, 04:15 "shall bring every work into judgment, 04:18 with every secret thing... " 04:20 hmmm... 04:21 "whether it be good, or whether it be evil. " 04:24 So, good or evil... secret or not... 04:27 known or unknown... 04:28 God is going to bring everything into judgment... 04:30 this is the message that we've been seeing here 04:33 in the Bible... in the Old Testament now... 04:35 in the New Testament in the previous verses 04:37 and again this message is part of the everlasting gospel... 04:42 it's good news... and we're going to understand why 04:45 in a few moments 04:46 but 1st Peter chapter 4 and verse 17 verifies 04:51 that this is indeed good news. 04:53 1st Peter chapter 4 and verse 17, 04:56 notice what it says here, 04:58 "The time has come 04:59 that judgment must begin at the house of God: 05:02 and if it first begins at us, 05:05 what shall be the end of them 05:07 that obey not the gospel of God?" 05:09 So, you see that how Peter is... is communicating here... 05:12 he's... he's lining up the gospel with judgment. 05:16 He's saying judgment begins at the house of God 05:20 and if it begins with us, 05:21 what will happen to others who don't obey the gospel? 05:24 Judgment and the gospel go hand in hand 05:26 and we want to understand why judgment and the gospel 05:29 go hand in hand 05:31 because this is God's last message to the world. 05:33 Revelation chapter 14 makes it very clear 05:36 that this everlasting gospel 05:37 is a call into the hour of His judgment. 05:42 It's a judgment-hour message... a judgment-hour call... 05:45 Revelation 14 verses 6 and 7 05:47 and this message has to go to every nation... 05:49 every kindred... every tongue... to every single person. 05:52 So, why is this good news? 05:55 Why is the hour of God's judgment 05:58 connected with the gospel? 06:00 Well, first of all... in our first presentation, 06:03 we noted that God calls us to judgment 06:08 in order for us to stop judging one another. 06:11 That's really good news. 06:13 We looked at that in Romans chapter 14, 06:15 if you remember, Romans chapter 14... 06:18 it talks there... beginning with verse 10 06:20 about the importance of remembering 06:23 that we are going to be standing 06:25 before the judgment seat of Christ. 06:27 Let's just look at those verses again... 06:28 and again, right now, we're just reviewing 06:30 what we've already covered in the last couple of meetings, 06:33 we're just reviewing the reasons for the judgment... 06:36 the Biblical foundation for the judgment 06:39 and how the judgment is connected to the gospel... 06:42 how the judgment is good news. 06:44 So, Romans chapter 14 makes this very, very clear. 06:48 The good news of the judgment 06:50 is that we can stop judging one another. 06:52 Notice what Paul says here in Romans 14 06:54 beginning with verse 10, 06:56 "But why do you judge your brother? 06:58 or why do you set at naught your brother? 07:00 we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 07:03 For as I live... " going on to verse 11, 07:06 "says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me 07:09 and every tongue shall confess to God. 07:11 So then... " verse 12... 07:14 "every one of us shall give an account of himself 07:17 to God... " 07:19 verse 13... "Let us therefore... " 07:21 since there's an hour of judgment... 07:23 since we're all going to stand 07:24 before the judgment seat of Christ... since... 07:26 since God has a judgment that He's going to bring 07:28 everyone into account for everything they've done, 07:30 good or evil... every secret thing... 07:32 everything known... everything unknown... 07:33 since God has an hour of judgment, 07:35 so then, "Let us not therefore judge one another any more... " 07:40 good news isn't it? 07:42 No more judging people... 07:43 no more judging one another because God is the judge. 07:46 This is what David experienced with Saul 07:48 who was trying to kill him. 07:50 David had an opportunity to take Saul's life 07:53 and it would have been probably in self-defense... 07:55 I mean the king was trying to kill him, 07:56 of course, in self-defense he could defend himself and say, 08:00 "Hey, I... I was justified... I could have killed... 08:02 I... I had to kill the king 08:03 because he was trying to kill me... " but he didn't... 08:05 and he... and he stayed his men from killing Saul... 08:08 this is... this is the narrative that we find 08:10 in the life of David who... 08:11 who... who was a type of Christ... the son of David 08:15 and in the life of David, 08:16 we find David calling out to Saul 08:19 after he gets out of the cave where he could have killed Saul 08:20 calling out to Saul 08:22 and saying, "The Lord judge between me and you 08:24 and the Lord avenge me of you 08:25 but I'm not going to lay my hand against you... " 08:28 and, of course, this is the experience that we find 08:30 all through the New Testament with God's people 08:32 who were martyrs for the truth... martyrs for Christ 08:35 and Christ Himself has given us this example 08:38 and Revelation invites us to follow the Lamb 08:41 wherever he goes... to be like Jesus... 08:43 to stand without fault before the throne... 08:45 without guile in our mouths, Revelation chapter 14 08:48 and verses 4 and 5, 08:50 so, here we find Paul calling us 08:52 not only to stop judging others 08:54 but then he goes on to say, "But judge this rather... " 08:58 okay, there is a judgment we need to make 08:59 and here's the judgement, 09:01 "that no man put a stumbling block 09:03 or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. " 09:06 So, rather than judging people, 09:08 we should try not to be a stumbling block to people. 09:11 We should try our very best 09:13 to not cause people to stumble over our hypocrisy 09:16 or our lack of Christlikeness or over our patience... 09:18 whatever it is... 09:20 we should try to cause people not to stumble over 09:23 our lack of Christian experience... 09:25 our lack of Christian witness 09:27 so, one of the biggest problems I believe 09:29 in human nature in general 09:32 and even in Christianity... 09:34 and specific is that we are prone to judge... 09:37 it's a natural tendency that we have. 09:38 We are prone to judge others 09:40 and the good news of the gospel calls us not to do this. 09:43 but there's no way that we can stop judging people 09:45 especially bad people and wicked people... 09:47 there's no way that we can stop judging unfair and... and wrong 09:51 unless we recognize 09:54 that we are in the hour of God's judgment... 09:56 that God is going to call everyone into account... 09:59 that God is going to take care of all of the bad 10:02 and all of the evil and all of the wrong 10:04 and all of the injustice... 10:06 God is going to take care of that. 10:07 If we understand that, 10:08 then we don't have to revenge ourselves. 10:12 In... in Romans chapter 12 Paul talks about this... 10:15 just back over the page here, 10:16 Paul talks about this in a powerful way... 10:18 he says in Romans chapter 12 verse 19, 10:22 "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, 10:24 but rather give place unto wrath: 10:27 for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine; 10:28 says the Lord, I will repay... ' says the Lord. 10:31 'Therefore, if your enemy hunger, feed him; 10:34 if he... your enemy thirsts, give him drink: 10:37 for in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head. 10:40 Be not overcome... '" verse 21 of Romans chapter 12, 10:43 "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. " 10:46 This is the calling... 10:47 the high calling that Paul is putting forth here 10:50 in the context of the judgment-hour message 10:53 and so, this is why the judgment-hour message 10:54 is good news. 10:56 Now, another reason why it's good news 10:57 that we looked at in our last presentation 10:59 is because the judgment hour is a call for God... not us... 11:04 for God to expose false believers. 11:09 We looked a verse in Matthew chapter 7, if you remember, 11:12 Matthew chapter 7 beginning with verse 21... 11:15 a powerful verse that is difficult for some of us 11:20 to even read because it cuts to the heart... 11:23 it talks about people who are believers in Christ 11:26 but who have not had a relationship with Christ. 11:29 They're workers of iniquity. 11:31 Jesus, in Matthew chapter 7, beginning with verse 21 says, 11:34 "It's not every one that says unto me, 11:37 'Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; 11:40 but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 11:43 Many will say to me in that day, 11:45 Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? 11:48 and in Thy name cast out devils? 11:50 and in Thy name done many wonderful works?' 11:51 And then I will profess unto them, 11:54 I never knew you: 11:56 depart from me, ye that work iniquity. " 12:00 Now remember, we can't judge... only Christ can judge 12:03 but Christ is going to expose false believers... 12:06 "by their fruits... " He says, "ye shall know them... " 12:09 and... and Christ wants us 12:12 not to be part of this group of people... 12:15 these workers of iniquity 12:16 and we looked at this yesterday and we understood that 12:19 the word "iniquity" means to transgress God's law... 12:21 transgressors of the law of God... 12:23 the Ten-Commandment-law of God 12:24 and we went into detail as to how the law of God 12:27 is the foundation of the gospel 12:30 because the law of God identifies sin 12:32 and sin being the transgression of the law of God 12:34 is the thing that God wants us to confess to Him... 12:37 to get rid of... if we confess our sins, 12:39 He's faithful and just to forgive of our sins 12:41 and cleanse us from all unrighteousness 12:44 and so, Satan is trying to deceive us 12:45 by... by removing the identification of sin 12:48 because if we don't know what sin is, 12:50 we're not going to confess it. 12:51 We're not going to confess something 12:52 that we're unaware of... that we don't know 12:54 and so, he removes 12:56 that which identifies sin... the law of God. 12:58 Some Christians have cast it aside because they say, 13:00 "It was nailed to the cross... " 13:02 others have changed it... 13:03 others keep some of it not all of it... 13:05 there's many ways that Satan is trying to deceive the world 13:08 by removing the great standard 13:10 by which we will be judged in the judgment 13:13 and so, we need to look at this in more detail today 13:15 because we're going to find... 13:17 this leads us to our next understanding 13:20 of the good news of the gospel 13:22 which is the one we want to focus on right now 13:23 and that one is 13:25 that the reason why God has an hour of judgment 13:27 is because He wants to silence the accuser of the brethren... 13:31 silence the accuser of the brethren 13:33 and we're going to look at this in Revelation chapter 12 13:37 and verse 10, 13:38 Revelation chapter 12 and verse 10... 13:40 Revelation chapter 12 is one of my favorite chapters 13:42 of the Bible... 13:44 it explains to us a great controversy that's taking place 13:47 between good and evil... between light and darkness. 13:49 It's a great controversy... a war if you will 13:51 that began in heaven 13:53 and we're going to get into more detail of that 13:54 in just a minute 13:56 but Revelation 12 verse 10 identifies an accuser. 13:58 Revelation 12 verse 10 says this: 14:00 "And I heard a loud voice in heaven, 14:03 saying, 'Now is come salvation, strength, 14:07 and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: 14:09 for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, 14:13 which accused them before God day and night. '" 14:18 Day and night... can you imagine, 14:20 we have an accuser that... 14:21 that works 24/7... seven days a week... 14:24 365 days a year... he never takes a break... 14:27 he is continually accusing us... 14:28 when we're awake... when we're asleep... 14:30 no matter what we're doing, no matter where we're going, 14:32 we can even be in church 14:33 and we can hear that accusing voice... 14:35 I know you must be familiar with it... 14:36 that accusing voice... 14:38 you know when the law comes and it lays us flat... 14:40 when we are convicted of our guilt, 14:43 then the accuser steps in 14:44 and he tries to push us over the edge. 14:46 You know, the law of God leads us to Jesus 14:48 so we can be cleansed from that sin 14:49 but Satan tries to tell us, "No, no, no, no... 14:52 it's no use for you to go to Jesus... 14:53 you're done... you've gone too far... 14:54 you've done too much bad... there's no way you can be saved" 14:57 that's the accusing voice... 14:58 that's the accuser of the brethren... 15:00 he's trying to stop us from receiving from Christ 15:03 the gift of salvation once you've been convicted 15:06 of our sins 15:07 and he's accusing us day and night. 15:09 Sometimes you'll be sleeping and you wake up 15:10 and you have this terrible dream... this nightmare... 15:12 you... you... you believe... you think... 15:14 you're led to believe that maybe you're lost, 15:16 maybe there's no hope for you... 15:18 you're too bad... you're too evil... 15:19 you've gone too far 15:21 and this is the accusing voice of the devil. 15:22 It's not God that is communicating this to you, 15:25 it's not the Holy Spirit that's communicating this to you, 15:27 it is the devil... the accuser of the brethren 15:29 that's communicating this to you. 15:31 We see this same truth revealed in the Old Testament. 15:34 We're going to look in the Old Testament book of Zechariah, 15:37 Zechariah chapter 3, 15:39 now, Zechariah is kind of a hard book to find 15:41 but if you go to the book of Matthew 15:42 which is the first book of the New Testament 15:45 and just go back two books from Matthew... 15:47 just go back two books... 15:48 Malachi... Zechariah... 15:50 Zechariah chapter 3 and verse 1... 15:53 same picture that we're seeing here in Revelation. 15:56 Now, I just want to put in a little point right here. 15:59 The book of Revelation... it's a hard book... 16:01 it's a symbolic book... it's difficult... 16:02 a lot of people don't like the book of Revelation. 16:04 It happens to be my favorite book of the Bible. 16:06 The book of Revelation is just a... a... 16:08 a summary of the entire Bible. 16:11 All the Bible meets and ends in the book of Revelation 16:13 so, when you read a verse in the book of Revelation, 16:16 just go to the rest of the Bible 16:18 and you will find it expounded upon 16:19 just like the everlasting gospel 16:20 or the hour of God's judgment. 16:22 We go back to all of the New and the Old Testament... 16:25 we find these praises expounded upon, 16:27 we're going to see the same thing here 16:29 in Revelation 12 verse 10. 16:30 The accuser of the brethren who accuses us day and night 16:33 is identified in Zechariah chapter 3 and other places... 16:36 but we'll look here in Zechariah 3 first. 16:37 Zechariah chapter 3... and we're going to begin with verse 1, 16:42 "And he shewed me Joshua the high priest 16:44 standing before the angel of the LORD, 16:47 and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. " 16:51 Now, Joshua was clothed... verse 3... 16:54 I'm just skipping down here to verse 3, 16:57 "Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, 16:59 and stood before the angel. " 17:01 So, you have this picture of Joshua 17:03 standing before the angel... that is the heavenly court... 17:06 that is the heavenly representative 17:07 and then you have a picture of Satan resisting... 17:10 Joshua represents us 17:12 and Satan represents the accuser, 17:14 of course, that's what the word Satan means... 17:16 it means: the accuser... 17:17 that's what the actual word "Satan" means... 17:19 the accuser... to accuse... 17:20 and... and you have Joshua in verse 3, 17:23 you have Joshua clothed in filthy garments... 17:24 no wonder he's being accused. 17:26 He's standing before the angel in filthy garments. 17:29 This is the picture that we find all through the Bible 17:33 of our condition. 17:34 The Bible doesn't paint a pretty picture of us as human beings. 17:38 In fact, let's look at a couple of other verses. 17:40 The first one we're going to look at is in Romans chapter 3, 17:44 now, we'll come back to Zechariah, 17:46 so, if you want to... you can just... 17:47 I'm just going to put a Bible mark right here, 17:49 you can put a Bible mark in Zechariah 17:51 because we'll come back to Zechariah. 17:53 I want you to go to Romans chapter 3 17:55 where Paul expounds upon our condition 17:58 and again, this connects with Revelation 12:10 18:00 because Revelation 12:10 basically says 18:02 that we're being accused day and night. 18:04 You're thinking, "What are we being accused of?" 18:06 Well, we're being accused of of the fact... 18:08 Romans chapter 3 beginning with verse 10 18:11 that "As it is written... " Paul says, 18:13 "there's non-righteous, no, not one. " 18:16 Verse 11, "There is none that understandeth, 18:19 there is none that seeketh after God. " 18:22 Verse 12, "They are all gone out of the way. " 18:26 So, what we need to recognize here is... this is our condition 18:30 there's no one that's righteous... 18:31 not one single person is righteous. 18:32 There's no one that's seeking after God... 18:34 there's no one that understands. 18:35 You say, "Well, wait a minute, you know, 18:37 I understand, I mean, I understand the Bible, 18:38 I mean... I'm a Bible student, 18:40 I've been a Christian all of my life, 18:41 you know, I'm a Pastor's kid... " 18:42 or, "I'm a Pastor... " 18:44 or "I'm a Theologian... I understand. " 18:46 Well, Paul here is making a direct statement 18:49 about our fallen human condition. 18:51 It doesn't matter how wise you are... 18:53 it doesn't matter how... how many degrees you have... 18:56 it doesn't matter what your background and pedigree is, 18:58 it doesn't matter where you came from... 19:00 it doesn't matter what you do, 19:01 it doesn't matter what you profess... 19:02 it doesn't matter... all the works... 19:04 the good stuff that you can do doesn't matter... 19:06 our condition is that we are sinners and lost... 19:09 sinners and lost. 19:11 Isaiah brings the same point out, 19:12 I want you to look at this verse in Isaiah, 19:15 it's Isaiah chapter 64 and we look at verse 6, 19:18 Isaiah 64 and verse 6, 19:19 so, same condition in the New Testament... 19:21 same condition in the Old Testament... 19:24 Isaiah 64 and verse 6 19:25 identifies the same thing that we see Paul identifying 19:29 in Romans chapter 3, 19:31 Isaiah 64 and verse 6, notice what Isaiah says here 19:35 in 64 and verse 6. 19:37 "And we all as an unclean thing... " 19:40 excuse me... "But we are all as an unclean thing, 19:44 and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags... 19:48 we all do fade as a leaf; 19:50 and our iniquities, like the wind, 19:53 have taken us away. " 19:55 So... so you see here the same basic truth in the Old Testament 19:59 as we find in the New Testament. 20:01 In fact, going back to Romans chapter 3, 20:04 you find Paul summarizing our condition 20:06 by saying in Romans chapter 3 and verse 23, 20:09 "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God 20:15 and that's what sin is... 20:17 we've identified sin as transgression of the law... 20:19 it... it is identified here in the same way, 20:21 you say, "Wait a minute, sin here is identified as 20:24 falling short of the glory of God... " 20:26 well, the glory of God is His character 20:28 and the law is a transcript of His character. 20:30 God is love... that's what the Bible tells us 20:32 in 1st John 4 and verse 8, 20:35 God is love... and His law... Matthew chapter 22 20:39 verses 36 through 40... 20:40 His law is a law of love. 20:42 The law of God is a transcript of His character... 20:45 the character of love 20:46 and God's law is given to us as a law of love 20:50 and so, to fall short of God's glory 20:53 is to fall short of His love... 20:54 to fall short of His law... it's the same thing, 20:56 basically, it's the same thing 20:58 and so, what we have here is a definition of sin 21:01 that complements the same definition that we read 21:05 in our last presentation. 21:07 "All have sinned... " broken God's law... 21:10 and come short of His glory... His character of love 21:13 and so, here we have our condition. 21:17 In Isaiah chapter 64... in Romans chapter 3... 21:21 our condition is: unrighteousness... 21:23 our condition is: not understanding... 21:25 our condition is: not seeking after God... 21:27 our condition is: we're all sinners... 21:29 we all fall short of the glory of God 21:32 and then Paul goes on in his famous verse 21:34 in Romans chapter 3... 21:36 also chapter 6 verse 23 to say, 21:38 "And the wages of sin is death... " 21:40 that's our situation 21:42 and so we have an accuser that reminds us of this all the time. 21:45 We have an accuser that reminds us of how sinful we are... 21:48 how fallen we are... 21:50 even when we do our very best, he brings to our attention 21:53 those areas where we fail... 21:54 those areas where we fall short... 21:56 he reminds us of our history... 21:58 he reminds us of our past. 22:00 He does everything he can 22:01 to cause us to feel overwhelmed with guilt and with shame. 22:04 Now, of course, the law brings us conviction 22:07 but it doesn't try to push us over the edge 22:09 like Satan is doing here in Revelation chapter 12 verse 10 22:14 and in Zechariah chapter 3. 22:15 Now, we want to go back to Zechariah chapter 3 22:18 because we haven't looked at the good news yet. 22:20 There's some good news in the context 22:21 of this judgment-hour message 22:23 and the good news is that we have a Savior, 22:26 we have a Mediator... we have an Advocate... 22:29 we have a Defender... 22:31 let's just look at it here in Zechariah chapter 3 again, 22:34 "He showed me Joshua the High Priest 22:35 standing before the angel of the Lord, 22:37 and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him... 22:38 and the Lord... " verse 2... 22:41 "The Lord said unto Satan... 22:43 'The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; 22:46 even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: 22:49 is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?'" 22:53 Yes, that's what we are... 22:54 we're brands plucked out of the fire... 22:56 we're... we're in the burning... we're in the fire... 22:58 we're experiencing the wrath of God 22:59 in a very real sense in our lives. 23:00 Sin has... has brought us to this place of desolation... 23:05 we've made the choice to turn away from God 23:07 and it has brought us suffering and pain and evil and iniquity 23:10 and sometimes we want to point the finger at God. 23:12 Adam tried to do that when he pointed at Eve 23:14 because, you know, God made Eve for Adam 23:16 and "she's the one that led me into sin... " 23:17 and Eve tried to do that when she pointed to the serpent 23:19 and said, "Well, you know, God made the serpent... " 23:21 and so, we really they're pointing their finger at God 23:23 and many times we want to in every way, shape and form 23:26 we want to blame God 23:27 for all of this evil that we're experiencing 23:29 because of our choices 23:30 and because of the choices of other human beings. 23:33 We've made the choice to go in this direction... 23:36 God never intended that we would experience pain and evil 23:40 and suffering. 23:41 God never intended... and so, He is plucking us 23:44 like brands out of the fire. 23:46 I was plucked 36 years ago, 23:47 I was plucked out of the fire... burning brand... 23:50 plucked out of the fire of... of destruction... 23:53 of wrath of evil of darkness of iniquity 23:55 and God embraced me in His... 23:57 in His forgiving arms of love 23:59 and justified me in Jesus Christ 24:02 and now we see the same picture in the New Testament, 24:04 it's a beautiful picture that we find in 1st John chapter 2. 24:08 Now, in our last session we looked at 1st John chapter 1, 24:11 we're going to look now at 1st John chapter 2 24:14 and we're going to look at a couple of verses here 24:17 and we're going to look at a couple of translations... 24:20 1st John chapter 2 beginning with verse 1, 24:22 "My little children, these things I write unto you, 24:25 that you sin not. " 24:27 God doesn't want us to sin, 24:28 let's just pause there for a second, 24:30 God does not want us to sin, 24:31 He doesn't want us to break His law. 24:32 Why not? 24:34 Well, primarily because when we transgress God's law, 24:37 that leads us to experience things that are hurtful... 24:40 that are painful... that are wrong. 24:41 It leads us to do wrong things to others 24:43 and we may say, "Well... 24:45 making other people suffer doesn't make me suffer... " 24:47 but it actually does. 24:48 We... we... if our consciousness is to help in any way... 24:52 we suffer when we cause other people to suffer 24:55 and other people, of course, suffer too. 24:57 So, he doesn't want us to see... 24:59 he doesn't want us to experience the results... the effects 25:01 of a loveless life 25:03 because sin is transgression of God's law of love. 25:05 He doesn't want us to experience that 25:07 and if... so He says, "My children, 25:08 I'm reminding you that you would not sin 25:10 but if any man sin, 25:11 we have an advocate with the Father... 25:14 Jesus Christ the righteous One. " 25:16 I love the way the NIV says this, 25:19 "My little children, 25:20 I write this to you so you will not sin. 25:23 But if anyone does sin, 25:25 we have One who speaks to the Father in our defense... 25:29 Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. " 25:31 One... He speaks to the Father in our defense. 25:33 I love that, don't you? 25:34 He speaks to the Father in our defense. 25:35 Now, don't misunderstand that... 25:37 when it says, "He speaks to the Father in our defense... " 25:40 it's not saying that because God is against us 25:43 and Jesus for us 25:44 and Jesus is trying to persuade the Father to love us 25:46 because the Father's kind of not sure if He loves us... 25:49 no... don't misunderstand that. 25:51 We've already established from the New Testament 25:53 and from the Old Testament 25:55 that we have an accuser 25:57 and that accuser is not God... that accuser is Satan. 25:59 Satan is the accuser of the brethren. 26:01 Satan is the one that's accusing us before God day and night 26:03 so, when Jesus comes to speak in our defense... 26:06 as it's outlined in Zechariah chapter 3, 26:08 Jesus is defending us from the accusations of Satan... 26:12 not from God. 26:13 Jesus is defending us from the accuser 26:15 who accuses us before God day and night. 26:18 That spiritual being... he's throwing his darts at us 26:21 and seeking to overwhelm us with our failures 26:25 and remember, we are unrighteous, 26:27 there's none of us that is seeking after God 26:28 and so, God is in earnest with us, 26:31 "I don't want you to sin because that just gives Satan more ammo 26:34 and... and... and Satan will take that ammo 26:36 and he'll throw it at you 26:37 and as he throws it at you, he is, in a sense, 26:39 because I see all things... I know all things... 26:41 I take note of all things... I write down all things... 26:43 I remember everything you do... and everything... " 26:44 God has a record of all of our deeds 26:46 and as He does that, Satan says, 26:47 "Hey, see, look... you got the... 26:49 look what he did here, look what he did here... 26:50 look what he did here... " 26:52 and so, Satan is accusing us in this way before God 26:55 day and night 26:57 and we need to be aware of who the... the... the one is 27:02 that Jesus is defending us from, it's not God. 27:04 In fact, look at a couple of Bible verses with me, 27:07 one of them is the most precious verse in the Bible, 27:09 it's John chapter 3 and verse 16 27:10 and it says, "For God so loved the world, 27:13 that He gave His only begotten Son... " 27:15 now, that doesn't... that doesn't in any way 27:18 intimate that God needs to be persuaded by Christ 27:23 to love us... does it? 27:25 I don't think so. It doesn't say that... 27:27 that God so loved the world 27:29 because He gave His begotten Son... 27:30 it says, God so loved the world 27:32 that He gave His begotten Son... His only begotten Son. 27:34 It was because God loved us that He gave His Son, 27:38 God loved us before Jesus died for us... 27:40 God loved us... 27:42 and that's what caused God to give His Son for us 27:43 but God loves us... God loves us 27:45 and Jesus is very clear on this. 27:46 He is not defending us from God's accusations... 27:50 the Father's accusations... 27:52 Jesus is defending us from the devil's accusations. 27:54 Look at a couple of more verses with me... 27:56 the next one we're going to look at 27:58 is in John chapter 14 and verse 9, 28:00 John chapter 14 and verse 9. 28:03 Jesus is speaking to His disciples 28:06 and, you know, they're kind of struggling a little bit, 28:08 you know, Jesus just told them, 28:10 "I am the way... the truth and the life... 28:11 no man comes to the Father, but by Me. " 28:12 In other words, "I'm the... 28:14 I'm the one that reveals who the Father really is... 28:16 you can't understand who the Father is, 28:17 unless you come through me 28:19 because I've come to reveal Him... 28:20 I've come to show you who He really is... " 28:22 and He goes on here to say, "If you'd known me, 28:25 you would have known the Father also... " 28:26 and then in verse 8, Philip says, 28:29 "Well, show us the Father and it's sufficient for us... " 28:31 and here is the key verse, verse 9, 28:33 "And Jesus said unto him, 28:34 'Have I been so long with you, 28:36 and yet you have not known Me, Philip? 28:39 he that has seen Me has seen the Father; 28:42 and how then will you say, 28:45 "Show us the Father?"'" 28:47 See, if you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. 28:49 So... so when we see Jesus Christ as Mediator, 28:52 we're seeing the Father. 28:53 When we see Jesus Christ as Advocate, 28:54 we're seeing the Father. 28:56 When we see Jesus Christ defending us, 28:57 we're seeing the Father. 28:58 So He can't be defending us from the Father 29:00 if we're seeing the Father... you see that? 29:02 He's not defending us from the Father, 29:04 He's defending us from the Accuser. 29:06 Let's look at another verse. 29:08 John chapter 16 and verse 27, 29:10 just over a couple of pages in your Bible... 29:13 John chapter 16 and verse 27... 29:16 and this one is crystal clear, 29:19 John 16 and verse 27, 29:20 "For the Father Himself loves you... " 29:23 wooh... "The Father Himself loves you 29:26 because you've loved Me, and believed 29:29 that I came out from God. " 29:31 John chapter 16 and verse 27, God loves us. 29:35 God loves us... that's clear 29:36 so, we see here that the accusations 29:39 are coming from Satan against us 29:42 and Jesus is defending us before the Father, 29:44 not from the Father but before the Father, 29:47 why? Because God is fair... God is just... 29:49 God is righteous 29:50 and he's not just going to pretend 29:52 He doesn't hear those accusations, 29:53 He hears them and they're... and they're legit. 29:55 They're legit because we're... none of us are righteous... 29:57 all of us have gone our own way... 29:59 none of us understands... 30:01 none of us are seeking after God... 30:02 all of our righteousness is as filthy rags, 30:04 you say, "Even as a Christian?" 30:05 I would say, "Yes, even as a Christian. " 30:07 We need... we must have the merit of Jesus Christ 30:10 to cover even our obedience. 30:12 Why? Because many times our obedience 30:14 has a wrong motivation 30:15 and we don't always see that. 30:17 You can see the best of men... Daniel for example... 30:20 well, he was a man who stood perfect... 30:23 blameless before his enemies 30:25 and he was in politics... think about that. 30:27 He was in politics 30:29 and he stood blameless before his enemies. 30:32 If Daniel were a Republican today, 30:34 there's no way that he could stand blameless. 30:36 Well, actually maybe that's kind of the scenario he was in 30:40 because... because they tried to get 30:42 anything they could against him and they couldn't get a thing. 30:44 So, Republican... Democrat... didn't matter... 30:47 we live in a time and an age 30:49 when politics is dirty dirty 30:50 and I think, Daniel lived in the same type of environment. 30:53 In fact, finally they crafted a law 30:56 that would find him guilty of praying to God. 31:00 Can you imagine being guilty... 31:02 being condemned for praying to God? 31:05 That's the law that they crafted to find some stuff on Daniel... 31:08 to get some dirt on Daniel. 31:10 Now, Daniel himself... blameless before his enemies... 31:13 they craft a law to convict him 31:15 of being guilty of praying to God. 31:17 Daniel himself... when he saw Christ... 31:20 when he saw glory... he fell on his face 31:23 as if he were dead... Daniel chapter 10 31:26 and he said, "My comeliness... my goodness... 31:28 my righteousness... 31:29 it turned into corruption in me 31:31 and I retained no strength. " 31:32 That was a blameless man. 31:33 There is none of us that are righteous... no not one... 31:36 there's none of us that can stand before God... 31:38 all of our righteousness is... are as filthy rags. 31:41 We must have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 31:44 So, in the judgment, Jesus is defending us 31:48 from the accusations of Satan. 31:50 Jesus is defending us from the accusations of Satan 31:52 and God is fair 31:54 and God allows those accusations to come forth 31:56 because He wants to deal with them. 31:57 He wants to deal with Satan... 31:59 He wants to deal with his accusations 32:00 and the only way God can do that 32:01 is through the righteousness of Jesus Christ 32:03 and that's what we need to look at now. 32:04 We need to understand 32:06 what the accusations Satan have to do with the judgment. 32:08 What... 32:10 what did those accusations have to do with the judgment? 32:12 See, in this great controversy that began in heaven, 32:15 Revelation chapter 12 tells us, 32:17 Satan as an angel of God began to insinuate 32:22 that the angels of heaven were pure and holy and righteous 32:26 and they didn't need a law 32:28 and they definitely didn't need to be under 32:29 some kind of obedience. 32:31 Now, I don't believe that any of the angels 32:33 really felt that they were under a law, 32:34 I mean, the law of love... once you fall into that 32:38 you realize that it's just a natural thing. 32:40 This is the way we were created to be in 32:42 and most of the angels probably felt that way 32:44 until Lucifer started insinuating... 32:47 trafficking his iniquities, that's what the Bible says. 32:50 In Ezekiel chapter 28, 32:52 he was trafficking his iniquities... 32:53 exalting himself... Isaiah 14:12 through 14, 32:56 wanted to be in the place of God... 32:58 I... I... I... I... 33:00 we live in a time of "I"... iPhones... iMaga... 33:03 I... I... I... I... I... 33:04 and Satan did this... he sought to undermine 33:09 the principles of God's Government. 33:11 The principles of God's government 33:13 that are based upon His law 33:14 which is the transcript of His character... 33:15 he was undermining God himself. 33:18 For wanting to exalt himself 33:21 is a very attack on the law of God 33:23 because it's an attack on the character of God. 33:25 God is a God of selflessness... 33:27 His law of love is a law of selflessness, 33:31 it's a law of other-centeredness. 33:32 It's a law of you not I 33:34 and Satan attacked that law 33:36 because he attacked the character of God 33:38 and sought to undermine the principles of God's government, 33:41 undermine the principles of other-centered love 33:43 and as this battle took place in heaven, there was war. 33:47 Revelation chapter 12 tell us about this war, 33:50 Revelation chapter 12 33:51 and we'll start here with verse 7, 33:53 Revelation 12 verse 7, 33:55 "And there was war in heaven; 33:57 and Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; 34:00 and the dragon fought and his angels. " 34:02 Who's this dragon? 34:03 Verse 8, "And prevailed not; 34:05 neither was their place found any more in heaven. 34:08 And the great dragon was cast out, 34:10 that old serpent, called the Devil... " 34:12 that's who the dragon is... the Devil... 34:14 "and Satan... " there it is... 34:16 which deceives the whole world... " 34:17 "he was cast out into the earth, 34:19 and his angels were cast out with him. " 34:21 Okay, so here we have the beginning of the war. 34:23 The conflict came to this earth 34:26 only because Adam and Eve chose 34:28 to believe the lies of the Devil. 34:31 When the serpent... 34:32 the Devil under the guise of a speaking serpent 34:35 came to Eve in the Garden of Eden 34:37 and encouraged her to partake of the Tree of Good and Evil 34:41 which God told her not to partake of... 34:42 he did his by insinuating 34:45 that God was withholding something from her. 34:47 "Oh He knows... " Satan said to... 34:49 the serpent said to Eve... 34:50 "He knows... when you eat this fruit, 34:51 you're going to be just like Him, 34:53 you don't have to heed Him anymore, 34:54 you're going to be just like God knowing good and evil, 34:55 He's trying to withhold that from you. " 34:57 You see, he was again painting God as selfish... 34:59 not selfless love but selfish 35:01 and therefore the same attack he made against God in heaven, 35:04 he now makes against God on earth 35:06 and that's why Revelation says that he was cast into the earth. 35:09 It wasn't that God made the earth a dumping place for Satan, 35:12 no, no, no, no, 35:13 it was because Adam and Eve who were Vice-regents of... of God 35:16 who were put in charge of the earth... 35:18 given dominion of this earth 35:20 Adam... given dominion over everything on this earth 35:24 and Eve as his helpmeet... 35:26 it was because they listened to the lies of Satan 35:28 and therefore, they gave the control of this earth to Satan 35:32 by submitting to him 35:34 and believing his lies against God 35:36 believing that God was withholding something from them 35:39 that would have made them like Him 35:42 knowing good and evil... 35:43 like God... knowing good and evil. 35:44 So, this great dragon is cast into this earth 35:47 and the controversy takes place here 35:49 and, of course, Satan was cast out of heaven 35:51 and so, he expects Adam and Eve to be cast out and be lost 35:54 and as... you know... 35:56 as Adam and Eve have broken His law... 35:58 they've violated His law, they stole from that tree, 36:00 they'd eaten of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil 36:03 and... and it was... it was amazing to Satan 36:08 that God 36:10 put together a plan to save us. 36:12 I mean, God had one or two options... 36:14 He could allow mankind to experience the... 36:17 the justice of eternal death 36:20 and sentence them to eternal death for breaking His law 36:24 or, He could do away with His law... 36:27 He could just say, "Well, yeah, 36:28 maybe I just need to do away with this law of love, 36:30 and allow sin and sorrow and death and... 36:32 and evil to reign in this universe... " 36:34 those were the two choices that God had 36:37 and if you could imagine a universe 36:40 that would continue for all eternity 36:42 with sin and evil and pain and suffering 36:44 see, that's not the universe that we live in. 36:46 That's the universe... 36:48 that's the world that we live in right now 36:49 but that's not the universe we live in. 36:50 The universe we live in is not going to be filled 36:52 with any kind of sin or pain or evil or suffering 36:55 for any amount of time after all of this ends 36:58 and this is all going to end very, very soon 37:00 and then we're going to see God reinstate 37:02 His original purpose for mankind 37:04 and we read about that all through the Bible 37:06 and especially in Revelation chapter 21 and 22 37:08 where there's going to be no more pain... no more sorrow... 37:10 no more suffering... no more evil 37:11 and so, God had one of these two choices, 37:13 He couldn't do away with his law... 37:15 that's the very foundation of His Government... 37:17 that's the very foundation of who He is. 37:19 The law of God is the transcript of His character, 37:22 it's His glory and it's a law of love 37:24 so, He had to allow the punishment to come, 37:28 the justice of eternal death to come upon mankind 37:31 but He did this by sending a new Man 37:36 and this is where we pick up in our story 37:39 of the life of Christ. 37:41 Jesus Christ came to this earth as a man 37:44 to take our place 37:45 and the consequence of the punishment that we deserve. 37:48 That's why in John chapter 19 and verse 5, 37:52 Pilate himself... a... a Gentile... 37:54 an unbeliever... a heathen, if you will... 37:56 Pilate Himself looking at Jesus found no fault in Him 37:59 and notice what he says in John chapter 19 verse 5, 38:02 "Then Jesus came forth, wearing a crown of thorns, 38:05 and the purple robe, 38:07 and Pilate said unto them, 'Behold the man!'" 38:11 behold the man! 38:12 Those were semi-inspired words 38:15 because Jesus became the second man... 38:19 the second Adam if you will, 38:20 the second head of the human race. 38:22 Paul picks this up in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 38:26 and verse 47, 38:27 1st Corinthians 15 and verse 47. 38:29 Paul picks this same theme up 38:31 when he talks about Jesus Christ 38:33 and compares Him to Adam... the first Adam. 38:36 1st Corinthians 15:47, he says, 38:38 "The first man was of the earth, earthy... " 38:41 that's talking about Adam... 38:42 "the second man is the Lord of heaven... " 38:45 and the word "Adam" means man... 38:47 it's... it's... it's representative of mankind. 38:49 In fact, the point that Paul is making here is... 38:51 first man Adam... 38:53 in him was the entire human race 38:54 and now we have the second man, Jesus Christ... the second Adam 38:58 and in Him is the entire human race 39:00 and you might say, 39:02 "Well, I can't get my mind around that... " 39:03 well, the way it works is simple. 39:05 Every single one of us can trace our lineage back to Adam. 39:08 Adam and Eve were the first human parents 39:10 and every one of us came from them. 39:13 The Bible says... in the Old Testament... 39:15 especially in the New Testament, we need to be born again. 39:17 We need to be born in the Spirit and of water... 39:19 we need to be born again 39:21 and that "born again" experience 39:22 puts us in Christ. 39:23 Right now, we're in Adam... the first Adam... 39:26 we need to be put in Christ 39:28 and when we're in Adam, 39:29 we receive from him 39:30 the consequences of his sins. 39:32 We're born as sinners 39:33 and we have this tendency to go forth 39:35 in rebellion against God 39:37 but when we're in the second Adam, 39:38 we receive from Him His tendencies 39:40 and the second Adam didn't sin. 39:41 The second Adam was not disobedient to God. 39:44 The second Adam lived a life of purity and holiness 39:46 and righteousness 39:48 and we receive that from Him as a gift 39:49 and that motivates us 39:51 to live a completely different life 39:53 than the life we have in the first Adam 39:55 and that's where we are. 39:56 Each human being is in that place of choice, 39:59 are we going to choose to be the first 40:01 or in the second Adam? 40:02 Are we going to choose our natural inclinations 40:04 that we received from the first Adam 40:06 or are we going to choose the supernatural inclinations 40:08 that we receive from the second Adam. 40:11 So, God basically presents Jesus Christ 40:14 as the sacrifice for our sins. 40:17 God basically says, 40:18 "Okay, mankind has to pay the consequence of this 40:21 and I'm going to... I'm going to allow mankind 40:23 to pay the consequence of this in myself... 40:26 I'm going to come... 40:27 because Jesus Christ is God... 40:29 I'm going to come... 40:30 and I am going to receive the consequences myself 40:32 and therefore satisfy my justice 40:35 so that I can be merciful. " 40:37 This is brought out very clearly 40:39 in the context of Romans chapter 3 40:40 where Paul just expounds upon this gospel truth. 40:44 Romans chapter 3... 40:45 and we'll begin here with verse 25. 40:47 Romans chapter 3 and verse 25. 40:49 "Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation 40:53 through faith in His blood. " 40:54 I'm going to read this from the NIV. 40:56 "God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement 40:59 through faith in His blood. 41:00 He did this to demonstrate His justice, 41:04 because in His forbearance 41:07 He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. " 41:09 He did it to demonstrate His justice... 41:12 so as to be just... 41:14 and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 41:17 Now, I really like the way the NIV sets this out... 41:20 it's a little clearer than the King James Version. 41:22 In other words, God has to be just 41:24 but He also wants to be merciful 41:26 and He can't just overlook sin 41:28 because then sin would be allowed to continue 41:31 so, sin has to have a penalty that's dealt with... 41:33 it has a consequence which is death 41:35 and so, what He did was, 41:36 He took the consequence upon Himself. 41:38 He came in the Person of Jesus Christ 41:40 and He took upon Himself as a man 41:42 and He took upon Himself our consequence 41:44 and as He took upon Himself our consequence, 41:47 He allowed us to be forgiven. 41:50 He allowed us to be forgiven without violating the principles 41:54 of justice and righteousness... 41:55 without violating the principles of His character... 41:58 He allowed us to be forgiven because 42:00 He received the penalty for our sins 42:03 and that's exactly what Paul was saying here. 42:06 Jesus Christ not only received our penalty, 42:09 He became sin for us 42:10 that we might be counted or... 42:12 we might be the righteousness of God in Him 42:15 and it's truly powerful because when you think about it, 42:17 Jesus did no sin... 42:18 He was holy... He was perfect... He was pure... 42:20 He did no sin 42:21 so, He didn't deserve our consequences. 42:24 If He would have sinned, 42:26 He could have deserved the consequences of sin 42:28 which is death but He didn't... He didn't sin. 42:30 He was perfect... He was holy... He was righteous 42:31 so, He didn't deserve our consequences... 42:33 He received our consequences 42:35 even though He didn't deserve our consequences... 42:37 that means it was accounted to Him 42:38 in the same way we receive His righteousness. 42:42 We haven't lived a holy, pure, unspotted life... 42:45 we have sinned and yet... 42:47 and we don't deserve to be treated as righteous... 42:50 as holy... as pure... 42:52 but we are counted righteous, holy and pure. 42:54 In the same way that Jesus was counted a sinner, 42:56 we are counted righteous 42:58 and this is the great exchange of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 43:02 This is what Paul lived and died for... 43:04 this is what he breathed his life for 43:07 to prepare people 43:10 to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, 43:12 he preached this everywhere he went... 43:14 to the Jews, to the Gentiles, to Felix... 43:15 he talked about judgment to come. 43:17 He talked about how in Psalm 85 verse 10 43:20 that mercy and truth had met together 43:23 and righteousness and peace had kissed each other... 43:25 and... and how everything had come together in the cross. 43:28 When you look at the cross of Calvary, 43:30 you see mercy and justice blended. 43:32 When we look at the cross of Calvary, 43:35 we see justice being meted out to Jesus 43:37 and you see mercy being revealed to us 43:40 and that combination comes together in the cross 43:43 so that God's character is reconciled... 43:45 He can be just and He can be merciful 43:47 when we look at the cross 43:48 and that's exactly what we see at the cross. 43:50 The cross is a manifestation of justice 43:52 and it's a manifestation of mercy at the same time 43:55 and that's why Psalm 85 verse 10 says... 43:57 they've met together... they kissed each other 43:59 and that kissing... that meeting took place in Calvary. 44:03 So, what does this mean to us? 44:04 Well, let's look at John chapter 12 and verse 31 44:08 because I think it explains what we talked about 44:11 in the prophetic reading of Revelation chapter 12 44:14 and verse 10. 44:16 John chapter 12 and verse 31, 44:18 Jesus is going to the cross, 44:21 He's getting ready to go to Calvary here 44:24 and He says in John chapter 12 and verse 31, 44:27 "Now is the judgment of this world; 44:30 now shall the prince of this world be cast out. " 44:33 Remember Revelation chapter 12 says, 44:34 "I heard voices in heaven saying that the prince of... 44:36 that the prince of the world was cast out. " 44:38 It took place at Calvary. 44:39 The prince of this world was cast out at Calvary... 44:42 why? Because the judgment that we deserve... 44:44 the judgment that this world deserved 44:46 and that judgment was death... 44:48 that judgment came upon Christ. 44:50 When Christ was going to Calvary, He says, 44:52 "Now that judgment that God has forbore... 44:54 that God has never brought to the world... 44:56 that judgment is now coming 44:57 and it's coming upon Me 44:59 and when that judgment comes upon Me, 45:00 I'm going to cast out the prince of this world. 45:02 He's not going to be able to accuse you any more before God 45:05 because I'm going to take your consequences 45:08 and every time he opens his mouth, 45:09 I'm going to say, 'Wait a minute... 45:11 that's been taken care of... 45:12 that person believes in Me and, therefore, 45:14 that punishment has been borne by Me. 45:16 The Lord rebuke you Satan even the Lord. '" 45:19 This is the picture that we see in the judgment... 45:22 the judgment-hour message... 45:23 it's a powerful picture of God's love 45:25 and it's brought out more clearly than we know 45:27 in the Old and the New Testament. 45:30 Satan works though with all his power 45:33 to undermine the gospel of salvation. 45:35 He's seeking to destroy the gospel of salvation. 45:38 That's why it says, "He's working day and night... 45:41 he's working day and night. " 45:42 I mean, all of us take a break, right? 45:44 We come to work... 45:45 maybe we work four days a week 45:47 instead of six days a week, right? 45:48 We come to work... we work our ten-hour shifts 45:50 or eight-hour shifts 45:52 or 40 hours or 32 hours or whatever it is 45:54 and we go home and we rest, you know, 45:57 we go to bed at night... 45:58 we take a little vacation every once in a while, 46:00 we have the weekend off... we have a couple of days off. 46:02 Satan doesn't take any breaks, he's working day and night. 46:04 He's not stopping. 46:06 He is seeking to destroy... destroy... destroy... 46:08 day and night, he is working 46:11 and his operations never cease. 46:14 He doesn't take a vacation and you know that, 46:15 you've experienced that. 46:17 That's why Ecclesiastes says... 46:18 we need to think about the conclusion of this whole matter, 46:22 we need to fear God and keep His commandments, 46:24 this is the whole duty of man. 46:25 God's going to bring everything... 46:27 everything to judgment 46:30 and every secret thing whether it's good or evil. 46:32 How does this work? 46:34 When I was a young man, 46:35 I remember wanting a bicycle so bad, 46:38 I think a lot of young men want to have a bicycle... 46:40 you know that comes before the car... right? 46:42 and I was... I don't know nine... ten years old... 46:44 I lived in England at the time... 46:45 and that's where I was raised... 46:46 born in America... lived in England 46:48 and my mom told me, 46:49 "Hey, we're moving back to America, 46:51 we're going to, you know, go back to the country 46:52 you were born in... I want you to... 46:54 to... to experience that... " 46:55 and... and so, when I told her I really wanted a bike, she said, 46:58 "No... I... it's no use getting a bike 47:00 because we're going to be going to America... " 47:01 and sure enough, we did move to America 47:02 and... and then when we got here, 47:04 our life was a little bit tough, you know, 47:06 a new beginning and a new country... 47:08 we didn't really have any roots... any foundation 47:10 so, we went from place to place, 47:11 we didn't have a lot of money 47:12 and so, again my Mom told me, 47:14 "You know, you can't really have a bike... 47:15 can't really afford a bike right now... " 47:16 but eventually I got one. 47:18 Ah... I was so happy, I was so excited, 47:19 I was doing a Paper Route and I was contributing 47:21 and... and got this bike and I mean, 47:23 I went everywhere with this bike 47:24 and that bike was never seen without me. 47:26 In fact, at night time, I had it in my bedroom, 47:28 you know, I slept with... it was in my room... 47:30 it was everywhere I went, it went... 47:32 and pretty soon, after a while, 47:34 that bike started to need some new parts, 47:36 I mean, it was kind of wearing down 47:37 and one of the pedals was kind of tweaking a little bit 47:40 and some bolts had come loose... I lost them 47:41 and the seat was ripping a little bit 47:43 so, I went to the local store, the local Department store... 47:47 Sears... 47:48 and I went into the Bike Department 47:50 and... with my Paper Route money to get those parts that I needed 47:53 and I discovered as I was looking out on the shelf, 47:55 I was looking at the different parts, 47:57 I discovered that I didn't have enough money 47:59 to buy all the parts I needed. 48:00 Now, at that point, as a young man, 48:02 I really wanted to get that bike completely fixed 48:04 and I wasn't willing to wait 48:07 you know, you need to learn patience 48:09 and I didn't have the patience when I was a young man 48:11 and so I came up with a different idea... 48:12 that's something that I had never done before, 48:14 I just decided that I was going to steal the parts I needed 48:17 that I couldn't afford to buy. 48:18 I thought this plan was going to work really well 48:20 because I thought, "If I buy the parts that I can afford 48:24 and just kind of steal the rest, shooop... 48:26 no one will know 48:28 because they won't suspect someone who's buying something 48:30 to be stealing something. 48:32 Now, this was when I was a little kid... 48:33 this was many years ago, 48:34 I know that something probably doesn't make sense... 48:36 now a lot of people will do that and yeah... 48:38 but in... at that time that's the plan I came up with. 48:41 Now, I never stole anything before in my life 48:43 and so, I was looking left and right 48:44 and up and down the aisles... I was really nervous. 48:46 I wasn't sure how I was going to do this 48:48 and I know that when those guys... 48:51 those clerks and the Department Store workers 48:54 saw me, they'd probably said, 48:56 "You know, this kid's looking pretty nervous... 48:58 he's walking around the aisles quite a bit... 48:59 he's looking up and down. 49:00 If anyone's going to steal something... this kid is... 49:02 keep your eye on him. " 49:03 And sure enough, I took the bag, put it in my coat jacket... 49:08 jacket pocket... 49:09 went up to the counter with the stuff I was going to buy... 49:11 paid for it... so, I was walking out of the store 49:15 when I heard this voice, "Young man... " 49:18 I pretended that I didn't hear the voice... kept walking 49:22 and I felt a hand on my shoulder. 49:24 I had been apprehended... 49:25 I was taken into this back room, they called the police... 49:28 I... I was feeling really terrible 49:30 and they said they were going to call my mom, 49:31 and I felt really bad. 49:33 I was more scared of my mom than I was of the police 49:35 in those days and sure enough I was caught. 49:39 Now, is that sin of stealing 49:43 going to come up in the judgment? 49:44 Well, according to Ecclesiastes chapter 12, yes it is. 49:46 Everything we've done whether it was good or evil 49:48 is going to come in the judgment 49:49 but... but... but you say, "Well... well, Pastor James, 49:51 that was a long time ago 49:52 and you've become a Christian since then 49:54 and you've been baptized... 49:55 and God's forgiven you for your sins. " 49:57 Well, yeah, He has... God's forgiven me... 49:58 Jesus, my Advocate... 49:59 but we... I've got an Accuser 50:01 and he doesn't care if I've been forgiven or not... 50:02 he's seeking to undermine the gospel. 50:04 He's going to bring that 50:05 and especially any other heinous sin 50:07 that I've ever done in my life... 50:09 he's going to bring it to my attention. 50:11 He's going to try to blast me with it. 50:13 He's going to try and lay out the whole history of my life 50:15 and just basically say, 50:17 "You are a sinner and you are unrighteous... " 50:19 and you know what? 50:21 I can't answer that accusation. 50:22 I cannot rebuke the devil. 50:24 The only person that can stand before me... 50:26 that can stand between me and those accusations 50:29 is Jesus Christ my Advocate... my Defender... 50:32 my Mediator... 50:33 pause... 50:35 the One who has died for my sins 50:37 and He will stand and He will rebuke the devil, 50:40 He will rebuke the devil 50:41 because He will say, basically, "This young man... " 50:44 not as young anymore... 50:45 "trusts in Me and My righteousness 50:47 and I have taken his penalty... 50:49 the Lord rebuke you Satan... even the Lord. " 50:52 Isaiah 54 verse 7... powerful... powerful promise 50:56 for this judgment-hour message. 50:59 Isaiah 54 and verse 7 says this, 51:02 Isaiah 54 verse 7, 51:05 "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; 51:10 and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment 51:14 thou shalt condemn. 51:16 This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, 51:19 and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord. " 51:23 Our righteousness is of God. 51:24 This is our heritage. 51:26 Those tongues... 51:27 that accusing tongue that's going to come up from Satan... 51:29 it's going to be rebuked... that's our heritage... 51:31 that's our inheritance 51:33 because our righteousness is of God 51:35 and this is the very same truth that's brought out 51:37 in 1st John chapter 2 verse 1. 51:39 It's a beautiful, powerful gospel truth 51:41 that lays the foundation of God's judgment hour 51:44 and that's why it's so imperative 51:46 that you heed the call of the judgment... 51:48 the judgment hour right now while you have a Mediator... 51:51 while Christ is mediating His righteousness 51:54 on behalf of every single person who put their trust in Him. 51:57 1st John chapter 2 verse 1, 52:00 "My little children, these things I write unto you, 52:02 that you sin not... 52:03 and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, 52:05 Jesus Christ the righteous; 52:07 and He... " verse 2... here it is... 52:08 "and He is the propitiation... " He's the Mercy Seat... 52:12 He is the one that can give us mercy 52:15 because He's paid the penalty for our sins... 52:16 He is the propitiation... 52:18 He's the Mercy Seat for our sins 52:19 but not for ours only 52:21 but also for the sins of the entire world. 52:22 Remember what Revelation 14 says, 52:25 "I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven. " 52:29 this is the everlasting gospel... 52:30 "to take to every nation, kindred, tongue and people... " 52:32 to everyone... to the whole world... 52:34 "saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God and give glory to Him 52:36 for the hour of His judgment is come. '" 52:39 The hour that He wants to vindicate you 52:40 from the accusations of Satan has come... 52:41 don't judge other people 52:43 because when you judge other people, 52:44 it shows that you're trying to justify yourselves... 52:46 Don't be a fake Christian... don't be a hypocrite... 52:49 don't try to align your works for salvation. 52:51 Don't profess one thing and live another thing. 52:53 You're coming into God's judgment hour 52:55 and the only thing that you can do 52:56 because you're not righteous... you're not holy... 52:58 you're unrighteous... 52:59 you are a sinner... 53:00 the only thing you can do 53:02 is rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ 53:03 and as you rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ... 53:06 as you accept the everlasting gospel, 53:08 it will produce in you the experience 53:11 of genuine Christianity. 53:12 You will fall in love with Jesus 53:15 as you see Him as your personal Savior 53:17 and you will be led to live a life that glorifies God. 53:21 That's the fruit of obedience 53:23 that's outlined in Revelation chapter 14 verse 12, 53:26 is: keeping the commandments of God 53:27 and having the faith of Jesus. 53:29 He is the propitiation for our sins 53:31 but not for ours only... but for the sins of the whole world. 53:34 You see, the judgment is not so much what God decides, 53:36 as what we decide. 53:38 The judgment reveals our decision 53:41 to accept or to reject Jesus. 53:45 Revelation... very clear... 53:47 Romans 14... very clear... 53:50 we're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 53:52 We're all going to make a decision... don't judge others 53:55 we're all going to make a decision... 53:56 are we going to accept what Christ has done for us? 53:59 Another story of a young man who was a believer, 54:03 he was raised in a home that followed God. 54:05 At a very early age, he learned about the Bible stories 54:09 but as he got older, you know, into his teens, 54:11 he started mixing with the wrong company... 54:13 the wrong influence 54:14 and he went in a different direction, 54:15 he accepted Christ as a young man 54:17 and even dedicated his life to Christ... 54:20 this is a true story 54:21 but he went in a different direction 54:23 and as he got older 54:25 that one decision led to another decision... 54:28 led to another decision... 54:29 and pretty soon he found himself on death row... 54:32 on death row... awaiting his sentence of death 54:35 and the day finally came when he died... 54:38 he was executed... he was put to death. 54:40 Now, in the context of the judgment, 54:42 does that man have a chance 54:44 because as a young man he professed to believe in God. 54:48 We know his name is going to come in the judgment 54:51 because judgment begins in the house of God 54:53 and everyone who professes faith at some point or another, 54:56 who professes to be a follower of God... 54:58 the judgment comes first 54:59 and as his name comes up, the books are opened. 55:01 You know, Satan is there to accuse... 55:02 accuse... accuse... accuse... accuse... 55:04 Satan is just going to go, "No... no... no... no... no... 55:05 he's mine, I don't care what his profession was, he's mine... 55:08 look at all the things I led him to do... " 55:09 and God's going to say, 55:11 "I've got an account of all things that you led him to do" 55:14 but as God gets to the last page... to the last paragraph... 55:17 to the last sentence of that account, 55:19 there are some words there that Satan leaves off. 55:23 That's why God has to be the One who's in charge of the judgment 55:26 because Satan is not going to bring out anything 55:28 that's going to be... eeeeh... a negative 55:31 to his purpose to destroy us... 55:33 to destroy human beings... 55:34 to remove from us the plan of salvation 55:37 that God has given to us in Jesus Christ 55:40 and the words that Satan leaves off... 55:43 the words that he doesn't bring to the table 55:45 when this judgment takes place... 55:47 the words that don't come out of the accuser's mouth 55:49 is the last words that this young man spoke 55:53 when... just before he died in his execution... 55:56 those words were, 55:57 "Lord, remember me... when You come into Your kingdom. " 56:01 Yeah, I told you this was a true story... 56:03 these are the words of the thief on the cross... 56:05 a man who believed in God as a young man 56:08 but was led astray as he got older 56:10 and then, again, in the last moments of his life, 56:13 put his faith in Jesus Christ 56:15 exactly where we need to be... 56:17 putting our faith in Jesus Christ 56:18 no matter what our record is... 56:20 putting our faith in Jesus Christ. 56:21 "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom... " 56:24 those words were recorded in heaven 56:26 and those words placed that thief 56:29 under the righteousness of Jesus Christ and saved him. 56:32 Jesus said it, 56:33 "Verily, verily I say unto you today, 56:35 you will be with me in paradise. " 56:36 He was there 56:38 and that's what Jesus tells us in John chapter 6 56:40 and we'll just close up with these words, 56:42 John chapter 6 verse 37, 56:44 John chapter 6 verse 37. 56:47 He's speaking, of course, to the Jews... 56:50 to those who are for the most part 56:52 caught up in their works... in their self-righteousness 56:55 and he's trying to bring to them this truth, 56:57 John chapter 6 verse 37. 57:01 He says... John 6 verse 37, 57:05 "All that the Father has given Me shall come to Me; 57:08 and him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out. " 57:11 John chapter 6 and verse 37... 57:13 so, God wants us to come to Him 57:15 and everyone that to Him... He will in no wise cast out. 57:18 We are to believe in Him and to hold to His words. 57:22 So, quick summary: we have an Accuser... 57:24 this is why we come into the judgment 57:26 because we have an Accuser 57:27 and God wants to silence the Accuser. 57:29 We have an Advocate, 57:30 "If any man sins, he has an Advocate... " 57:31 and we have a Decision. 57:33 We have the Accuser... 57:34 we have the Advocate... 57:36 and we have the Decision... 57:37 and the Decision is up to us. 57:38 God is our Advocate... 57:40 Satan is our Accuser 57:41 but the Decision is up to us. 57:42 Are we going to choose 57:44 to accept the gift that God has given us? 57:46 As we come into the judgment, our names are going to come up 57:50 and the only thing that can vindicate us 57:52 from our life of sin... 57:53 the only thing that can vindicate us 57:54 from the accusation of Satan 57:56 is that we've accepted the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 57:58 May that be our experience is my prayer 58:00 in Jesus' name, amen. 58:02 "Father in heaven, 58:04 thank You so much for Your Word, 58:05 thank you for this beautiful gospel truth. 58:08 Please be with each one of those who are listening, 58:10 guide and direct their hearts to You 58:12 and to a decision for You, 58:13 I pray in Jesus' name, amen. " |
Revised 2021-03-30