I'm going to ask you to take your hymnals now
and turn to 228. We're going to thank you. Please
be seated. Our Lord the Judge shall come, we
have sung. Would you open your Bible with me
please to Jeremiah chapter 32. Jeremiah knew
the God whom he worshipped. Jeremiah's God is
our God. There is not one God of the Old Testament
and another God of the New Testament. The God
that Jeremiah knew is the God that you and I
know. Jeremiah knew his God well. I hope that
we know our God well also. This summer we have
devoted our study on sunny mornings to Jeremiah
32 and Jeremiah's prayer because it helps us
not only to understand what he knew about God,
but it instructs us in what we should know about
God. And of course that's the purpose of the
whole Bible. The Bible is given to us as God's
self -disclosure. so that in its words and ideas
God reveals Himself to us. This is a generation
of much knowledge. I heard someone say a few
years ago that 90 % of our accumulated knowledge
we have learned in the last 20 years. That is
phenomenal. But while this generation has much
knowledge available, it is increasingly ignorant
of God. And there is no knowledge that is more
important than that knowledge. Jeremiah chapter
9 says, But let him who boasts boast in this,
that he understands and knows me, that I am the
Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and
righteousness on earth. For I delight in these
things, declares the Lord." God says, I delight
in lovingkindness. justice, and righteousness.
Those words link up with the theme that comes
out of our text for today, where we learn that
God is a just God, that he has established his
universe on the principle of justice, that he
has instituted the concepts of right and wrong.
and that he has defined right and wrong according
to his own character, not the whims of man. And
he has given to man, uniquely from all other
creatures, a sense of conscience and morality
to know right and wrong. And God holds responsible
all men for their behavior. as measured by his
rule. Dr. Paul Enns writes in the Moody Handbook
of Theology, Since God's law reflects God's standard,
then God is righteous and just when he judges
man for his violation of God's revealed law.
Jeremiah's understanding of the justice of God
is reflected in our text for today, which is
verse 19 once again of Jeremiah 32. where Jeremiah
writes, great in counsel and mighty in deeds,
whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons
of men. Let me repeat that. Whose eyes are open
to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to
everyone according to his ways and according
to the fruit of his deeds. God is mighty in His
reward. That truth, as we will see this morning,
is too edged. That God knows all and rewards
accordingly should comfort the righteous and
terrify the wicked. There are two basic ideas
that Jeremiah reflects regarding the justice
of God. They are simple and yet they are profound.
The first idea is this, that God has determined
a time of judgment. That's presupposed in what
Jeremiah says. God gives to everyone, He recompenses
to everyone according to His deeds based upon
what God has seen and He sees all things. There's
a law of compensation that operates in God's
world. We work and we are paid. We sow and we
reap accordingly. We act and we are rewarded.
Whatsoever a man sows, he shall reap, the Bible
says. It is an undisputed principle. In the workplace,
it's called salary. In agriculture, it's called
harvest. In human behavior, it's called judgment.
Paul Enns again writes, God's justice on the
positive side is termed remunerative justice,
which dispenses reward to the obedient. On the
negative side, it's termed retributive justice,
an expression of divine wrath in which God punishes
the wicked. On one magnificent day the Apostle
Paul stood before the wisest men of the world
in his day. He was in the city of Athens on the
outcropping of a hill. that was termed Mars Hill.
It was there these men gathered to debate this
and that and to listen to speeches and to do
the elite, intelligent, intellectual things of
their day. The Apostle Paul gained the privilege
of speaking to them. Somewhere in his message
to them, I don't know where it was, it became
the end. It became the end. He said regarding
this God who has created everything and who gives
us breath and life and being and this God who
causes all men to rise up or to fall. He says
regarding this God he has fixed a day He has
fixed a day in which he will judge the world
in righteousness Through a man whom he has appointed
Having furnished proof to all men by raising
him from the dead that was the point that they
cut him off They said enough of this and they
began to argue and dispute regarding the resurrection
of the dead But Paul delivered his point, and
his point is that the Creator God holds all men
responsible, even those who are ignorant intellectuals
who refuse to acknowledge Him. And He has fixed
a day. It's on God's calendar. And He has appointed
the Judge. And we know who the Judge is because
God raised Him from the dead, and there's only
one. And that's Jesus Christ. And God is going
to judge. Jesus, too, spoke of the judgment.
There are those who like to manufacture some
sort of image of Jesus that He was only meek
and mild and loving and forgiving and never said
anything harsh and never spoke of judgment or
of hell. That is an imbalance. in one's vision
of Jesus. Jesus was loving and forgiving and
spoke many wonderful things, but he also was
very clear in announcing judgment. In the book
of Matthew, no fewer than four times, he used
this very phrase, the day of judgment, the day
of judgment. And time and time again, he spoke
of that day, that day, referring to this day
of judgment. And so Jeremiah understands a very
basic premise that our generation has laid aside,
and that is that God has determined a day of
judgment. And if you were to stand in the university
classrooms of our generation, they too would
begin to scoff and laugh when you spoke of a
day of judgment and of the man who will stand
in judgment on that day whom God has raised from
the dead. There are a couple of thoughts I want
to share before I go on and that is this day
of judgment that is appointed may not be as soon
as we might wish when we see the evil in our
world. There are things that have happened to
friends of mine and to people that I love and
some whom I've discipled, wicked and evil things,
done purposely. And I have said, God, why? Why
do you allow this to go on? And when we see God's
servants who are held captive year after year,
and we pray. And we say, God, why? Why doesn't
judgment come? And we hear of the heinous crimes
committed in our community. And we say, where
is judgment? It brings me to this thought that
this judgment day may not come as soon as we
might wish. But friends, it is coming. Don't
lose sight of that. God has established a principle
of compensation in our universe. There is justice
that is at work even though at times it seems
to work very slowly. Brings me to a second thought.
This judgment that I am speaking of this morning
will occur in conjunction with the coming of
Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 16 verse 27, for
the Son of Man is going to come in the glory
of his Father with his angels and will then recompense
every man according to his deed. By the way,
when Jesus made that statement. He was quoting
from Psalm 62 and verse 12, where it says that
Yahweh is going to judge every man according
to his deeds. So do you see what Jesus was saying?
He is saying, I am the Yahweh of the Old Testament.
I am the Lord of the Old Testament and I am the
one who will judge every man according to his
deeds. God is mighty in reward both to the good
and to the evil, both to the righteous and unrighteous.
And God has determined a day of judgment. But
my second thought is this this morning. The second
basic idea that Jeremiah had grasped is this,
that the future judgment will include every person.
It's not a general judgment of all men. It is
that every person individually will stand before
God. In Jeremiah 17 verse 10, I the Lord search
the heart, he says. I test the mind even to give
to each man according to his ways, according
to the results of his deeds. The righteous man
will appear in judgment. the believer in Jesus
Christ will appear in judgment. You, if you are
a Christian, will appear in judgment. It says
in 2 Corinthians 5 -10, for we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, that each
one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body
according to what he has done, whether it be
good or bad. Literally it says, whether it be
good or good for nothing. We will all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ and thank God it
will not be to give answer for our sin For if
we have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ our
sin past present and future all of it Has been
nailed to the cross and we bear it no more. Praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh my soul It is under
the blood of Jesus Christ But there is an element
of judgment that we will face as an examination
of the works of our lives. It is possible for
us to live so that our deeds are good, they are
beneficial, they mean something, they edify,
they assist, they help, they build up. Or we
can live so as to live for nothing. We believers.
Our lives can have the line drawn under them
and the line be added up so that it says good
for nothing. Zero. And we will receive recompense
from the Lord accordingly. That ought to be a
terrifying thought to all of us. It was at least
to the Apostle Paul. Because after saying those
words he went on to say knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord We persuade men There is a
truth that has been I think over articulated
in our day and that is that we don't believe
In a Christianity of works That we as believers
are not on a treadmill trying to prove ourselves
to God. And of course, there is an element of
truth to that. God accepts us as we are in Jesus
Christ. But I say it's been over -articulated
in the sense that we've sort of bought into the
idea, well, it doesn't make any difference how
I live. That I can live the way I want to And
in the end, it doesn't make a hill of beans of
difference. And that simply is not true. God
is going to hold us accountable for the way that
we live our lives. And we shall each one appear
at the judgment seat. That term Bema seat, the
judgment seat that Paul uses was well known in
Athens or in Corinth. The letter that was written
to Corinth contains that phrase. It was a seat
in the public square where a number of things
occurred, including rewards being given to athletes
at games. We are all interested, I suppose, in
the Olympics and watching the world's best receive
the gold, the silver, and the bronze. And they
stand before the gathered thousands and someone
places around their neck or into their hands
the coveted metal for which they have worked
so arduously. Well, that is the idea here. Paul
says there is something to be gained from the
Lord. There is a metal, as it were, to be gained,
a crown to be gained from Him if we live well.
But if we do not, we suffer loss. Not loss of
salvation, but loss of the reward. There are
eternal rewards to be gained or lost, according
to a believer's works. But the wicked will also
stand before judgment. 2 Thessalonians 1 verses
5 through 7 says, So as there is eternal reward
to be gained for the righteous. There is an eternal
hell to be avoided by those who are lost That
hell is the destiny of those who do not repent
of their sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
Now there are some phrases in the scriptures
that lead a few to believe that the future judgment
will occur all at the same point. In other words,
there's going to be a general resurrection and
everybody will stand there and God will judge
everybody at one time. That is not the case.
The Scriptures indicate that in the future there
is a series of judgments that will eventually
entail everyone. Let me just give to you quickly
the five of the major judgments that are still
in the future. Number one, It is the judgment
of the Church. That is, the judgment of those
who believed on Christ in this age from the time
of Pentecost until the Lord raptures or catches
out the Church. 1 Corinthians 3 describes that
judgment. That will take place when we will be
examined before the Lord. The second judgment
will be a judgment of the Antichrist and the
false prophet, two of the leading figures. in
the time of rebellion at the end of this age.
When those seven years of tribulation are ended,
the Antichrist and the false prophet will have
a special judgment. And the two of them, according
to Revelation chapter 19 and verse 20, will be
cast into the lake of fire. And they will be
the only inhabitants of the lake of fire for
a thousand years and more. The third judgment
will occur at the end of the tribulation and
before Christ's reign in the millennium when
all of the other saints will be judged, including
those of the Old Testament who will be resurrected
to stand before the Lord and those tribulation
saints who have died. They will be judged. before
the millennium begins, as will the believing
Gentiles who are still alive in that day, and
the believing Jews, those Jews who have believed
in the tribulation and are still alive. And so
if you're tracking with me, you see that all
of the righteous, all of those who believed in
all of the ages, will before the millennial reign
of Jesus Christ be judged for their works and
rewarded accordingly. The next judgment is the
judgment of the devil and his angels. In Christ's
reign, the devil and his angels will be held
captive in the bottomless pit. They will not
be able to work as they do now. But at the end
of the thousand years, they are loosed. And there
is one final rebellion that they foment upon
the earth against God. And God intervenes and
brings that to an end. And as He does that, it
says that He casts the devil into the lake of
fire where the beast, that is the antichrist,
and the false prophet are. A thousand years after
they were cast there, they're still there in
torment. They have not been annihilated. And
now the devil joins them. And then there will
be the resurrection of all the lost. who will
stand before God in what is called the Great
White Throne Judgment. Jesus Christ sits on the
throne and before His face the earth and heaven
flees away. And the books are opened, the books
of the works of their lives. And the Book of
Life is there. And if their names are not found
written in the Book of Life, They are judged
according to the works of their lives and then
their eternal destiny in the lake of fire is
determined and judgment is carried out. My point
is that there is not one of us that will escape
the judgment of God. We will be judged at one
time or another by the living God. My closing
thoughts are these. Judgment for sin can be avoided
only by the cross. The reason for that is that
God has poured out His retribution and His wrath
for sin upon His Son at the cross. And if one
would escape personal responsibility for his
sin and personal judgment for his wicked deeds,
he must come to the cross and there repent of
his sin and receive the Savior as an act of faith.
And in doing so, he is delivered from the judgment
for his own sin. Have you done that? Have you
received that gift of grace that God offers to
you at the cross? Do not press ahead in your
life bearing the load of your sin only to face
the judgment bar of God at the great white throne
judgment. There is no escape for responsibility
for what you've done. Either you must personally
bear the eternal judgment for it. or you must
recognize that the Savior has borne it on your
behalf. And in turning from your sin and receiving
Him, find escape from your responsibility and
salvation and rescue. The second thing I want
to say in closing is this, that whatever you
as a believer do in the name of Jesus Christ
is noted. There is nothing that God does not
see. Last Sunday after the team had finished
its work in Guatemala, we were gathered for a
brief service in a quiet spot in the city of
Antigua. And I had decided what I wanted to read,
but I found myself nearly incapable of reading
it. because I had seen the labor of these men
and women on the team. And these are the words
that the Lord led me to read to them. The King
will say to those on his right, come you who
are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom,
prepared for you from the foundation of the world,
for I was hungry and you gave me something to
eat. And I was thirsty, and you gave me drink.
I was a stranger, and you invited me in. Naked,
and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited
me. I was in prison, and you came to me." And
the righteous will answer the king, saying, Lord,
when did we see you hungry? When did we feed
you? When did we give you to drink? When did
we see you a stranger and invite you in or clothe
you? And when did we see you sick or in prison
and come to you, Lord? And the king will answer
and say to them, truly I say to you to the extent
that you did it to one of these brothers of mine,
even to the least of them, you did it to me.
And I was overwhelmed as I thought of how this
magnificent team had served some of the most
poor and the most needy of God's people. They
had done it unselfishly. But they had not only
served them in doing that, they had served the
Lord Jesus. You remember that yourself, will
you? that every cup of cold water you give in
His name is noted. You're not only meeting the
need of another person, you're not only encouraging
that one, you are serving Jesus Himself. And
one day, the righteous Lord will reward you for
your work of love. My closing comment is this,
that we'll be glad in that day that we did what
we're doing for Christ now. We'll be glad in
that day that we're doing now what we did. And
if we're not doing now what we ought to be doing,
then we better get with it. Because there's a
day coming when we will stand before the Lord.
and the righteous judge will recompense to each
of us according to our works. It will be worth
it all, says the songwriter, when we see Jesus.
Life's trials will seem so small when we see
Christ. One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrow,
will erase. So bravely run the race until we
see Christ. Run the race this week keeping your
eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of your
faith And if you do not know Jesus Christ this
morning, let me close by just telling you about
Charles Finney Who was near the end of law school
in the state of New York when one day in his
office? He seemed to hear the voice of God say
to him Finney What are you going to do? when
you finish your course of studies. And Finney
said, well, I'm going to hang up a shingle and
practice law. And the Lord said, well, what then?
Finney said, I'm going to get rich. And the Lord
said, well, what then? And Finney said, well,
I'm going to retire. And the Lord said, well,
what then? And Finney said, I guess I'm going
to die. And the Lord said, what then? And Finney
ran out of his office into the woods and spent
the whole day seeking God and came back a transformed
convert in Jesus Christ when he recognized that
for every one of us Death is appointed, and after
that, the judgment. Let's pray. Perhaps you need
to seek the face of the Lord this morning for
your own salvation, my friend. If the Lord were
to ask you that series of questions, what then?
What then? What then? Are you prepared to stand
before Him? The prophet Amos said, Prepare to
meet thy God. Have you trusted Jesus Christ as
your Savior? If not, will you do it? And say,
Lord Jesus, I acknowledge my sin. I believe that
you died for my sin on the cross. I believe that
you rose again from the dead, and I receive you
as an act of faith into my life to be my Lord
and my Savior. It is that act of faith, my friend,
that will cause you, allow you to escape responsibility
for the guilt that is on your soul. And if you
neglect it, if you ignore it, if you reject it,
you do so to the peril, the eternal peril of
your soul. So receive Him today. And if that
is your desire, would you indicate it just by
lifting your hand and putting it down? And saying,
Dear God, I do not want to stand before you in
judgment and be responsible for the evil of my
life. But today I receive Christ as my Savior.
Would you lift your hand and put it down? Is
there one? Let's stand together, please. Father,
I pray that this reminder this morning of what
Jeremiah knew about you and what we also need
to know, that you are a God who is mighty in
reward, will encourage us in our service. May
we be willing to press on and to run the race,
whatever it means for us, knowing that on that
day we shall receive from your hand according
to our deeds. And may on that day our hearts
be filled with joy because we have been faithful
and obedient now. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.