November 11th, 2012

Nov 11, 2012 from Richard Waldschmidt on Vimeo.

LAST JUDGMENT

November 10-12, 2012

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Malachi 4:1-2

“WE’LL SEE GOD’S REAL GLORY ON JUDGMENT DAY!”

1.     It’s flipside can be seen in the Judgment of the unbeliever.

2.     It’s fullness is seen in the Judgment of believers.

Malachi 4:1-2 (NIV 1984)“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. ² But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.”

          When I was serving as a pastor in Texas one of the pastors presented an interesting paper at a conference. It was on the beliefs of the Muslims. He had actually personally interviewed a local Muslim cleric to get a first person perspective on their beliefs. One stood out to me. The Muslim concept of Judgment. According to this cleric when a Muslim dies he must stand before Allah with his book of deeds in his right hand—that’s the clean hand in Muslim culture. The book of deeds records everything good and bad the man has done. Allah looks at the book punishes him for all the bad he has done. Then forgives it and then welcomes him into Paradise and rewards the man for all the good he has done. There’s more. When a non Muslim who believes in some god dies he too stands before Allah for judgment only his book of deeds is held in his left hand. That’s the unclean hand in Muslim culture. He is punished more severely because his book of deeds is held in his dirty hand and when all his bad deeds have been more severly punished, Allah forgives him and welcomes him into Paradise where he is rewarded for all the good he has done. The pastor asked, “Is there any Hell?” “Oh yes,” came the reply. “Atheists go to Hell. They go to Hell where their bodies grow to be sixty feet tall so there is more of them to be eternally punished!” I must confess there is a part of me that kind of likes that way of thinking. It makes sense. Everyone has to pay a little. Atheists pay a lot. It’s a very human concept of judgment. And it falls so short of the glory of the one true God. Where can see that glory? What shows it off the most? The glory of the only God is something we will get to see on Judgment Day.

          God announced that through the prophet Malachi. Malachi means my messenger. He is the last prophet in the Old Testament. Chapter 4 is the last chapter of his book and it directs our attention to the last judgment. “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.” Malachi directs our attention to the day that is coming. It is not a good day for the arrogant and evil doer. Who are they? You know, no Bible book exists in a vacuum or as a stand  alone from other Bible books. The Lord speaks very clearly that there are really only two types of people, those who trust in Jesus as their Savior and those who don’t. Sheep and goats. Believer and unbeliever. Righteous and unrighteous. Arrogant evildoers is a good description of those who reject Jesus as their Savior. It is the height of arrogance to replace God’s way of salvation with your own. “Yeah, I hear what you say, God, but you know, I think my way is better. It makes more sense. Yeah, I know you created me and all things and you can exist without me and I can’t exist without you but let me tell you how to run things God. Your standard of perfect living to earn a spot in heaven. That’s just not realistic. So I’ve determined it’s not going to work that way. As long as you try, that’s good enough. Your way of having your Son be the substitute, I mean, who would do that? If you give it away for free people are going to take advantage of you so we’re not doing that. You’re going to have to pay in some way. But eventually everyone should go to heaven. Except for the really bad people.” Arrogant. Evil doers. God wasn’t kidding when he said the imagination of man’s heart is evil from its youth. Think about it. We are Christians and we know the thoughts we still struggle with.

          Can you imagine it on Judgment Day? They come before God. The charges are read. Every sin laid bare. Lies and lusts. Harbored hatreds. Acts of perversion. Words of filth. And on top of it all rejection of God’s Son. Hell is the sentence. Hell is consistently described in the Bible as a place of burning and hopelessness. When God sais not a root or a branch will be left. He means no second chance. No hope. Just despair. This is not a pretty picture. Can we see God’s glory here? Only the flipside. It’s true that it is a to a leader’s honor to be just in punishment. But punishment isn’t what God really wants to be about. Some have called God’s just punishment of those who reject His Son His alien work. It’s foreign to Him. Remember He is the one who said He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He’s the one who said He wants all to come to repentance and be saved. He’s the one who loves everyone so much He sent His one and only Son to die for the sins of all people.

          Where then is God’s glory in its fullness on Judgment Day? It’s in the judgment of believers. Let’s see what that looks like. “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.” Believers are described as those who revere the Lord’s name. Revere has that idea of loving respect, wanting someone’s approval. That’s a good description of believers. We know the Lord as the Savior God. We know we deserve punishment for our sins. We sadly see what Jesus has gone through instead of us. On Judgment Day we see the benefit.

          Malachi describes our judgment as the sun of righteousness rising with healing in its wings. Picture the sun rising and feeling its rays warm you on a cool fall day. That’s a picture of the Son, Jesus, who by rising from the dead has his forgiveness of sins touching every believer. Maybe a picture will help. It’s judgment day. You have watched the line of unbelievers stand before the judge. You hear the long litany of their sins revealed. You see their shame and despair. Now it’s your turn. You walk forward and sweat is beading on your brow. You see family members, neighbors, co-workers and you dread them hearing the sins you have worked so hard to keep hidden. Now they will know what you said about them behind their backs. They will hear what you really thought. The shameful embarrassing sins you thought to keep secret. Exposed! Reluctantly you step forward. The judge says. “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. You made sure I knew I had a Savior. You served the needs of others. Well done, good and faithful servant!” What of all the sins? They’re gone as if they never existed. It dawns on you that this is what God meant when He said for believers I will remember your sins no more. Here is the full glory of God. It is seen in the forgiveness of sins, not counting our sins against us, covering us in the righteousness of Jesus.

          Our reaction? We’ll jump for joy. We’ll be like calves let out of their stalls. I’ve seen that. One of my jobs growing up was working for some local dairy farmers. During winter the cows and calves were kept in the barn. Every spring they had me and my brothers come out when they would let the calves out for the first time. The barnyard had an electric fence around it and the calves had never experienced it before. Our job was to keep the calves from running right through that electric fence by shooing them if they got to close. Why was that necessary? You should see a calf the first time it’s let out. Freedom! Kicking snorting sniffing the air. They are so happy. We will be happy on judgment day too. But why wait? Why not live that happiness now?

          God created people to find happiness in willing obedience to His commands and in willingly serving the needs of others. Why does there have to be a long list of sins we are afraid others might find out? There doesn’t. We are believers. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus. We can say no to sin. We can respond to God’s love of us with love of others so that there are more examples, fruits of faith, to be listed on Judgment Day. Then we will see the full glory of God. The flipside is the sad judgment for those who reject Jesus. The fullness is God’s mercy and compassion to those who believe in Christ. In anticipation of seeing that glory let’s live for God’s glory now.  Amen.