Living in Light of the Judgment

I want to ask you a question, friends. Do you believe we are living in the end times? Do you believe we are seeing a day of a great apostasy in the church, that God has been shrunken down to man's size and the gospel is so watered down that it's merely a message of convenience to sinful man, to give him a free ticket to heaven while he still hugs his sins and lives as he pleases? When you look around you at this perverse society in which we live, do you wonder in alarm at how horrible things have become, how we of a society today have without any morals and we have no shame before God that perversion runs over this land like a dirty sewer spilled out upon it, that what used to shock us no longer does, that we've all become desensitized to sin, that we have a generation of teenagers today who live without God and are ruined by the devil through their addictions to drugs and alcohol and sex and violence? Do you really believe we are living in the last days? Do you believe that Christ will soon return? If you truly believe that God will soon roll up this world like a carpet and shake it in judgment, then why do our lives go against our beliefs? Why do so many of us live for today with no thought for tomorrow? How many of you, within the sound of my voice today, could honestly say before God that you were living in light of the judgment, that you live your life in a walk of holiness under the discipline of the Holy Spirit and a fear of the Almighty, that you spend most of your free time in your Bibles and on your knees, crying out to God for the sins of this nation and the salvation of this generation that's on a mad rush to hell and its torments, that you give your money to the spread of the gospel, that you live your life with the express purpose of being a witness for Christ and the salvation of souls, that you live each day with your eyes on the clouds above with a eager anticipation for Christ's return? There used to be in this country about a hundred years ago men and women who lived their lives in light of the judgment. I recall a story I read about a man who later in life saw a revival under John Song in China.

His name was William Schubert and in his biography he wrote that when he was a teenager he spent the night at a friend's house and in the middle of the night he was awakened by a loud noise which so startled him that he sat up in bed thinking it was the return of Christ. He later learned it was a train passing by in the night blowing its horn, but this man Schubert thought it was the trumpet of God announcing the return of Christ Jesus in the air and it made him sit up in bed in alarm and wonder. You see, friends, there was in this country back then a generation of men and women who lived separated lives from the world and who looked for the return of Jesus on a daily basis who lived their lives in light of eternity and the coming judgment of all mankind.

The title of my message today, friends, is Living in Light of the Judgment and my text can be found in the Gospel of Matthew. You can turn in your Bibles there now. We'll be in chapter 24 and verses 30 through 44.

Listen to the words of Christ as he describes his coming return to earth and the future judgment that awaits all mankind. Let me read us a striking passage of scripture to us at this time and it is my prayer that the Spirit of the Lord will attend the reading of his holy word. Now learn a parable of the fig tree.

When its branches yet tender, and put it forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour, no man knoweth, no, not the angels heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.

For in the days of Noah, before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. There shall be two in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in which watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

Therefore by ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. I will stop there. Those are sobering words from the lips of our Savior Jesus Christ.

If only we could live our lives as He warns us to, friends, to live in such a way as to be always watching, always ready for His glorious return. But afear, we have our eyes on this world and its pleasures. Our leisure time is wasted on sports and entertainments.

Our heart is consumed with our lusts, and we live for today in lives of self-gratification. And heaven help the person who tries to remove our rights and privileges that we foolishly believe we have, and so selfishly guard, as self sits on the throne of our lives and rules there. Now there are several aspects from our passage today I'd like to bring before you.

I will first list them, and then elaborate upon each head as I proceed. Number one, that the sound of God's trumpet will awaken and alarm a sleeping world. Number two, that a careless generation will soon be destroyed.

And number three, that a remnant will watch and live their lives in light of eternity and the judgment. Well, let's look at this first aspect of how the sound of God's trumpet will awaken and alarm a sleeping world. Listen to me, friends.

There are two dangers we face today. You see, there was a time in this land many years ago when this nation looked to God for guidance and to the church for direction, a time when the church was a moral compass to society. But now we've all gone to sleep.

The church at large sleeps on comfortable pillows of conformity and compromise, and the nation sleeps asleep to death, ready for a fast approach and judgment from an offended God. But in 1740, when God moved through New England, it was called the Great Awakening. Revival has always been referred to as an awakening.

At Gethsemane, Jesus faced the crisis point of his earthly ministry, and his disciples slept right through it. Today, the church is in a crisis point, and we are sleeping right through it. This nation has rejected God and his word.

The church has brought in the way of salvation in a way that Jesus never did. Many today sit and serve in churches who mistakenly believe they are heaven-bound, when in fact they are yet dead in sins. They are like the verse from Proverbs which so aptly describes the unconverted church member of our day.

There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. In other words, they have yet to get under the blood. Let me ask you, friend, are you washed in his blood and born from above? Have you ever exercised repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ? You must be born again.

So the sound of God's trumpet will awaken an alarm, a sleeping world, and few will be prepared. Number two, a careless generation will soon be destroyed. In our text here, Jesus compares the people of Noah's day to the people who will be alive at his return.

Let me ask you a question. What was the society like in the days of Noah? Well, it was a time of violence in the land and great wickedness. Genesis 6.5 tells us, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Is that not the day, friends, in which we live at this sad and tragic hour? I was stuck in traffic not too long ago, and it was nighttime, and my daughter was in the car with me, and we saw something absolutely shocking. About six cars ahead of us, a drunken co-ed girl got out of her car, took off all her clothes, and relieved herself in front of that long line of traffic with no shame. I say that drunken girl typifies this nation at this hour that's drunk and it sins.

No morals, no shame, no fear of God, a reprobate society with no hope, just awaiting a soon coming judgment upon the land. Yes, a careless society will soon be destroyed, unless God in his mercy sends a national revival. And lastly, friends, a remnant will watch and live their lives in light of eternity and the judgment.

Let me ask you, are you saved? Do you call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ? Do you live for eternity and the judgment? Jesus said that he'd return at such an hour that you think not. He came, he can come back today, this evening, why there could be a midnight cry in the sound of the trumpet of God. Let me ask you, friend, can you honestly say before God that you are living solely for him and the salvation of souls, his holiness, your aim, and the spread of the gospel, your delight? If we really believed that Christ's return was soon to come upon us, would we foolishly waste our time watching television? Would we not get rid of that instrument of Satan and spend that time on our faces before God crying out to him in desperate prayer over the lost teenagers of this land? Would we not give every spare dollar we have to the spread of the gospel and then trust God for tomorrow? If we truly believed the words of Jesus in our passage here in Matthew, would we not spend our free time on our knees in prayer and humility before him? Fear, we've lost sight of the judgment, we've lost sight of eternity, we've lost sight of him.

I want to end this message with the word of God and a spirit of prayer. I want each of us to quiet our hearts and minds and listen intently to what I'm about to read you and picture this scene of a future judgment that awaits all mankind. I fear not too many preach today ever preach on this judgment anymore.

We've kind of pushed it in the background, but I'm going to read it from Revelation beginning in chapter 20. Listen to these words. And I saw a great white throne and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.

This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Dear friend, are you in the book of life? Are your sins washed by the blood of the lamb? Are you born from above by the spirit of God? Are you living your life in light of eternity in the common judgment? Heaven help us all.

Let us pray.