[0:00] Most of you will know that over the past couple of years, we've been looking in sections at the biblical basis behind our church's confession of faith.
[0:10] That is the Westminster Confession of Faith. And we've divided it up all different chapters into sections. And we've been looking most recently at the closing chapters or the biblical basis behind the closing chapters of the Confession of Faith.
[0:23] And we come this evening, this morning, to the final chapter or the basis behind the final chapter, which is chapter 33 in the Confession of Faith, which is entitled Of the Last Judgment.
[0:36] And we'll take as our text for basing that today in Acts 17 verse 31. Verse 31, Now the only person in this stage that God has raised directly from the dead is his Son, Jesus Christ.
[1:04] Which means that this is that man, God and man, by whom he will judge the world in righteousness. So when we think in terms of the last judgment, we all think, ooh, scary and terrifying and doom and gloom.
[1:19] But it need not be so, and it ought not to be so for those who are in Christ. Whilst there is a final reckoning, and whilst there is, as the Bible clearly teaches, and as our verse specifies here, a final judgment.
[1:37] The last judgment which God will make on all mankind that has ever lived. There are three things I would like us to recognise in the context of that last judgment.
[1:48] For which, of course, there is ample biblical basis which we will be looking at. And that is, first of all, which is highlighted again in our verse here, the centrality of Christ at that event.
[2:00] The centrality of Christ in the last judgment. And secondly, the universality of the application. It is to all people everywhere that have ever lived at any time.
[2:13] And thirdly, the certainty of the event. The centrality of Christ, the universality of the application, and the certainty of the event.
[2:23] All of which are taught unequivocally in the Word of God. So if we think, first of all, then, of the centrality of Christ. The last judgment is not simply the last judgment of God.
[2:35] Insofar as, you know, as though a father is sitting near his throne. Nobody's seen the father at any time, of course. And that this is God. It's not simply God in this vague sense.
[2:47] We are taught in Scripture, it is explicitly Christ who will judge the world at the last. Verse 31 again, our verse here. Because he hath appointed a day.
[2:59] This is why, in the previous verse, God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. To turn from their sin, to get right with God. Why? Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness.
[3:17] He will not make any mistakes. He will not have any injustice in it. It will be judging the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. Withof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead.
[3:32] This is the certainty that we have, that it will be through Jesus Christ that God will judge the world. Because he's raised him up for this very purpose. It's interesting, you know, that elsewhere in Scripture it says, you know, he was put to death for our sin, but raised for our justification.
[3:47] Now we think in terms of, oh, but this is judgment, and judgment means condemnation. No, it doesn't. He's raised again, if we are trusting in Christ, he's raised again for our justification. We are justified by our faith in Christ.
[4:03] It is his justification. If you think in terms of the Old Testament where the word judgment is used, in our English translation certainly, wherever the word judgment is used in the Old Testament, nine times out of ten, it doesn't mean condemnation.
[4:17] It means righteousness. It means justice. If God is enacting judgment for the widow and the fatherless and those, the hiring oppressed and his wages, it doesn't mean he's going to condemn these people.
[4:31] These are the poor. These are the afflicted. These are those who have no helper. These who are so easily exploited. When God pronounces judgment for them, he is as though he is this high, impartial, totally neutral, objective judge who will judge between them and perhaps their harsh employers or those who are exploiting them or those who are grinding them down.
[4:52] He gives them judgment in that he judges between them and their oppressor. He does justice for them. And this is one of the key things about the last judgment.
[5:03] It will be the ultimate act of justice administered and put into effect by Christ. The centrality of Christ in the last judgment is something we must grasp.
[5:17] It is he who will sit upon the throne. He who will enact this judgment. 2 Corinthians 5, verses 10 and 11. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
[5:38] Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord. It is a fearful thing. The last judgment. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, as Hebrews tells us. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men that we are made manifest unto God.
[5:53] And I trust also that we are made manifest in your consciences. This is why we try to persuade people of the good news of Jesus Christ, that he has come, that we might be saved in that final judgment.
[6:05] And when he judges the world, those who have the currency that is legal tender, those who have his precious blood, those who have the sacrifice that he has made for sinners and have the evidence of that, that is the only legal tender that will count when it comes to the last judgment.
[6:25] It is Christ's judgment. It is he who is at the center of it. In St. John's account of the gospel, this is underlined even more. Chapter 5, for example.
[6:36] Verse 20. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth. And he will show him greater works than these, that he may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
[6:54] Now, you could preach a whole sermon on just that verse alone. Is there a distinction here? Some commentators say that this is, you know, the evidence of Elijah, Elisha, and others raising the dead in the Old Testament, and how Christ is doing it even more in the New Testament.
[7:09] Or they could take it in the sense that as the Father raiseth up the dead. In other words, he gives life to everybody, everything that breeds, every creature, every person. And quickeneth them, he gives them life.
[7:21] Even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. He gives life in Christ to those who are his. So everybody that lives and breathes and walks on the earth, or ever has done, that's because God made them.
[7:33] Fair enough. But those who are born again, it's because Christ has brought them alive. This is one possible way of looking at that verse. Anyway, let's carry on. For the Father judgeth no man.
[7:44] I'll read that again. The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
[7:56] He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. You see, you've got people saying, oh yeah, I believe in God, I just don't necessarily think I need to be saved by Christ. No, I don't believe, I need Jesus my Savior, I believe in God.
[8:09] Other religions will say they believe in God. Other religions will swear blind that they honor the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, but they don't. If they do not honor the Son as the honor of the Father, then they are not honoring or truly worshiping him in the sense that he desires at all.
[8:29] 1 John chapter 5, we read it verse 11 and 12. This is the record that God hath given to us eternal life. And this life is where? This life is in his Son.
[8:40] He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Now if you have not life, what do you have? You have death.
[8:52] Now eternal death is what we are facing at the last judgment, if we have not the Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son shall not see life. He doesn't have life in him.
[9:03] You know, God has given us this life, and this life is in his Son. The Father judgeth no man that hath committed all judgment unto the Son. That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
[9:15] He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father. Which is second, the centrality of Christ. It is Christ who will sit on his judgment throne. It is Christ who will dispense final justice at the last day.
[9:30] In verse 25, in this same chapter of John 5, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
[9:43] Now he's not talking about the last judgment there. What he's talking about is that those who are dead in trespasses and sins, that's all of us by nature, shall hear the voice of the Son of God.
[9:55] When Christ calls us to put our trust and faith in him, that's not because an apostle has had a conversation with you, or because a minister has preached a sermon to you, or because another Christian has shared their testimony with you.
[10:10] All these things God may make use of, just as you might make use of the tap, or the clay jar, or the earthen vessel, to pour out the water into the hands, or a glass, or a thirsty soul.
[10:22] But it's the water that will give life, not the vessel. So likewise, the hour now is, it was in Jesus' day, it has been ever since, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
[10:36] If we respond to Christ, if we are enabled to hear him calling us and respond to him, we shall have life in him. He that the Son have life, he that not the Son have not life.
[10:47] For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
[11:01] Marble not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.
[11:14] And they, oh, there is. It's about doing good. So if you've been a good person, then you'll be okay, and if you've been a bad person, then you won't be okay. It's amazing how few people actually think of themselves as bad people.
[11:26] Everybody thinks they're a good person. What does Jesus define? What does God in his word define as those who have done good? Here we have it. John 5, 29.
[11:37] They shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life. What does Jesus say are the good works you must do? Turn the page to John chapter 6 at verse 28.
[11:49] Then this said unto him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? What do we do that will be good? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
[12:04] He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life. The centrality of Christ. He that is God, verse 27 of John 5, hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of Man.
[12:19] Now what does that mean? Son of Man? Well, he's a Son of God, Son of Man. He's both. What God is doing is he is putting the judgment into the hands of one who not only knows our frame, for he remembers that we are thus, but has actually been a human being himself.
[12:35] So he knows what it is to be tempted. He knows what it is to suffer pain and weariness and all the human frailties that we are.
[12:46] God is leaving nothing to any kind of criticism so that nobody, when they stand before the judgment seat of God, say, Well, you don't know what it feels like. You're up there in your holy throne and in heaven, and there you are.
[12:59] You're never touched by all the weakness and hunger and thirst and temptations that we have down here in the flesh. You don't know what it's like for us. You've never been like this. And to forestall, let us presume, that to forestall any such criticism, God the Father has put all judgment, the last judgment, in the hands of his Son, because he is the Son of Man, and not just the Son of God.
[13:25] He has been human. He has endured human flesh in all its frailty and weakness and temptation and suffering and sorrow and joys and delights too.
[13:37] He has suffered in his body. He has died in the flesh. He knows what it is to be human. There is nothing that any human being can plead that Christ, God the Son, who is the Son of Man, will not himself know about and probably have experienced.
[13:56] He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. The only currency that will carry any weight of the last judgment is that which has the king's name and face upon it.
[14:15] That which has the face of Christ shining out from his sons and daughters. That which has his name written in their forehead. Whose is this image and superscription?
[14:27] Mender to Caesar the things that are Caesar, but to God the things that are God's. And if we have his name and superscription upon us, we may know that we are his.
[14:39] And that is the only currency that will matter. All the rest, all the things we think of as, oh, I've been a good person, I've done this, I've done that, I've tried to be nice, I've tried to help my neighbours, and help old people across the road, I've got money to charity, I've paid my bills, I've tried to be a good neighbour, I do not bad him.
[14:56] I'm no worse than anybody else. Yeah, I think, if there is a God, and if there is a judgment, well, I should probably be okay. My good deeds should outweigh my bad deeds. What does God regard as good deeds?
[15:08] This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent. Without that, all the rest is just monopoly money.
[15:21] It's toy money. It doesn't carry any weight. It will purchase you nothing when it comes to the last judgment. It is he who judges, Christ who judges, rather than the Father.
[15:35] and he is the one who declares all things. Romans 2 verse 16. We'll come back to this as well. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
[15:49] It is he who judges and not we who judge. Jesus knows everything and makes no mistakes. Romans 14 verse 10. Why dost thou judge thy brother?
[15:59] Why dost thou said it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God so that every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
[16:16] We'll come back to those verses in due course. But this is how Christ will judge in full knowledge as the Son of Man. And as our verse in Acts 17 tells us, will judge the world in righteousness.
[16:32] He's not going to make mistakes. He's not going to sweep anything under the carpet. He's not going to take a bribe. It's going to be absolute, perfect justice in righteousness.
[16:45] And sitting on the throne as the judge of all the earth is Christ. God the Son. This is the first point. The centrality of Christ in this life's judgment.
[16:56] If we have Christ, we don't have to fear at that day. If we have not Christ, nothing else will count.
[17:09] Secondly then, the universality of the application. Some people like to think that, oh well, that's all very well for you. If that's what you believe, you know, you'll stand before God the last day.
[17:20] I don't believe that myself. And I say, so you know, whatever I believe, it'll be true for me. If I happen to be, you know, a great lover of the game of golf and it just means that when I die, I'll be on my great golf course in the sky, teeing off and I'll be playing golf for all eternity to my heart's content.
[17:37] If I happen to be some kind of Viking, Nordic mystic, then I'll go to Valhalla and I'll be with all the Viking gods there. If I happen to be a Hindu or a Buddhist and I'll be in whatever the Nirvana or whatever it is that their particular afterlife describes.
[17:53] If I happen to be a Muslim, I'll be in the garden of Allah in the paradise there. And whatever I happen to be, that's what will happen to me. No, it isn't. All of that is man's fantasy.
[18:07] It is man's invention. It is the invention of men's minds just like all these false gods and false ideas are the inventions of men's minds.
[18:17] What does the word of God say? That is what we have to go by. The biblical basis of what the last judgment is declared today.
[18:31] It's not because our confession of faith says it. Although it says it and although it enunciates the teachings of scripture under chapter headings, it is the biblical basis that counts.
[18:42] What does the Bible tell us about the last judgment at the end time? To who will it apply? We look in Revelation chapter 20 and we read from verse 12.
[18:53] 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 within the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
[19:31] Before these verses it says this it says I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them in other words there was nowhere to hide the earth and heaven fled away if that's the case for them where is man going to flee to you know in the days when the cold war was a reality we thought well if we do get fired on with nuclear missiles or whatever what have we got three minute warning you know if there's a nuclear warhead heading towards you where are you going to go in three minutes where are you going to run to that's going to make you safe if God's judgment is coming on the whole earth where are you going to run to wherever you go it's just going to be on the surface of the earth or under the sea perhaps if you could dig down deep enough and somehow stay alive you hide in a cave and say to the mountains and the hills fall on us cover us there is nowhere that you can hide from the sight of the knowledge
[20:33] I'm God who seest me the heavens and the earth flee away from the great white throne this is a universal application it applies to everyone the Lamb's book of life is the one that will count once we're judged out of the books and everything that's written in them oh yeah there'll be a great transparency there'll be an exhausted nature of this experience it is the ultimate settling of accounts God will do everything like think in terms if we can just clear away this thought I think in terms of an ordinary marketplace in say a previous age when everybody would bring their produce to the market town and they'd sell up their little stalls and farmers would bring their crops or their beasts or their pigs or chickens or whatever it is and they wanted to sell their produce they'd sell their corn or they'd sell their beasts or they'd sell their cattle or baskets they'd made or whatever it was they'd sell their products they'd take money in and what would they do with the money they took and then they'd go and pay their debts they'd pay their rent they'd pay people that they owed for jobs they'd done they'd pay their labourers they'd pay whatever it is there'd be a huge exchange in the markets there'd be that which you sell you get your money and then you pay your accounts out there's money coming in and there's money going out you're having debts paid to you and you're settling debts with others there's a huge marketplace going on a final settling up of accounts and you could say well at the end of the day you might only be sort of one coin better off by the time so much has gone in and come out but the point is people are settling debts with you and you're settling debts with others you're all making payments around this is the marketplace when all this business is done at the last judgment it is the ultimate settling of accounts everybody who has lived on earth will at times feel that they have had a grievance somebody has been bad to them somebody has wronged them somebody has done something which has left them worse off and they are aggrieved and they may forgive the person or they may bear the grudge but they have a grievance and they may go to their grave with that grievance and they will say
[22:50] Lord I want my grievance addressed and you know what the Lord will address their grievance he will address them and say you know you're absolutely right so and so did this to you either they cheated you or they treated you badly and you suffered because of it that's absolutely right and recognising that you're going to receive so many blessings they're going to be judged for that they've done to you if you've forgiven them that's good they're relieved of that particular side of the judgment and all the things that have been bad that have happened to you they will all be addressed they will all be dealt with every debt will be paid to you but on the other hand what about all the debts that you owe which will also be required what about the people that you will have hurt that you will have wronged the business and the bills and the accounts that must be settled from you as well and all of this is just amongst your fellow men women all of this is just amongst the peoples of the earth ultimately when all of these inter-human strifes and bickerings and bills and debts have all been settled and there is a great calm then all will have to turn their attention again to the great white throne and say now what about your debts to me what about your relationship to God who sits upon the throne what about how you have wronged him and they may say oh how we've wronged you what about how you've wronged us Lord what about how this happened and this happened and this happened what about all the things you did to us and the Lord will be able to explain and expound every little detail of every act of providence that ever had said this is why that happened this is why this happened this was the reason for this some of it you brought on yourself some of it they did to you because you've done something else to them all of this is perfectly explained and again there will be the silence at the end of it and then now what about your debt to me what about my son where do you stand in relation to my son what is your currency where is your your currency that you will pay me with now with the debt that you owe to me after all that you have wronged me with every sin you have committed every one of my children you have violated or murdered or martyred or discriminated against or trampled underfoot what about my son who hung upon the cross that you despised and denied and refused to believe in what about your debt to me let's see that debt settled now what is the currency you will pay with and there will be those who will say yes lord you're absolutely right all these days that I despised and refused to believe but I repented of those sins and I do repent and I do acknowledge your son as my saviour and here's my currency here's the fact that he has died for my sake here's the fact that his precious blood has washed away my sins here is his name written in my forehead here is his face shining out from my heart this is my saviour this is my currency this is what I bring what will purchase my redemption for the game that will be sufficient he will want to know where you stand in relation to Jesus Christ the one who is on the throne the one who is doing the judging that will be what he requests what about your debt to me those who are in
[26:18] Christ will have the means to be redeemed because he has redeemed them and everything else is just monopoly it will count for nothing this is the ultimate settling of accounts it is the ultimate putting right of all things the rectifying of all wrongs when we think of every oppressive regime in the world whether it was Nazi Germany or North Korea just now or whatever it may be all those who have oppressed souls all Stalin's Russia whatever it was the multitude of souls who have died in their gulags or their gas chambers or their concentration camps whatever it may be those who have been oppressed and ground down the believers who have been martyred all that has been done all this will be required of them there will be a putting right there will be an account to be settled and to be rectified the last judgment is not nearly doom and gloom it is the ultimate putting right of all wrongs ever committed it is the ultimate second of accounts now some people think of course that they should be the ones who determine themselves what happens in that day they should be the ones who decide you know whether or not they get saved whether or not they have a pleasant eternity or an unpleasant
[27:45] I know of those who think we just want an eternity we don't really want God but we don't want to go to hell so let's just be able to judge for ourselves how are we in a position to judge we cannot tell right from wrong we cannot tell good from evil and at the end of the day anyway it is God's work it is God who created us Romans 9 we read verse 20 but O man who art thou that repriest against God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour what if God willing to show his wrath and to make his power known endure with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction and that he might make known the riches of his glory or the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory if God wants to save some and cause others to be lost are we going to say God is unjust
[28:46] God is unfair why has he saved some because he chooses to they are his he made them he created them he gave them free will and they've used that free will all of us without exception to oppose the Lord some of us he enables to convert and be saved and to turn to him and because of his grace we're able to acknowledge him as our saviour it's not because there was any good in us it's because of what he has done it is all of Christ the centrality of Christ and the universality of the application so I think they should be the ones who determine these things but this is God's world life is God's gift we are God's creatures it is God's tribunal and he is the one who will determine what will happen at the last if we would seek to get right with God there must be such a currency as will count at the last day in the world the shops will only take legal tender they will not take monopoly money and before God's throne of judgment the only legal tender that will count is Christ whose is this image and superscription what is it that is written in your heart the universality of the application it will be to all it will be upon
[30:12] Muslims and Hindus and atheists and Christians nominal and Christians converted it will be all mankind black and white rich and poor reddish skins yellow skins Europeans Africans Asians Chinese every continent every nation and tribe under heaven every soul that has ever lived from Adam and the first all the way through to the last soul that ever breathes upon earth they will all stand before the judgment of Christ and when that judgment is finalized and all the pleas have been exhausted and all the complaints and grumbles have been silenced every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord after all was Lord all the way through you think of some of the most you know vociferous anti-Christian bigots of our day think of those proud trumpeting atheists and think that the day will come and they will bow to the knee and say yes Lord you are
[31:20] Lord Jesus Christ is Lord of course for some by then it will be too late we pray that for many there will have been conversion before that because the third thing that we have after the centrality of Christ and the universality of the application is the certainty of the event because he hath appointed a day it is already known to God in the calendar of heaven and just as we get when we put up our new calendars and new year we may look ahead to September or Prover oh my it seems so far away wonder what we'll be doing when those days come wonder where we'll be when that date comes on the calendar and before you know it that date has come it's been and gone how quickly the days go that calendar in heaven already has the day the date the hour fixed and appointed there is the certainty of the event coupled with the uncertainty of the timing but rather uncertainty only to us it is not uncertain to
[32:23] God he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world he knows it it is better rather to speak not of the uncertainty of the timing but rather of the secrecy of the timing because it is not unknown to God the secrecy of the timing this is a divine secret we have no secrets from God we can't hope to have any secrets you know God we're told will judge in Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13 and 14 let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man for God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil you may have kept it a secret from all the world but still it will be known to God Romans 2 16 in the day when God shall judge the secrets of man by Jesus Christ according to my gospel but the timing of these things is a secret we might even say with reverence a secret a divine secret within the
[33:31] Trinity Deuteronomy tells us the secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law God has revealed enough to us about what we need to do and what we need to do to get right with God and the currency that will count we may all need this knowledge but God reveals it to us through his word through his son Jesus Christ but the timing of that last event is a deep divine secret even and we say it with all reverence even within the Trinity it is a secret Matthew 24 verse 36 tells us that of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the angels of heaven but my father only in Mark 13 verse 32 we read but of that day and that hour knoweth no man no not the angels which are in heaven neither the son but the father although it is the son which will sit on the throne of judgment at the last judgment the day date and hour is known as yet only to the father now that is a heavy charge to say
[34:45] I would tremble to say that I would not dare to speak those words from these sinful human looks were it not for the fact that God's infallible word said it is in the mouth of Jesus himself that this day this day this hour is not even known to the son but it is known to the father this distinction within the trinity this divine secret within the trinity it is so deep that not even the son knows it only the father so it is both secrecy but at the same time certainty because he hath appointed a day at 1731 in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man who will be who all be of and assurance that the woman will be raised and from the dead secrecy but certainty to encourage and strengthen the poor and down trouble so that those who think oh the injustice of this world where people don't get a fair chance where they endure only suffering and pain and then they die and then there's no justice in the world there's no justice here but there is justice here after there is justice i.e.
[36:05] judgment with God there is the last judgment when all the accounts will be settled when every oppressor will answer for the tyranny they have exercised when the poor and the downtrodden will have one to speak for them and they may or may not end up amongst the saved but their case will be judged alight and they will have justice from the Lord at the last they will have a repayment in full of all that they have endured there will be righteousness in that judgment to judge the world in righteousness so that man should recognize that there will be a second of the accounts there will be a putting right of all evil and this certainty ought to restrain the evil of some and to give encouragement and hope to others in the cases of others of course the knowledge that there is such a day and they scoff and it will simply serve to fill up the measure of their ambiguity and that is a solemn and sobering thought there are those who in their knowledge that there will be such a day scoff at it and all that the delay serves to do is to fill up their cup of wrath and judgment the cup of iniquity and of
[37:31] God's wrath against them so this event which is most definitely described in scripture is a Christ centred event the last judgment it is universal all the world and all ages of history and it is a certainty Hebrews tells us of course Hebrews tells us both the reasoning the finality and the source of hope for for then it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation there is this judgment coming the last judgment the final day already appointed by God and the certainty of it is combined with its secrecy of that day and that hour knoweth no man know not the angels which are in heaven neither the son but the father this is
[38:46] Mark 13 from verse 33 take ye heed watch and pray for ye know not when the time is for the son of man is the man taking a far journey who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work and commanded the porter to watch watch ye therefore for ye know not when the master of the house cometh at even or at midnight or at the cock crow or in the morning lest coming suddenly ye find you sleeping and what I say unto you I say unto all watch that's good