Ten Points on the Ten Commandments (part 4)

[0:00] Matthew chapter 7 verse 13. one of the ways that Jesus saves us helps us and keeps us to the end is by speaking to us by teaching us he speaks about these very same things in this passage Matthew chapter 7 verse 13 and we'll be reading through the the rest of the chapter enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it watch out for false prophets they come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ferocious wolves by their fruit you will recognize them do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles likewise every good tree bears good fruit but a bad tree bears bad fruit a good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire thus by their fruit you will recognize them not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven many will say to me on that day lord lord did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles then i will tell them plainly i never knew you away from me you evil doers therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock the rain came down the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand the rain came down the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash when jesus had finished saying these things the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one who had authority and not as their teachers of the law well in the beginning when god made man and woman he made them dependent upon himself they needed him not only for life and breath but for information how to live and god spoke and they obeyed and then as you recall adam and eve fell into sin and since then every boy and girl every man and woman has a sinful spirit of independence within us that doesn't want anyone to tell us what to do god included and advertising campaigns have tapped into this rebellion to sell products the isuzu rodeo had a commercial the world has boundaries ignore them and it showed in the isuzu rolling over road signs that say obey and rules outback state house no rule just right columbia music columbia house music club we broke the rules nfl video game

[4:00] no rest no rules no mercy and the message is clear rules are bad breaking them is good someone in these ad campaigns have have done their homework and they tapped into a strain that's in the heart of every one of their viewers their hearers the anti-rules message resonates within the flesh of every boy and girl man and woman son and daughter of adam and we're in that human race that's fallen we all like sheep have gone astray we've turned our back on god and each of us has gone our own way and into this world god has given ten commandments rules to obey and we all have said thank you but no thank you and in one way or another have said no we will do what we want to do well it's into that world then that uh we are in this world that we're studying the ten commandments actually we're warming up for the study of the ten commandments aren't we and and we're looking at ten points on the ten commandments before we actually dive into each one specifically we've covered eight so far uh just a quick review we're we're looking at them all under this heading that when we are studying the ten commandments we are number one we are learning the moral character of the god whose commandments they are what he is like he's holy righteous and good and so is his command are his commandments we're learning our duty to god what we owe to this god we're learning third a summary of god's moral law just a sampling of those abiding commandments for all ages fourth we're learning of our own sinfulness and need for a savior for by the law is the knowledge of sin and then fifthly we are learning how jesus christ perfectly meets our need as sinners because he perfectly obeyed these commandments so when we're studying the ten commandments in the sixth place we're learning the path of true freedom what the world scoffs at and calls bondage but what james calls the perfect law of liberty when we're studying the ten commandments we're learning seventh what love looks like because love is the fulfillment of the law of god's commands and then we saw last week that when we studied the ten commandments we're learning what god enables his people to do because on the heart of every single one of his redeemed children he writes his law he puts his law in our inward parts so that upon our mind our affections and our will we have this law of god within not just the law of god coming to us from without but now we have this response from within he takes out our stony heart he puts in a heart of flesh he he puts his own holy spirit in us and causes us makes us to obey his precepts and to be careful to keep his law so as we study the ten commandments we're studying what god enabled his people to do to obey you say well i struggle and i still sin i still break god's commands would you like to live one week without the holy spirit christian would you like to have your old heart back just for one week scares me to think where i would be a week from now if his spirit wasn't working sometimes we feel our weakness and our stumbling and our breaking of think what you'd be without the spirit he is doing that work

[8:05] and one day it will be completed he will finish what he has begun well we have two more to to finish up our our ten points on the ten commandments and so we come to number nine when we study the the ten commandments we are learning a large part of the job of parenting turns it to deuteronomy chapter six the fifth book of the bible deuteronomy chapter six and verses six and seven hero israel back in verse four hero israel the lord our god the lord is one love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength now verse six these commandments that i give you today are to be upon your heart impress them on your children talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road when you lie down and when you get up now we're familiar with these words aren't we as parents we've we've heard them before but i wonder if you're familiar and realize what he means when he says these commands that i give you today what commands had been given to them that day well if you just look back a little bit into chapter five you can see the layout there can't you of the ten commandments not all that was given that that was the centerpiece that was the the heart of the the commandments that had been given to them that day you see in verse 22 of chapter five moses concludes these are the commandments that the lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire the cloud and the deep darkness and he added nothing more then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me and now moses uh 40 years later is is has just rehearsed them again for this new generation of israelites as they're ready to go into the promised land and so parents that it's everything that god has said but especially the ten commandments that are to be on our hearts and that we are then to impress upon the hearts of our children and i wonder if we get that the westminster assembly got that the westminster assembly was a group of over a hundred godly english ministers mighty in the scriptures who met over a period of more than five years years for from 1643 to 1649 they met for 1163 sessions called the westminster confession of faith and our own 1689 baptist confession of faith draws heavily upon that document drawn up by the westminster assembly they not only produced a confession of faith for the church but also a larger and then a shorter catechism a teaching uh mechanism or a book book for that had the format of questions and answers the first question of the shorter catechism what is the chief end of man the answer the chief end of man is to glorify god and to enjoy him forever so goes the catechism question answer question with all the scriptures then given as well to support the answers a tremendous study one third of those catechisms are taken up with the ten commandments giving the duties required by each command and the sins forbidden by each command

[12:11] they saw the importance of teaching the ten commandments to their children and to their congregation parents the ten commandments are no small part of your curriculum in parenting notice how the lord puts it in in verse seven he says talk about them when you sit at home how do you impress them on your children how do you diligently teach them to your children well he tells us talk about them when you sit at home in those planned times when you sit with the word of god and you you read the the law of god and you you explain to them the ten commandments but not just then talk about them when you walk along the road in our day i think a newer translation would say when you drive down the road as you're driving along as you're working your way through your day out and about taking your kids to music lessons to practice to school to the dentist office in the midst of doing life together talk about them when lying down at night bedtimes are critical times for talking about them let their last thoughts each day be about their god and their duty to that god his commands and his savior who fully kept those commands to save lawbreakers like us let them go to sleep on that stuff talk about them when you lie down and when you get up in the morning to start a new day start all over again keep talking do it again and again school's always in session parents dad and mom you are to always be at this work planning and seizing every teachable moment to talk about what god's commandments these commandments that i give you today that's what you're to be talking about so i say i wonder if we've gotten that no wonder god says that these commandments must first be upon our hearts moms and dads if we're to be that invested in teaching them diligently to our children's heart in all these contexts not just when we have the bible in front of us and can teach them yes then but when we don't have our bibles and we're driving down the road if if we're to be teaching them then we're going to be teaching them to be teaching them to be teaching them to be teaching them our hearts what does it mean to have something on your heart well in the least it means that you memorize them isn't that what david says your word have i hidden in my heart it's it's there it's there so that it's it's it will keep me from sinning against you with my lips i recount all the laws that come from your mouth david could recite the laws of god i meditate on your precepts and consider your ways he hid them in his heart he thought about them deeply and so parents it's only as you have them memorized and thought deeply about that you'll be ready to talk about them to your children at any part of the day to have them on your heart is to have them ready at hand for this important task but to have them upon your heart is also to have them upon the faculties of your heart your mind yes but your affections and your will in other words god's commandments must be the visible rule of your life if you're to rightly teach them to your children to your children the importance of your example in keeping god's commands can hardly be overstated

[16:17] lest you be pointing their way to heaven with one hand even while leading them to hell with the other example sometimes example is speaking so loud that they cannot hear the words you're saying be sure it's one in the same that what you say is what you do because the word of god the commands of god are first on your heart as you then impress them upon them blessed is a young timothy who heard god's commandments from a godly mother who obeyed them she's marked out for that as well as his grandmother well as a brief summary of the moral law of god the ten commandments are easily memorized and recalled that's why we we we can do that and it's a blessing to have a summary of the law so that we can memorize it and recall it see that your children know them by heart and that they know how each one applies to them at their age group show them how these commands are for their own good show them the benefits of obeying and the misery of disobeying as you read the bible and you read the bible stories the histories with your children underscore god's commandments in those stories whether they were obeyed or disobeyed and the consequences of doing so connect the dots for them between obedience and blessing and disobedience and misery do the same with pertinent events in their daily lives show how the ten commandments apply to their decision making to the situations they're facing in life use god's moral compass of the ten commandments to help them evaluate themselves to evaluate others and the evening news and things happening at school next time you watch a movie as a family when you're done evaluate the characters the plot the behaviors by the ten commandments this moral compass!

[18:37] you're watching lord of the rings discuss how many of the ten commandments smiegel broke and how coveting was at the heart of breaking them all and then parents don't think that this duty is just something for the jews in the old testament in ephesians chapter 6 the first three verses we find that paul expects gentile children in the church at ephesus to both know and obey the ten commandments when he's writing to children there and he's summarizing their duty just as he summarized the husband's duty to his wife and the wife's duty to her husband when he comes to summarizing a child's duty to his parents parents he says children obey your parents in the lord for this is right how does he reinforce and prove that that is right for children to obey well he quotes the fifth commandment doesn't he honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with a promise not the first commandment in the bible with a promise no he's talking about the set of the ten commandments it's the first of the ten with this promise that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth so paul quotes the fifth commandment as applicable as authoritative for gentile kids in the first century ephesus as it is for the jewish children at the foot of mount sinai who heard it directly from the voice of god and received it on tablets of stone inscribed by the lord children your moral duty what you owe is to obey your parents and then he gives the encouragement doesn't he for obeying that it might go well with you and that you might enjoy long life the very best way to live kids is to obey your parents we'll look more at that when we come to the fifth commandment because in the keeping of god's commands there is great reward thomas watson said the ten commandments are the first thing the center needs to know first things the first thing the center needs to be taught and parents that's true of your little sinners too they need to know there's a god he's spoken in his word and he expects you to obey him that's the most basic thing they need to know they need to know that right away there's a god he's in he's authority over them and whatever he says you must obey he'll hold you accountable so if you want them to know of their duty their sins their need for a savior set before them the law of god for through the laws the knowledge of sin memorize review talk about them apply them make use of them because you are informing the consciences of your children on the moral absolutes that govern the world in which they will grow up and live and die you're showing them the holiness of god convincing them of their sins showing them why they need jesus christ to save them and yes when disciplining them for disobedience to one of the ten commandments use the opportunity to point them to a savior who kept that very commandment that sinners like them might have a righteousness might be forgiven by the savior who died and who had kept the law point them to jesus it is through the law that we come to see our need of him the law is the needle that brings the threat of the gospel use it if you don't want them to yawn at the gospel of jesus teach them the ten commandments it's interesting to see the concern of some parents over

[22:38] to prepare their children for important tests like the sat or some other college entrance examination sometimes they'll spend money for a tutor actually to to help prepare them they'll get involved and go online and find tests there they'll take them to take the test multiple times they'll go online and see these actual kinds of questions that will be on the test so that they'll be prepared and all for what well that they might maybe score a high enough score to get some scholarships or or to get into a college or to be prepared for a good calling in life and i get that it's not unimportant but if that's important how much more important is it to prepare them for the final examination that your children will face when they stand alone before god and he examines them how much more important is it for you to tell them what will be on the examination in that day to set it before do they know what's on that test do they know the standard of holiness required not to get into college not to get a scholarship but to get into heaven may god help us to keep his commandments on our hearts parents and then to impress them upon the hearts of our children and that leads us to the last point the tenth point on the ten commandments when we are studying the ten commandments we are learning the standard used at the last judgment we're learning what measurement what law will be used at the last judgment not man's but god's law as you climb the steps of the capitol building in washington dc that houses the supreme court at the top of the building and i've seen it in pictures i can't say i've been there to see it personally carved in stone is a row of the world's law givers and they're all facing the center figure and the center figure is looking straight at you and it's moses with the ten commandments to state just how important the law the ten commandments was in the founding of the judicial system of our nation and then as you enter the inner court room of the supreme court front and center above the bench where the uh chief justice sits is a marble frieze that includes a tablet with roman numerals one two three four five six seven eight nine ten the same tablet is carved into the lower section of each of the main the ten wooden doors into the inner court room so that when the doors are shut the ten commandments are facing the nine supreme court justices the lawyers and those who are making their case are seeing front and center the ten commandments and the justices are seeing the ten commandments and until just 20 or 30 years ago the literature and speeches that were given to visitors who came to the supreme court to to see it that literature and those speeches clearly explained that these tablets represented the ten commandments in the bible that were given to moses but since then visitors are being told that the ten roman roman roman numerals represent the ten bill of rights and gone gone is the mention of ten commandments from god aclll aclu lawyers have been relentless in trying to remove all religious

[26:42] symbols from government buildings they have succeeded in removing the ten commandments from many courtrooms in our land it takes us back to psalm 2 doesn't it to kicking against the rock let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us can you imagine the surprise that these lawyers will receive when they come to stand before the judge of heaven and earth and they find that in his courtroom the standard for their eternal destiny is none other than those ten words his law his moral law his absolute moral laws as summarized in the ten commandments not massaged and manipulated to fit man's desires but the inflexible moral absolutes that reflect god's own inflexible moral holiness righteousness righteousness and justice are the foundation of his judgment throne and there will be no getting rid of his commandments in his courtroom any more than you can get rid of the judge himself and even so as we begin this study on the ten commandments you may brush them aside you may just be one of those stony ground here the path along the way and the devil just comes and snatches it away and you don't give another thought to these commandments but you must know that you will face these words again one day in judgment this is the standard god's moral law is the standard of judgment judgment for we must all appear before the judgment seat of christ that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body whether good or bad now kids isn't it good to know ahead of time what's going to be on a final exam you're happy for a teacher that actually says this is what's going to be on the test how much more when the result of the final examination is everlasting punishments or everlasting blessedness so what is on the final examination what will we be judged on you know god in mercy doesn't hide it from us he doesn't just surprise us and says it's a pop quiz no no he tells us about it in his word he tells us what's going to be on the test we will be judged for the things done while in the body for the things done that's for your deeds the things you did your thoughts your words your actions and whether they measured up to god's law god's absolute moral law i want you to notice this connection in the bible between god's commandments and the final judgment first from ecclesiastes 12 13 and 14 it's the very end of the book now all has been said all has been heard here's the conclusion of the matter fear god and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man for god will bring every deed into judgment including every hidden thing whether it is good or evil final judgment is all about our deeds whether we did good or evil based upon his commandments his commandments spell out what is good and evil you shall you shall not keep the commandments because he will bring every deed into judgment

[30:43] so how's it going to go in the day of judgment what's on the exam well here's my commandment there's the line how did you measure up let's see that's the way it's going to go the commandments the moral law of god james tells us in chapter 2 verses 8 through 12 if you really keep the royal law found in scripture love your neighbor as yourself you're doing right but if you show favoritism you sin and are convinced by the law as lawbreakers for whoever keeps the whole law and yet offends at just one point is guilty of breaking it all for he who said do not commit adultery seventh commandment also said do not murder sixth commandment now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder you have become a lawbreaker a word for the wise is then given verse 12 speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom speak and act let your speech and your deeds your actions be done in a way that you will hope to have lived when you are judged by what by the law what law the law that gives freedom and he's just quoted two of their precepts do not murder and do not commit adultery the ten commandments summarize the righteousness needed for heaven god's law is the final is the standard for the final judgment listen how paul puts it he says that god's law is what will what leaves all of mankind speechless and and guilty before god romans 3 19 now we know that whatever the law says it says to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be silenced and all the world may become guilty before god you see the picture everybody stands before this law condemned and no one has an excuse every mouth is silenced we see our guilt before the law perhaps you remember those billboards what what was it about thou shalt not that you did not understand sign god there will be no excuses in that day the law the law is sufficiently clear you say well what about the people that that never had the law yeah what about them paul talks about them in that very chapter he says there is no such person that doesn't have the law of god some of it have it written you jews you have the written word of god but even gentiles who don't have it in writing have it upon their conscience so even the man born and lives and dies in timbuktu who's never read in exodus 20 you shall not steal he knows it's wrong to steal and he shows it whenever someone steals from him he's all riled up he recoils it's not fair it's wrong i've i've been mistreated he knows it instinctively and that's what paul says is going to condemn everyone they have the law of god some of you have it right here in your your lap and and you've had it all your life your judgment will be higher and greater but every man will be silenced because we all had the law and it's that law that will be brought forth in the day of judgment and will condemn and leave all men outside of christ guilty since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts their

[34:48] consciences also bearing witness in their thoughts now accusing now even defending so everybody has something of god's law to answer for in the final judgment james 4 and verse 12 says there's only one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy only one lawgiver and judge isn't that something the lawgiver the one who gives the law is the same one who's judge and he's going to judge according to his laws he's going to uphold his laws in his universe now in our government in our country we have divided the three divisions of government into into three different branches haven't we we have the law givers the congress and and then we have the judges the supreme court and the executive the president but in god's economy and government jesus is king and that means he's the one law giver and the one judge the same one serves as law giver and judge david says you have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed you're the law giver you've given laws and you mean for them to be fully obeyed and you will enforce them in the day of judgment you are the judge the only law giver and judge who's able to save and to destroy well how's he going to proceed this is at the return of christ he calls all men to appear before him revelation 20 11 to 15 at christ's return all who have ever lived will appear before his great white throne and i saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and the books were opened another book was opened which is the book of life the dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books the sea gave up the dead that were in it and death and hades gave up the dead that were in them and each person was judged according to what he had done and if anyone's name was not found it written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire and the lake of fire is the second death that eternal punishment hell is god's punishment for breaking his commandments indeed everyone who sins breaks the law first john three four and the wages for doing so is death the second death of the lake of fire so the clear teaching of god's word is that the final judgment will proceed on the basis of what you have done while in the body here in whatever number of years you have lived in the body it will be based on your deeds now this does not mean that a man can merit heaven by his good deeds it only means that a man's heart is revealed by his deeds that's an important distinction to get it could be the difference between heaven and hell for you if you think that by doing enough good deeds you will be brought into heaven at the end that that teaching will damn you no no one can merit their way into heaven just one sin is enough to consign you to hell that's how holy god is that's how offensive one sin is in his presence no the the standard for heaven is perfect holiness perfect righteousness no one no sinner can ever merit heaven by their deeds but a man's deeds will prove his heart it will reveal his heart where there's true faith in the heart there will be good deeds in the

[38:51] life and so real is that connection between faith and good deeds that the final judgment will go on the basis of the deeds and it will come to the same conclusion that if god would have judged on the faith seen in the heart because where there's saving faith there's always works isn't that what james says james 2 and many other places in scripture but you see at the moment of death there's an immediate judgment that god makes upon everyone that dies and immediately though their body goes into the ground awaiting the judgment day their spirit is immediately judged and sent either into torments or into the pleasures of paradise immediately there's a judgment but we on earth don't see that it's a secret judgment it's a private thing we don't we don't see it somebody dies we don't know did were they christian or weren't we don't know well it's not going to stay that way forever god is going to hold a public judgment a last final judgment to vindicate himself to show to every man and woman boy and girl and angel fallen and unfallen that the judge of all the earth does right and he will prove that he did right in every case and how will he prove it by their deeds he will show by their deeds if damned their breaking of his commands will be shown and will prove that man to be a disobedient unbelieving rebel against god and if saved then his holy spirit enabled good deeds that we saw last week will be evidence that he has faith in jesus christ in his heart and therefore he's a forgiven rebel who had true belief and true repentance only a faith that works is a real faith and his obedience to god's commandments will prove to the world in that day that he had saving faith in jesus christ and so that's what we find in matthew 25 that all the nations are brought at the coming of jesus all the nations are gathered before him and he sets out to judge them separating them as the sheep from the goats into two groups you remember what it's on it's on the man's deeds the righteous will be condemned will be commended for their works of love obviously wrought by the holy spirit whose fruit is love and the wicked will be condemned for their absence of love and then they the wicked will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life romans 2 5 to 8 when god's righteous judgment will be revealed he will give to each person according to what he has done to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory honor and immorality immortality he will give eternal life but for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil there will be wrath and anger there will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil first for the jew then for the gentile but there will be glory honor and peace for everyone who does good first for the jew then for the gentile not because those good deeds earned heaven it just showed their heart that christ faith in jesus was there and it could be seen in their works john 5 28 and 29 a time is coming jesus says when all who are in their graves will hear the voice of the son of man and come out those who have done good will rise to live and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned these and other passages make it clear that the final judgment is based on our deeds

[42:54] every person's deeds taken as a whole will show their true colors will show their character were they a believer in jesus did they have faith in their hearts that was true saving faith it will be seen by their deeds if they did not it will be seen by their deeds the good deeds of the righteous no do not merit salvation they are the visible proof of faith in jesus that was real for in the day of judgment it is by their deeds you will know them even so the unbelievers absence of saving faith will be seen in what he did how he lived what he did with his time his money his tongue his hands his feet every member of his body his deeds will prove he was an unbeliever without christ no new heart you say but where will the sinful deeds of the believer be in the day of judgment no believers believe it they will be buried in the depths of the deepest sea they'll be blotted out in the crimson blood of jesus they will be made whiter than snow they will be removed from us as far as the east is from the west they will be forgiven and praise our savior they will be remembered no more you see it really is true brothers and sisters he really did bear our sins in his body to the tree where he was cursed to set us free it is true calvary covers it all all my past with my sin and shame all my guilt and despair jesus took on him there and calvary covers it all gone are my scarlet sins that i could not hide i could not cover i could not kill and instead when the books are open on our page believers will be the perfect obedience of jesus christ credited to your account when you trusted in jesus when you put your faith in what he did not in what anything that you could do all of his obedience was put on your account put on that page and in the day of judgment when the books are open that's what will save you that's what will will be seen as the righteousness that you have and all your works that you did on earth that were by the power of the holy spirit any remaining elements of sin will be obliterated by the blood of jesus and you will receive eternal life because of what jesus christ has done what will it be worth in that day to be found in christ dressed in his righteousness alone faultless to stand before the throne jesus is being sold for 30 pieces of silver and less are you underselling jesus what will it be worth to be found in christ in that thing the whole world you would give just to be found in christ just to have his righteousness on your page and be welcomed by him come you who are blessed into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world it'll be seen in that day that god doesn't compromise his justice he doesn't lower the bar for his people oh this is one of ours well we'll just put the bar a little lower we won't have the standard to be perfect obedience to our our command no no the bar is the same every sin must be punished without exception perfect obedience to god's commandments is required and that's what our savior did for us he took our sins

[47:00] and he took the punishment for them and then he puts his righteousness to our account when we believe you see the blessing of being in christ on the day of judgment god made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of god there is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy which will it be for you in that day what if it were today and god's law was held up as the standard do you do you have a a righteousness that will get you into heaven will the lawgiver and judge destroy you or save you well for you who have fled for refuge to jesus christ the one lawgiver and judge will save you and you'll be able to say with the the saints in in isaiah 33 and verse 22 the lord is our judge the lord is our lawgiver the lord is our king it is he who will save us and you can say that sitting in your seat you're ready for the judgment day what a precious peace that comes upon us in the day of judgment i i'm ready i'm ready for the final exam i have the spirit of god in my heart producing good works that that he authors and i have a savior who perfectly obeyed the law of god for me and bore the wrath of god for all my sins and and shortcomings i think it's true that when you look at what the bible says about the believers expectation of judgment day what you find is not one of dread but one of joy and anticipation and peace why because we have a savior one lawgiver and judge who's able to save but outside of him he will destroy in matthew 7 the passage read for us when jesus came to the end of that sermon on the mount a sermon in which he as the only king stated the righteousness of those in his kingdom what's the standard for righteousness in the kingdom of god king jesus the only king tells you he deals with lots of commandments some of the ten commandments that the the the religious leaders had twisted the meaning so that it totally misrepresented the lawgiver jesus's intention and he straightens it out he's the the one king and and then he's the one lawgiver and then in conclusion he fast forwards to the day of judgment and he tells us how it's going to be in that day how does he know because he is the one judge he's lawgiver king and judge and what does he say about that day of judgment not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven now be careful listen what he's but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven you'll be judged by your deeds did you have a new heart did you have faith in jesus did you receive the spirit of god that that that wrote the law of god on your heart did you have a faith that that that overcomes the world a faith that purifies the heart a faith that works by love a faith that obeys the commands of god just claiming jesus is lord won't get it but only those who do the will of my father they will show who have true faith in the heart but many he says many who profess to know me and who did many religious

[51:05] things in my name i i as the judge will plainly say to them i never knew you depart from me you evil doer you did evil your heart was not changed you never came to christ as an evil doer pleading for mercy oh jesus is ready be wise that's how he ends the sermon don't be foolish don't build for eternity on sand the sand of your own pitiful obedience your own pitiful efforts to obey god's command build on the rock jesus christ be one who not only hears the word of god but one who does it and what does jesus say he says unless you repent you will all likewise perish then do what he says and repent he says believe on the lord jesus christ he says whoever believes in me will not perish but have everlasting then believe he says come to me and whoever comes to me i will in no wise cast out then go to him what a precious savior what a kind jesus to tell us about the final judgment what the standard will be in that day how the judgment will proceed and who will be allowed into heaven all those who are in jesus christ taste and see for yourself just how gracious a master he is well these are things that we would never know of had not he came from heaven to tell us but one day we'll know personally every eye will see him coming every tongue will confess he's god every knee will bow and some will cringe as they receive the depart from me and others will rejoice to see their savior welcome them great god what do i see in here the end of things created the judge of mankind shall appear on clouds of glory seated what will it be will be just as jesus said it would get into christ holy the one judge who's able to save and destroy