Would you stand with me as you're able for the reading of God's word? from Ezekiel chapter 17, starting in verse 11. The word of the Lord came to me saying, say now to the rebellious house, do you not know what these things mean? Say, behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took its king and princes and brought them to him in Babylon. He took one of the royal family and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath. He also took away the mighty of the land, that the kingdom might be in subjection, not exalting itself, but keeping its his covenant, that it might continue. But he rebelled against him by sending his envoys to Egypt, that he might give him horses and many troops. Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Can he indeed break the covenant and escape? As I live, declares the Lord God, surely in the country of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke in Babylon, he shall die. Pharaoh, with his mighty army and great company, will not help him in the war when they cast up ramps and build up siege walls to cut off many lives. Now he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, and behold, he pledged his allegiance Yet, though he did all these things, he shall not escape. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, as I live, surely my oath, which he despised, and my covenant, which he broke, I will inflict on his head. I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. Then I will bring him to Babylon, and enter into judgment with him there, regarding the unfaithful act which he has committed against me. All the choice men in all his troops will fall by the sword, and the survivors will be scattered to every wind, and you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken." This is the word of the Lord. All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flower of the field. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God shall stand forever. Amen. Let's come to a time of prayer as we open up the Word of God together. Most gracious God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we do bow our heads at this moment, bow our hearts, and ask, O God, that we might, by your grace, humbly come before you and ask your assistance, both in hearing the word read and the word preached. God, your assistance in receiving the word and your assistance in its proclamation, we pray that we might hear from Christ, pray that he might indeed Take these moments, use these moments to come to his people and proclaim his truth. We ask God your blessing, your help in this hour. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you have your Bible, I would invite you to take it and turn with me to Isaiah chapter 65 and 66. Isaiah 65 and 66 we return today to the message that we left off somewhat incomplete Excuse me a couple of Lord's days ago addressing the subject of judgment and in a sense the inseparable themes of sin and judgment We found these themes in Isaiah 65 in verses 2 through 7, and also later in chapter 66 in verses 14 through 18. We find here a subject that we noted is a subject that is rather troublesome, a subject that is rather difficult to address, a subject that is weighty, it's difficult to preach, it's difficult to hear, and that is the subject of sin and God's certain judgment on sin. From this passage, we noted three things, and we kind of got into these a little bit, and I want to kind of bring us back somewhat up to speed so we can kind of move forward and, Lord willing, finish this today. You will notice in the back of your bulletin an outline there. Three main sections here. We want to look at the theme of sin again, and we want to move forward with a more specific look and at the theme of judgment and then we want to take a maybe a general look at judgment and then a specific or textual look at judgment and then come down with some points of application which we'll make toward the end. Last time we were together, I passed out a sheet. Maybe you still have that. I was going to print another one, but I apparently deleted it. And so that didn't help any. I'm sure I'll blame Vishal. He's the one that's got me on the Mac and I can't find anything. And so, hence, I'll just blame that. I'll ride that as long as I can and until it just doesn't work anymore. But it's somewhere in the computer, I think, but I just can't find it. But it was a sheet that laid out these two texts, Isaiah 65, 2 to 7, and Isaiah 66, 14 to 18, in somewhat of a chiastic structure. And it showed how the opening verses of 65 and the closing verses of 66 both pointed to the sin of God's people, or those who at least were in covenant with him in the Old Testament. Not a saving covenant, but a covenant nonetheless. They were required. to obey his laws and they failed and that was their sin. But also more narrowly focused in the middle of that section, Isaiah 65 verses 6 and 7 and then Isaiah 66 in verses 14 through I think about verse 16, we saw the judgment that God was going to bring in light of the sin of the people. And we made some general observations trying to show the connections between the different sections, the A sections and the B sections. So if you were here a few weeks ago, maybe you remember that sheet, maybe you're looking at it right now. And if you are looking at it right now, come see me later because I want to get a copy of that. But I'm sure Vishal can find it in the Mac somewhere. I'll desperately plead with him to come find it. Well, what I want to do though today is I want to come back and I want to take a closer look, or just by way of reminder, take a look again at their sin, what they had done, and then move to the bulk of our time today to this segment on judgment. If you notice in chapter 65 in verses 2 through 5, And then in chapter 66 in verses 17 and 18, we have lined out for us their sin. Let me just take you back to the text and read them for you again. In Isaiah 65 beginning in verse 2, I have spread out my hands all day long to a rebellious people who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts, a people who continually provoke me to my face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks, who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places, who eat swine's flesh and the broth of unclean meat is in their pots, who say, keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than you. And then in chapter 66, beginning in verse 17, we find that these are those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens, following one in the center, who eats swine's flesh, detestable things, and mice. They will come to an end altogether, declares the Lord, for I know their works and their thoughts. We observed here last time that their sin is a way that is not good. They follow after their own thoughts and specifically we broke their sins down into three different categories. They embraced a false or self-made pattern of worship in Isaiah 65 verse 3. We saw later in Isaiah 65 in verse 4 that they have rejected the word of God in favor of their own foolish reasonings. These are men who sought messages from the dead rather than the living. And finally we saw that having departed God's worship and having forsaken God's word, they now viewed themselves as altogether righteous, when in truth they were unclean and unfit. And this is the dangerous place that men get themselves in when they wander away from God and his word, his revelation, and they're left with their own reasonings of their own minds. They begin to see themselves in ways that are altogether untrue. They see themselves as righteous when, in fact, they're full of wickedness. They see themselves as holy when, in fact, they are full of every kind of debauchery. Those who seek to establish a righteousness of their own will find in the end they are unrighteous altogether. Their sin and their stubbornness in it has left them standing on a rotten covering that may give way at any minute. Jonathan Edwards notes in his well-read sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, sometimes people think this is the way Edwards always preached, kind of a hard and harsh kind of a puritanical American, but that really wasn't the flavor of all of Edward's writings, for example, you might read his work Charity and its Fruits. I mean, it's nothing like Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. He had many more sermons that were light-hearted and joy-filled than these heavy-type texts. But Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is an amazing sermon that God used in the Great Awakening in American history in the 18th century. And he makes this comment. He said that unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering. And there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight. And these places are unseen. With Edwards, the scriptures concur. In Psalm 73, the Psalm of Asaph that we use today, he says of the wicked in Psalm 73, 18, you, God, indeed put them on slippery ground. You drop them into ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment. They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors. In other words, they never saw it coming. They didn't expect it. I mean, if men can actually get a sense that judgment of God is actually coming, they might, what? They might repent, but God has a display of his sovereignty. And God, for the judgment of the wicked, leaves them in darkness. And the ground opens up at a moment when they can't expect. I think of Korah and Dathan and Abiram. Oh, with what arrogance. with what smugness they came before Moses and before Aaron, and they stood before the entire congregation, and Dathan stands there with his whole family, his wife and his little ones, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the ground opened up, split in two, swallowed them alive, and closed back again. Can you imagine? Can you imagine being there? I mean, it really happened. Can you imagine the arrogance that fills Ananias and Sapphira's heart as they walk into the apostles? And they're keeping back some of the money for themselves, which was fine. But they were trying to give the impression that they were giving all. It was deception. And they walk in with arrogance, and Ananias dead. And a few hours later, Sapphira walks in, not knowing what had happened to her husband, and lies before God and the Holy Spirit, dead. Can you imagine what would happen? Like Isaiah, Jeremiah had warned the people that the end of sin would not be what they had hoped. Jeremiah chapter 2 and verses 12 and 13 Jeremiah says be appalled at this you heavens and shudder be very desolate declares the Lord for my people have committed two evils They have abandoned me on the one hand the fountain of living waters to carve out for themselves cisterns broken cisterns that what hold no water imagine having dug a cistern out of the rock and and filled it with water and thinking it's going to be there when you need it later on, only to open up the cover and to realize the cistern is bone dry. You know, friends, the writer of Hebrews reminds us that sin's pleasure is a passing pleasure. And we would do well to keep that in mind. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 24, it says that Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God, rather than to what? Rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Have you not tasted of the passing pleasures of sin? There's nothing at the end. Nothing but loss, sorrow, and ultimately death. These passing pleasures of sin have a sure and certain end. The writer of the Prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 5, says this, an appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesied falsely, the priests rule on their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do? What will you do, he says, at the end of it? You see, sin comes to an end. Sin seems so appealing. It seems to taste so good. But Eve ate the fruit, and her eyes were what? Opened. And she saw that she was naked. You know, that sense, that sense of your sin, when everything seems so good, it seems so nice, and then there's that moment that you realize you're naked. and there's nothing you can do. Yet it's not that sin comes up empty, just a temporal pleasure, or that it leaves us aimless, not knowing what to do at the end. Rather, at its end, one finds something very clear. What the text wants us to know in Isaiah 65 and 66 is that when one comes to the end of sin, what he finds is not nothing, but he finds judgment. He finds God waiting at the end. I mean, if you could think of it, a life of righteousness lived for Christ, we will find Christ at the end, much to our joy. And he'll say, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master. But the wicked will also find Christ at the end of his sin, only to be cast out into everlasting darkness. At the end of sin one finds the judgment of an almighty God whose law has been spurned and his holiness has been profaned. Well with this thought we move to a third and final word from the text. So we've noticed the connections between the sections and we focused our attention in on the sin that they're doing What is it that God says awaits them? It's judgment. Like our look at sin, where we looked generally and then specifically at the character of the sin, we want to look generally and specifically at the judgment. So if you're wondering where we are on this nifty little outline, we're on page 13. we want to look generally at the subject of judgment. Generally speaking, we want to address for a moment the justness of God's judgment. When we consider the subject of judgment, this is an act of God. Judgment is an act of God that generally meets the response from men that God is being somehow unjust. He's not being fair. So, you know, you ask a sinner, someone, you know, prolifically sinning and moving forward in that sin, and it's a downward spiral. And you're like, what are you going to do at the end of all this? Well, I'm just hoping, I'm just hoping that God is going to, you know, He's going to be fair. As if fair would be what? The wiping away of all this sin. looking somewhere else, winking at it. As we approach such a topic, let us remember the words of Isaiah from an earlier section in his work in Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45, verse 5, it says this. And I'm going to read some of these texts quickly. And if you don't get there, I'm sorry. Just write them down and look them up later. I have just too many verses. Isaiah 45 verse 5 says this, I am the Lord, and there is no one else. There is no God except me. I will arm you, though you have not known me, so that people may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no one else. The one forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating disaster, I am the Lord who does all these things. drip down heavens from above, and let the clouds pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up, and salvation bear fruit, and righteousness sprout with it. I, the Lord, have created it." You get this recurring theme here about God's uniqueness, and God's exclusivity, and God's supremacy, and God's sovereignty, his creatorly, his creatorly. I'm making up words. As a creator, he rules and he reigns over all things, light and darkness, good and calamity. Then he comes and says this, woe to the one who quarrels with his maker. Remember that moment in Job? Job just wants to have his day in court. Job just wants to declare things because Job is like, I know when God knows what I've done, God will be fair. It'll all work out in the end. And God finally comes and shows up and Job is like, once I've spoken, I'll cover my mouth. I won't say anything more. That moment where God says, who is this that darkens my counsel? This is great. Without knowledge. Woe to the one who quarrels with his maker, a piece of pottery among the other earthenware pottery pieces. Will the clay say to the potter, what are you doing? Or the thing you are making say, he has no hands. Woe to him who says to a father, what are you fathering? Or to a woman, to what are you giving birth? This is what the Lord says, the holy one of Israel and his maker, ask me about the things to come concerning my sons, and you shall commit to me the work of my hands. It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. I stretched out the heavens with my hands. I ordained all their lights. The scripture speaks with resounding clarity when it comes to the matter of the justness of God's judgment. Paul addresses those who would challenge God's justice in Romans 9, reflective of texts from Isaiah 45 there. He says, what shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? Far, what? Far from it. It is the strongest language. Or in the strongest language, Paul denies the charge. Far from it. Or other translations, may it never be. Maygenoita. It's a Greek combination of two words of may, the negative, and a word which means to become. May it never become that. Rogers. In his linguistic key, he says that the expression strongly denies a false conclusion. There is no injustice with God, is there? Absolutely. Positively. What? No. There is no injustice with God. In the face of the impending judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham, pleading with God, declared what? Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? The assumed answer is yes. God will do right. God will do the just thing. Abraham is calling upon God to act justly in a manner which is consistent with his just character. God does justice because God is just, or God acts justly because God is just. He acts in a way that is consistent with who he is. Our own confession says that God is most loving, most gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, the rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and shift change here, with all most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. In Nehemiah chapter 9, Nehemiah affirms the justness of God in his judgments and his prayer when he pleads with God for his mercy in the present, but affirms his just actions in the past. So he's pleading with God's mercy. But he reflects on God's justice. And in Nehemiah 9, verse 32, this is what he says. Now then, our God, it's a prayer. Now then, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who keeps his covenant and faithfulness, do not let all the hardships seem insignificant before you. The hardship they're experiencing presently. You know, they're coming back from exile. They're rebuilding the wall, rebuilding the temple, and all these things. Which has happened to us, our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and to all your people from the days of the kings of Assyria to this day. However, you are righteous in everything that has happened to us. For you have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly. Nehemiah reflects back on all the things that God has done. The defeat of the northern kingdom by Assyria, the defeat of the southern kingdom by Babylon, carting them off for 70 years in exile, bringing them to destruction. He says, you are righteous in everything that has happened. In other words, you're just. God's just judgments are for all who do injustice. The psalmist sets forward God's terrible but just judgments in Psalm 5. Listen to what it says in Psalm 5 verses 4 and 6. You hate all who do Injustice. Why? Because God does justice. God never does injustice. With some, God is merciful. With others, God is just. But even in regard to the ones that he is merciful toward, he has been just in judging their sin and placing them upon Christ. When God made himself known to Moses, and here I'm going to draw from Exodus chapter 34. I know we're kind of all over the page here. When God made himself known to Moses, he made clear that guilty would not escape his justice. Now the fact that we're all over the page ought to encourage you because it will demonstrate to you that we're drawing from the whole swath of the Word of God to demonstrate the justice of God. It's not just that the God of the Old Testament is just and the God of the New Testament is mercy. I mean, there have been some in church history that have said just those kinds of things, and they've concluded that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God and Father of Jesus. I was going to say that's wrong, but it's more than wrong. It's just heresy. It's blasphemy against the God of justice. And when God brings his justice at the end of all time, he will execute it all through the Lord Jesus Christ with a sword that will proceed out of his mouth with which he will slay the nations. Moses. Makes clear that the guilty will not escape god's justice in exodus 34 verse 6. It says then the lord Remember, this is the passage where moses is saying show me your glory I want to see your glory sometimes we ask for things and then we wonder probably why we ask for those kinds of things because the kind of Demonstration of the glory of god is rather overwhelming The Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate, merciful, slow to anger and abounding in faithfulness and truth, who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of his law and sin. And everybody's like, yes, this is great. This is God. But there are other manifestations of his singular glory that we need to see as well. Because it says in Exodus 34 verse 7 part B, it says, yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and the fourth generations. Or hear through the prophet Nahum, A devastating word concerning the judgment coming on the Ninevites in Nahum 1, verse 2. It says, a jealous and avenging God is the Lord. The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord makes vengeance on his adversaries or takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserves wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In the gale and the storm of his way, and the clouds are the dust beneath his feet. Scripture is in no way silent on the justice of God in his judgments. We don't have time, but we could look at Deuteronomy 32, verse 4, Job 8, 3, Job 34, 10 through 12, Job 34, 18 to 19, Job 35, verse 2, or the psalmist, Psalm 92, 15, Psalm 145, 17, the prophets again, Jeremiah 12, 1, or the New Testament in the book of Revelation, chapter 15, 16, and 19. chapter 15 verses 3 and 4, chapter 16 verse 7, and chapter 19 verse 2. All of these demonstrating the justice of God in his judgment against sin. It is injustice that Isaiah says God will come to men due to their sin. In other words, Isaiah 65 and 66 don't just list out the sin. They also list out the consequence of the sin. He has up to this point been very specific regarding their sin, and now he states very clearly how God will come in judgment. So we want to turn from a general look at the justness of God's judgment to a very specific look at the kind of judgment that God will bring upon sinful man who has gone his own way, followed his own thoughts. Again, this is stressed in the interior portion of that chiastic structure of the text. So if you have that before you, we're looking at sections B. Emphasis in this section falls on what God will do. Emphasis in the A sections fell on what man has done. Now emphasis is on what God will do. Interestingly, in Isaiah chapter 65 and verses 6 and 7, it speaks of what God will do in the first person. And in Isaiah 66 and verses 14 through 16, it speaks of God in the third person. So the first section is, I will do, and the last section is, he will do, or the Lord will do. Just kind of look briefly with me at those passages. Isaiah 65, verses 6 and 7, four times God himself says, I will bring judgment on rebellious man. He says, I will not keep silent. In other words, I'm going to what? I'm going to speak. I'm going to say something. He says, twice. I will repay. And the second time he says, I will even repay. And finally, he says, I will measure out this judgment to them. I will measure out their former work into their bosom. Notice in the second section, the second B section, 66 verses 14 to 16, Or we kind of turn to that third person representation of speaking about God in the third person. Seven times it is said that He will render judgment. He says He will be, it says that He will be indignant, He will come in fire, He will come in chariots like a whirlwind, He will render His anger, He will render His rebuke with fire, He will execute judgment, and He will slay many. Consider the just judgment of God. In these brief verses I find four things, four things about the just judgment of God. Number one, it is marked by certainty. You can leave some space here. We're on that we're on that section on page 14 and what I'm going to do on your outline here The textual look at the theme of judgment and the application are kind of two separate pages What I've done here is I've kind of blended them together. So with each point we'll make try to make some application So the just judgment of God number one is marked by certainty It is marked by certainty Number two, the just judgment of God is measured by proportionality. It's a proportionate judgment. It's not excessive. It doesn't need to be. It needs to fit the crime, if you will. The problem is the crime is so great, and the one the crime has been perpetrated against is so holy, that the punishment will indeed last forever. It's marked by certainty. It's measured by proportionality. Number three, it is mannered by destruction. I'll kind of flesh that out here in a minute. I'm kind of making up some terms. That preacher's prerogative. Just kind of make your own words. Just kind of stick with me on that. Mannered by destruction. Number four, it's mercied by warning. The judgment of God is mercied by warning. So let's think first that the judgment of God is marked by certainty. If you look back in Isaiah 65 and verse 6, it begins with this opening line, Behold, it is written before me. What an interesting way to open up a statement about judgment. It, that is a statement about my judgment, it's written before me. In other words, this coming judgment is marked by a certainty. It could not be any plainer. It could not be any more firm. The psalmist says that God's word is settled in the heavens. And he declares that God's judgment will indeed come. It's been written. You might think back to to the book of Daniel and the guys that were always trying to get Daniel in trouble, or the guys that were trying to get Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego in trouble. They would try to get the king, oh, live forever King Darius, you know, all these things. And they would say, oh, this is settled forever in the laws of the Medes and the Persians. There is a word that is more enduring and more eternal than the word of the Medes and the Persians. Because all the words of the kings and the Medes and the Persians will one day come to an end with the kings of the Medes and the Persians. But there is a king whose word lives forever, and that is God. His word is forever settled in the heavens. Paul says in Romans 2.5 that it is stored up, waiting to burst forth upon the head of the wicked. Romans 2 5, it says, but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. It's like you've been jamming stuff up in the attic above your garage and one day you go out in your garage, you realize the sheetrock is cracked and you're wondering, ah, how long is that going to make it? Or like a leak in the roof and the sheetrock is just like pregnant. and it's about to burst forth on your head. Men have lived in their wickedness, storing up wrath for themselves that one day will break forth, not as the hymn writer says, with blessings on your head, but with judgment. The certainty of this judgment is brought out in the book of Proverbs. I love these two texts. Proverbs 11, 21 says, the evil person will not go unpunished. Proverbs 16.5 says that everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured, he will not go unpunished. This certain judgment of man by a just God is illustrated throughout the Bible. Think of a couple of places. We read earlier in Ezekiel chapter 17 of King Zedekiah. Zedekiah in Ezekiel 17 is the last of the line of kings in the southern kingdom of Judah before they are carted off fully and finally to Babylon. Zedekiah wants to see if there's some way around the certain and impending judgment of God. So he makes an alliance with Pharaoh the king of Egypt, seeking to be able to circumvent the certain judgment of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. But God says twice in Ezekiel 17 in verse 15 and verse 18, he will not, listen, escape. He will not escape. Or one might think of the foolish scribes and Pharisees thinking that by their righteous acts, memorializing God's prophets whom their fathers killed, their righteous acts were they built the tombs. They built the tombs of the prophets. Remember, their fathers had killed the prophets. But this later generation of scribes and Pharisees, they kind of built up the tombs so they would look beautiful and look amazing, as if they're giving some great tribute to the prophets, the prophets whose very word they disregard. Jesus comes and says in Matthew 23, 29, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous. You say, if we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets. Right. So, right, it's not in there. I just added that. Matthew 23, 31 says, so, Jesus says, you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers, you snakes, you offspring of vipers. How will you escape the sentence of hell? Beloved, note this well. If these will not escape, neither will any who have the gospel of Christ preached to them, escape either. I think of Hebrews chapter 12. And I think of Hebrews chapter 2. Look there with me for just a moment. In Hebrews chapter 12, there is a reminder to us. He's writing to the church. He's writing to the assembly. He's writing to the quote unquote believers. And he says in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 25, he's writing to those who have made confession. Do you remember how often the writer of Hebrews reminds the people to maintain their confession? To not go back on their confession? Why? Because the writer of the book of Hebrews knows people who have done that very thing. See to it, he says, see to it that you do not refuse. I'm in Hebrews 12, 25. See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on the earth, much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven. and his voice shook the earth then but now he has promised saying yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven. This expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as of created things so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe. Note the last text. For our God is a consuming fire. He addressed them earlier in Hebrews chapter 2. With these words in Hebrews 2 in verse 1, he says, for this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, this is under the old covenant, under the law. He says, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? There is a sense, the writer here is saying, of urgency, even for us who are in this age of the new covenant, that we be careful, listen, that you be careful that you not drift away from what you have heard. You say, but we're all, we're Christians here. I mean, I look around and we're all Christians. Well and good. The writer of Hebrews is writing. to confessing, professing Christian people. Brothers and sisters, listen to me. Life is long. Life is long. And the road to the celestial city is full of many dangers. There are many places on the road to the celestial city to get off. Oh, are you speaking about salvation by works here? No. No. But I'm speaking against the idea of salvation by complacency. We are never to be complacent. Beware the danger of growing complacent in the pursuit of Christ. Our God, our God, the God of the new covenant, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our God is a consuming fire. How dare we grow slack in pursuing holiness? How dare we grow slack and think that somehow I'm good, I'm covered, I'm fine. It is true we are saved by grace through faith because of Christ alone. I am saved in no way by my works. And if I am thinking I'm saved somehow by my works, I will be forever lost because my works will amount to nothing. Only Christ's active and passive obedience is sufficient to justify a sinner. Only his work is sufficient to save me to the very end. But that should not make me complacent. And I've got to be careful. If you're young, have have a view of the Christian life that is eternal. It's a long-term commitment to Christ. It's a long-term walking after Christ. You've got to make it through childhood. You've got to make it through college. You've got to make it through singleness. You've got to make it through marriage. You've got to make it through grandkids. You've got to make it through jobs. You've got to make it through all the way to the end of life. That's the Christian life. The Christian life is not just walk down the aisle, shake the preacher's hand, and you're good. The Christian life is the whole of life. and you need to have a long-term vision for that life. Don't grow complacent. Don't forget about the just judgment of God. Don't forget that your God is a consuming fire. Secondly, how will be a revenge? Secondly, God's judgment is measured proportionately. It's measured proportionately. Isaiah Isaiah clearly frames God's just judgment in terms of quote-unquote repayments. Do you notice that? Several times he mentions the word repay. In other words, God's response in judgment is in accordance with work done. Back in Isaiah 66, In verse 18, it said that God knows their works and he knows their thoughts. You ever had a job where you had a co-worker that when the manager wasn't around, he'd just sit there and do nothing? You ever worked with that guy? What a loser. Well, maybe we've been that guy before. You know, dad left you in the backyard cutting wood. Dad went in the house for some tea, and you're like, I wish I was in there having some tea. Maybe I'll chop a little slower. Or I'll sweep a little slower. And then when dad comes back out or the boss comes back around, oh man, snap to, they are Johnny on the spot. They're ready to go. You know, kids, you may be able to fool your parents. And we all may be able to fool our boss from time to time, but it ought to be something that we always keep in mind. God knows our works, but it's more than that. God knows my thoughts. There ought to be times in your life where that just rocks you to the core of who you are. God knows my thoughts. Well, this should gain our attention. God's just judgment is not simply of deeds done, but further of deeds cherished in our hearts. Maybe we're able to keep ourselves back from doing something blatant on the outside. But you know what that does? That just makes us like a Pharisee, right? Because the Pharisee didn't murder anybody, but they hated so many people. Jesus comes and says in Matthew 5 what if you've if you've hated someone if you've spoken you fooled if you've been angry with your brother You're guilty of what you're guilty of breaking the commandment But commandments don't just touch our outward life. They touch our hearts Jeremiah reminds us about our hearts. Our hearts are what desperately wicked. They're deeply sick. They are beyond our understanding Keep in mind Paul says that God's judgment, though, is measured, it is according to deeds. Not just deeds of the hand, but also deeds of the heart. This proportional judgment is measured by wicked deeds done against an infinitely holy God. So you might sit there and think, well, that's great. God's going to be fair in his judgment. So he's gonna send me to hell, and he's only gonna like, you know, kick me around for a little while. And then he'll get tired of that. He'll get done, you know. You're gonna get a couple spankings and, you know, two, we're good. We're done with that. We'll move along. That's not what hell is. Hell is not you getting a spanking for like, you know, once or twice. Remember, it's proportioned. It's measured proportionally. The proportion judgment of God is measured by wicked deeds done against an infinitely holy God. Therefore, the punishment is not only measured against unholy deeds and thoughts, but it's further measured against the infinite holiness of the one these deeds and thoughts are against. I'm going to say that again. That was a mouthful. This proportion judgment is measured by wicked deeds done against an infinitely holy God. Deeds in hand and deeds in heart. done against an infinitely holy God. Therefore, the punishment is not only measured against unholy deeds and thoughts, but it's further measured against the infinite holiness of the one these deeds and thoughts are against. Again, here from Edwards, in a sermon of his, The Justice of God and the Damnation of Sinners, he draws this doctrine He says, it is just with God eternally to cast off and destroy sinners. Did you hear that? It's just with God. This is justice. To cast off and destroy sinners eternally. How long is heaven? Eternal. How long is hell? Eternal. Hell is not annihilation. There is a doctrine known as annihilationism that is a false teaching that is going around in the church that's been around for a long time. that when you die your soul is just destroyed. Hell is the eternal judgment of God on a sinner deserving of his judgment. Well, how can this be so? How can it be just for God to punish forever? Edwards states, he says this, the crime of one being despising and casting contempt on another is proportionably more or less heinous as he was under greater or less obligations to honor him. The fault of disobeying another is greater or less as any one is under greater or less obligation to obey him. And therefore, if there be any being that we are under infinite obligations to love, and honor and obey, the contrary towards him must be infinitely faulty. I'm guilty of an infinite sin because I have sinned against an infinite God. Our obligation to love, honor, and obey any being is proportional to his loveliness and honorableness and authority. Therefore, in my house, I'm called to love my dog. My kids are like, well, you're failing. I am. But I'm called to love my children more. You understand the difference in a dog and a kid, right? I mean, you're with me here on this, OK? Kids are more important than dogs. Sorry. No. I know that gets close, you know, touches some that are real, the dog lovers and the cat lovers. I didn't even talk about cats because surely cats are post-garden creatures. You know, it's like Ken Ham says that poodles were not in the garden. Surely cats couldn't be in the garden. And that's, that's a long story. I love, I love an animal. I'm supposed to love a person more and I'm supposed to love God infinitely. He is an infinitely holy, glorious, perfect being. Demands my perfect love and affection. So what happens? He says, God is a being infinitely lovely. I love that. He's infinitely lovely because he has infinite excellency and beauty. My dog doesn't have that. My kids don't have that. Why? Because they're my kids. We've just perpetuated the race thing, you know, and they're just like, you know, me and their mother. Probably more like me, sorry. To have infinite excellency and beauty is the same thing as to have infinite loveliness. He, that is God, is a being of infinite greatness, majesty, and glory, and therefore is infinitely honorable. He is infinitely exalted above the greatest potentates of the earth and the highest angels in heaven, and therefore he is infinitely more honorable than they. His authority over us is infinite, and the ground of his right to our obedience is infinitely strong. For he is infinitely worthy to be obeyed himself, and we have an absolute, universal, and infinite dependence upon him. So, so that sin against God, this infinitely holy, honorable, worthy God, sin against God, being a violation of infinite obligations, must be a crime infinitely heinous, and so deserving of an infinite punishment. Oh, Edwards goes on. But don't pass by this and apply this and press this to your own heart. Consider this in light of your own sin. It's easy to get lost in that moment and think, yes, the wicked deserve that kind of everlasting judgment. But stop and think of yourself. Let's borrow from the Presbyterians here and look at the Westminster Confession of Faith, question and answer 24. What is sin? Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of any law of God given as a rule to the reasonable creature. If God has granted you a rule, a law, a moral obligation to obey him, then any want of conformity unto that or transgression of it is called what? Sin. This friend is you, the reasonable creature, and this is your sin. You have failed to conform to, and you have often transgressed the laws of Almighty God. Your sin has and will find you out, and you cannot escape the just judgment of God. Note thirdly, in Isaiah 66, back in our text, In 14b through 16, God comes as an indignant judge in verse 14b. He comes in a raging fire, in verse 15a, in a whirlwind of chariots, 15b, to render his anger with fury, 15c, and to offer his rebuke with flames, 15d. Furthermore, his judgment comes with fire, 16a, and he bears a sword which will strike all flesh and many will be slain, 16b and c. This destruction is painted in vivid colors. It is holy. It is unstoppable. It is furious. It is comprehensive. Alex Moitur says that God's judgment coming in fire is a picture of the unapproachable deadly holiness of God. It's the same terminology that's used in Genesis chapter 3 of the flaming sword guarding the way to the tree of life and in Exodus chapter 19 about the mountain being surrounded and encompassed by fire. This fiery judgment comes to all who die in their sin. Hear the sobering reminder from the Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 5, he says this is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you indeed are suffering. For after all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give relief. Notice repay, the repayment terminology, the same verbiage used by Isaiah. It's only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give relief to you who are afflicted along with us when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These people will pay the penalty of eternal destruction. It is a destruction, but it is a destruction that never ends. Away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes to be glorified among the saints on that day and marveled at among all who have believed. One of these ends awaits every man. Destruction by fire or everlasting relief of the afflicted. There's no third way. These are the two ways. There's heaven and there's hell. There's life and there's death. There is destruction by fire that is everlasting, or there is relief for the afflicted that also is everlasting. And this leads to a final point. A final point regarding judgment. And by God's grace, the pressing of its importance, consider fourth, God's judgment is mercied by warning. God's judgment is mercied by warning. I thought of this a few weeks ago, and I just wanted to talk about this, but we had to wait. And it is the relation, or let me say it this way. What do I mean by mercied by warning? In the relation of both judgment and mercy, judgment always comes last. What do I mean by that? This, today, by the grace of God, is not the day of judgment. This is rather the day of mercy. And this is one of the reasons, for example, this is one of the reasons why people in history did read the Old Testament and New Testament as if we're talking about different gods. Because in the theocratic nation of Israel, God brings what? Almost all the time. Judgment, judgment, judgment, judgment. He's wiping out the Jebusites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Parasites, and all the different iths. He's getting them all, all those nations. He's wiping them out. And he's judging the people in the camp. He's purifying the people over and over again. And he's destroying the northern kingdom. And he's conquering the southern kingdom, and carting them off into exile, and leaving them there for 70 years, and bringing them back. And it's still not very glorious. They're still being judged. And there's still all this difficulty they have to bear. The New Testament, we do have the day of Christ, the day of Christ being manifest to us in the new covenant. It is very clear that there's this picture, this pressing urgency of the mercy of God that is given in the Lord Jesus. Today, God graciously gives you a day called what? Today. The writer of Hebrews presses that idea over and over. Today, as long as it's called today, you have an opportunity that God pleads with you to the preaching of the gospel and calls upon you to come and to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and have your sins forgiven, have hell subdued, and find peace with God. It is my desire, if you don't know Christ today, to plead with you to compel you, both by fear and by the invitation of mercy, to come. And if you do know the Lord Jesus Christ, to compel you by the fear of the judgment of God, and to compel you by the wonderful picture of the mercy of God, to compel you to hold to Christ, and to stay with Christ, and to renew your affection for Christ. Because life is long. The road is hard. I had no idea when I was 10 years old what I was going to encounter in the next 45 years following Jesus. I had no earthly idea. And if you told me, I wouldn't have understood it. I wouldn't have had the capacities at 10 years of age to understand it. Judgment is mercied by warning. God has warned you this day. And His warning to you is itself a mercy. That's what I mean. Mercy precedes judgment. Remember, God doesn't judge unjustly. God doesn't judge people for things they didn't know they had to do. For example, this is one of the reasons why people completely miss the idea of, well, what happens to people who don't believe in Jesus? What about the guy on the island? I remember sitting there at lunch in Taco Bell in 19, you know, around 92, talking to a friend of mine in the military. I know his name, and maybe he'll hear this one day. I don't know. I don't want to embarrass him. We're still friends on Facebook and stuff like that. And he wants to know what happens to the little guy on the island. that doesn't hear about Jesus, and he's sent to hell. That doesn't seem what? Fair. Well, this was a long time ago. I'm not sure exactly what I said to him. But do you realize that the little guy on the island doesn't have to know about Jesus to go to hell justly? He didn't know about Jesus. But he knows about God. God has clearly made evident with all creation, if that man will give any inkling of time to look at the world that God made, he can apprehend the fact that there is a God, and that this God is divine, and this God has power, and this God is glorious, and this God is deserving of worship. But what if he's blind? Oh man, they constantly try to, you know, block you off over here. They go this way. Then God says, I've written the very works of the law on his heart. And he has a conscience that accuses and excuses him. He knows what is right and what is wrong. God is granting your very soul this day. If you have yet to come to Christ, he is granting you this day a mercy. And if you have come to Christ, what a blessed mercy it is. Because it should stir your heart to come near the God who is a consuming fire. Because when you come near, you come near dressed in the righteousness of Christ. And He, He will make it possible for you. to endure the wrath of Almighty God, because Christ himself bears it for us. J. I. Packer, in his well-known book, Knowing God, made the comment, he said, we live under his eye. You and I live under the eye of God. He knows our secrets. And on judgment day, the whole of our past life will be played back as it were before him and brought under review. If we know ourselves at all, we know we are not fit to face him. What then are we to do? The New Testament answer is to call on the coming judge to be your present savior. Did you hear that? Call on the coming judge. to be your present savior. As judge, he is the law, but as savior, he is the gospel. Run from him now and you will meet him as judge then and without hope. Seek him now and you will find him for he that seeketh findeth and you will then discover that you are looking forward to that future meeting with joy knowing that there is now no condemnation. Brother, hear this, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Whilst I draw this fleeting breath, when my eyelids close in death, when I soar through tracks unknown, see thee on thy judgment throne, rock of ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let's pray together. Our gracious and merciful God bless you for your gracious word. What a privilege we are given to have the scripture. What a privilege we are given to have the Lord Jesus Christ come near us. And I pray, oh God, this day for each one under the sound of my voice that they would hear and that they would heed and they would flee to Christ this day. That they would find in him mercy for their soul. They would find Christ this day, not as a judge, but find him as a savior. For he this day mercifully gives the warning of a coming judgment that we might come today and find him to be willing to receive. Father, I pray for my brothers and sisters. Oh God, help them not to grow weary in doing good. For the road is long and the road is narrow. And it seems to be filled with dangers on every side. difficulties around every turn. But I pray, oh God, today that our hearts would be stirred by even the word, the declarations of your just judgment. May they spur us on to love and good deeds. May they compel us to hold faithfully to Christ. For how shall we neglect? How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? Oh Father, we have had the Good News preached to us. Let us hold on to Jesus. Let us hold on to Him as the one who will save us from the wrath to come and bless us with everlasting mercy throughout all eternity. May Your Word by Your Spirit be pressed to our hearts. May the signs that we take in our hand of the bread and the cup, oh God, may they draw our hearts away after Jesus as well. Fix us to Him. Fix us fast. The road ahead is long and we are often weak. But God, we pray by the grace that you supply, for the glory of your name and the good of our own souls, that you will indeed hold us fast. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.