Transcription downloaded from https://legacy.freechurch.org/sermons/2729/the-books-were-opened/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Will you turn with me this evening to that portion of God's Word which we read, Revelation chapter 20, and would concentrate attention especially just on one phrase in verse 12, and the books were opened.

[0:30] There's a sense in which there's nothing in the world more simple and perhaps even more homely than the picture that comes to mind when someone talks about opening a book.

[0:55] A little child going to bed of an evening a little boy or a little girl will often at the end of a day open a book.

[1:11] A tired fellow coming in from his work, having had his meal, will sit down and will open a book. And there are times when opening a book is not quite as pleasant as that, although it's still very simple.

[1:31] Sometimes a car will be stopped and the big fellow that stops it will put his hand in his pocket and take out a book and he'll open it up.

[1:47] Sometimes one can go into the high court in Edinburgh, just down the road from the college where I teach, can go into a seat in the public gallery, and you can see a judge come in, rob and clothed in the insignia of judgment and law.

[2:16] And he will sit down and there will be handed up to him by the clerk of the court a book. And he does the same simple thing as the little boy sitting in his bed at night.

[2:28] He opens the book. And yet, although it's the same action, it's taken for a very different reason.

[2:40] And it's a very solemnizing one, even to watch, even when you feel quite innocent of any sin or misdemeanor, to watch the judge open the book.

[2:51] And this is exactly what John saw. The books were opened. And how expressive that is of all that final judgment means.

[3:10] Ever since man was put on earth and became the kind of creature he is, a creature under God's wrath and God's curse because of sin, right through history man has been conscious that human life is moving towards a goal or a purpose.

[3:40] All the truly great literature of the world, for example, underwrites the fact that this life is not all.

[3:52] Men have always been conscious. Men have always been conscious. And men are still conscious of the fact that they are accountable creatures.

[4:05] That we human beings are not merely physical, but that we are spiritual. We have rational minds. And we can distinguish between right and wrong.

[4:18] And as I say, all the great literature of the world, in all nations, recognizes that fact. And we can say this too.

[4:29] That all the religions of the world recognize that fact. They recognize the spirituality of man. No matter how far away from the gospel of Christ, on the tender mercy of God, the religion may be.

[4:49] It is based fundamentally and ultimately on this one fact that men feel that they are accountable creatures.

[5:04] And every religion, every religion that has great aspects to it, and some do, every religion that has fine aspects to it, and some do, they all owe these aspects of greatness, and of fineness, to the fact that men have been conscious of a movement right through history, right through the individual life, and a movement that's based on a minute, a minute sense of accountability.

[5:44] Man has a conscience. God has left his monitor within every mind, and every heart, and every life.

[5:58] I have met men who have told me that they did not believe in our God. They believed that they lived in a closed universe, mechanistic system, into which the divine never came, and never reached.

[6:18] And they interpret life and all its phenomena on a purely materialistic basis, or they attempt so to do. I do not believe it can be done.

[6:29] I would defy a logical, rational mind that can interpret humanity and human life on purely materialistic grounds.

[6:45] We know, we know that we are other than purely materialistic, and we do have a conscience.

[6:57] I have five of our family. Many of you here are parents. And you discovered what I discovered, not with the fifth one, but with the first one. children do not have to be very old before they know when they have done wrong.

[7:21] And you might be in here this evening and you are excusing an ungodly life of sin, and saying to yourself, I will. It's not as bad It's not really as bad as all that, and you know, fine.

[7:42] You know that if you stop to think, and if you took the covers off the heart, and if you opened your mind and you allowed yourself to be realistic, you know, fine, that you are a guilty creature if there is such a thing as a holy God to whom you are accountable.

[8:02] You know that you are a guilty man or a guilty woman. So do I. And so I believe to those people who attempt to rationalize their way of spirituality and to banish a creator God from the universe, from his universe, they can never do it.

[8:28] Man is made in the image of God. Because he's made in the image of God, he's accountable to him.

[8:40] And the moment in which life is moving, all of life, your life and my life, and the whole stream of history in which we've been caught up, and what a mysterious thing it is, isn't it?

[8:57] How often we do ask ourselves, what am I? And where am I? Where have I come from and where am I going? Where is my destiny?

[9:08] Man has had a sense of destiny right down through history. And when we're caught up in that, we're conscious, not all the time, but when we start to think about it, we are conscious that the whole world is moving on towards some climactic moment.

[9:29] And now, mathematicians and physicists and scientists, these people who have such strange knowledge and such strange minds, they tell us that the whole universe is kind of working towards some sort of run down.

[9:53] But, although it's almost in infinite terms, it's calculable. The Bible has said that long ago. And the Bible says it in the words of our text.

[10:07] The books were opened. There will be a moment, a climax, which ends the ages and which settles the destiny of men for good or ill forevermore.

[10:25] That's the teaching of the Gospel. And it's especially the teaching of Jesus Christ, God's own Son in our nature.

[10:37] Come to reveal God's love. Come to fulfill God's purposes of salvation. Do you know there is a fact that no one ever spoke so solemnly or so seriously about the judgment of God and about the reality of that judgment going against men.

[11:00] No one ever spoke more solemnly or more seriously about that than Jesus of Nazareth did. I want you to come back to your text and to look at it basically in a very simple way under four or five headings.

[11:20] And first of all this one, our text speaks of a time, a moment which has at last arrived, a time which has arrived. The books were opened.

[11:33] There is a throne of judgment, a great white throne, language that speaks of purity and of truth and of righteousness and of justice and equity.

[11:46] I saw a great white throne apart from the very solemn, tremendous realities which are encompassed in it. What a majestic vision.

[11:59] What wonderful language. But it's more than just wonderful language. It's said that David Hume, the Scottish philosopher and sadly the Scottish very humanistic philosopher who claimed that men could never know if there was a God or not.

[12:19] It's said that David Hume was once speaking in Edinburgh with David Becconin who had been converted and was going around his native Pershire and other places preaching the gospel of Christ.

[12:34] It's said that he met, David Hume met, Becconin in Edinburgh one evening and he was talking about various pieces of great literature and he quoted something from King Lear in Shakespeare and he said to Dougal Becconin I'm sure he said you've never heard the like of that before in your Gaelic even in your own Gaelic or in English.

[13:02] Oh yes, said Becconin I've heard something that's just as strong and just as gripping and just as eloquent and just as majestic. Have you?

[13:15] He said let me hear it yes, Becconin said just listen to this and he said and I saw great white throne and him that sat upon it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away and there was found no place for them.

[13:32] And you know what the man who spent hours of his life crossing and denying the word of God do you know what he said? My, he said that's marvelous where does it come from?

[13:43] comes from the book that you refuse to open and refuse to study said Dougal Becconin too and that's the way most humanism is built it's built on ignorance of God and his word but there's more than just majestic literature here there's solemn truth there is reality there is a sin which you will see and I will see and not only a sin which we will see but a sin of which we will be part and it will be a sin which will finally see our destiny now a time arrived God says in scripture God has appointed and when God appoints there is nothing that can annul there is nothing that can change it God has appointed a day God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness the Bible speaks of God appointing another day that God appointed a day when his son will be sent out of the courts of glory down into a world that was dark that was dark in sin and we read this when when when the time was fully come

[15:16] God's time God's appointed time and men waited for years and years and years men waited for millennia for it for thousands of years and there were some who said even before before he came there were some who said where's the promise of his coming where's the Messiah that God's people have been talking about where's this appointment of God and they said it's taking so long it can never happen and then when the fullness of the time had come God sent forth his son an appointed day and my friend just the same way God has appointed a day he has said it he has spoken of it the time is fixed God has the whole of history moving towards it and when history when the stream of history reaches the appointed time the stream of history will end time itself will end and we'll be caught up in eternal dimensions and the time will have arrived a time arrived this time and that whole movement is spoken of so simply in our text the books were opened we all know what that means the climax of the ages now there's many things we are uncertain of in life some people say to me that there are very few things of which we can be absolutely certain but you know there are some certitudes there are things which will inviolably and infallibly take place and the judgment of

[17:14] God is one of them here is something else which will take place irrespective of your desires irrespective of your thoughts your beliefs your acceptances or your rejections of the fact this will take place you will come to the moment of death it is appointed unto man once to die and after death the judgment you might say to me that you don't believe any of this religious nonsense that takes a foolish fellow like me into a pulpit you might say to me as has been said to me I was saying here the other night that I have been preaching for 30 years it will be 31 years in

[18:14] March since I first attempted to preach and people have said to me down through these years as I suppose they have said to every preacher of the gospel prove to me one thing that's true in the whole realm of the doctrine you're preaching and you know we've got a very simple answer for you if you've got a mind like that tonight here is something in God's words that's true it is appointed unto man once to die whatever else will be true of you whatever else will be true for you whatever you may experience or not experience however long you may live the time will come the appointed time of God and you will leave this world you will die and you will pass from time into eternity because physical death for man is only the separation of body from soul and the soul lives on the soul says the bible returns to God who gave it and here is another certainty and God links it with our death so closely that it's almost like one event it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment thinkest thou man thinkest thou foolish man we might say but this is what the scripture says thinkest thou man that thou shalt escape the judgment of God the apostle to the Romans and we cannot and we will not listen to

[20:11] Jesus the Lord Jesus in Matthew 25 and verse 32 then speaking of the son of man speaking of himself he says this then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall judge and he shall separate it it's in Matthew 25 verse 32 you can read it for yourself and that's the words of the Lord Jesus the time is coming the day is appointed the judge is appointed we don't have to have any queries in our minds about who will sit on the throne of judgment it is Jesus Christ and you see what's written of him here the one who's the savior of sinners and the one whom Christians love and the one who is of tender mercy this is what's written of him

[21:12] I saw a great white throne and him that sat upon it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and they fled away because it's the face of our judge the face the face that draws God's people because it is holy and the glory of God is shining in it is the face from which the lost will want to flee away a day appointed a judge appointed and an appearance appointed you will be there now I dare say you have to have one of these awful things a diary most people have to have them today and from time to time you have to open your diary to that page and you have to put down an appointment somewhere you have to be or somewhere you have to see or somewhere you have to go and that's the picture that's before us here and the diary is

[22:27] God's diary my friend your name is in it your name and my name and the moment will come when that open book out of that open book your name will be called and you'll go forward to stand before the judge now we might have very foolish childish thoughts and say oh well it's actually been said to me in the mound in Edmude preaching in the open air I remember when I was a student talking about judgment and someone said to me someone said to me your judgment your idea of judgment is going to take a long time and I said my friend God has a lot of time God has all the time of eternity in which to judge the world and righteousness don't make foolish thoughts like that turn down the reality of judgment for you all must appear before a day is appointed a judge is appointed and your appearance is appointed you'll be there and it's very probable that many of us who live at the same time who live in the same towns and the same country who are under the same gospel privileges it's very probable that many of us will be around the same place at the judgment seat it may well be that you will look upon my face on the day of judgment and that

[24:03] I will look upon your face and it may well be that with all the hindrances of memory and recall taken away from us that our whole lives will stand out before us in that moment and we'll remember even such moments as these and you'll recall the thoughts that are passing through your mind now I believe that will be part of that solemn reality God's knowledge is a knowledge of all being and all reality and every moment of history it's all open to him in one eternal moment and when we move into an eternal realm something of that will belong to us also fairly recently I was reading a Christian psychologist he was an American and we don't want to place too much trust in American psychologists even when they're

[25:04] Christian but he was saying something like this he says people talk about memory failure he says there's really no such thing memory never fails he said it's not your memory that's wrong if you're not able to bring things up from your past all these things everything that has happened to you said to you everything you've ever read or believed or heard it's all stirred away in what he called a wonderful kind of computer the only thing is he says it's in limbo and he said all you need is recall work and recall and he said theoretically theoretically scientifically total recall is a possibility it should be a reality even for the human mind he said it's not your memory it's just the difficulty you're having in recall well I find it difficult to see the gap my memory is bad but I believe that part of the function of the human mind was caught up in what that man said and that in another world there will be the reality of total recall and we will remember and our remembering will be part of our suffering if we are without

[26:47] Christ a time arrived and then there's something else here and that's the second main thing I want to emphasize just this a record kept a record kept the books were opened why are there books there not just a sort of diary not just a record of your name but my friend a record of your life listen to what the scripture says the scripture says that there has been a record kept of all the works of every man a record of all the works of every man and the bible goes further than that the bible says that not only has there been a record kept of everything you have ever done and everything I have ever done but there has been a record kept of every word that you have ever said just think of that every word you have ever said

[27:50] God has kept it now that's not just me the Lord Jesus said this but I say unto you said Christ just think of how easily you forget the words the harsh words the hard cruel cutting words that you sometimes said just think of how easily you forget the blasphemous words that have come out of your mouth and Jesus said this but I say unto you that every idle word idle word oh how foolishly and thoughtlessly even God's people use their words but I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof on the day of judgment these are not my words they're the words of the judge of men every idle word you will give account of men's works men's words for the son of man shall come in the glory of his father with his angels and then shall he reward every man how according to his works now don't get the idea wrong this is not a proclamation of salvation by works it's a proclamation of an assessment of works and there are such things as works of righteousness and there are such things as evil works and works of righteousness flow from newness of life in

[29:36] Jesus Christ under the ultimate test of the reality of a man's faith and a man's regeneration and a man's renewal show me your faith by your works that's what scripture says manifest your faith and our works will come under judgment Christians will come under judgment it is to Christians that the apostle Paul is speaking when he writes in 2nd Corinthians 5 and 10 we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ Christ and many theologians have reckoned that there Christians will be rewarded in different degree and different measure they will not be being judged for their salvation not as has been done long ago but they will be judged for reward and unbelievers will be judged and again many theologians believe that the Bible teaches that there will be degrees of demerit and degrees of lostness and degrees of despair men will be judged on their works and their words and their thoughts will all be taken into account and the judgment will be absolutely righteous pure equity this is another scripture shall not the judge be righteous pure equity this is another scripture shall not the judge of all the earth do right you know my friend and I know we see it every day we know it in our own experience we know it even in our homes we know it in our workplaces we know it in our daily newspapers and on the radio we know that there are wrongs in this world and evils there are wrongs to be righted and there are balances to be adjusted and these wrongs will be righted and those balances will be weighed up and reset sin will come under the judgment of God all sin a universal moment a time arrived a record kept and then a scrutiny given why do you give why do you open a book in order to see what's written in it that's why this book is opened so that the judge will see now I'm sure that God is speaking to us in metaphorical language and yet there is reality in it it was a vision of reality the book is opened the record is kept sometimes in my unconverted days in my folly

[32:52] I used to go to this scripture and I would say to myself God cannot possibly remember all the bad things I've done because this is one of the scriptures that for a whole year bothered my mind and my heart and I used to say God can't possibly remember all the things I've been thinking or all the words I've said and you see my God was very small and if you work with computers and I'm sure some of the boys here do the girls the young people your very computer can store things at the touch of a button are brought back out of limbo for years you could have it there for years and it would still come back to you you can store a fabulous amount of information I'm told in a very very little chip and if man can do that and if man can invent machines and books which can do that what about the all knowing infinitely wise

[33:55] God don't allow your God to be too small scrutiny given in the day when God shall judge not just the words of the works but the secrets of men ah how God touches us when he speaks about the secrets the things that no one else knows the things that you're afraid to look at yourself the things that your husband doesn't know or the things that your wife doesn't know or the boys and the girls in the church here the things that you think your father doesn't know or your mother doesn't know and all you say I'm thankful they don't know I'll get that feeble hammering if they knew about it maybe you don't have fathers or mothers like that nowadays I don't know but I know when I was a little boy when I did something fearfully wrong I knew what was coming to me and you see we all have secret things and Christians especially should pray over this oh Lord keep me from secret faults who can understand these errors we can't we all have seen and they'll be brought out there in the judgment whether they'll be brought out so that all present will see them is another matter and some have maintained that they would some men will be very bold if we said they were wrong have thought that even the sins of God's people would be manifested and revealed to all who were gathered at judgment

[35:44] I think that I better be careful but I think that quite a number of our own ministers held and probably still hold to that view and Professor John Murray certainly did there would be a bold man that would say Murray was wrong I must say I shrink from it myself God has said the sins and iniquities will I remember no more forever however I'm leaving that with you that's just a kind of a by the way what if you're unconverted and you don't have Christ and your sin has never been covered it will certainly be exposed and it will be exposed primarily to your own judgment and you will know the justice and the equity and the righteousness of God in assessing your sin and you know this you'll write your amen you yourself will write your amen to the sentence that God brings out on you the Lord says the scripture knoweth them that are his that means something else the Lord knows them that are not his how if your life was to come under the scrutiny of final judgment tonight where would you stand so far we've been putting all this very far away in the future haven't we we're putting it eternally away from us almost but let me ask you a question what if

[37:22] God was to come to you tonight and visit you with the angel of death are you ready for judgment are you ready to die and go and meet God are you well if you're not then you're not right with God and the only people who are let me say this in case there's any misunderstanding the only people who are ready ever ready to go and meet God in judgment are the people whose sins have been covered by the precious blood of Christ the atoning work of Christ in the cross and you can have all your sins forgiven that's the gospel you don't need to take your sins to the judgment seat you can take the righteousness of Christ to the judgment seat and he's freely offered to every unconverted person in the church here this evening are you ready to go and if not my friend why not even tonight seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near that's

[38:29] God's exhortation to us seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near because there's this great reality of judgment I want to read to you words of the apostle Paul again from Romans chapter 2 thinkest thou O man that thou shalt escape the judgment of God who will render to every man according to his work do you hear it O man do you think do you really seriously think and it's a foolish thought that's what Paul was meaning and implying and yet you know this no matter how foolish and no matter how far off beam it is and it's miles off beam you and I are foolish enough to entertain it that's why Paul says it that's why the Holy

[39:29] Spirit exposes it of course we are foolish enough we go living on from day to day and we say it will never really happen it will never really happen I have met people spoken with people sat beside people who thought that something else would never happen to them they thought that they would never be brought down to the gates of death and

[40:30] I'm afraid I'm afraid all of one being knew some of the experiences that preachers and ministers have had and we put this thing just as far away from us too the judgment of God we feel will never be on us but it will it's on us every day in a sense and this moment will certainly come the books are open in order to scrutinize everything you've done.

[40:56] A record of sin. And you know, if you trust Christ, there's another record alongside that.

[41:06] Not just a record of sin, but a record of sin pardoned, unforgiven, and cleansed. And then there's something else.

[41:18] An assessment made. There's a weighing of the balances of judgment. An assessment is made. And three things I think especially come into that.

[41:29] First of all, there will be a weighing up of the privileges that you have all had. That I have had. What age are you tonight? Now, don't tell me.

[41:43] You don't need to tell anybody but yourself. How old are you? Now, let me ask you another question. How often do you put yourself under the preaching of the Word of God?

[41:56] Now, let's say that I'm sitting with you at your fire and you say to me, Well, I'm 20 years of age. And I usually go to church twice on a Sunday.

[42:08] Right? You're 20 years of age and you go to church twice on a Sunday. Do you know how many sermons you've heard? Your computer's working. You have heard almost 2,000 sermons probably.

[42:22] 2,000 opportunities of repentance and of grace. 2,000 times, 2,000 occasions in which Jesus of Nazareth has passed very close to you.

[42:43] 2,000 occasions when the skirts of his garments have rustled by your soul. And perhaps I'm sitting with somebody else and you tell me you're 40 years of age.

[43:01] You're getting closer to myself now. How many sermons have you heard? Ah, you see, I've been out twice a day. And you know, over 5 or 10 years I've been out in the midweek as well.

[43:15] You've heard about 5,000 sermons. I don't need to go on, do I? If you're 60, how many gospel opportunities have you had?

[43:31] And if there's ever a place, if there's a place in the whole world, and thankfully there are places that has gospel opportunities, then it's the island of Lewis. You get a lot of meetings.

[43:44] You could be listening to the gospel every single night in the week. And you can still perish eternally. Just think of that.

[43:57] You could have all the gospel privileges you're enjoying. You could be at a meeting if you wanted to be, and if you're concerned about your soul, you probably would be. You could be at a meeting of the gospel and under the preaching of the word every single night of this week.

[44:14] It's not likely you will be. But there's absolutely no excuse for you. Privileges will be summed up.

[44:27] Sermons you've heard. The men that have spoken to you. Do you know something that bothered me? Let me use a very in word. It bugged me for years.

[44:40] It bothered my mind and it bothered my heart. Do you know what it was? In my darkest days, it was the picture of the face of the man.

[44:51] A mental picture of the face of the man who preached the gospel in our church when I was a little boy. I could remember him, Mr. McLeodown minister.

[45:03] I could remember him. Even in my darkest times, almost running over in the pulpit to the window in the church and pointing up the hill to the rocks and talking about the time when the rocks would be hearing the voice of sinners running away from the judgment of God and calling, come down and fall on us.

[45:30] Do you know what age I was then? I was only five years of age. And I was afraid that judgment would come before we got out of the church and that all these rocks would be down on top of me.

[45:41] I was even more afraid that God would appear. And you've had men in this pulpit whose very faces and the memory of whose very faces should bring conviction of sin to you.

[46:01] The privileges, the opportunities, the wasted opportunities. How many have you? Can I tell you? Take time to tell you a story. Many years ago, when the minister here, Mr. MacLeod and I, were in our first year in college in Edinburgh, we had to go out for two months at the end of the session and work alongside another minister, an interim moderator, in a vacant congregation and try and learn some of the things a minister has to learn.

[46:35] And I was sent to a place I had hardly ever heard of in my life, in the north of Sutherland. And I was up there for two months. And there I met an old, old man.

[46:48] James Mackay was his name. He was called locally Seamus Henney. They had garlic. It was even more difficult than your own garlic. And Seamus Henney, I don't know, he was, I think he was 90 or nearly 90.

[47:05] And I thought he had been a Christian for many years. There was a, a sort of a fragrance about the old man. And one time I was with him and I said, Seamus, will you now, will you need to tell me when you were converted?

[47:19] It must be a long time ago. Oh, he said, Mr. McMillan, no, he said. So only seven years ago, Seamus Henney, that's just what he said, Seamus Henney was very foolish.

[47:34] And he left his salvation until he was afraid it would never come at all. And then he said, one night, one night when I had gone to church just the way I had been going for over 80 years, the minister was preaching on the text, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

[48:00] And he said, I was hardly listening. It was just another sermon. I could almost have preached it as well as he was preaching it himself, he said, when all of a sudden he said this, he said, yes, he's passing by.

[48:14] Are you going to let him go again? And he said, it came like a narrow into my heart. And I said, no.

[48:26] I said, Lord, Seamus Henney is not going to let you go again. And he said, that was the night when I repented of our lifetime of sin and Christ came into my life.

[48:47] He had had so many opportunities. And God, he said himself, God, in his great mercy, gave him an opportunity when he was over 80 years of age. That doesn't often happen.

[48:58] But it does happen. And strivings of the spirit. Privileges, opportunities, strivings of the spirit.

[49:10] Isn't it amazing that we have to quench the voice of God, perhaps not just once or twice, but we have to quench the voice of God in our lives over years and years and years in order to be lost.

[49:26] It's amazing that anybody should be lost when God's spirit is thriving. What a terrible thing unregenerate human nature is.

[49:38] How often has God spoken to you? Perhaps by the death of a friend. Perhaps by the death of a husband or a wife or a child. And it's always there.

[49:52] How often do you see your fellow sinners and your fellow creatures taken away to the place of burial? I see it too. And how unreflecting we really are.

[50:12] And then this, not only an assessment made, but a judgment formed. And I want to make a distinction here. Lives are assessed and the judgment is formed.

[50:26] And that one is a result of the other. There's a difference. All the things in life are taken and on their basis judgment is made. God will assess and he will form his judgment and there will be no injustice.

[50:42] Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? He shall give, says the scripture, to every man according to his works. your works, your faith, your life, and especially your relationship to Christ.

[51:02] Man, said Jesus, would be judged according to the relation to him. everyone who has heard the gospel, Christ will come into that equation.

[51:20] For those who have not heard the gospel, we leave them with the judge of all the earth who does right. For those who have heard the gospel, there is only, there is only this tremendous reality.

[51:34] They must repent and believe. He that believeth on the Son, it's as simple as this, he that believeth on the Son, shall have everlasting life.

[51:48] And he that believeth not, the same, the wrath of God abideth on him. And again, these are the words of Christ.

[52:01] And then there's a verdict. That's what part of what a judge does. He reaches a verdict. And a verdict will one day be recorded over your life and over mine.

[52:18] And here the verdict, there's only two possible verdicts. I believe that there are law courts where there are a number of alternative verdicts that are possible.

[52:31] Some, for example, some law courts, I don't know whether there is Scotland or in England, but some law courts have a verdict of not proven. A person's crime can't be clearly established.

[52:45] Their guilt cannot be clearly established. And there is no such verdict in the court of heaven. There it's either guilty or innocent.

[52:57] Or let me put it in a more biblical way. There it is either in Christ or out of Christ. There it is either saved through faith in his name and covered by his obedience and therefore innocent.

[53:15] Or it is refusal and rejection and lostness. And two principles, very clearly enunciated in the Bible, two principles underlie the verdict of God.

[53:32] They're very simple and yet utterly important. The first one is this, the soul, not the body, but the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

[53:44] That's the second death. That is the death which the Bible speaks of as eternal death. The soul that sinneth, it shall die.

[53:55] And the second is this, whosoever believeth upon Jesus, the same shall be saved. These two principles underlie God's verdict in judgment.

[54:10] And not only is there a verdict reached, but there's a sentence passed. And it's then that the whole life which has shaped your destiny is, I believe, sealed into its final form.

[54:32] Why is there a judgment seat? Why are Christians there? There's a sense in which their judgment took place at the cross when their sins were punished in Christ. Why are sinners there?

[54:44] there? We are there not in order finally or ultimately, not in order to have God make up his mind.

[55:03] That has been quite certain long before then. sin. We are there ultimately to have the final sentence pronounced upon us.

[55:17] And we are there to be part of the equity and the justice and the righteousness which pervades the whole sin.

[55:30] we don't have it now. But again I believe that in our law courts when capital punishment, when death was still the punishment for murder, that when the verdict had been reached guilty or innocent, the judge then went through a very solemn ceremony.

[55:56] He donned a black cap the insignia of death and some sort of robe.

[56:08] And in his black cap and his death robe, he stood and he pronounced the verdict and I suppose in a way that gives us a picture of what the final assessment and verdict and sentence of Christ the judge will be like.

[56:32] And then my friend, we are sealed into our destiny forevermore. Then we are either totally and wonderfully saved or then we are either totally and awfully lost.

[56:52] not but that's only the climax and the sentence of something which is really decided not in eternity at all but in time for those who hear the gospel and tonight the sense in which if you are unconverted tonight is just as important perhaps more important in some senses for you than the judgment day itself for tonight if you repent and believe the gospel there is no question but that you will be on the right side of the throne of judgment when the judgment is over none perish none no matter who they are or what they are none perish who trust Christ this is a very solemn truth it's a very awful truth isn't it it's a truth that hardly bears thinking on it's a truth that keeps preachers awake at night the truth of the solemnity of our lost eternity and yet it's a truth that we must not evade because it's real none perish remember who trust

[58:25] Christ and you can trust him by the grace of God just where you are there comes a time said somebody in a little poem there comes a time we know not when a place we know not where that seals the destiny of men for glory or despair there and I don't want to leave you with something else how is a person how can a person be sure of salvation and I want to give you just a little verse of our poem again it's only one verse I know that was an attack that the late Mr.

[59:13] McDonald and Grey Friars once gave to me in fact I liked it so much that I got two to three hundred of the trucks from him and I used them in Aberdeen and this was a little verse and it has often helped me and I'm giving it to you in the hope that God will bless it to you and use it to help you this is it how can we face judgment and this way we can face it upon a life I did not live upon a death I did not die another's life another's death I stake my whole eternity my friend that's the gospel upon a life upon a life I did not live upon a life I couldn't live upon a life of obedience perfect sinless holy obedience upon a life

[60:16] I did not live upon a death I did not die a death I couldn't die a death that bore the infinite wrath of God against sin and evil and iniquity upon a life I did not live upon a death I did not die another's life another's death I stay I rest my whole eternity where are you resting your eternity if you rest it there you're resting it in the hands of our crucified Christ my my friend he says himself no man is able to pluck you out of my hand trust him believe him rest upon him and you will never perish and I have to say something else don't just trust him my friend live for him

[61:18]  I I'm not ashamed and we live in a day when Christ needs to be witness to I'm not ashamed to own my Lord or to defend his cause maintain the honor of the glory of his cross and honor all his laws don't be ashamed of him tell the world whose you are and whom you serve let us pray our gracious God we pray thy blessing with thy word that thou wilt touch each one of us in mind and in heart and bring us to Jesus bless each person he at present oh Lord we thank thee that their circumstances are known to thee and we pray thee that thou wilt fill them with thy grace these circumstances and fill them with thy glory the glory of our Savior who says to the uttermost all that come unto thee through him hear our prayer and bless us in our parting pardoning and cleansing us from all sin sin in speaking and sin in hearing the gospel