0413. The Third Message–"the Judgment to Come"
The Third Message–"the Judgment to Come"
"As he reasoned * * of the judgment to come" (Act_24:25).
The Apostle Paul always brought a threefold message. This he did in the case of Felix. He preached Christ crucified, and the righteousness by faith in Him; he preached Christ risen, and the self-control by faith in Him; he preached Christ coming again, and the judgment that would befall those that rejected the faith in Him.
To-day we are hearing too little preaching about the coming judgments. Some ministers seem to be dumb dogs, who cannot bark. They give forth no adequate warnings as to coming wrath. They think that sermons on hell, and the lake of fire should be relegated to the scrap pile of ancient dogma. The Apostle Paul was not this kind of a preacher.
The Apostle Paul preached the judgment to come. He was not afraid to tell Felix that there was "a day of wrath" coming upon all who reject the faith in Christ. While the Bible does not outline what Paul said upon this division of this subject, we believe that he definitely set forth the Second Coming of Christ and the indignation and wrath, the tribulation and anguish that would befall every one that doeth evil at that time. He told Felix that he stood, in his sins, inexcusable before God; that if he continued to despise the riches of God’s goodness and forbearance, and longsuffering, he was surely treasuring up unto himself, wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgments of God.
Paul, also, may have stressed the final judgment of the Great White Throne. He may have told how the dead, the small and the great, would stand before God, and be judged according to the things written in the Books.
Men need to know that there is a coming day of wrath. They need to be made to fear that day. He who denies the wrath of God against sin, denies the grace of God toward the sinner. Why should Christ have died, if there were no "day of wrath" and no "Great White Throne judgment"?
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR