SPEAKER_01 0:00

I'm gonna start the message in an unusual way for me. I'm gonna ask you for some prayer personally because I have an upcoming potential crisis, and this is what it is. Two weeks from now, I begin coaching my son's uh rec basketball team. I don't know if you know this or not, but I have a son who plays basketball. And uh I talk about it every once in a while. And here's the problem with that. I did this two years ago and I decided to take a break because I decided it may not be a good idea for me to be a pastor and a coach in the same community. Like maybe if I could go to like Ostell, like maybe that that would be an appropriate distance where I can coach and not have to worry about the ramifications of being a pastor and a coach. Here's why. There's something about sports that bring up emotions in you that you may not have known existed. You know what I mean? Like there can be this like anger and rage and vitriol that can come out of you when you're when you're into a sport, especially when something happens like, I don't know, a referee makes a really bad call. Like a really bad call, and you find yourself intensely lashing out at that referee. But here's the thing you don't know those players on TV. You you're not you're not related to them. If it's your child, it's like that emotion turned up to 11. And that's what happened to me when I coached a few years ago, because again, um, it's important. If you're a youth league uh referee, you're probably great. But you're also probably the only one, okay? Because youth league referees are just horrible. They're so bad. They're just are. It's just it's the starting point. No one dreams, no one dreams of being a youth league referee, right? No one, no one dreams of refing second grade basketball where the score is eight to four, and the team with eight uh scored the other four points for the other team just on the wrong goal. Like that's not what anyone dreams about. And so, typically speaking, I I say that a good ref in youth sports is kind of like a unicorn, that you just don't see them. You just don't ever see them. Maybe they exist, but I've just never seen one. And so if you are one, don't be offended. You're probably awesome, and I really hope you ref the games because in my experience a few years ago, just so bad. And I have a hard time when something is obvious. Like if it's if it's 50-50, I'm like, eh. But if it's obvious, it's really hard for me to just be like, ah, no big deal. I don't, I'm not wired that way. When there's some obvious offense, I'm just like, wrong, wrong. How did you miss that? And I had games where I want you to know I never I never got thrown out of a game as your pastor, never happened. Never got a technical foul. I was never even threatened to be thrown out of a game. My wife was one time, but that's a whole different story. Some refs are too sensitive. I never crossed the line, but let's say that the edge of the stage is the line. I never crossed it, but I sort of just lived like right here. And I I I had this one game in the playoffs a couple years ago, and this one ref, I mean, he made five or six calls in a row that were just the they were so bad, guys. And I made sure he understood my opinion. Um not inappropriately. You know, my my my words were, none of the words were offensive, but the manner in which I delivered those words, yes, for sure. And it got to the point where where he made a call, and I swear, I swear this happened. He made a call, and it was wrong, and he did it on purpose, because then he looked at me like daring me to say something because he wanted to throw me out. He made a horrible call, I'm just like, uh, you know, and I'm like, I'm doing this, and he looks at me like, go ahead. And I I kept my calm, and we just had a moment, like I looked at him, and it was sort of this like, okay, okay, I see how it is, okay, fine. This is what's gonna happen. Okay. I had that moment. Three, four weeks later, I'm in Publix, and I'm walking down this serial aisle at Publix, and I got my cart, and there's another guy walking toward me with a cart. And you know when you bump into someone and you can't quite place them? Like you see someone, you're like, I think I know that person, but your brain can't figure out where you know them from. And maybe they look at you and it's the same thing. They're like, I see I you both have this awkward moment. Like, do we do we know each other? Where do we know each other from? You know what I'm talking about? This was not that moment. Like, we knew exactly who the other person was. It was so awkward and horror. We just like we just passed each other and just kind of like did one of these. You know? And that was like a personal crisis for me because it occurred to me, like, what if that was here? What if, instead of bumping into that guy at Publix, he comes here to visit our church? He's like, Man, I really want to get closer to God, and I've heard good things about this his hands church, and he walks in and I come up on the stage, and he's like, Nope, I'm out. You know? I said, God, I clearly have to get some things in order because I don't want to have I I want, I even want the referees to come to his hands, you know? So maybe I shouldn't coach. And I took last year off, but I decided this year to do it, and I just need your prayers, okay? Please, please pray. I want you to, I want you to put, put like a mental pin in the idea of a bad referee for just a minute. We're gonna come back to that a little bit later. It's not just a random prayer request. I do need your prayers, though, but put a pin in that. We'll come back to it in a little bit. If you're just joining us, we've been in a series since July called A King and His Kingdom. We're talking about essentially the teachings of Jesus. If you study the teachings of Jesus, you notice a theme that runs through them. It's the theme of kingdom. He's always talking about this kingdom. The kingdom of God is like this, the kingdom of heaven is like this. It's Jesus' way of telling us what life lived under the reign of God looks like. And it's a beautiful life. When you submit yourself to God and say, God, I belong to you. How do you want me to live? You become, in Jesus' words, a citizen of the kingdom. And yeah, you're here on this earth and you're part of the kingdoms of this world, sure, but you're you're really in your heart, you're you're part of his kingdom. In his kingdom, it works completely differently. It's about self-sacrificial love, it's about service, it's about generosity. His kingdom, it's upside down to the values of this world, so much so that Jesus has to teach us at length to help us acclimate to the ways of his kingdom. And that's what his teachings are all about. It's him saying, hey, let me show you what life looks like with me. It's different, it's amazing, it's powerful, it's beautiful, but you need to learn this. And so we've just been pouring through the teachings of Jesus so that we can become accustomed to living as part of his kingdom. As Jesus followers, and I know that not everyone here is a Jesus follower. Many of you are probably trying to figure out where you stand, just trying to check it out. But if you are a Jesus follower, you've got to know what Jesus said. It's not enough just to know what he did. You need to know what he said because he taught a lot, and everything he said is valuable. Everything he said is truth. So we've been looking at the kingdom specifically for the last few months. We've been going through this one specific teaching of Jesus. It's it's Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7. It's the longest uninterrupted teaching of Jesus that we have. It's often called the Sermon on the Mount. That's a title we've given it. It's really orientation class. Early in his ministry, he gets his followers together and he says, here's the way it's going to work. And he has gone on at length about the love of God, how inclusive God is, how there are people in this world that everyone thinks are on the outside. God brings them in. He's talked to us about how God is more willing to give than we are to ask, and we can go to him with confidence that he hears us, that he loves us, that we can go to him with anything. He has gone on and on about how good God is and how approachable he is to us. But now we're right at the end. In fact, after next week, we'll have gone through the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount. And Jesus chooses to end with some pretty intense warnings. And if you're just joining us, please understand, this is not where Jesus started. So you're entering the conversation right at the end, which is never a good time to jump into a conversation. And you're just gonna have to trust me with this because what we're gonna read today, it's one of the most intense things Jesus ever said. It has the potential to be divisive, but it isn't. If we'll just be willing to wrestle with it. But just understand and trust me that before he said this, Jesus has laid this incredible groundwork, this foundation of God's love. And knowing that, let's look at what he says in Matthew chapter 7, verses 21 through 23. He says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons, and in your name perform many miracles, and then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you away from me, you evildoers. This teaching forces us to wrestle a little bit. And that's okay. We can wrestle with God. In fact, the word Israel, that's the name that God gives to the people who follow him in the Old Testament of the Bible. The word Israel literally means to wrestle with God. That's what it means. And we have to ask ourselves as followers of Jesus Am I willing to wrestle with God? Am I willing to get into the hard stuff? Because sometimes, sometimes we're not. Imagine if you hired a personal trainer and you said, I want to get in killer shape, but I don't want to do anything hard. I just I don't want to I don't want it to hurt, you know? They would they would not, they'd probably just laugh.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

We have a tendency sometimes in our faith to try to avoid the hard stuff. And it's detrimental for our development.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Sometimes with the teachings of Jesus, we have this temptation to try to make like a greatest hits album out of the teachings of Jesus. Like if you ever see a band and they've been around for a long time, you go to their concert, like you go there to hear the hits, right? Like if I if I went to see Bon Jovi, I love 80s music, and if I went to see Bon Jovi and they didn't play Living on a Prayer or You Give Love a Bad Name, if they didn't play that, you'd be like, why? That's why I bought the ticket. Play the crowd pleasers, you know? That's why you go to see an older band to hear the hits. And sometimes we we want to do the same with with Jesus. We want to take his teachings and make a greatest hits album out of it and only play the crowd pleasers. But Jesus is not some band.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

He's he's the king. And everything he says, everything he says, is vital.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

And we we can't skip it. And if you're here, if you're new, I want you to understand this is a big passion for us as a church. We are committed to your growth. And it's not like I woke up this week and said, hmm, what do I want to talk about? I'm gonna talk about my favorite verse. Get away from me. I never knew you. Oh, I love it. Say it again, Jesus. Away from me, I never knew you. I've never met a Christian who says, This is my favorite verse. And I didn't wake up on Monday saying, This is what I'd love to talk about this week. But we we go through scripture. And when we get to something hard, we don't skip it. And even if this isn't where you stick, find a place that's willing to challenge you. Because I have found in my faith that it's the challenging things that cause me to grow the most. And so we're gonna wrestle a little bit today. I want to say on the forefront, the concepts that this brings up, the concepts that are in this teaching, the things this makes us think about, there is no way for me in however much time we have to tie a nice tidy bow around this and everyone go, I get it now, and I have no questions. And if I did that, I'd be disingenuous because the Bible doesn't even do that. This is one of those ideas and concepts that the Bible leaves a lot of wiggle room on. There's like a lot of questions that come with this type of stuff. And if you read the New Testament, you are you are clear on who Jesus is, and you are clear on the way he feels about us, and you're clear on a lot of different things, but the whole like afterlife and final destiny, like that stuff, there's it's there. But God does not make it a priority to give it to us in a way that we're like, oh, I completely get it and I have no questions. Thank you. It's kind of frustrating sometimes. It's almost like God wants us to, I don't know, trust him. For there to be some mystery. In fact, once Jesus was asked by his disciples a specific question about something in the end. And he responded by going, I don't know. Only the Father knows that. So even God the Father was okay with Jesus the Son not knowing some things, and Jesus seemed to be okay with that, but we have a hard time with that. I need to know it all, and I need to know it exactly, God. If I don't understand it completely, I can't follow you. That's not faith. So as we go through this, if you leave today and you're like, well, he didn't answer every one of my questions, yeah, probably not. I have questions too. But what I want us to understand is that scriptures like these are important for us to understand and wrestle with. It's important for us to understand the heart of God, and these ultimately lead us to this test of sorts. Do I really trust God? Do I really trust his character? Do I really trust his judgment? And so let's start with that word. Let's start with judgment. I want to go back to the scriptures that we read, 21 through 23 in Matthew 7. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons, and in your name perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you away from me, you evildoers. Now, in verse 22, he says, Many will say to me on that day, some of your translations, depending on if you have a Bible with you and whatever you're reading out of, they may actually say, on the day of judgment, instead of that day. Now, when Jesus said this in the original language, the word judgment isn't there. But some translations of the New Testament translate that day to day of judgment, and that's not inaccurate, because when Jesus says that day, he's referencing something very specific. And to his audience, there was this concept called the day of the Lord. Remember, Jesus is teaching to first century Jewish people. And and in their Bible, which for us is the Old Testament, there was this idea called the day of the Lord. And the day of the Lord was a day where God was going to judge the world. And they were looking forward to that day when God would come and judge. The day of the Lord. And Jesus, when he says, on that day, clearly to his followers, he's referencing a day of judgment. We actually see this talked about many other times in the New Testament. Matthew 12, 36, Jesus says, and I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. Anyone in the room a talker? I am. I do not like this verse at all. Because I have said many words, many of them are idle. Okay, so judgment day. Hebrews 9.27 begins this way: just as each person is destined to die once, and after that comes judgment. Acts 17.31, for he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed. And he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead. So we see this concept of a coming day of judgment. This is what Scripture teaches us that all of history is moving toward a judgment day. When God is going to judge the world. Now we're told as followers of Jesus not to judge people. We have to have good judgment and practice good judgment with who we trust. We talked about that a few weeks ago, but but when it comes to judging a person's heart, we're never told to do that. In fact, in Matthew 7, the same chapter we're in, Jesus begins by saying, Do not judge. Don't judge others. But God is a judge, He has perfect judgment, and we are told over and over again in the scriptures and in the teachings of Jesus that he's going to judge the world. And oftentimes there's very intense language used there. There's language like fiery furnace, weeping and gnashing of teeth, outer darkness, the place, the place that was prepared for the devil and his demons. Like that's the language used in the Bible. And that doesn't give any of us warm fuzzies. There's actually one word that that makes all of us think about. What is that word? You can say it out loud. I'm giving you permission. Go ahead. Hell. In fact, I sent an email out this week, knowing that this is what we're going to be talking about, just as a preview, and I just made the title of the email Hell, because I thought, well, that might get people's attention. And I had a person that responded and they said, um, this email made me feel very uncomfortable. And I was like, well, that's that's good, right? Because it'd be real weird if you felt comfortable when you heard that word, you know? It'd be kind of an odd thing to be like, ooh, my favorite subject. Like if your favorite subject is hell, I don't I don't know if I don't want to be friends with you, probably, because that's that's concerning. But let me ask you this question. When Jesus said what he said in Matthew, I mean, this is like, look, we're going through this because this is what Jesus said. These are his words. And I love Jesus. And I want to hang on every word that Jesus says. When Jesus said, away from me, you evil doers, do you think his intention was to bring comfort to the people around him? Like, I just want to put you guys all at ease. And so here's what I'm gonna say. And they're all like, Oh, thank you. That's no, like it's clearly intended for discomfort. It makes us wrestle with some things. There's very intense language used in Scripture about judgment. And it brings up that word hell, and that's a word that we don't like. We have a lot of ideas about hell that we have to unlearn. You have to understand words have this way of over time evolving, and they they pick up pictures and meanings that they they didn't have a few thousand years ago. The same is is true of a lot of the words in scripture, definitely this concept of hell. When we picture hell, we almost always picture something that's more rooted in medieval art and literature than it is the Bible. So if you've ever pictured the devil with like horns and a tail, maybe like a pitchfork or something like that, that is not in the Bible. To my knowledge, there are no pitchforks in the Bible anywhere. Um that's that's rooted from literature. Things like Dante's Inferno and even modern media, we see these images, and that's what we think of, and and that's not that's not really what the Bible teaches. Like a really typical oversimplification that a lot of Christians are like, yeah, that's what it is, is that we live on the earth. And you got the earth, and then you have heaven and you have hell, and when you die, you either go to heaven or hell. And and that that's not really what scripture teaches. Because, first of all, the Bible is not ultimately the story of heaven and hell. It's the story of heaven and earth. It begins in Genesis 1.1 by saying, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And heaven in in Revelation at the end is not a place that's floating up in the sky. Heaven is a recreated earth. Earth and heaven come together. The story basically goes that when God created the earth, there was this beautiful overlap between heaven and earth. And God walked on the earth, and there was relationship, and then that broke. And what we see happen after that is God began this process of re-unifying, reuniting heaven and earth. And when Jesus comes to the earth, we see that that reunification really begin and in full swing. And here's God Himself on the earth, one of us. And he begins his kingdom and his spirit begins to move. And those of us who have entrusted our lives to Jesus, we're like little pockets of heaven on earth. Because God's doing his work inside of us, and and there's this collision that's happening, but ultimately in Revelation, it's it's complete, it's a consummation. And heaven and earth are one. So it's not earth and then heaven, because they're they're coming together. And when we first get introduced to hell and anything related to hell, we actually see it on the earth. And so, for example, the first kind of I guess idea of hell we have in the Bible would be the serpent in the garden in Genesis chapter 3, chapter 4, and that that section. And where does that take place? That's here. We look at the story of Jesus. We see Satan tempt Jesus. Where does that happen? That's here, that's on the earth. We see people in the story of Jesus who are afflicted and oppressed by what scripture calls demons. And where is that? That's that's here. And what does Jesus do with Satan? He resists. What does he do with the demons? He kicks them out. And so when hell starts to show up, hell's almost described like this invading force, that Jesus is intent on getting out. And yes, hell is described as a as a destination, but it's it's what I'm trying to say is that we have this oversimplified idea, and we've got to be willing to look at what scripture actually teaches and say, what do I really believe about this? Because it's important. This hell language for us, it's it's loaded with all kinds of thoughts and ideas that we just have to understand did not come from Scripture. They've just come from a lot of other things throughout history. We have to unlearn some of that.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

But the language is intense. It's very, very intense.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

So let's let's look at a few examples. I'm gonna start with a really odd One. John 3, 16 and 17. For this is how God loved the world. He gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. See, Jesus' followers thought when he first came, it's judgment day. He's the Messiah, He's the prophet. It's judgment day. He's here, he's gonna take names, he's gonna do his thing. And Jesus is like, no, I'm not here to judge the world. Not right now. He says, I'm here to save the world. I'm here to give my life. I'm here to open up an invitation to everyone to come and to know me, to have a relationship with God, to be, to be completely and totally included in God's purposes in this world. And we all like that, right? Like that's anyone here like what Jesus says there? I do. That's beautiful. I love it. Very, very few people are familiar with John 3.36, though, which is the same chapter and it's still Jesus. He says, anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn't obey the Son will never experience eternal life, but remains under God's angry judgment. I'm not as big of a fan of that. You will see people at football games holding up signs that say John 3.16. You will not see a lot of John 3.36 signs. It's the same chapter, though.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Is Jesus talking? There's this idea of judgment.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

And this idea that some will experience that in a negative way. It's concerning. Matthew 13, 40 through 42. Again, this is Jesus talking. Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send his angels, they will remove from his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil, and the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Not my favorite verse. Matthew 25, 41. Then the king will turn to those on the left and say, Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

This is hard stuff.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

It brings up a lot of things in us. First off, God makes it really clear his intentions. Does he intend any of us to experience judgment in a negative way? No, right? He loves the world. He loves the world so much that he gave his son. He gave his son, he gave everything you could imagine to make a way for us, to provide an opportunity for us to know him and to be known by him, to be loved by him, to be a part of his family. And Jesus says, but to those who don't, and the language is intense, and this brings up all kinds of things for us, all kinds of questions. You probably thought these questions, things like, okay, well, what about what about someone who's a really good person? They're like awesome, they're really good, they're sweet, they're kind, and they just don't believe in Jesus. What about the person who's never heard about Jesus? What about the person who has heard about Jesus, but the Jesus they heard about was like a fake Jesus because they grew up in a very hypocritical Christian home? And it like, what about all this stuff? And and we have these questions because part of us deep down inside is a little worried that God's gonna get it wrong.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Deep down inside, I think all of us to some degree have wrestled with this concern.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

What if God is like a youth league referee and he just makes the wrong call? Like, what if God's gonna make the wrong call? Because judgment in Scripture, it's certain. Like, there's there's no way to read the New Testament and be like, yeah, I'm not sure about that whole judgment thing if that's gonna happen. It is spoken of in certain terms over and over and over again. And that that means everyone will be judged. And what if what if God gets it wrong? If you have that concern, it just means that you're a human being. And you're in really good company, by the way. In Genesis chapter 18, Abraham, who's this incredible follower of God, has a conversation with God in a really intense moment. Says, the Lord told Abraham, Abraham, I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah because their sin is so flagrant. I'm going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I've heard. If not, I want to know. The other men turned and headed towards Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham. Abraham approached him and said, Will you sweep away both the righteous and the wicked? Suppose you find fifty righteous people living there in the city, will you sweep it away and not prepare it for their sakes? Surely you wouldn't do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked? Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same. Surely you wouldn't do that. Should not the judge of all the earth do what is right? And the Lord replied, If I find fifty righteous people in Sodom, I will spare the entire city for their sake. Abraham is concerned that God's gonna be too harsh. And so he starts this really interesting conversation with the Lord. And you keep reading and it keeps going. It's like an auction, but in reverse. You know, like an auction, you go, anyone, will anyone buy this for $10? How about 15, 20? Abraham keeps going down. God's like, no, if there's 50 good people, I'm not gonna do anything. He's like, all right, God, that's good. What about 45? And the Lord says, No, if there's 45, I will not destroy the city. What about what about 40? 35? 25? 15? He goes all the way down to 10. And he just keeps going, God, what if what if there's don't be mad at me, God. I know you've answered this, but what if there's 10? Just 10. And God's like, if there's 10, I'm not gonna, I'll spare the entire city. Abraham has this concern that God is gonna be too harsh. He's gonna get it wrong.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

And there's something inside of us as people that we have that. What if he's a bad referee? And what I want you to know today is he's not.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

If there's something I can say with certainty on the subject of heaven and hell, it's that I trust the one who judges to make the right call. I want to go back to a scripture that we looked at earlier, Acts 17, 31. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead. Who is that man? It's Jesus. Matthew 5, 19 through 23. Jesus is having an interesting conversation, and he's talking about his relationship with the Father and the dynamics there. And he says, I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does, for the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he's doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. And then you will truly be astonished. For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants. In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him. So here Jesus says, He's the one who makes the calls. He's the judge. God has given him the authority. The Father has given him that authority. Matthew chapter 25, Jesus uses similar language. He says, Look, when I return, I will return with all authority, and I will sit in judgment. Jesus is the one who judges. Now, for those of you who follow Jesus, I want you to think for a moment about the Jesus you know. I want you to think for a moment about how inclusive Jesus is. All the people that the world said were on the outside, they're too broken, they're too messed up, their sin is too much, they've done too many things, there's no way in the world God can have any use for them, and those people just so happen to be the closest friends of Jesus. So much so that it was shocking and scandalous to the religious people, the people that Jesus hung out with. That's Jesus. Think about how patient Jesus was when he walked this church. Think about how patient and loving he was. Even the fact that when he was on the cross, having just seen this group of people crucify him, yell out, crucify him, mock him, make fun of him, beat him, torture him. What does he say? What does he cry out, Father, forgive them? They don't know what they're doing. That's Jesus. I think about the Jesus who opened up his heart to this woman that he met at a well. The first person that Jesus ever said the words, I am the Messiah to. And she was someone that every other person in her community would have avoided like the plague. She was damaged goods. And Jesus opens up his heart to her like he had not done to anyone at that point in time, and she becomes the first person that he reveals the truth about who he is to. That's Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

Is there anyone you can think of who you would rather have be the judge than him? See, judgment's only a scary thing if you don't trust the judge. But my judge is Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

He's the one who has that authority and he's gonna judge everything, but I I trust the judgment. I mean, are you kidding me? He's Jesus. I trust his judgment. And he's good. Like the judgment is a good thing when the judge is good. Because he's gonna make the right call. We have to understand that Jesus is merciful and loving and kind and gracious, but he's also just. And I'll go back to that that that referee thing. And actually, Tab, I'm gonna ask for your just head nod of agreement here. Tab's a football coach. It's frustrating when refs make the wrong call, right? I saw a picture of you where you looked like you were having some words. Wait, okay. Um but see if you agree with me on this. Because obviously I've not coached varsity high school football, but I have coached uh second grade rec league basketball, so pretty similar. Um for me, what is more frustrating than a referee making the wrong call is a referee who will not blow the whistle, who will not make a call. Agree? That's the worst. Tab agreed with me if you didn't see. Um I've I've had experiences where you got a ref and they just they won't they won't make a call. And those are the games that get nuts. Like parents are about to jump onto the court or onto the field and go at it because everyone's like, make a call, blow your whistle, do your job. And if you won't do that, it's it's the most maddening thing in the world. What I want us to understand, guys, is that Jesus is good. He's kind, he's loving, he's powerful, he's so good, but he's not afraid to blow the whistle. He's just, and I'm telling you, I trust his judgment. I've seen nothing in Jesus, I see nothing in the way he lived his life to make me believe that there's anyone more qualified or anyone we would rather have make those decisions. And I would I would love to live believing that no matter what, everything everything works out for everyone.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

And I don't believe that's what scripture teaches. But I believe that Jesus is good.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

And I believe that I believe that if I was the one on the judgment seat making those calls, there'd be a whole lot of people who'd be out versus Jesus. Like I don't think I'm I'm does anyone think you're more gracious than God? More patient than him? More loving, more kind, more understanding, more compassion. Anyone here more compassionate than Jesus? By all means, raise your hand.

SPEAKER_00 34:08

Whatever uncertainty or fear you have, I want you to understand this. If you know Jesus, you should look forward to the decisions that he makes.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

And if and if scripture's true, and I believe it is, and all of history is moving forward to this moment where he judges, it's gonna be a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

It's gonna be beautiful. Worship team, you guys can make your way out.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

We've got a couple people that are about to get baptized, which is exciting. Um, yeah. We had uh we had two in the first service. It was really beautiful, and there's nothing we love more than to see people go on with Jesus. Don't leave yet, though, because we got we got more things to talk about. Um I had an amazing moment. This is gonna seem like a real turn, but just stay with me. I had an amazing moment at IHOP a few months ago. Uh I was eating by myself, which is sad and depressing. Um being like, table for one, please. And they look at you like, oh, and you're like, I'm just, I just, I'm just hungry, you know. It's not that. And I have four kids, and so there's nothing better for me sometimes than eating by myself. And so I go to IHOP and I just had some time to kill, and I wanted, I really just wanted to eat and and read a little bit. And I'm at the one right across the street here from the church. And you ever find yourself people watching? It's it's it's hard not to sometimes. Like you don't want to eavesdrop and be creepy, but sometimes there's just certain things happening around you where you're like, I'm really interested in that. And there's this table right across from me, like it's in my view, directly in my view. And it's this woman and what appears to be her son, he was probably my age or so, and and she was older, but the way that she was dressed, she had a head wrap on, and it just became very obvious to me that she was undergoing cancer treatment. And they're talking. And I'm just kind of like, I don't know, something about this woman just grabbed my attention. And so while while they're having their meal, and I'm creepily staring at them and eating my food, you know, just watching, um, she gets a phone call and she answers this phone, and within a few seconds, her countenance transforms. And I mean, there is like this swelling up of joy on her face. And her eyes begin to fill with tears, and she just says on the phone, thank you, thank you so much. And she puts the phone down, she looks at her son, and she says, It's gone. The cancer is gone. And it was awesome, it was so powerful. I got to like, and I mean, I remember I was, I'm watching this, like, I'm watching someone receive the news that they've been healed of cancer, and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life. There's a moment in Jesus' life where he's teaching at a synagogue and a man comes in with a deformed hand. And in their culture, this man would not have been able to work, he wouldn't have been able to provide for a family. And everyone would have really believed that he deserved it because they had this understanding. Their idea of God was a very judgmental God, not Jesus, like a harsh judge. And they would have believed that if this man had this deformity, well, he must have deserved it. And so he comes in, and everyone's kind of watching Jesus to see what he's gonna do. Jesus brings him up front and he takes his hand and he heals him. And after seeing that woman's face when she was told that she no longer had cancer, I wonder what that man's face would have looked like. Like, can you imagine living your entire life with this disability? And this hand that was shriveled and crippled, and then you spend a few moments with Jesus, and he he touches you, and you look down, and for the first time in your life, your hand is is it's healed, and and the joy that would have been on his face. And what about his family and his friends who are there witnessing firsthand this miracle that's taken place, and and the flood of thoughts coming in that oh my goodness, our our son is healed, he's been completely healed, his life is transformed and changed, and everyone that was there witnessing a miracle and the joy that they must have experienced, and how much how much passion and how many tears, and just can you imagine being in that moment? It's like what I saw at IHOP to a whole other level because it's happening right before your eyes. It's beautiful, right? Well, it's weird because in that same exact moment, while many were looking and praising God, there were others in the room whose reaction to seeing that was, we've got to find a way to kill Jesus. That's what the Pharisees and the religious leaders said after seeing that. They watched that beautiful moment. And rather than being filled with awe and wonder and praise for God, they were filled with anger and resentment, and they walked away and began to plot the murder of Jesus. Guys, I don't know why. I won't pretend to, but there are some who choose to completely and totally reject what is good. I wish it wasn't the case, but there are some who totally reject that. And there's no way to experience heaven and reject what is good. Because it's the culmination of the goodness of God. His plans for you, his plans for this world, guys, they're beautiful. And they're amazing. In fact, as we wrap up, Revelation 21, 1 through 7. It's hard to read from Revelation sometimes because it's it's so rich in metaphor and it's it's kind of a trip. But give yourself some credit as we read through this and just ask this basic question. Is what is being described to me good? Okay? Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Look, God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who is seated on the throne said, I am making everything new. And then he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. He said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To all the thirsty, I will give water without cost. From the spring of the water of life, those who are victorious will inherit all of this, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. That's judgment day, right there. Like, understand that. This is the Bible's description of judgment. This is the desire of God. This is what he wants to create. Do you want to be part of it? It's beautiful. Is it good? The very next verse, though, says this. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. Now, does verse 8 make verses 1 through 7 any less beautiful? They don't. I know I would not be a better judge, that's for sure. Because like, my criteria would be silly. Like, oh, you're a North Carolina fan? Sorry, Scott. Oh, you were that, you're that, do I know you, oh, you were the referee at that one game in second grade. Ugh. It's just gonna be awkward if we bump into each other here, you know? I'm sorry. My judgment would be horrible. But God's is perfect, and I trust him. And when I look at the beauty of what he has in mind, when I just try my best to grasp the perfection that he's creating, I desperately want to be part of it. And I want everyone I know to be part of. I want everyone I've ever met, even that ref, I want him there. I really do. And because of verse 8, I should be filled with a genuine desire to share who Jesus is with everyone I meet. There is a judgment, there is a judge, but that judge is named Jesus, and he's good, and I trust him. And there's one thing he gives us as a criteria for assurance that we get to be part of that, and it's just to know him. Like I love that he says, there will be people who say, Well, I did these amazing things. It's almost like he's trying to teach us, hey, don't think for a second that the way you you experience my kingdom is impressing me. Don't let this become a religion. It's not about saying, Well, I did this and I gave this and I served in this way. Do you know me? Do you know me? Do you have a heart for me? Do you want to know me? Do you want to know Jesus? He's amazing. And if you know him, trust him. Look forward to whatever decisions he makes because they're good. And if you don't know him, know him. He's real, he's alive, he's powerful, he changes people's lives. We've had almost 150 people baptized this year. And it's been story, it's awesome. It's been story after story of Jesus changing someone's life. Something cannot create, nothing cannot create something. He's real. And people's lives being changed are the the fruit of that. And so if you're here, that if you're here and you don't know him, all you got to do is believe. You put your faith in him. You say in your heart, I'm yours, and you're in his kingdom. And if you say to yourself, I don't feel like I belong, join the club. None of us do. It's so good to be here. Give your heart to him. Go all in with him, just like this person that's about to get baptized is doing. Please pray with me. Jesus, thank you for this day. And Lord, the things that we're talking about, they're they're tough to figure out, Lord, they are. But we want to be servants of you, we want to be followers of you who who embrace everything that you teach, everything that you say, even if it's difficult. And we want to say as a church, Jesus, that we trust you, that we trust your judgment, that we're glad that you're the one who's gonna make those calls. Lord, we're we're glad that you're so merciful and kind and compassionate and patient and loving. And we're also glad that you're just, that you're not afraid to make the decisions that need to be made. We trust you. And Lord, I pray if there's one person here who's yet to give their life to you, that would change right now. Not out of fear. Not out of fear, God, but out of a genuine love and desire to be included in the good things that you have planned for judgment day. And Lord, with this person going on with you right now, we just pray that you would make this a special moment, that you would give them an assurance of where they stand with you, that they would never lose sight of the fact that they belong to you. And we're their church, and we'll surround them and support them however we can. It's in your name we pray. Amen.