God hath appointed a day when he will judge the world

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 2023

ACTS 17 VERSES 15 – 34

“He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Verse 31

There have been some great days in history but none greater than this one.  The day he calls a hold on all that is going on in this world.  The day when he calls his son Jesus to judge the earth.  The apostle Paul comes to Athens on his missionary journey to deliver the gospel to men and women.  He is waiting on his friends to lend him support (verse 16).  Now while Paul waits for them “his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.”  Paul was a man who had been tremendously changed on the road to Damascus.  His mission had been to find people believing in Christ, to arrest them and cast them into prison.  Now on that road he had a real life transforming experience.  He was brought face to face with the God of heaven.  That is what salvation is.  It is not signing a card or singing a few hymns, not even going to church on Sunday.  It is something down in the heart of every man who comes to God in childlike faith.  That is why Paul is in Athens.  He could see men and women given over to idolatrous worship.  They were worshiping all sorts of gods.  He looked on them in love.  His heart was stirred.  That is what it means. That is why we have a place of worship.  That is why we have the opportunity for the ingathering of souls.  People here have a passion for souls to see men and women saved.  Not to see the church filled but God moving in hearts.  This was a religious society looking for a relationship.  He is speaking here of a day yet to come.  A day when all will stand and give an account before God,

This is a sovereign day.  A day owned of God, designed of God, executed of God.  He will judge everyone on that day.  He is at present seated on the throne ruling in the affairs of man.  Verses 29 and 30.  A day when no leader will have any input whatsoever.  Neither the President of the USA or the Prime Minister of the UK nor the king or any prince.  This day is ordained of God.  He will execute it.  He will stop everything happening here on earth.  He will execute that day.  He has already planned and designed it.  He will bring it to pass.  The small, the great, the rich and the poor will stand in judgment.  There are many sitting in meetings tonight listening to the voice of the preacher, drawn to the foot of the cross but there is a rebellion going on, they don’t want to be saved.  On that particular day when God will judge the world in righteousness those who rejected the Lord will stand as their judge.  In Genesis 6 God said he would destroy the world with a flood.  It was God’s plan for the world.  The world he had created.  We are not talking of something God has involvement in.  It will happen one of these days.  In Genesis 6 God saw a people given over to their own pursuits and had no thought for God or eternal life.  God gave them 120 years on the earth.  In that period of time Noah built an ark.  God brought judgment after that period of time.  He will one day judge the earth.  God spoke to Abraham “you will be a stranger in a strange land and will be there for 400 years.  I will bring them out and judge them.” 

The setting of the day.  God has a day set aside.  We cannot fathom that day.  He has marked it on his calendar.  It is etched in the throne room of heaven.  When God declared the judgment in Noah’s day he planned that day very exactly.  He said he would destroy man and this world.  He had the exact date in mind.  Genesis 7 verse 4.  People had no time for the ark nor for Noah.  They laughed and scorned him.  Then it happened just as God said.  Genesis 7 verse 10 “and it came to pass after 7 days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.”  Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives went into the ark.  God reached down and shut the door.  People were now crying out for entry but time was up.  The grace was gone.  The invitation was withdrawn.  Salvation could no long be obtained.  When God comes again we will be going on about our normal daily activities – shops will be opened and trading, schools will be operating, people will be driving to their place of work.  Then, as Thessalonians tells us God will come back with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God.  It will all be over.  God will wind everything up.  The dead in Christ shall rise first.  Raised up again to meet their souls in heaven.  The souls and bodies are reunited and we will live with him for eternity.  Sadly, not for the unsaved.  People will be left behind and go through 7 years, a time never like it before.  Genesis 7 verse 21 “all flesh died that moved on the earth.”  They were going about their normal days business.  They hadn’t a care or thought.  That was the day when God closed the door.  God has set aside a day for this world to be judged.  It is as real as believing.  “In such a day as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.”

A day of solemnity.  The affairs of men will be brought to an end when we stand before the judge of all the earth.  They did not give it a second thought but are now standing before him. Every detail of our lives will flash before us.  2 Corinthians 5 verse 10.  The Lord likens that day to the harvest day.  Remember the parable of the farmer who sowed the seed in the field.  The tares and weeds grow up with the good seed.  The servants asked if they should pluck the weeds and tares.  The master’s reply is ‘no wait until the day of the harvest and gather altogether and then separate them.’  The tares will be burned and the good wheat will be gathered into the barn.  Revelation 6 the kings and the mighty men, princes and rulers shall call out for the very mountains and rocks to cover them.  Why?  Because they realise this is the great day of God’s wrath.  Who will be able to stand on that day?  Solemn day, a day when you and I will be called to the judgment bar of Christ.  Not for our sins but for rewards.  A day when the ungodly will stand before the judge for all the unrighteous acts. “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.”   At the judgment seat every deed will be poured out.  Revelation 20 “I saw the dead small and great and they stand before God.”  There is no chance of missing out.  There is no hiding place. Those who would not come to Christ are now driven from his face.  Those who rejected Christ in past days will be called again to stand before God.  Wouldn’t it be awful to leave it there. 

A solution for this day.  Verse 30.  All those who worshipped these idols, in the past God winked at, turned a blind eye to them.  Now I want them to come and repent of their sins.  It is not just joining a church, sitting at the communion table.  It is repentance that is needed.  The door of God’s grace is still open.  As long as it is light we have the opportunity to come to Christ – will you?