#6 He stood only five-feet-four inches tall, and always wore a carnation in his lapel. He was the Mayor of New York City during the Great Depression and during the worst days of World War II. The people of New York City adored him and affectionately called him “The Little Flower.” His real name was Fiorello LaGuardia. The people in New York City loved him because of his compassion, and caring for people. He often rode with the firemen as they raced to fires, went with the police as they raided the nightclubs where booze and drugs were sold. He loved kids and even took whole orphanages to the ball games. One night he showed up at a night court in one of the poorest wards of New York. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for that night and took over. Within minutes a tattered old lady was brought before him to answer charges that she had stolen a $.50 loaf of bread. “Your Honor,” she told LaGuardia. “I stole the bread because my daughter’s husband deserted her. She’s got two children, she’s sick and the children have no food. What am I gonna do? I have no money. I took the bread to feed two starving children.” Mayor LaGuardia sighed and said, “I have to punish you. The law makes no exception. The fine is ten dollars or ten days in jail.” But as he spoke, he reached into his pocket and pulled out ten dollars. “Here is the ten dollars for the fine,” he said; “and furthermore, I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Bailiff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant.” The following day the newspaper reported that a total of $47.50 was turned over to the grandmother to help her with her problem. Fifty cents of that amount was given by the red-faced bakery owner who had brought the charge against her in the first place! The mayor was given a standing ovation. How fortunate that this little old grandmother had such a kind, gracious, and wise judge. Isn’t that the kind of judge you would like to have, as you stand before God in the final judgment? The Bible tells you how you can. Because ladies and gentlemen, tonight I bring to each and every one of you a court summons. You have been “legally invited” to the big trial, the tribunal of the King of the Universe. Six billion strong, the human race is approaching God’s great final court session. Modern youth with their spiked hair and pierced ears – bewildered and obsessed with drugs, tattoos, sin, and sex – are rollerblading to judgment. The aged from their senior rest homes and twilight havens are tottering toward the judgment. The rich in their Rolls Royces and Cadillacs are driving to the judgment. Saints and sinners alike. Listen, everybody! Hear what Paul says about a court appointment the whole world must keep with God: <Acts 17:31> No one will be excused. No one can escape the summons. <2 Corinthians
5:10> Whether we believe it or not. Whether we like it or not. Whether we profess to be Christians or not. Whether we are rich or poor, black or white, we must all appear. God has no favorites. Hollywood actresses and lying presidents. From Monica Lewinsky to Judas Iscariot, the Bible says when summoned we must all appear. Why? What’s God looking for in the Investigative Judgment? May I respectfully submit three things the Judgment is NOT. 1. It’s
NOT a “weeding ceremony” for God to weed out disloyal
followers. (He already knows the end from the beginning.) Then what’s the purpose? Ah! There are much bigger issues at stake: The final destiny and security of the entire universe! The focal point of the Great Controversy – the whole question Satan raised in the beginning before the universe was this: “Does God deserve to be God?” Not a question of God’s POWER, but the question is about His CHARACTER. Is He the kind of Person that deserves our allegiance? The primary concern of the judgment is God. He’s on trial. Revelation 14:7 says, “...the hour of HIS judgment is come...” His attributes are at stake. His record is at stake. Not the performance of human beings. The question in the judgment is, “What has God done for His people? Did God do everything He could to rescue His people? Can God be trusted? So often people are afraid of the judgment. God’s going to zap us out if He finds one sin unconfessed. Friend, He’s up there fighting for us. We have nothing to fear. The judgment shows how God has acted. That He’s on our side! He can be trusted! Satan stands there threatening. Accusing. Condemning God. Claims and counter-claims are made in judgment, back and forth in the presence of the universe. In Scripture, you get the picture of God arguing in our behalf. Any idea of God up there “weeding out” bad people is foreign to Scripture! Let me illustrate from the recent Columbia Space Shuttle tragedy. The day after it happened, renters from Johnson Space Center in Texas reported that NASA vowed on the Sunday after the space shuttle crashed to leave absolutely no stone unturned in an exhaustive investigation into why the space shuttle Columbia suddenly broke up upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere killing all seven astronauts on board in a fiery explosion. Well, I see the investigative judgment as a parallel. It’s not for our sake or the astronauts on board this suicide planet; or the universe or the angels or other beings. But God is leaving nothing to chance. He’s going to look at every piece of evidence. So he can cinch the record, put an end to sin, and Nahum1:9 says, “sin will not arise again the second time.” So how does this judgment work? Paul gives the answer: <Romans 14:12> For the way we have lived. The verdict forever seals eternal security. The decision will be irreversible. No higher court of appeal! But before the trial verdict passes sentence, first there must be a trial or investigation. You see, I have a surprise for you tonight. The real question up there in the judgment isn’t, “Was Lonnie Melashenko a sinner?” (Or we would all perish.) But the real question – the only question on the witness stand – is this: “Did God give Lonnie adequate chances to accept Jesus’ solution?” Let’s
turn to the Bible and notice the picture of this tribunal, or court
session, in heaven. Every trial in North America, from Circuit Courts
to the U.S. Supreme Court, consists of three phases: Watch the incredible scene, of “the trial” phase, as the prophet Daniel described it: <Daniel 7:9,
10> Here Daniel pictures God, the Father, or the Ancient of Days, seated upon His eternal throne, and countless angels seated in awesome silence. God’s trial begins. Notice what Daniel saw next: <Daniel 7:13> Here Jesus is pictured standing in the trial before the Ancient of Days. Carbon copy of a courtroom trial on Earth! There’s the presiding Judge: the Ancient of Days. There are the witnesses: all the holy angels who have seen and recorded everything. And standing before the throne is Jesus – man’s Advocate, as John wrote: <1 John 2:1> We are not actually there in person, Jesus is! The Bible says: <Daniel 7:10> Books. Unimpeachable evidence. Flawless records, impeccably kept, of every deed, every action of God, and for every person as evidence in His trial. Solomon wrote: <Ecclesiastes
12:14> Malachi adds: <Malachi
3:16> King David knew about records: <Psalm 56:8> So we are not there in this Great White Throne judgment. God is! And His evidence on His behalf is our lives! He’s got it all written down in the BOOKS! <Psalm 139:1,
3, 16> i.e., God’s computers and virtual videos know all about us. He’s got the goods on us! Everything’s on record. Not for His benefit. (He already knows the whole kit and caboodle.) Records are kept for the benefit of the entire watching universe because in a very real sense He is on trial in this judgment! And books provide clear evidence that God the Judge is fair and loving and just in every case. There’ll be no cover-ups! No Nixon Watergate missing tapes. No Clinton memory lapses. People may be able to fool their friends and even their families, but no one can fool God. He reads the secrets of the heart! Unfortunately the evidence by the Prosecution Attorney will not only show sins of commission, but sins of omission. Thinking thoughts we didn’t get to do. Having a chance to do a good deed, but we didn’t. Satan’s point: we are all going to fail the judgment bar BIG TIME! No human being on their own steam can pass the bar. When judgment day comes, we’ll find ourselves in one of two positions: either our entire record of past failures will have been covered by the blood of Jesus – erased. Forgiven. Blotted out. Or our record will stand to condemn us. And we’re history! Because: <Isaiah 64:6> What’s more, we are told very clearly when Jesus comes, <Matthew
16:27> But someone protests, “If we are saved by grace, why are we judged by our works?” Good question! I like how Dr. Sakae Kubo puts it: “Let us consider what it would mean if the judgment were not based on works. By what would God judge us, our skin, our race, our social class, our education, our looks, our talents, our strength, our membership in the church, or our mere profession of Christ? God can judge us only by our works, good or bad.” Is this double talk? No. Good works obviously are not done by the true Christian to earn merit or bribe God. Listen carefully. Good works aren’t a means of salvation, good works are an evidence of salvation – the spontaneous result of a heart full of love for God and man. And that’s what God is looking for in the judgment. Evidence that exonerates Him! Not the “works.” Sinners can do good works, too. The question is: “Was it a love relationship with Jesus that motivated this person to do good works?” Summing up in the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon said: <Ecclesiastes
12:13, 14> Now since my relationship to Christ is to be judged by my conduct, there must be some clear standard or law by which to measure that conduct. If I get hauled into court in California, the courts only have authority to deal with crime as defined by the laws of the land. I can’t be found guilty unless I’ve broken a law, a standard. A gauge. A measurement device. I have 4 brothers and we’re all just one year apart. Imagine the picnic my parents had when I was just 4 years old and there were four other babies to carry around. But I remember we kids used to get a kick out of getting measured as we grew up. The folks had a measuring tape. And they’d put a mark on the wall to see who was tallest. We could see from month to month and year to year how much we’d outgrow those marks. And we 5 kids outgrew our clothes like mad. But I can still remember being measured. Now God, too, has a standard of measuring our moral lives. In God’s judgment there is a basis of judgment, a law, and James makes it clear which standard will be upheld. <James 2:12> In the context of the previous verses, James is talking about the Ten Commandments. He even quotes two of them: <James 2:11> God’s Ten Commandment law (called the “Law of Liberty”) is the perfect standard by which the lives of men will be judged. And that could terrify me. Especially if I didn’t have Jesus! But that makes all the difference in the judgment. The judgment simply determines on which side we stand. Are we with Christ? Has He changed us? Empowered us so that we love to do His will as expressed in the Ten Commandments? Has He written His law in our hearts? My grandparents from the Soviet Union immigrated to Canada before the Bolshevik Revolution. When they applied for citizenship they were required to pledge their allegiance to their new country, promising to be loyal citizens and to uphold the laws of the land. They switched allegiance. No more Lenin. Stalin. Atheism. Marxism. Socialism. They wanted freedom in North America – a brand new way of life! Same thing with Christians. We live on this ball of mud in a foreign land, the spiritual kingdom of hell and the Devil. When we accept Christ and His kingdom, God asks us to pledge allegiance to Him, uphold the laws of His government. And He helps us by His grace and power to do it! However, you know (and I know) not all immigrants remain faithful to their solemn vows when they swear allegiance. Some Americans in high offices (in the Pentagon and C.I.A.) outwardly seem to be loyal citizens of the land, but later are found to be subversive. When this is proved, the citizenship of that person is revoked and he’s deported. In the judgment it’s not enough for Christians to profess that we’re followers of Christ. We must be born again! We must allow Jesus’ perfect life of obedience and faithfulness to be lived out in us – to change us, make us new! And that evidence is important in God’s judgment! Jesus said, <Matthew
7:21> But now, The Voice of Prophecy SPEAKS, with a most astounding fact little known by Christians. Are you ready for it? The judgment in heaven is now in session. Tonight! We read it earlier in Daniel 7, where Daniel saw the Ancient of Days coming on the clouds of heaven and sitting in court. Scripture reveals that the investigative phase of God’s judgment began in heaven many years ago. So God’s trial is already on! That’s why, in the closing chapters of the Book of Revelation, when John outlines the last warning to our world and Christ’s final invitation in Three Angel’s Messages, he says: <Revelation
14:6, 7> Notice this message does not say “the judgment will come,” it says “the hour of his judgment has come.” And right after these three angels’ messages – right smack in the middle of God’s judgment hour, Verse 15 says then Jesus comes: “And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, ‘Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.’” Harvest is the end of the world, Jesus told us. Harvest happens at His second coming. But what did Verse 7 just say occurs right before Jesus comes? God’s judgment hour. We help vindicate His character. His claims that we’re safe to save. And then He comes to take us with Him. “Well!” you say, “if God’s heavenly investigative court trial is already in process, tonight – when did the judgment begin? Bible prophecy indicates that for more than a century-and-a-half heaven’s court has been in session. In fact any person in this room has lived all of their life in the prophetic time of God’s judgment (what the Bible calls the Day of Atonement.) And when God finishes the judgment – and that could be two minutes from right now – that’s it. The end. The moment of truth. He thrusts in His sickle and reaps. And Jesus comes for the harvest. Well, how can we establish the beginning date of the heavenly judgment? The key is found in a remarkable prophecy in the Book of Daniel! We studied part of it two nights ago from Daniel 7. Five dates in prophecy, each with pin-point accuracy: 457, 408, 27, 31, 34. Voice of Prophecy’s Bible lessons can share all the details for you (stop by the table), but let me take you on a short excursion. Daniel 8:14 says: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days: then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” That’s talking JUDGMENT! At – one – ment. Putting God’s universe right one final time. Now, this is the longest time prophecy in the Bible. And one of my favorites. In prophecy, we noted that a day represents a year: <Ezekiel
4:6> So this prophecy actually represents 2300 years until God says “the sanctuary will be cleansed.” The last Judgment begins. We learned from Ezra 7 this 2300-year prophetic period began at the very same command of King Artaxerxes to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. When was that? Historians tells us in the Autumn of the year 457 B.C., the king issued the long-awaited decree. Twenty-three hundred years from that date terminates in A.D. 1844. (A child in the 3rd grade can do the arithmetic). That’s the year, Daniel says, the court in heaven convened and God began “to judge the world.” Scripture calls it the Day of Atonement. Which if you really want to get specific, the Jewish calendar for Yom Kippur in 1844 would place God’s judgment beginning on October 22, 1844. That’s the day it began. Paul backs this up in Acts 17:31. God has appointed a day in which He will begin to judge the world. There it is. And the point is, when God’s judgment is done, Jesus comes! It’s just that simple! Now you may ask what the heavenly Day of Atonement means. Well, remember God gave ancient Israel a miniature, a model – a copy. An illustration of Calvary and the Last Judgment 1000s of years before it happened. Most Christians ignore it. But here’s how it worked. The book of Hebrews says God instructed the people to erect a tent tabernacle on earth during their long exodus traveling from Egypt to the Promised Land – for an extremely important reason. First of all, God was lonely! That’s where He met with His people. Second, that’s where the people DAILY brought their sacrifices to the sanctuary. They confessed their sins and took the life of a lamb to show their faith in the future death of Jesus, the Son of God. Today, if we sin, we ask God to forgive our sins because Jesus died in our place to pay the sin debt. However, before Calvary, the people had no Calvary sacrifice to look back to, so by faith they looked forward instead to the time when the “Lamb” of God would die for them. And God accepted their faith. The priest symbolically transferred their sins to the sanctuary by sprinkling the sin-laden blood from the animal before the veil of the Most Holy Place in the sanctuary. And the sins piled up! Then, one day each year, God instructed the children of Israel to conduct a most solemn and sacred service called the “Day of Atonement,” which the people of Israel viewed as a day of judgment. Ten days before the Day of Atonement, the trumpets blew Reveille every morning, reminding the Israelites that it was time for them to take inventory of their lives – to repent and confess their sins. Any who failed to do so were banished from the camp. <Leviticus
16:30> Now here’s the point: the N.T. Book of Hebrews makes it plain that the earthly sanctuary and its service was a copy, an illustration of God’s sanctuary in heaven where Christ our High Priest forgives our sins in the last judgment today. He begins the final mopping up campaign to restore God’s universe back to its rightful state. Paul says in this heavenly court room, <Hebrews
8:1, 2> No more earthly priests. Or bloody sacrifices. No more copies, miniatures. <Hebrews
9:11, 12, 24> And in the final judgment going on up there tonight: <Hebrews
7:25> The good news about the judgment, Jesus says, is: <Matthew
10:32, 33> You see, you and I don’t stand alone in heaven’s judgment when our name comes up! Listen! If we have confessed Christ, and we’re daily “in Christ,” He’s our Attorney. And He never loses a case. When my name comes up, instead of an encyclopedia of my sins, my records can show instead “Covered by His blood.” “Forgiven at Calvary. Cleansed.” “Father,” Jesus says, “account this person as though he’d never sinned. I credit his account, personally, with My perfect sinless life!” So, there’s nothing to fear about Judgment Day – for those who love and follow Jesus. <1 John 1:7> The judgment is good news. Once your case goes to judgment: if we’re Christ’s and He’s our Attorney, ‘Case Closed!’ Court’s adjourned! He wins! Every time – IF we ask Him TODAY to be our Attorney. (We win!) Tonight we are living in Earth’s last hours. The judgment “is set and the books were opened” in 1844. Everyone that’s ever professed to be a Christian is being judged at this time. 1 Peter 4:17 says, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God...” In other words, the judgment started with all God’s good people. Saved people. Well, who was the first godly man to die? Can you picture in your mind’s eye Abel’s day in court? As his case is reviewed, God sees Abel’s life; there’s the record. Evidence in God’s favor. When Abel showed his faith in a coming Redeemer, the life of Christ was credited to Abel’s account. Jesus says, “My blood, Father, paid Abel’s debt.” Can’t you just hear the angels shout, “Amen! Keep Abel’s name in the Book of Life!” And God wins! Christ promised: <Revelation
3:5> They continue down the list: Cain. He killed Abel. Never repented. Suddenly things get very quiet. Nobody speaks up for Cain. Jesus hangs His head. Nothing is said as they quietly strike his name from the Book of Life. Down through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Isaiah. Daniel. Esther. Rahab. All the heroes of faith. They come to Judas’ name. That sad record of a traitor, ending at last in suicide. Jesus loved Judas. Jesus even stooped to wash Judas’ dusty feet the night of the Last Supper, hoping to touch that proud heart. He wanted to be able to stand by him in the judgment as his Advocate. But Judas turned away. How sad for Jesus. As He stands there before the Father you can see tears trickling down His face as He says, “Father, I tried my very best for Judas. I did everything. I pleaded with Him right up to the night before My death. There was nothing more I could do. He rejected Me as His Savior.” The angels agree. And the name of Judas is forever stricken from the records. It’s a solemn time in which we live. When judgment ends, man’s probation closes and the decree goes forth, the final VERDICT of heaven’s court of law. The sentence phase of the judgment, when the Judge declares, <Revelation
22:11> The saddest words in the human language will be the words of those who have put off salvation – who have not accepted Christ as their Lord and Advocate. They could have been saved! God’s doing so much for us, fighting for us that a man has to choose NOT to be saved! Tragically, that is why the majority will wail, <Jeremiah
8:20> And then Jesus returns to Earth. The execution phase of heaven’s court. <Revelation
22:12> Friend, Jesus longs to be your Advocate in the Judgment! He longs to have you accept His sacrifice on Calvary. He longs to have you confess your sins to Him so He can blot them out. He longs to have your name written in the Book of Life. He longs to cover you with His perfect robe of righteousness. John tells us that no one will enter the Holy City… <Revelation
21:27> What about your name tonight? Heaven has made its move. How about you? When I lived near Washington, DC one of the most interesting places I ever visited with Jeannie was the National Bureau of Standards. Perfect pound. Yardstick. But it was the weighing instrument that always intrigued me. To illustrate how delicate and discriminating those scales were, the guide placed a piece of paper of equal weight on either side of the scales. A delicate poise was always maintained. Perfect balance. Then the guide would remove one of the sheets of paper, and sign his name on it; then replace the paper on the scales. Just the ink from that signature tipped the balance and weighed down the scale. It’s like that in the judgment. The name of Jesus thrown into the balances will make all the difference. Do you want your name written there? Do you want Jesus’ name on your record? Tonight, how do you stand in the judgment? I want Jesus to stand by me there, don’t you? If you’re not ready to face the judgment, why not make plans today? YOUR decision for or against Christ will decide the outcome. The verdict isn’t Christ’s to make. It’s yours. All it takes is a surrendered heart – a heart that has been to Calvary. Invite Jesus
just now to come in to your life. The choice is up to you.
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