Tag Archives: judgment

April 12, 2022 · 3:03 PM

The Great Signpost To The Other Side Of Death

Skepticism has reduced Christianity to an empty shell for some people. One writer described the unbelieving ‘liberal’ version of Christianity in words like these: A God without wrath brings people without sin into a kingdom without judgment by a Jesus without a cross.

Just one problem: A tomb without a body means a Savior with great power and a life after death. Jesus’ resurrection is a striking reminder that the Bible promises more to our existence than what we see in this world or what we experience in this age.

The Bible assures us that everyone is appointed to die once then to face judgment (see Hebrews 9:27). Many in our skeptical world want to believe that God’s final judgment is a myth, yet people have a surprisingly strong desire for justice.

Justice requires judgment. The ultimate justice requires the ultimate judgment. And the ultimate judgment requires the ultimate Judge: God himself.

Is this world our only chance for justice? If so, we are apparently doomed to tragic disappointment. Justice now is certainly worthy of our best efforts, but it is also important enough for us to be realistic and admit that this broken world always falls short of justice for all peoples, justice in all things, and justice at all times.

Jesus’ preaching and teaching ministry placed much emphasis on the final judgment. Of the 39 or so parables of Jesus recorded in the Gospels, 18 of them focus on final judgment. About half. Jesus’ parable of the 10 virgins, 5 foolish and 5 wise, is about final judgment. It points out that some will be ready, but not all.

The separation of the sheep from the goats is about the final judgment. It points out that judgment will be focused on how we acted in this life, especially with regard to Jesus’ brothers and sisters, the church.

His parable about the wedding celebration is about the final judgment. One who came in without the proper garment was cast out into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, eternal condemnation.

The parable of the talents is about final judgment. The Lord tells each of his servants, “Well done my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a little. Take charge of much!” Words that every follower of Jesus should long to hear.

God is able to make perfect judgments. He uses the perfect standard: his own personal holiness. He is not corrupted. Nobody can bribe him because everything is already his. Nobody can force him to act. He has all power. Nobody can deceive God. He knows all the truth.

The final judgment will not be an inquiry to determine the facts. There will be no depositions or investigations. The facts will be fully known. One of the challenges of justice and judgment in this world is that we don’t know all the facts, especially the secrets of the people involved. Sometimes the guilty go free. Sometimes the innocent are condemned.

On God’s judgment day, even the secrets will be revealed. In fact, all the secrets will be revealed. My secrets and yours. Once we know all the facts, even the secrets, we will know that God’s judgments are right, just, and true.

If we are concerned that God is too harsh (or too lenient), we needn’t be. We can trust him to do what is right. We can be certain now that when judgment day comes and all things are finally revealed, God’s judgments will be vindicated.

Judgment day will also reveal God’s grace and mercy. Once we know the full story of evil, we will appreciate the full value of God’s grace. What we know about God’s grace is truly great now, but it is nothing compared to what our understanding will be then. For all eternity, believers will praise God for his marvelous grace, astounded by his love, inspired to worship and enjoy him and his blessings.

The resurrection of Jesus is the great historical marker of God’s justice and mercy. According to his justice, God provided judgment for sin through faith in Christ Jesus. According to his mercy, he offers forgiveness and eternal life through trust in Jesus Christ. The choice is ours. Trust God and his ways, or trust ourselves and follow our own ways, hoping that the Bible gets it wrong.

The resurrection of Jesus is a clear signpost that more awaits us on the other side of physical death. A day of weeping and gnashing of teeth for some. A day of rejoicing and celebration for others. Choose life. Follow Jesus.

May the resurrected and exalted Jesus Christ be Lord of your life both now and forever,

Brother Richard

Leave a comment

Filed under Religion

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

September 6, 2018 · 4:19 PM

Prayer For A Nation

God makes a promise about prayer in 2 Chronicles:

. . . and (if) my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I myself will hear from the heavens, forgive their sin, and heal their land. (7:14)

The Lord is speaking to King Solomon. At the dedication of the new temple in Jerusalem Solomon prayed publicly and asked God to always answer the prayers offered at the temple.

Thirteen years later God is finally answering Solomon’s request. That’s a long delay but hearing from God is worth the wait!

To understand God’s answer to Solomon we must move back one verse. God tells Solomon, “When I stop the rain or send locusts to devour the land or if I send a pestilence, and my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray” etc.

God’s promise is about those times when he uses natural disasters to soften hard hearts and bend stiff necks. Extreme weather is now blamed on man-made global warming (or “climate change”). Nevertheless, God is still the master of nature and the Bible clearly says that he sometimes employs nature to get our attention (see Exodus 9).

Of course, every bad storm is not a judgment from God. Jesus used a storm on the Sea of Galilee to demonstrate his divine authority by commanding the wind and the waves to stop. He made no mention of any national sin.

The point is this: When God’s people disobey him and deserve his judgment, God offers a pathway to return to his favor.

First, God’s people must humble themselves. Genuine humility starts with attitude and stirs action. The Israelites often humbled themselves by fasting. Skipping meals was a way to demonstrate that they were contrite.

Next, God’s people must pray. When combined, prayer and fasting are powerful. By fasting and praying God’s people demonstrate their desire to connect with God.

In addition, God’s people must seek his face, that is, his personal presence. Seeking requires time and effort. When God’s people gather for combined prayer and fasting the purpose is to experience God’s powerful, personal presence.

Finally, God’s people must turn from their evil ways. No amount of fasting, praying and seeking will solve the problem if God’s people defiantly persist in disobeying his commands.

To simply turn from evil ways without turning to God would also be short of the goal. The objective is always to enjoy God and his favor.

God promises to hear from heaven despite the chasm between him and his people. God will then forgive their sin and heal their land, both spiritual and physical restoration. He is Lord of the visible and the invisible, of individuals and of nations.

As followers of Jesus we are God’s people now and we share in this wonderful promise about prayer. So let’s humbly seek the Lord in prayer, turning from sin to him. God will hear and restore.

May God always hear from heaven and visit us with his healing presence,

Brother Richard

Leave a comment

Filed under Religion

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

October 3, 2017 · 9:19 AM

Tell The Story of The Bible in One Minute Or Less

We can tell the story of the Bible in one minute or less. That may sound impossible, but it isn’t.

We begin where the Bible begins: creation. God made the heavens and the earth and everything in them. And his creation was good.

Next, we point out that God made people in his image. Every man, woman, boy and girl is made in God’s image and has incalculable value.

Here’s the bad news: humanity rebelled against God. Adam and Eve disobeyed him and all their descendants have, too. Because of our disobedience to God we live in a broken world full of injustice, suffering and death.

Here’s more bad news: God will punish all disobedience. He proved that with Noah’s Flood and his judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah.

Now for some good news: God promised a man named Abraham that through his descendant every nation would be blessed. Much of the Old Testament tells how God’s promise slowly unfolded in generation after generation of Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites.

God’s promises to Abraham and his descendants are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus was born a descendant of Abraham, sent by God to offer himself as a sacrifice for sin so that all who trust in him can be forgiven and enjoy God’s eternal blessings.

God raised Jesus from the dead, showing that both sin and death have been defeated. Then God poured out his Holy Spirit on Jesus’ followers, the church, empowering them to live a new kind of life.

Now, through the church, God is proclaiming his message of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus. And soon, Jesus will return and take all those who belong to him to be with him forever.

So try it and see how long it takes. Use the stopwatch on your smartphone. It took me just over 50 seconds to speak through the version above.

We could alter the details of this presentation in a variety of ways, but the main thrust of the story is clear. God made us; we rebelled against him; he loves us enough to save us. So, each of us must decide whether we will accept his offer of salvation.

God has entrusted his story to us. We have the responsibility to be his messengers in the world today. And the world desperately needs the truth of God’s story.

What an honor it is to speak God’s truth. What a joy it is when we see someone respond with saving faith. Let’s tell God’s story!

May God’s empowering Presence inspire and enable us to tell his story boldly,

Brother Richard

Leave a comment

Filed under Religion

Tagged as , , , , , ,

February 24, 2016 · 2:51 PM

Equality Is Not Justice

Justice and equality are not the same. Equality implies that everyone, no matter who they are, no matter what they’ve done, should be treated exactly the same. Justice means everyone, no matter who they are, gets treated fairly. Everyone plays by the same set of rules.

If we are all to be equal, then jails and prisons are unacceptable. Criminals must be released and allowed to go free, otherwise, they are not equal. If we are to be just, however, then some people will forfeit their freedom by disobeying fair and just laws.

If we are to be equal, then competition is a curse. Every worker, no matter how many hours they work or what job they do, must receive the same annual salary. Every team in the NFL must get Super Bowl rings at the end of each season.

If we are to be just, then workers will receive fair wages based on their willingness to work and their abilities. If we are to be just, then competitive endeavors will have both winners and losers.

If we are all to be equal, then siblings should be allowed to marry each other. And men to marry men, women to marry women, marriages of three, or four, or whatever. If we are to be just, however, then we will place healthy and holy limits on who can and cannot marry.

If we are all to be equal, then children should be allowed to do all the same things as adults. I hope anyone will agree that this is a foolish statement, which demonstrates that absolute equality is a ludicrous notion. Justice and wisdom require proper limits.

Justice means that people require different treatment based on the facts. To treat a criminal like a law-abiding citizen would be foolish. To promote incest would be unwise. To treat children like adults would be dangerous. In fact, parents who treat their kids like adults may find themselves in legal trouble.

Equality is not automatically a virtue. To treat the weak exactly the same as the strong can be heartless. We build both stairways and ramps because we believe that people should be treated differently based on facts and circumstances. It is wrong to make some people use the stairs.

“Equal” has become an emotionally-charged term that is unfurled like a banner to rally public support for normalizing immoral and sinful behaviors. Sin is recast as a civil right and civil rights are redefined as equality. But true civil rights do not guarantee everyone equal treatment, they promise fair and just treatment.

The Bible calls for justice, but never insists on absolute equality. In fact, Scripture tells us that some people deserve special considerations. Widows, orphans, and aliens require extra help. God insists upon it.

The Bible says that some people have the right to take freedoms from others. The Bible says that some people have no right to marry. The Bible says that nobody has the right to pervert justice.

Using equality as a cover for immorality undermines justice. Any sinful behavior can be added to an endless list of supposed civil rights. Absolute equality as a guiding principle leads us further away from justice, not closer.

Not only does the Bible elevate justice above equality, God’s word also elevates mercy above judgment. More than simply judging sin and immorality, God’s desire is to demonstrate mercy and grace to the sinner. But without justice there is no mercy, no grace.

Only when we truly understand the justice and holiness of God can we appreciate his mercy and grace. If we try to replace God’s justice with mistaken notions about equality, then we obscure and even erase God’s standards. Rejection of God’s standards leaves us ignorant of our need for God’s grace.

Without a healthy understanding of God’s grace, we find Jesus dying on the cross not as our Savior but as a fool. Who would die for a world that has no need for a Savior?

Despite all the attempts to replace justice with equality, the sinfulness of humanity is still blatantly evident. And great sin requires a great salvation. Praise God we have a great salvation through our great Savior Jesus Christ!

Let us not demand human equality. Instead, let us cry out for God’s grace.

May God’s Spirit give us wisdom and compassion,

Brother Richard Foster

Leave a comment

Filed under Religion

Tagged as , , , , , ,

February 22, 2013 · 3:43 PM

Noah’s Proclamation

Noah must have been one of the most tenacious and single-minded people who ever walked the face of the earth. He lived at a time when God was all but forgotten; a time when wicked living was standard operating procedure everywhere. But Noah stood strong for what was right even though the whole world was against him. He was willing to speak the truth in a world that did not want to hear. Surely his life would have been easier had he simply kept his mouth shut, but he did not.

And Noah did more than speak the truth; he lived the truth. Noah’s faith was so strong that he not only worked to support his family, he also worked to build an ark according to God’s design and for God’s purpose. He was devoted to doing work that would please God and lead others to faith and deliverance.

So Noah proclaimed righteousness in a world of wickedness and he built an ark for safety in the day of God’s judgment. He did all this despite the apathy of his generation. How did he do it? How did Noah stand for truth and build for God under such difficult conditions?

One reason that Noah had such a strong faith was his conviction that he had received a word from the Lord. He had no app on his iPhone with multiple translations of the Bible and word-search capabilities. He had no TV preachers, Sunday school teachers, or conference speakers, but he knew that God had spoken to him.

And Noah was willing to live his life based on the word which he had received from God. Even though God’s word to Noah meant that he would be going against the strong tide of public opinion, Noah obeyed. Pleasing God was more important to Noah than getting along with everyone else.

Like Noah, we have a word from the Lord. Like Noah, we are called to speak for God and to build for God in a world that is unfriendly to God. And like Noah, we can choose to be silent and get along with the world, or we can decide to speak up and get the approval of our Lord.

Noah went through some tough times, but God was with him. In the end he experienced a great victory. God is calling us to proclaim his truth and to build his kingdom in a rebellious world. Going against the flow is not easy, but our Lord promises to be with us. And he promises that we will share in his ultimate triumph.

May the love of Christ compel us to say and do all that our Lord desires,

Brother Richard Foster, Pastor
Grace Baptist Church, Camden, AR

Leave a comment

Filed under Evangelism, Religion, Service

Tagged as , , , ,