When God Says Enough

I want to make a statement today that I would like to have you finish. You don't necessarily have to finish it out loud, but just in your own mind, think of the word that you would choose to finish this statement. God is several of you, I'm sure, thought God is good, right? God is good all the time, all the time God is good. Several of you probably thought God is love, and certainly that's the way we often think of God, the Bible, portrays him in that way of course. But if those are the two ways that you would think of first, we may miss the most important description of God, and that is God is holy. The book of 1 John is John's epistle about love, it's mentioned often in the book, and that's where we find the expression in 1 John 4 that God is love. But before he mentions the love of God in chapter 1, John says God is light, and in him is no darkness at all, and in that context, if you keep reading that chapter, it's talking obviously about sin, and so God is light means God is holy, and in him there is no impurity, no unholiness, no sin. You know the holiness of God, his wrath, his judgment, is misunderstood today, it is largely neglected in the contemporary American church, it is sometimes misrepresented, especially in the popular media, especially the television, the entertainment movie industry, pertains to anyone who believes in the judgment of God or the wrath of God as some wild-eyed fanatic, usually the leader of some far-out cult that talks about the judgment of God. One of the things that bothers me is that sometimes I think we preachers have been our own worst enemy when it comes to representing the judgment of God, because sometimes I've heard sermons, I hope I haven't preached any, I may have, but I've heard sermons where I felt like the preacher was actually delighting in the fact that sinners would spend an eternity in hell and really rather willing to condemn them there, and I think that does not represent the heart of God, because God is love. Yes, He's holy, but remember even in His judgment, He weeps, I believe, at everyone who spurns His Son, Jesus, and ends up paying the consequences for that. Never forget the Bible says, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, where He came not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. It is God's heart not to send people to hell, it is not God's heart to judge people and condemn people, it is God's heart to save people. And so anytime that we preach or we consider the judgment and wrath of God, we must do so with a heart that weeps for the plight of those who will spend eternity without Christ. We come today to a story in the life of Elijah that focuses upon judgment, that focuses upon the wrath and holiness and judgment of God. It's been five to ten years since the episode on Mount Carmel that Elijah is so well known for, by the time we get to First Kings chapter 21, and five at least, maybe as many as ten years have passed, chapter 20 chronicles the wars of Israel with the nation of Syria, and then you come to chapter 21, and in chapter 21, Elijah appears on the scene once again as he often does, just kind of bursting onto the scene, and he appears this time to announce God's judgment to A-Hab. The theme of this message is this, Elijah's announcement of judgment to A-Hab illustrates the principles of God's judgment. As we see in this chapter, there are several overarching biblical principles of God's judgment that are seen in how Elijah deals with A-Hab. The first is this, God's judgment deserved. God's judgment is deserved, certainly is in the case of A-Hab, as we shall see, but also we shall see from the scriptures it is for us as well. The first 16 verses of First Kings 21 tell a story, and in that story we see both King A-Hab and Queen Jezebel committing a whole series of horrible sins. I want us just to read, follow along please, as I read those 16 verses, and we'll stop long enough to just point out and briefly describe these horrible sins that are committed by A-Hab and Jezebel. First Kings 21, verse 1, and it came to pass after these things that Naboth, the Jezreelite, had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel next to the palace of A-Hab king of Samaria. So A-Hab spoke to Naboth, saying, give me your vineyard that I may have it for a vegetable garden because it is near next to my house, and for it I will give you a vineyard better than it, or if it seems good to you I will give you its worth in money. But Naboth said to A-Hab, the Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers. Now A-Hab and Jezebel, and the first sin I want to focus on is their greed and envy. They had everything they needed, they had more than they could possibly ever need, they had two palaces, one in Samaria, one in Jezreel, they had vast parks, the historic books describe what Solomon had left, the kingdom of Israel, they had vast parks, they had hunting grounds, they had multiple vineyards, why would they need another vineyard? Well, he says he wants to plant a vegetable garden, really? I mean, the king of Israel needs a vegetable garden, he's got everything he possibly could have, want, or need. So what is the deal with him looking at another garden? It's next to his palace, he's envying that plot of land, he's greedy for it, and as we will see, he and his wife, Jezebel, will do anything to get it. Now it looks like Naboth is the one in the harm here, because after all, didn't A-Hab volunteer to exchange another vineyard for that? Didn't he volunteer to pay for the vineyard? It seems like Naboth maybe is the one who's being a little harsh and not understanding what should be done here. But actually, the way Naboth says his refusal indicates that he's in the right. Notice verse 3 again, he says, the Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you. The reason Naboth will not give up his vineyard is because he's following the Mosaic law. The Mosaic law had certain stipulations that kept family property in the family, and that was supposed to be done for a good reason. God never wanted Israel to slide into the kind of feudal system that later would come up in Europe, where wealthy landowners and political figures would grab up all the property and become wealthy, the nobility, and everybody else were the serfs who served the nobility. God never wanted that for his people, and so family property was designed by the law of Moses to stay in the family. It had to be passed on from one generation to the next. That's the reason why Naboth would not sell this vineyard. He was really following the law of Moses. So really, there's greed and envy on the part of A-Hab in Jezebel. And so, in the end, sin, verses 4 through 6, is self-pity, childish pouting. This is really sad for a king. Listen to this, verse 4. So A-Hab went into his house, sullen, and displeased, because of the word which Naboth the Jezebelite had spoken to him, for he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers, and he lay down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no food. But Jezebel, his wife, came to him and said to him, why is your spirit so sullen that you eat no food? He said to her, I'm going to do a little King John rendition of verse 6, okay? Because I think this is probably how it sounded. Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezebelite and said to him, give me your vineyard for money or else if it pleases you, I'll give you another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give you my vineyard. I think he was a selfish, pouting child who's been denied a toy. That's sinful. That is amazingly corrupt for a man of his age and position and responsibility. And yet he's like a pouting child who, because he can't get everything he wants, throws a little temper tantrum and pity party. The third sin that they are guilty of is deceit and lying and notice, Jezebel takes over at this point in verse 7. Then Jezebel, his wife said to him, you now exercise authority over Israel. Arise, eat food, let your heart be cheerful. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezebelite. Now basically what's happening is Jezebel is saying, my daddy, King of Tyre and Sidon would never put up with that. My daddy wouldn't handle it that way. I'll show you what a real king does when he wants something. You just, you just hang on. I'll get that field for you. Well she does. Look at verse 8. And she wrote letters in Ahebs' name. Notice all the deceit and lying here. She wrote letters in Ahebs' name. Sealed them with his seal and sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling in the city with Naboth. She wrote in the letters saying, proclaim a fast. Now just stop there for a moment. She's going to pass off this charade as a religious solemn assembly. Proclaim a fast. And seat Naboth with high honor among the people. Here's the next part of hypocrisy and lying and deceit. Make it look like we're here to honor Naboth. Verse 10. And seat two men scoundrels before him to bear witness against him saying, you have blasphemed God in the king, then take him out and stone him that he may die. This whole plot is full of deceit and lying from the forgery of letters in Ahebs' name with Ahebs seal to the proclaiming of a religious assembly to the actual calling of false witnesses, scoundrels who are put into place to bear false testimony against Naboth, what scheming deceit and lying. And then as if that were not enough, they are also guilty of murder. Verse 11. So the men of the city, his city, the elders and nobles who were inhabitants of his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them. So the men of murder, stoning an innocent man after setting up a mock trial for him. And in verses 15 and 16, she takes the land and makes sure Ahebs knows about it. And it came to pass when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahebs, arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezebel light which he refused to give you for money. If for Naboth is not alive but dead, so it was when Aheb heard that Naboth was dead, that Aheb got up and went down to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezebel light. Well that is Ahebs and Jezebel's sins. I think the question we need to ask ourselves, maybe the obvious question that appears to us when we read this is this. Are we that bad? Are we really that bad? And I think maybe sometimes we might ask that question with a sense of self-righteousness or we have acquitted ourselves of any crime like this. We might think certainly I've never done anything like that. I'm not that bad am I? Well before we answer that too easily and too quickly, we need to think a little more deeply. Maybe the only reason we have not committed the same sins that Aheb and Jezebel did is because we've never had the kind of power that would allow us to do that. You've heard the expression, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. You've heard that saying. Former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman used to have his own little twist on that saying. He used to say power corrupts and absolute power is really cool. Well that's the way a lot of people see absolute power. If I get the power that's cool. I can do anything I want and get by with it. And you know there is more of that seed of wickedness in our own hearts than we may be willing to admit. Are we really that bad? Don't forget what the prophet Jeremiah said in Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I can't really understand the depths of depravity in my own heart or at least the possibilities that lie there because of my own sinful heart and neither can you. But I do know the testimony of Scripture that the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. Who can really know it? You know Paul made this amazing declaration of the gospel in the book of Romans and in the first three chapters he's comparing different kinds of lost people. He first of all draws a picture of just wicked and godly Gentiles who just live terribly immoral lives and probably everyone would agree. Those are centers. And then he takes the righteous Gentile, the moral law abiding Gentile who's following the dictates of his own conscience and actually reveals that he has the law of God written in his conscience, Paul says in Romans 2. And then thirdly he takes the religious Jew in the first part of chapter 3. The person who has the word of God, the person who is meticulous about keeping the law and Paul draws this conclusion in chapter 3 verse 9. What then? Are we better than they, speaking about the ones he's just talked about, religious Jews of which Paul himself used to be one. Are we better than they, those righteous Gentiles or at least moral Gentiles or even the wicked Gentiles? And he says no, in no way for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All. And he says there is none righteous, no not one. They are all gone after their own way. And he makes that declaration to show that no matter what kind of center we are, we have all sinned. And my friend because of the depth of the gravity in our own heart, we are all capable of any sin, even the kinds of sins committed by Ahab and Jezebel. Be careful about thinking in your heart and I need to be careful about thinking in my heart. I'm sure I'm glad I'm not that wicked. Remember the story Jesus told in Luke 18 about the Pharisee that went down to the temple to pray and there was a tax collector that also went to the temple. And the Pharisees praying, the Bible says the Pharisee is praying Jesus has so insightful to himself. And he says, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men. And he lists all these centers. I fast twice in the week. I give tides of all that I possess. I do all these righteous things and he looks over and says, God, I think I'm not like that tax collector. And meanwhile the tax collector is over there not even willing to lift up his face before God on his face, on his knees crying out, God be merciful to me as center. And Jesus in that parable said, you know who went down to his house righteous, not the Pharisee, the center who was willing to admit that he needed the mercy of God. My friend, that's all of us apart from Christ. We have the same sinful wickedness in our hearts that's possible for anybody. We can do anything that anyone might do and we need to recognize that yes, we too are deserving of God's judgment. You know what, if we all got what we deserved, it would be immediate judgment. It really would. Our world is so conditioned to think of the innate goodness of man that we have completely forgotten what the Bible teaches about the sinfulness of man and the fact that we all deserve God's judgment. God's indictment of us all seems so foreign to the modern mindset. The indictment is this, James chapter 2 verse 10, if we offend in one point, in others, if we break one of God's laws, James says we are as guilty as if we had broken them all. All it takes is one slip up in your entire lifetime and you are guilty before God and none of us can be that good. That is God's indictment of us and we need to understand that we are sinners in need of a savior. One who was willing to die for us and take our sin on himself and pay the penalty for that sin so that God might justly be able to declare us righteous. We who are sinners, God might think of it, infinite grace and mercy. God might declare us in the courtroom of heaven, innocent, righteous, justified. Are we really that bad? Yes, we may not have done things that bad, but we are in our hearts just as bad as A. Haven, Jezebel. God's judgment, my friend, make no mistake about this. God's judgment is deserved. The second principle we see in this story about God's judgment is God's judgment is declared. God's judgment declared. Look at verse 17. We are going to find in verses 17 through 20 that God's judgment is first of all declared in his conscience. In A. Haven's conscience. Look at verse 17. The word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying, arise, go down to meet A. Hab King of Israel who lives in Samaria. There he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone down to take possession of it. You shall speak to him saying, thus says the Lord, have you murdered and also taken possession. And you shall speak to him saying, thus says the Lord in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth. Dogs shall lick your blood even yours. So A. Hab said to Elijah, have you found me, oh my enemy? And the answer I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord. Picture the scene, if you will. A. Hab is walking through this vineyard that he just has gotten. Jezebel through her scheming has gotten it for him. And he's walking through it. I can just imagine he's gloating over his success in getting this vineyard thinking there are no obstacles to me. I can do whatever I want. And all of a sudden somebody steps out from behind one of those vines. It's Elijah. I can just imagine the scene. Elijah and the rough-hwn garments, goats hair, maybe with a staff, duck dynasty beard, long hair. I just imagine him in that prophetic look. And he steps out and A. Hab is shot. But he's even further shot by the pronouncement that Elijah makes when Elijah says to him, have you murdered and also taken possession. And I'm thinking Elijah is saying, who told him what happened? I thought this was all on the up and up. I thought we had this all arranged where nobody would know what happened. God knows. And God lets his prophet know. And now A. Hab knows that God knows. And then that amazing declaration. The dogs will lick up your blood in the same place they licked up in the neighbor's blood. And I think, wow, that's crazy. You have to understand this is not your little household pet here. Most of the dogs in the Bible were wild ravenous beasts that roamed the streets. Even in New Testament times they were not household bets. They were more like the wild dogs that you might see in the savannas of Africa. And so they would get whatever they could get. And they would take even human flesh if they got it. So that's the reason for this severe denunciation. But what I really want you to see is A. Hab's guilt. Just see what he said in verse 20, have you found me? Oh, my enemy. I think he was shaking when he said that. Have you found me? Do you read the guilt and his conscience there? He's saying to Elijah, you know what I did? You know what Jezebel arranged for me? And you found me out. You've discovered my sin. There's a sense in which he's really saying, has God discovered me? And that's a question we should all know the answer to because my friend what A. Hab is asking here, what he's really declaring here is that you cannot hide sin. God's judgment was declared in his own conscience. Now you may be able to hide sin from the preacher. You may be able to hide it from your friends. You may even be able to hide it from your family. But you cannot hide it from God. God had seen all that he lied or A. Hab had done. All that Jezebel had done. God had seen everything in their thoughts, in their minds, their speech, their scheming and their actions. You cannot hide your sin from God. Moses prayed a prayer of blessing on the generation about ready to take the land in Numbers chapter 32. And as a part of that blessing, he says, don't hesitate to go up to take the land. But if you don't, be sure your sins will find you out. And they will. They will. Believe that, my friend. They may come out in the open. Or they may eat at you until they destroy you on the inside. But even if you go throughout your whole lifetime, keeping sin hidden from everybody else, it will meet you someday when you stand before God. At the judgment seat of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5, 10, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that we may give account for things done in the body, whether good or evil. You say, we're going to have to pay for our bad sins at the judgment seat of Christ, even believers. No. Thank God Jesus has borne the penalty for all of our sin. There's no condemnation to those who are in Christ, but we can suffer loss of reward. And sometimes I think we think, oh, well, that's not too bad. When we stand face to face with Jesus and realize what we lost, because we did not get right with him, even as believers, it's going to be a lot more serious than what we think. But for the unbeliever, at the great white throne judgment described in Revelation 20, it's going to be awful because the Bible says the books will be opened and every man will be judged according to what he has done, his works, his deeds from those books. And the severity of punishment in the eternal lake of fire will be determined by the deeds of an unsaved person. I don't understand how all that works. I don't understand. Hell is hell. The lake of fire is the lake of fire. I don't understand different levels of punishment, but that's what that passage says in Revelation 20 verses 11 through 15. Regardless of what a person has done though, if they've not received Jesus as savior, they will answer for their sin at the judgment seat or at the great white throne judgment of God. God's holy, you cannot get by with sin. God's judgment is declared even in his conscience. JW Marriott founded the Marriott chain of businesses and hotels back in 1927. He actually started it as a root beer stand. And it obviously grew into much more than that. His son, though, Bill Marriott was the one who really took it over and took it to a whole different level. By the late 1980s, they were pulling in $7 billion a year and it is much, much more than that, of course, now. Someone doing an interview with Bill Marriott said, how do you describe your success and how do you assure that you will always be able to maintain the level of quality that you give people in your hotels and restaurants. And Marriott said something very interesting. He said, we have a program called Phantom Shopper. He said, we send people from the company into every one of our establishments and they just go in as an ordinary customer. They're going to stay at the hotel. They're going to eat at the restaurant. They're going to buy in the gift shop. And when they receive good service, they pull out their business card and give it to the person who is in the restaurant. He said, he was provided good service, but on the back of it is secured a $20 bill. If, however, the Phantom Shopper did not get good service on the back of that business card is not a $20 bill, it is one word. Oops. And he said, our company allows every employee three oopses. After each oops, you get retrained. You go back through a retraining process. But the third oops, you're gone. Now, could I use that mundane illustration in a way that is not irreverent, I trust? Our God is like the Phantom Shopper. He knows exactly where you are. He knows exactly what's in your heart, what's in your mind, your actions, things you may be able to hide from everybody else. And even in your conscience, his judgment is declared. But notice, his judgment is also declared not only in A. Hebs conscience, but also in God's word. He's declared in the word because you see in those verses that Elijah was simply declaring the word of God, thus says the Lord. But notice, it goes on in verse 21. Behold, this is Elijah still declaring the word of the Lord. Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity and will cut off from A. Hebs every male in Israel, both Bond and Free. So in verse 20, God has said, A. Hebs, you're going to be judged. In verse 21, he says, your male descendants will also be judged. Look at verse 22. And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Bash, or the son of Elijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger and made Israel sin. And concerning Jezebel, the Lord also spoke saying, the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field. That last statement in verse 24 is kind of a common prophetic denunciation of sin and a prophecy of judgment. It would happen literally to Ahab and Jezebel. The word of God has spoken. Thus says the Lord. God says to these people, the dogs will eat the blood of both of you, and your male descendants will not live. Hang on to that thought, because we'll see that that comes true in just a little while. But you might think, wow, that's awful tough. That's awful harsh. Well, look at verse 25. But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel, his wife stirred him up, and he behaved very abominably in following idols according to all the divine teachings. According to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. Now, his judgment as we saw earlier was deserved. It's just now declared. Ahab deserved the judgment of God. Jezebel deserved the judgment of God, and it is declared both in his conscience and in God's word. The Bible, as I've already mentioned, declares God's judgment. Upon those who are not saved, who've never received Jesus, every unsaved person according to Revelation chapter 20 verses 11 through 15 will appear at the great white throne judgment. Read those verses. We don't have the time to look at them in depth this morning, but read those verses some time. Those verses are all inspiring in a very chilling sense as they describe every lost person hearing, seeing that their name was not written in the book of life, but their deeds have been recorded, and they will pay for their own sins with an eternity in the lake of fire. That's for unbelievers. For believers, again, thank God that our sin has been covered by Jesus paid for. There's no condemnation. By the way, the word condemnation in the New Testament is a heightened form for the word judgment. The word judgment is crema. The condemnation is cata crema, which is a heightened form of judgment, and it is only used of unbelievers. There is no cata crema. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ. Romans 8.1 says, but we still give account for our sins at the judgment seat of Christ, in the sense only that God knows them, and we lose reward because we have not followed Him fully. God's judgment is not only deserved. It is also declared. Thirdly, the third principle illustrated in this story is God's judgment delayed. This is interesting. Look at verse 27. So it was when Ahab heard these words that he tore his clothes and put sack cloth on his body and fasted and lay in sack cloth and went about mourning. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah, the Tishbite, saying, see how Ahab has humbled himself before me, because he has humbled himself before me. I will not bring the calamity in his days. In the days of his son, I will bring the calamity on his house. In other words, the judgment I have just said regarding his sons and Jezebel, in particular, I will not accomplish in his days, not in Ahab's lifetime. There is a delay in God's judgment, but I assure you it is only a temporary delay brought on by a temporary repentance on the part of Ahab. Now I believe Ahab's repentance was genuine. It just didn't last. I mean God responded to the fact that he repented of his sin. He was sorry for what he had done. He gave all the outward evidence with the sack cloth and the prayers and the fasting and so forth that he wanted to get right with God, but it sure didn't last very long. Because in chapter 22, he's right back to his old neglect of God and his holiness, right back to his sinful ways. That ought to teach us something. It's possible to be sorry for what you've done, but on a very shallow surface level. And it not last. Even for those of us who are saved, who know Jesus as our Savior, we need to deal seriously with sin. Not just, well, I know I sinned. All I got to do is confess it, admit it. I'm good. Sometimes our repentance is so shallow, so temporary. We don't really deal with a deep heart cry for our sin. Ahab, after this shallow repentance continues right on in his sin, Jezebel will live for another 15 years. Maybe they thought, well, Elijah must have gotten this wrong. Maybe God really didn't mean what he said. It's a mistake. Or God forgot about judgment. Now, when I read this, here's another question that I want to ask myself. I think we would all do well to ask ourselves this question. Do we get away with sin? Do we get away with sin? It looks like Ahab's off the hook. There's been a delay in judgment. Do we get away with sin? I think sometimes we may think that we're getting away with sin. There's a verse, a very interesting verse in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 8 and verse 11, it will be on the screen for you. Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. This is a penetrating insight of wisdom by Solomon into the heart of men and women. We all have a tendency when judgment is not speedily executed to think, we got away with it. We got away with this. It's not really that serious. There's been no judgment. God said he would judge because of sin, but I don't see anything happening. And so I'm okay. All that preaching about judgment is just hot air. You know, there are preachers who think, well, God's still blessing my ministry. God's still doing good work. So maybe it's not really that serious after all. Maybe God just kind of winks at some sins and it's okay and we can continue right on. My friend, that's a dangerous game to play with God. Because God made delay his judgment, but rest assured, you will not get away with sin. I will not get away with sin. We have a tendency to excuse it, but God will not let us get by with it. Yes, God's judgment is delayed, but the last principle we learn from this story is God's judgment is destined. It may be delayed for a while, but it surely will come. We're not going to take the time to look at the fulfillment of Elijah's prophecies. But if you read chapter 22 verses 29 to 38, you will find that A-hab was killed in battle in a most unusual way. He tried not to dress as a king. So nobody would recognize him because the opposing armies would come for the king first. So he didn't dress like a king, and the Bible says an archer shot a random bow, a random arrow, and it caught him right in a cheek between his armor. And he died. They took him back to Samaria, and when they cleaned out his chariot, the dogs lit up A-hab's blood. The fulfillment of God's prophecy of judgment. Now, Jessabelle lives another 15 years, but the same thing happens to her. Second Kings, chapter 9 verses 30 to 36. You can read about it there. Second Kings 9. First of all, her son was killed, and then she herself was killed. She was thrown down from a tower, and the dogs lit up her blood, literally, literally fulfilling God's judgment. You ever heard the expression, well, I guess I got to face the music. You hear that expression? You ever realize where that came from? It comes from an ancient legend in China. The Chinese Emperor had an orchestra, and he loved his orchestra and loved to hear it play. There was a man who decided one day, you know, I think I can get into that orchestra, even though I cannot play an instrument. And if I remember the story right, it was, I believe, a flute. Callie, this guy was going to try to play. So he thought, you know, there are several other flute players. So I'm going to buy a flute, and I'm going to sit there with the orchestra, and I'm going to pretend like I'm playing, but I'm not going to play, because everybody else is playing. The flute part is still going to get done, and I'll be able to make a good living. And then the Emperor decided he wanted to, he loved the orchestra so much, he wanted to hear each individual member kind of audition and play a piece of music for him. And this guy thought, oh, I'm in deep weeds now. He kept putting it off, you know, when it came his turn to play, he would, I'm sick today, I can't do that, but finally his excuses ran out, and he was going to be called before the Emperor to play the flute. He did not know a note of music, and he was going to have to face the music. He was going to be found out, probably executed. That's where that expression comes from. The essence of this story is this, sin will be judged. Mark it down. Sin will be judged. God is patient, but for a time, a time will come when God says that's enough. Those times come for nations, they come for the lost, and they come even for believers. When God says that is enough, you're going to have to face the music. There's another verse in Proverbs 29, verse 1 that is again kind of a chilling thought. We need these reminders, friends, we do. Proverbs 29, one says, he who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. In other words, there comes a time where we're often reproved, but we're think we're getting by with it, so we just kind of go on harden our neck, stiffen our neck against what God's doing, and see, convicts us. There will come a time when God says, okay, that's enough, and suddenly, suddenly God intervenes. Judgment is real. Now again, I want to make a distinction between those who are lost and those who are saved. The unsaved will stand before the great white throne judgment, and hear, depart from me, you curson, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. The lake of fire forever, because they did not receive the payment and penalty, the penalty of our sin being paid by Jesus. Believers will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Three times that's mentioned in the New Testament, Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 3, 2 Corinthians 5, all three times that are believers who are at that judgment. And the Bible talks about the fact that will not be judged for our sin and condemned to the lake of fire. That's what we've been taken care of. Jesus has borne that penalty for us, but we can lose reward. I think someone captured the gripping nature of that in a poem that was written a number of years ago. We read it to you. When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ, and He shows me His plan for me, the plan of my life as it might have been had He had His way. And I see how I blocked Him here, and I checked Him there, and I would not yield my will. Will there be grief in my Savior's eyes, grief, though He loves me still? He would have me rich, and I stand there poor, stripped of all but His grace, while memory runs like a hunted thing down the paths I cannot retrace. Then my desolate heart will well-nigh break, and the tears that I cannot shed, I shall cover my face with my empty hands, I shall bow my uncrowned head. And here's the prayer that this imaginary person of the judgment seat of Christ prays. Lord of the years that are left to me, I give them to thy hand, take me and break me, mold me to the pattern thou hast planned. That's a prayer all of us ought to pray. Whatever years we may have wasted can be redeemed by the grace of God. From this day forward, as a believer in Jesus Christ, settle in your heart that you will give the rest of your days unreservedly to Him, to live for Him, that you will deal quickly, honestly, and completely with whatever sin is in your heart, that you may have been hiding or holding on to. Covenant before God, that this will be the first day of the rest of your life, and your rest of your life will be lived solely for Christ and not for yourself. And then my friend is a part of that, try to reach every unsaved person that you possibly can with the gospel of Jesus, with the love of Christ through your own life, so that they do not stand before that great white throne judgment, and spend an eternity on the lake of fire. There is a time when God says enough, God is a God of holiness, judgment is real. May we understand what the Bible teaches and live our lives fully for Him. Would you pray with me, please? Father, may our hearts beat with yours in regard to holiness, living our lives in a way that honors and glorifies you. May our hearts also beat as yours for the lost, that we would understand the horrible eternity that awaits everyone who goes out into eternity without Christ. And I pray that we will do whatever we can to influence, to witness, to show the love of Christ, to speak the gospel to everyone we can, so that the seed of your word might bear fruit in their hearts and they might be saved. Keep us mindful of your judgment. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.