The sermon by Eric Bechler, titled 'Of the Last Judgement, 1689 SLBC Chapter 32, Par. 1', explores the concept of a divinely appointed day for judgment as referenced in Acts 17:31. This day, unknown to man, necessitates daily preparation through repentance. The speaker draws parallels to the Gospel of Matthew, emphasizing readiness for the coming of the Son of Man. Jesus Christ, ordained by God and resurrected, is designated to preside over the judgment, wielding authority as the Son of Man. He will distinguish between the righteous (the sheep) and the wicked (the goats), rewarding and condemning accordingly. Furthermore, the sermon highlights the inclusion of apostate angels in this judgment, referencing scriptural instances of their rebellion and subsequent punishment. It underscores the universality of judgment, with all individuals accountable for their deeds, thoughts, and words, in accordance with biblical passages like 2 Corinthians 5:10 and Ecclesiastes 12:14. Ultimately, the sermon stresses the inevitability and comprehensive nature of God's judgment, administered by Jesus Christ.

This is pretty straightforward. There's not a lot here to go through, but we'll go through and touch on the scriptures that have been just read. And we'll read through a couple of other scriptures. We'll break this apart into, I think, three different sections for this paragraph. The first section, God hath appointed a day wherein He will judge the world in righteousness.

And we see this directly from Acts 17 31 that was just read, because He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, and that He hath raised him from the dead." God has set a day to judge the world. When exactly this day is, we don't know. God hasn't told us. There's been no indication for that we see that from Matthew 24 36 but of that day an hour knoweth no man no not the angels of heaven but my father only so this is a I guess top secret the yet the time is set It's ordained from the beginning before time began. What is our response?

We should prepare for it. We should prepare daily for it. And in that preparation we should be daily repenting of our sins. And we are warned about this in the Gospel of Matthew if we read through 24, continuing 37 through 47. But as the days of Noah were so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be for as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away.

So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come, but know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household to give them meat and due season.

Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods." So there's things we can be doing in preparation even though we don't know the day and these we should do it. Back in Acts 17, 31, Paul speaking to the Athenians, their Gentiles, and this should be a wake-up call for them and a reminder for us. We will be judged, you will be judged, and all will be judged. This is reaffirmed also in Psalm 96, 13, For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth.

He shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth. Thus judgment is coming. In the next section, who will be our judge? Who will preside over this judgment day? In this next section it says, by Jesus Christ whom all power and judgment is given of the Father.

Again in Acts 17 31 we read, by that man whom he hath ordained and that he hath raised him from the dead. That gives us a clue. Who was raised from the dead? Who was that man ordained by God? Of course, Jesus Christ was.

Born of Mary, who lived a sinless life. He was the spotless lamb. He suffered. He died on the cross. He rose again on the third day.

Jesus was the man whom God hath ordained, and Jesus was he that was raised from the dead. It is Jesus who has been given all power and judgment. And we read from the Gospel of John that Colton read for us, for the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." And in verse 27, he hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of Man. Straightforward, as I mentioned, Jesus Christ, he holds a three-fold office of the prophet, priest, and king. Depending on the circumstances, Christ's actions will fall under one of these roles.

On Judgment Day, Christ will be conducting judgment as King, destroying his enemies and redeeming his people, those whose Father has given him. And We read from Matthew 25 verses 31 through 34, when the Son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and Before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another. As a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And for those on the left, " and Matthew 25, 41, then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

Anyway, in the next two parts of paragraph one, we'll be touching upon who are those who will be judged. Touched on a little bit here are those on the left and the right, the sheep and the goats. The first part here is, in which day not only the apostate angels shall be judged. Now this was interesting to me. It's easy to assume that on Judgment Day Christ will judge all men of all time and stop there.

This is what we concentrate. We think of man's fall, sin came into the world with Adam and Eve. We think of our own sin and our own need for a Savior. We forget, or at least we can forget, that some angels will be included in the judgment. And we forget that angels are creatures that can rebel also.

If we look at Revelation chapter 12, verses 7 through 9, and there was a war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and pre-failed not. Neither was their place found anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

So there was a group of angels, including Satan, the great dragon, who rebelled against God and were defeated and were thrown out of heaven. They will be judged. And we note that this is commented on in both Jude and 2 Peter, from Jude 1 verse 6, and the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness into the judgment of the great day. And second Peter 2 4, for if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment." So we see here there's a group of angels that did rebel and God has a special place for them. Continuing on with the last section here of this paragraph, we look, we add to these apostate angels, all people from all time, as those who also will be judged.

But likewise all persons that have lived upon the earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ to give an account of their thoughts words and deeds and to receive according to what they have done in the body whether good or evil. Again this is pretty straightforward all people since the beginning from Adam and Eve on are to be judged. There is no one who is exempt, of course, except for Christ, who will be our judge. There are a number of passages that we'll go through right now to support this section. There's quite a few others that we won't touch on.

From 2 Corinthians 5 verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad. In Ecclesiastes 12 verse 14, for God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Ecclesiastes makes it clear that nothing will be neglected, nothing will be overlooked. There is no secret that you can hide, no thought that is not known to God. We can hide things from our neighbors, our family, even our church, but we can't hide anything from God.

There are no secrets from God. All things will be revealed and all things will be judged. Continuing in Romans chapter 14 verse 10 through 12, but why dost thou judge thy brother or why dost thou set at not thy brother? For we all shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ for it is written as I live say at the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God, everyone. There's no exception.

For Matthew 12 verses 36 through 37, but I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." There are other passages, but I think it's enough for purposes to stop here. So in summary, God has appointed a day of general judgment. He has committed this judgment into the hands of the God-man Jesus Christ and that the persons to be judged include both apostate angels and the entire human race. Amen.