top of page

Judgment Begins with Us 

daytonstreetpreach

1 Peter 4:17 17For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (First, notice the separation of us and them: the righteous vs. the unGodly and sinner. And why are the righteous scarcely (hardly) saved? Because the way to heaven is straight and narrow and few people find it. The great great majority that do find the way will fall away and spend their eternity in the lake of fire. Let us keep our minds on the soon judgment and stay prepared for it, unless it be our ruin!)


 Judgment begins with the people of God. Before God judges a city, state, country, etc, He first stops at the local church in that area and judges them first. If the church is unholy it opens up the whole city to judgment which can include spiritual degradation and eventually complete destruction. But if the church is solid, holy, and healthy most of the time it will preserve the whole area. In saying that, the American Church was judged and found wanting and now America has been judged and it’s days are numbered.  Yes, we are currently living in a post judged American church and because of that the whole country is in despair. It is like the days of Nehemiah when he came back to Jerusalem and the wall had been broken down and burned with fire. The country is in shambles and the church is desolate for the most part. The good news is that God is raising up a Holy Remnant in America and around the World that is sold out for God and His Holy Ways. God is rebuilding His church and these faithful ones will not love their lives unto death. The true saints that God is raising up are holy, mature, and united in the cause of Christ. And even though all hell rages against us we will not be stopped. We are the last days Holy Remnant Church! To God be the Glory!


God is judging His church! What is God’s plan for judging the Remnant Church? 


The purpose of God’s Judgment for the church is to refine us. Judgment and trials are the method of God and purifying and motivating the church. Men depart evil by the fear of the Lord. The judgment of God makes or breaks you. So prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Think of Noah, God used the same water that saved him to destroy the unGodly. It is the same way today! The judgments of God will either save you or destroy you, depending on how you respond to them. Isaiah 1:27 says, “Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness”. The whole Bible is warning us to prepare for the soon judgment of God and it starts with the people of God. 


Israel redeemed with great judgments Exodus 6:6-8 6Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: 7And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD. (Just like Israel came out of Egypt with great judgments on the egyptians, the church is going to leave this world through great judgments. God is saving His people while He pours out His judgments on a hostile and unbelieving world. If we are abiding in God we will be judged with the world.)   


God saving His people while the world is judged and destroyed Isaiah 51:6-8 6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. 7Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. 8For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.


God is testing and preparing His Church


When he tries us we will come out as pure gold! Job 23:10 10But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. ( He comes for judgment so that we would come out of the judgment as pure gold. So that we would pass the test and be better for it! Sons of God always choose the right way and pass the test.)


Trials are good! 1 Peter 1:6-7 6Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: (We should greatly rejoice when various temptations and trials come! We must be proved. It is the only way for the church.)


The Refining pot Proverbs 17:3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts. (The silver or gold is heated up to refine it. The heat causes all the impurities to rise to the top so they can be removed. Trials either make you or break you so be ready when they come! And we must pass the test with the right heart.)


David was ready for the test Psalms 7:8 The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me. (Look at David's attitude towards God’s judgment. David was ready for the judgment of God and keeping His mind on it as he walked through his life. When you walk before the Lord pray that God would do whatever it takes to make you ready. Psalms 106:3 Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times. Psalms 138:8 The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.


The Lord Jesus is coming to judge the church in this life


Always be ready to be judged! Revelation 3:3-6 3Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. 4Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. 5He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God! God will preserve us and keep us to the end if we stay focused on Him and on His will! We must be quick to correct things and obey everything He commands!)


Lord Jesus coming to Judges His People in this life Malachi Malachi 3:1-5 1Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. 2But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: 3And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. 4Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. 5And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. (Sometimes when the Bible says day of the Lord it is referring to the day when God will visit for judgment. Jesus judges His people in every generation. Who will be ready? Who may abide the Day of His coming? Who will survive the judgment.)


Jesus will remove His candlestick out of some churches Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. (I believe the candlestick represents the Spirit of God. God might not kill them right away, but He will remove His presence and that is the worst thing that can happen to a church is to lose God. Ichabod! ) 


Lord Jesus visits to recompense the Disobedient Hosea 9:7-9 7The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred. 8The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God. 9They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins. (Proverbs 11:31 Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.)


Jerusalem misses her visitation and gets judged Luke 19:41-44 41And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. (They missed their messiah and 70 AD was scattered and destroyed.)


God plans to visit the house of Jacob for judgment Amos 3:13-15 13Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, 14That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. 15And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD. (The Altar is a place where people find mercy from God. The people would grab the horns of the Alter specifically to find mercy from God. God is saying He will take away the alters and cut the Horns off the Altar! No Mercy!!)


Believers prepare by purifying 1 John 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (We show our hope by purifying ourselves for judgment!) 

Watch, wait and pray for the coming of Christ! Luke 21:34-36 34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. (We are preparing to stand before the son of Man! Sinners will not stand in the Congregation of the Righteous. )


  So as we see, each individual and each individual church will be judged by God in hopes that it is built correctly and able to stand before Christ. All corrections need to be made now and having done all, we stand. Because of this the true church of Jesus Christ is preparing now for that day. How do we prepare for judgment? 2 Peter 3:10-14 10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.


First time was by water, this time it will be by fire Isaiah 66:15-16 15For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many. (Psalms 110:6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.)


God will wound His enemies Psalms 68:21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.


Order your conduct aright Psalms 50:23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

Psalm though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death


 Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. (The judgments of God are life to the obedient. The judgment of the Lord sets us free and validates us. But to those who are unbelieving and disobedient it is their ruin.)


Walking through the Fire of God’s Judgment Isaiah 42:1-3 1But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 2When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 3For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. (To be baptized in fire means to be submerged in the fiery judgment of God. To be consumed with God’s righteous judgment. Agree with Him in all things and be zealous for the law of our God!)


The Day of Visitation is good for the righteous 

Job 10:11-12 11Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews. 12Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.


1 Peter 2:11-12 11Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.


Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.


Psalms 58:10-11 10The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. 11So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.


Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. (The solution is to not be a hypocrite. )

7 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Victory In The Lord's Battles

As we will see in today’s teaching David was called to fight the Lord’s battles and the Lord was faithful to fight all of David’s....

Holding Faith and A Good Conscience

1 Timothy 1:18-19  18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by...

Who's On The Lord's Side?

This whole life is a test to see if you are on the Lord’s Side Deuteronomy 8:1-7   1 All the commandments which I command thee this day...

Comments


bottom of page