Amos - The God Of Justice - Preach The Word

THE GOD OF JUSTICE
you need to prepare to meet your God!
David Legge
In Romans 14 we read: 'For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ'.
Second Corinthians 5: 'For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has
done, whether good or bad'. First Corinthians 3: 'If anyone's work which he has built
on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss;
but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire'. These three texts are to believing
Christians, to people in the church! It's an event called the 'Bema', it's a judgement
seat, and the One sitting on it - Jesus said: 'The Father judges no man, but has given
all judgement to the Son', it is gentle Jesus, meek and mild sitting on this throne of
judgement, my friend, and I believe I'm honest before God tonight in this pulpit:
there is very little terrifies me more than that day! And I'm born-again and saved.
Prepare to meet your God. They had encountered God's disciplines, perhaps like you
are tonight, but the next step was to meet God Himself. He was coming personally.
I know I've been preaching on the God of justice, and there's a lot of judgement - I
can't help that, I just preach on the word, I'm the messenger - but listen tonight:
there is grace, there is grace greater than all your sin and misdemeanour. There is a
fountain open at Calvary for uncleanness to all who will, by repentance and faith,
plunge beneath - they will be as pure as the driven snow, because on Calvary's tree
the spotless Son of God was judged that you might never be judged. That's why God
takes sin so seriously, because it cost His Son everything. As Paul said to the
Corinthians: if you judged yourselves, you would not be judged. If you would uncover
your sin, Calvary would cover it - but Calvary will not cover what you will not uncover!
All of you, I ask you tonight: are you prepared to meet God? Are you prepared to
meet your God? We can sing all the songs we like: 'When we all get to heaven, what a
day of rejoicing' - and it will be, but there is something in between that, there's a
judgement seat and the believer must be prepared. Unbeliever, there's a Great White
Throne, and the book shall be opened, and whoever is not found in the book of life is
cast into the lake of fire - that's God's word. But believer, I come to you tonight, for
my heart is for you just this moment: are you prepared?
Chopin, that great musician, in one of his early concerts, one of the first concerts he
ever performed, made a litany of mistakes - but after he played his concerto, the
whole audience rose to their feet but one old man sitting in the corner on the front
seat. He just sat as he was, he didn't move. That elderly gentleman was Verdi,
Chopin's master and mentor. When the whole building rose and stood to their feet in
adoration and praise, he remained sitting down - why? Because he knew where the
mistakes were. There is a poem with which I finish that never ceases to grip me, it's
about the judgement seat of Christ. It goes like this:
'He would have me rich,
But I stand there poor,
Stripped of all but His grace,
And memory will run like a haunted thing,
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