How To Have Boldness On The Day Of Judgment

Alba 9-15-2024

HOW TO HAVE BOLDNESS ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

I John 4:12-21

Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. is a minister who also raises chickens. He told this story: “Understand Linda, my wife, hates any kind of a bird. Too much Alfred Hitchcock when she was a girl, remember the horror show 'The Birds'”. He said he was gone one day so Linda decided to feed the chickens. He said that when they let the chickens out in the morning they ate bugs and stuff. And later when he fed the chickens they would come and walk with him to the barn.

So when Linda did it, the chickens came to meet her, the rooster in front. Linda started running as fast as she could. The chickens thought this was a game, so they started running after her. The more she ran, the more they ran.

He said, “I pulled into the drive and saw this woman running all around and 100 chickens chasing her. I yelled out the window, “Drop the bucket, drop the bucket!”. Linda dropped the bucket and the chickens started eating. He concluded the story with, “See the chickens were not chasing Linda, they were hungry and wanted food. Because of Linda's extreme fear of birds, fear had her running from what she feared.”

That experience of her fear reminds me of Proverbs 28:1 which says, “The wicked flee when no one pursues.” The idea is that those with a guilty conscience will go on the run even if there is no one after them. Fear controls them.

There is something that many people should fear, and that is the judgment of God. Scripture tells us that there is a Judgment Day coming. That, for many, should cause them to be afraid if they have any idea what it could mean for them. Look at what deserves judgment in our country. Look at what is happening morally and even politically.

We have evil in our government as well as in our society. It causes me to wonder if our nation, instead of receiving God's blessings, we deserve God's judgment. I do pray for better things, but there is a lot around us today that can cause us to fear the outcomes.

Whether we experience God's judgment now or not, there will be a day when all will be judged. Jesus said in Matthew 25:31-33 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.” Then in verse 41 it says, “He will... say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

That should be scary for some. Jesus says there are only two places to stand on the Day of Judgment—you’re either on the right hand or on the left. You stand either among the sheep or with the goats. There is no middle of the road.

I understand that there is a song by the group Blood, Sweat, and Tears, called "Spinning Wheel." There is a line in the song where David Clayton Thomas writes, "I can swear there ain’t no heaven, but I pray there ain’t no hell." What is he saying? Sounds like he is saying, "I know God can’t be kind enough to have a heaven, but I sure hope He’s not mean enough to have a hell."

Yes, there is a hell, but there is also a heaven. After we die everyone of us will be judged, and our future prospects of life with God in heaven will stand or fall upon that judgment. Imagine it! Standing before God with God looking at us and seeing exactly what we have been like in this life and passing judgment on us. As someone said, “It’s enough to frighten anybody to death!”

That's why I really like verses 17 and 18 from our text in I John chapter four. They speak of God's love and say, “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”

Notice, we can have boldness on the Day of Judgment and not be afraid. That is a great comfort! But what is it that makes that possible? The rest of the verses in this section of scripture tell us what makes it possible for us to face the judgment of God without fear.