Lesson 21: The Certainty of Judgment

QUESTIONS
1.Why was John the Baptist imprisoned?
John the Baptist preached judgment for sin. He told Herod that he had transgressed God’s Law in taking his brother’s wife, and that cost John his life (Mark 6:18)

2.According to Jeremiah 28:1–9, what did the false prophet say?
The prophet also had to contend with those who preached a life-improvement message rather than one of judgment (Jeremiah 28:1–17). The Bible tells us that such a message was in truth “rebellion against the LORD” (v. 16).

3.Why do those who neglect to preach future punishment teach “rebellion against the Lord”?
When the preaching of Judgment Day is neglected, people don’t see a need to repent.

4.How would you compare this false message to the modern gospel?
very much the same.

5.Why did God judge Judah?
He openly preached that Judah had strayed from the Moral Law. He even expounded the Law to reveal their specific sins (Jeremiah 7:9). They had transgressed the First and Second Commandments by going after other gods. They broke the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Commandments, and then walked in hypocrisy (v. 10). And still they continued in sin by following after their own counsels and the imagination of their hearts.

6.Do you think the United States is under judgment? If so, why?
yes... all the same reasons and more.

7.Explain how God’s retribution and compassion are related.
The compassion of God should never be separated from the retribution of God; they are related. Because He is a just God of retribution and must punish sin, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself because of His great compassion. There would be no cross unless there was wrath against sin.
When the world asks us why we preach that there will be a fearful Day of Judgment, we could simply say that it will come to pass because the Bible says so. While this is true, that isn’t the only reason we are sure Judgment Day will take place. Our assurance comes from the fact that God has revealed His retribution and His compassion in the gospel, and now offers humanity forgiveness in the Savior. It is through the power of the gospel that we gain assurance that Judgment Day will surely happen.
Those who are seeking safety will find it in the Savior. One who repents and trusts the Savior becomes a new creature; he is born again. Nothing can convince a sinner of the reality of Holy Scripture and its great warning of the coming wrath like a new life with a new heart and new desires.
How then do we best drive men to the Savior? By preaching that the God of compassion is also the God of retribution. It is by opening up the spirituality of the Moral Law that men are made to realize their guilt and see their need of refuge from the coming wrath.