Recently, I heard a preacher on television preach a sermon on divine judgment. I have no doubt that he is sincere in his beliefs. He is very good at using words and manipulating the emotions of his audience. He is charming, witty, and entertaining. But his interpretation of judgment degrades God from a Heavenly Father to a heartless tyrant.

He drew a picture of God which makes my heart shudder, because his idea of judgment is punishment. He believes that sinners will be cast into utter darkness. He believes that sinners will be thrown into an eternal lake of fire. He believes they will burn in the fires of hell forever. He quoted a little poem about burning in hell forever. The poem said:

"Forever" is written on their racks,
"Forever" on their chains;
"Forever" burneth in the fire,
"Forever" ever reigns.

I have trouble with this interpretation of judgment because God is better than that. I realize that the Bible quotes Jesus very clearly about Hell being a "lake of fire." But, I also think it is important to understand that Jesus used word pictures to describe many abstract concepts. Once he pointed to the birds of the air and said that not one of them falls to the ground without the Heavenly Father knowing. Once he pointed to flowers growing in the field and said that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these. Once he said that even the hairs of our head were numbered. Jesus often used word pictures to describe abstractions about God which he never intended to be taken as physically literal.

When Jesus spoke of hell, he was using a word picture. The Greek word for hell is Gehenna. In the Hebrew it is Hinnom. Literally, hell was the Valley of Hinnom or the Valley of Gehenna and it lay on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

It was in this valley where in the ancient days those who worshiped the heathen god, Moloch, had sacrificed Jewish children. To the Jews, this valley became desecrated territory and to show their utter contempt of the heathen god, Moloch, they turned this valley into the garbage dump for Jerusalem. It smoldered continuously with fires. In it a loathsome species of worms bred and multiplied. The bodies of the worst criminals were thrown into this valley. In fact, the worst fate that could come to any Jew was to not have a place to be buried, but to be thrown into the fires in the Valley of Gehenna, or Hinnom. Therefore, it was natural for Jesus to use hell or Gehenna as a word picture of God’s judgment on those who were rebellious against his love. Hell, with its flames and eternal torture, was not meant to be taken physically and literally.

However, I must affirm to you very simply that God’s judgment is a reality. It is not a pleasant thought, but God is a God of judgment. For centuries we have asserted this belief in the Apostles’ Creed when we say: "He shall come to judge the quick and the dead...."

Anne of Austria once said, "... God does not pay at the end of every week, but at the end He pays."

We can go on with our lives and leaving God out, disobeying his laws, and failing to be the people he calls us to be. But, we need to remember that judgment is a reality. The most definite evidence of its reality is Jesus’ parable on the last judgment. At the end of the parable, the sheep are separated from the goats with unerring certainty.

With this same certainty, I believe that there will be judgment in our lives. We cannot get away from it because it is a reality. I want to look at the idea of judgment. I am not going to look at judgment from the perspective of a fiendish God who is seeking to punish us. Instead, I want to look at the judgment of God from the perspective of the life of Jesus who taught us that God is loving ... God is forgiving ... God is compassionate ... God is interested in each of us. I want to look at three ideas which I believe are important in dealing with the idea of judgment.

I. I believe judgment is happening every day. Every day is judgment day. Every life is being shaped by the small events of everyday life. There is no way to get around this and you are becoming what you do and say every day. Eternity does not start when we die; it is here now. We are in eternity right now and we don’t have to be afraid of it. The same God we are going to be with forever is the God we are with now, and we are judged every day of our lives.

I heard about a man in court, standing before a judge. The man said to the judge, "God being my judge, I am not guilty."

And the judge replied, "God is not your judge today; I am and you are."

This is how we are. We are guilty and we are judged every day of our lives. We are judged daily on the basis of our actions.

A friend invited me to lunch once. I am sure that he didn’t invite me out simply for lunch. He wanted to show off his new sports car. He had a black Porsche and he was very proud of that new car. He was so proud of it, that he tried to protect it on his office parking lot. He was afraid someone would open their car door and bang it against his while it was parked.

So, he started parking in such a way that his car took up two spaces. That way, no one could park close enough to bang their car doors into his new sports car.

The only problem with this was that when the lot filled up, someone was denied a parking space. One day this man came out to his car and found a note on his windshield which said: "You lucky devil, you! You found two parking spaces and I couldn’t even find one."

He was judged on the spot and found guilty. It didn’t take him weeks or months to realize that what he was doing was wrong. Someone, in a very polite way, judged him guilty that very day.

We need to realize that we are judged regularly ... We are judged daily ... We are judged everyday of our lives. We don’t have to wait for some Judgment Day in the future, because every day is a Judgment Day.

II. I believe God’s judgment will be tempered with his respect for life. It was God who created us and gave us the ability to make our own decisions. Some of our decisions are right and some are wrong. God is not going to condemn us simply because we make some decisions that are wrong, simply because we come up short of everything he expects of us, simply because we failed to be all that we are called to be.

A few weeks ago, I saw Gregory Peck on the Johnny Carson show. They were talking about the various movies he had made - close to 100 over the years. As they were talking, Johhny asked, "Greg, what do you think was your best movie?"

Without a moment’s hesitation, Gregory Peck said, To Kill A Mockingbird.

If you have seen that movie, which is based on Harper Lee’s novel, you know it is a powerful story. A young black man named Tom Robinson is accused of raping a white girl in Maycomb County, Alabama. It is obvious throughout the story that Tom is innocent. And, it is crystal clear that the racial tensions in this small county in Alabama means that Tom Robinson will be found guilty in spite of his innocence.

However, one white attorney, a man named Atticus Finch, agrees to defend Tom. In spite of the personal threats against his life and the racial hatred expressed by many whites, Atticus Finch puts together a case which proves this white girl is lying about being raped by Tom Robinson.

Throughout the long trial, the blacks of the community gather in the balcony of the courthouse to watch Atticus Finch plead the case and do everything he can to set an innocent man free. But, when the all-white jury brings in its verdict, Tom Robinson is found guilty and sentenced to die.

Tom is led away in chains and the white audience and judge and jury leave the courtroom. The only ones left are Atticus Finch, putting his files in his briefcase, and the blacks in the balcony. Sitting with the black preacher are Atticus’ two small children, Jim and Scout. They have sneaked into the courtroom.

Finally, Atticus Finch is ready to leave the courtroom. As he pushes open the swinging gate, every person in the balcony quietly stands - except for his youngest child. The old black preacher leans over and says, "Stand up, Scout. Your father’s passin’."

Atticus Finch had failed! Atticus Finch had come up short in his efforts to win the freedom of an innocent man. But, every person in that balcony had a deep respect for Atticus Finch.

And this is the way it is with our lives. Some of the decisions that we make in life are wrong, some of the decisions that we make in life are sinful, and sometimes we come up short in being all that God calls us to be. But, God is going to temper his judgment upon us because of his deep respect for our lives.

III. I believe judgment will be tempered with God’s grace. Last, but not least, I want to make this point: God’s judgment on our lives will be tempered with his grace. We are saved by God’s grace first ... and last ... and always. We are not saved by our goodness and we are not saved by the depth of our faith. You and I are saved by grace, and God’s grace tempers the judgment we deserve in our lives.

I want to share this story. It is an old story of a man who was met at the pearly gates by the angel Gabriel. Gabriel told the man that entry into heavens required 1,000 points. The good works he performed during his life would count toward the points necessary to gain admission to heaven.

The man said, "Well, I was active in my church and attended almost every Sunday."

"That is worth fifty points," Gabriel said.

The man smiled and said, "I sang in the choir."

"That’s good for another 25 points," said Gabriel.

The man realized that he only had 75 points and needed 1,000 if he was going to get into heaven. "Well," the man said, "I taught a Sunday school class of children for three months. How many points is that worth?"

"You get another twenty-five points," Gabriel replied.

The man was quickly becoming frantic and it didn’t look like he would earn enough points. Finally, in frustration, he said, "The only way I’m going to get into heaven is by the grace of God."

Gabriel smiled broadly and said, "Yes, and God’s grace is worth 1,000 points! Welcome to heaven."

You don’t earn your salvation by your good works ... or by your faith ... or by your beliefs. You are saved by God’s grace! I don’t want you to misunderstand. Grace does not whitewash the sins of your lives. Grace comes in a very honest way and says to you: "You made a mistake, you blew it, you made a fool of yourself, you are a sinner, you deserve the judgment of God upon your life." But, the Good News of the Gospel is that God tempers his judgment with his grace. You are saved by God’s grace. This is the nature of God. He loves you. He forgives you. He redeems you. He tempers his judgment upon your life with his grace because of who he is and because of who you are.

I believe the Apostle Paul captured this idea when he wrote:

... there is nothing in all of creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord ...

God tempers his judgment on our lives because of his grace in Jesus Christ.

Isn’t it about time you responded to God’s love in Jesus Christ?