Judgment Begins at the House of God
God's judgment begins at His own house, and it is essential to submit to His judgment in order to rightly apprehend the fearfulness and certainty of His judgments on those who disobey the Gospel.
Andrew Murray emphasizes that God's judgment begins within His own house, as illustrated by Peter's reflection on Ezekiel 9:5-6. He points out that before God pronounces judgment on the nations, He first addresses the sins of His people, highlighting the necessity for the church to recognize and submit to this divine order. Understanding this principle is crucial for believers to grasp the seriousness of God's judgments and the importance of personal repentance. Murray asserts that the ability to preach about God's wrath and salvation hinges on our own experiences of His judgment in our lives. This call to holiness and self-examination is essential for the church to prepare for revival.
Text
Peter had evidently read and pondered the passage of Ezekial 9:5-6, of which the words: 'begin at my sanctuary' are the centre. He had noticed how, before the awful judgments the prophet had to announce against the nations that had oppressed Israel (Chapters 25-32), the force of God's anger had, in the first part of the book, been revealed against his own people. Peter had learnt the great law that the holiness of God always seeks first to deal with sin in his own house and church. It is only as we know and submit to this that we can rightly apprehend the fearfulness and the certainty of his judgments on them that obey not the Gospel of God.
The power to feel and preach the wrath coming upon the disobedient and the salvation from it will depend greatly on our insight into what it means that God begins at the sanctuary, on the experience in our own heart of God having dealt in judgment with the sins of our Christian life.
(Excerpted from The Coming Revival, by Andrew Murray , pg. 42)
Sermon Outline
- God's Judgment Begins at His Own House
- The Sanctuary as a Place of Judgment
- The Power of Insight and Experience in Preaching God's Judgment
- The Need for Personal Experience of God's Judgment
- The Connection Between Personal Experience and Preaching the Gospel
Key Quotes
“The power to feel and preach the wrath coming upon the disobedient and the salvation from it will depend greatly on our insight into what it means that God begins at the sanctuary,” — Andrew Murray
Application Points
- We must submit to God's judgment in our own lives in order to effectively preach the Gospel to others.
- Personal experience of God's judgment is essential in giving power to feel and preach the wrath coming upon the disobedient and the salvation from it.
- God's holiness seeks to deal with sin first in His own people and church before judging the nations.