Here Come Da Judge

When I was a 16-year-old boy, I was living in Memphis, Tennessee, and driving my mother's car, and I rolled a stop sign, meaning I didn't come to a complete stop. I just slowed down a little and drove through the stop sign. Well, suddenly, behind me was a police car with flashing lights, and I got my first traffic ticket.

I went home and told my mother about it, and she said, we'll go to court and fight it. I asked her, what do you mean? And she said, we will go down to the courtroom and deny that you ran that stop sign. Just tell the judge you didn't do it.

Most of the time, the police officer won't be there to say otherwise. So we picked a day. We went downtown and spent the day in court.

It was an educational experience for a teenage boy. As we sat in the courtroom, a side door opened, and out walked a man in a black robe. And as he took his seat, I thought to myself, here come the judge.

And all our eyes were on that judge. The first case up was a prostitute who'd been arrested. She denied she was caught soliciting a customer, but evidently it wasn't her first arrest, for the judge was well familiar with her.

She lost her case. Next was a local business owner who owned a lumber store, and he denied getting into a fight and punching a customer. Unfortunately for him, his business was called the Mad Lumberman.

He lost his case as well. Then after sitting through case after case on a long day, waiting for my turn, the court clerk finally called my name. On the drive down to the courthouse, my mother told me to lie to the judge and tell him I didn't do it, then I wouldn't have to pay the traffic ticket.

So as I stood before that judge, I looked him in the eye, and I looked at that black robe of authority, and he said in a gentle voice to me, son, did you run that stop sign? Well, I looked at him, and I said, yes, sir, I did. I couldn't lie to that judge. And my mother yelled at me, all the way home, for being such a stupid boy that made her waste her time all day in court just to tell the truth, so we still had to pay the fine.

But I learned an important lesson that day. When you stand before the judge and you're guilty, you must admit your guilt and suffer the consequences. And I've never run a stop sign since, and I've been driving for 50 years.

I've never had to stand before that judge again, but there is a coming day when I will be standing. I will stand before a judge once more, and not only me, friends, but you as well, for all mankind will face that judge. My Bible says so in several places.

In 2 Thessalonians, we read, here come the judge, when the Lord Jesus should be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flame and fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord in the glory of his power. What a solemn and terrifying day there will be, friends, when here come the judge. When Jesus was here in his earthly ministry, he went about doing good.

He healed the sick. He fed the hungry. He gave sight to the blind.

He even raised the dead to life. But when he returns, he will come in judgment on this world, when his anger shall burn as an oven, and then you shall meet him as your judge. When I was in high school, I had a summer job working at the local grocery store, and one of my duties was to take the wooden boxes that the produce came in and break them down with a box cutter to where they were flat.

Then I would stack them on a two-wheeler, take them to the back of the store where a cast iron furnace was, and I'd burn them there. Why, I'll never forget how I feared opening that heavy furnace door with its raging white hot flames where the heat was so intense it would singe your face. In Malachi 4.1, we read, he'll come to judge.

For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Hell is a hot place of misery and damnation, and trust me, friend, when I say you don't want to go there.

My Bible has warning after warning about this future judgment that awaits all mankind. In Romans 14.10 and following, we read, he'll come to judge. For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

For it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. Back when America was a Christian nation, and there was still a fear of God in the land, there was a rural small town where an infidel farmer blasphemed God on a regular basis in his community by deliberately planting his crop on Sunday.

And at harvest time in October, he wrote a letter to the local newspaper bragging that he had worked his farm on Sundays, and he had a bumper crop better than all his Christian neighbors. Well, the editor of the paper printed the infidel's letter, but at the bottom of the page was a comment by the editor, which read, dear farmer friend, God doesn't settle his accounts in October. But here come the judge, and this theme again is underlined in my Bible in 2 Corinthians 5.10, which announces, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Every mother's son will stand before the judge of all the earth. Every atheist, whoever denied him, will bow the knee on that day. Oh, what a terrible day it'll be, friends.

There's no escaping that day, friend. For in Hebrews 9.27, we read, here come the judge, and it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. But I've saved, friends, the most descriptive scene of all in Scripture, for last, regarding the last judgment.

For in the book of Revelation, in chapter 20, and in verses 12, 15, we read, here come the judge. And I saw a great white throne in him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God.

And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead, which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead, which were in them.

And they were judged, every man, according to their works, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. God came down here, so we can go up there, as we see in his written word.

And this was manifested, the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him, here in his love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Oh, dear friend, if you have not trusted this blessed Savior, do so now, and receive Jesus into your heart, and own him as your Savior and Lord.

For time after time, all throughout my Bible, rings the warning, here come the judge, here come the judge, here come the judge. Will you be ready?