Jap-07 Judgment Begins in the House of God — Art Katz

I think I just have to say a word about my own peculiar feeling and condition. I think it's important for you to know the way in which this word is coming forth. It's not the result of any systematic exposition.

It's not the result of any extensive scholarship or human preparation. It's the strangest kind of feeling. I can't describe it to you. I'm trusting the Lord verse by verse. Because these are holy things that have to come out of his own heart directly.

I don't know humanly speaking how to pick up from where we left off this morning. I just pray that God will be with us now as he was then. I want to direct your attention to the 15th verse of Psalm 9.

Sin and the Immediate Consequences of Judgment

The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made, in the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught. The first consequence of judgment is sin itself. Sin brings its own immediate consequence.

It's a very mercy of God that it is that way. That we might stop and not go further. It's not an accident that moral sins are accompanied by venereal disease. That improper living is accompanied by organic disturbances or nervous breakdowns.

And it's not the end of that horrible disease. Rather, it's the mental or deep organic rhythm of life itself that goes crazy. Sin itself has a terrible effect on us. We ought to praise God for such a mercy.

If we recognize this operation in individual human beings, can we recognize it in nations? The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made. That's true morally, that's true economically, that's true politically, that's true socially.

National Sin and the Decline of England

Is it an accident that it is England that has given us the rock culture of the Beatles and now the punk rock? Is it an accident that it is England that has given us the rock culture of the Beatles and now the punk rock?

Is this an accidental circumstance or already the symptom of a sin? The riots that have recently taken place in that land, what do they express? The same country is also suffering severe economic recession and unemployment.

And because they lack the perspective of God, they do not see the connection between these problems. They think only in a human way. And they look for a solution to the problem which is economic or social or political.

They don't recognize that these are symptoms of the consequence of national sin. They don't realize that England is the land of Spurgeon and Westley. Great saints of God, great missionaries, great leaders of the faith.

And when they have consciously turned from such a tradition, it brings a consequence. The nations are sinking down into a pit of their own making. We have raped the earth in our economic greed. The necessity for pure air and pure water is becoming increasingly a problem in nations of the earth.

It's a pit which we have made. We have paid a price for our success and for our prosperity. We have filled the earth with so many automobiles that the very air itself becomes unbreathable. We have enjoyed the advantage of TV and other forms of entertainment.

Television, Violence, and a Universal Culture

But it's like a monster in every house. We went to the Japanese bath last night and the TV set was on. We went to the Japanese bath last night and there was a TV set on. Of course I couldn't understand a word of what was being spoken.

And yet it was all so recognizable. There was a violent kind of drama on. A lot of fighting and shooting and killing. And even the news when it came on later is the same way in which it is presented in the American TV.

We are moving toward a universal culture. And it's all violent and it's all deadly and it's all degrading. Even the experts are trying to understand if there is a correspondence between the increase of violence in youth and the violence that is to be seen on TV.

The nations are sinking in a pit which they have made. The nations are sinking in a pit which they have made. In Denmark, which is my wife's home country, the progressive lawmakers have removed every restriction against pornography.

In Denmark, which is my wife's home country, the progressive lawmakers have removed every restriction against pornography. They thought that this was emancipated and progressive. They thought that this was emancipated and progressive.

That they should not impose any restrictions on the freedom of men to do what they will. That they should not impose any restrictions on the freedom of men to do what they will. And unfortunately, when such a thing was being discussed, the church leaders came forward and said, Well, this is good.

It's not bad at all. Well, this is good. It's not bad at all. It's been 10 years since such a thing was being discussed. But Denmark is in a miserable state. But Denmark is in a miserable state. The pornography capital of the world.

You can come and you can watch any kind of sex show that you can imagine. Not just men with women or with each other, but with animals. So a civilization that has many centuries in making is brought down in the span of 10 years.

Japanese Technology and the Destruction of Human Personality

I wonder if you know what is the impact of Japanese technology in America. I wonder if you know what is the impact of Japanese technology in America. Many young people in America have become unable to understand the heart.

And they have gradually become like mechanical robots. They have made these game machines by which you can become involved in space combat. It is hypnotic and demonic. And American teenagers can spend hours after hour after hour glued to these machines that even talk back to the player and taunt and mock him.

Have you ever heard the sound of these machines? You get a chill just to walk by them. All of these eerie and strange electronic sounds and beeps and devices mocking the player to put yet another coin in the machine if he can beat the space monster.

And this is called amusement. And it is becoming like a plague that is over flooding the earth. And even professional men come and play these machines and justify them. It helps me to overcome my tension.

I get away from my problems. It is harmless escapism. I am not doing justice to all of these things. I am not adequately discussing them. And I don't want to linger on it any longer. But just to say this.

Human personality is being destroyed. Men are being robbed of authentic humanity. By the very things that constitute our progress and our success and prosperity. And we are being praised for being the result of those things.

The Image of God and the Church's Prophetic Responsibility

So the 15th verse is really true, isn't it? Who is speaking against these things? Who is showing to men what is the consequence of their progress? Who raises the questions of the meaning and the purpose of human existence?

Who examines the unquestioned premises of life? Who is providing the answer to the questions of human existence? The Japanese produce the technology because it is their success and prosperity. And the West employs it because it is money making and profitable.

But who raises the question of the rightness of human existence? The rightness of it all. That something that is made in God's image is being marred and deformed. That we are producing a mindless generation of robot mentality.

I challenge the church in East Germany with exactly the same thing. I stayed in the house of an East German brother who works in an automobile factory. He said half of the employees are alcoholic. He said brother we live in a schizophrenic nation.

When he said that something stabbed my heart. I understood why. Because in every train platform and in all the streets you have the propaganda signs that all the people are required to see. For example, when you go to the train station there are a lot of propaganda signs.

You can see the result of the 45 years of German-Soviet friendship in the city. So what's wrong with that brother? It's a propaganda lie. There's no more lonely dog to be found in East German streets than a Russian soldier.

There's not a German who would ever dream even to give them the time of the day. And the Russian authorities prohibit the soldiers from fraternizing with the Germans even if they could. But for political purposes these signs are everywhere stating the lie.

There's no truth or integrity in the land. And God designed the human personality to live in truth and in righteousness. What happens when it lives in the lie continually? You drown it out with alcohol.

The number one problem of the Eastern European countries. I said to the leaders of the church, you have an obligation to stand for what is made in God's own image. You need to confront the secular authorities and tell them that there's something more important than production goals.

If the church will not stand for what is made in God's image, who will? The church needs to raise the question of what men define as success. For they are digging a pit and sinking into it. The 16th verse says, the Lord has made himself known.

He has executed judgment. In the work of his own hands the wicked is snared. The Lord has made himself known. He has executed judgment. What a mercy this is for those who do not have the scriptures. The Lord has made himself known through his judgments.

Divine Judgment in Nature and History

Can they read that in nature? Can they see how the Lord has made himself known in earthquakes and typhoons? Does it matter whether we're talking about calamities of nature or calamities in society? Does it matter whether it's a drought or a riot?

A war, a fire, or an atom bomb? The Lord has been trying to make himself known in his judgments. But if men will not see that, if they will not understand that, if they will just dismiss that as just being an accident of nature, then they shall be required to face a yet stronger judgment.

They need to understand what the fires that have come upon their cities mean. It is to turn their attention toward God that he might make himself known. For if they will not learn from these fearful fires, Berlin or Leipzig or Hiroshima or Nagasaki, then they have to face a fire that is eternal.

God's mercy is to save men from his ultimate judgments by his first judgments. That the smaller judgment will save us from the greater judgment. That the judgment in time and history will save us from the judgment in eternity.

This needs to be pressed on the consciousness of nations. Because it says in the 17th verse, all the nations who have forgotten God, the wicked will go to hell and even all the nations who forget God.

It's a clear word that cannot be altered. Even all the nations who forget God. As we said earlier, if he will judge the nation of Israel, will he fail to judge the nation of Japan? And even if Israel fails, there is no guarantee that the nation of Japan will not fail to be judged by God.

The Idolatry of the Nation and the Fear of the Lord

Look at the 19th verse. And who shall stand in that day? It says that the hearts of men shall fail them for fear, seeing that which is coming upon the earth. Men who are now proud and arrogant and who have no knowledge of God will cry out for the rocks to fall upon them and seek to hide in the cleft of the rock.

Who shall be able to stand in that fearful day? Put them in fear, the psalmist cries out in the 20th verse, O Lord. Let the nations know that they are but men. Let the nations know. For the nations are the worst idolatry of all times themselves.

The nation itself is a deadly idolatry. It has become a god in modern times that requires the total allegiance of men to itself. It is in modern times that we have seen the totalitarian state. That the highest good is the total loyalty of men to the state and nation.

Millions have been sacrificed for the interest of the state. And Japan especially has the state almost become deified or god in it. The nations need to know that they are but men. They need to cry out to God as David did.

David's Prayer of Repentance in Psalm 51

Be gracious to me, O Lord. Psalm 51. According to thy loving kindness and thy great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

Against thee only have I sinned and done what is evil in thy sight. So that thou art justified when thou dost speak and blameless when thou dost judge. God is waiting to hear such a cry. Against thee and thee only have I sinned.

My sins are ever before me. I have made a god of nation. I have put prosperity and well-being before your interest. I have lived an entire indifference to God himself. My transgressions are ever before me.

I have followed false gods. The god of state and the god of prosperity. Because these gods have not required anything from me. And I have not sought to know you, who is the true God. This is the cry that God is waiting for.

Or his judgments will come. Until the ultimate judgment itself for which there is no remedy. But God gives us a hope. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and seek my face and pray.

I will forgive them their iniquities. And heal their land. Somehow again the key to everything is the church itself. We are the chief actors of history. Our conduct will determine the issues of judgment.

Judgment Begins in the Church

If we ourselves do not have God's perspective. If we do not ourselves believe deeply that there is a day of the Lord which is coming. If we ourselves have not understood our own history and its meaning.

If we fail to warn men. Then the consequence is fearful. It is more than tens of thousands of Hiroshima's and Nagasaki's. The same God who allowed that fire, allowed the fire by which two million Jews went up through smokestacks.

Six million Jews. Brother, isn't such a God cruel? That he allows two great cities to be wiped out and six million Jews to go up as smoke. No, it is very mercy. For Peter warns us of a day in which the very elements will be melted by a fiery heat.

That the earth and all that is in it will be burned up. Two thousand years ago he had these burning convictions. And we who stand so much closer to the event have not this awareness. That's why judgment begins in the church.

Why aren't we seeing these things by the Spirit? Why are they not as burningly real to us? Because our own sins have had its consequence in the church. To dull our own conscience. To make dim our own seeing.

To rob us of the urgency of God. Therefore if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and seek my face and pray. This is more than polite prayer. This is more than the prayer of obligation.

This is the prayer that is humbling. If they will humble themselves and seek my face and pray. At the conclusion of this morning session a brother said to me, I have never seen Japanese people react like this.

I have never heard such urgency. I have seen such passionate breaking. This is the beginning of what God is after. A humbling that will bring ourselves down on our faces. That we might find his face. That he forgive us our iniquities.

Our superficialities. Our casual religious attitudes. Our satisfaction with mere Sunday services. I have never been able to solve the problem of what to do with children and services. Just what do you do with these poor little things?

Reverence for God's Holiness in Worship

How should we handle these children? We cannot understand what is going on with these children. We hope that they will be reasonably controlled. But it is amazing the amount of latitude that we permit them.

But after all it is only a service. We somehow have learned to both hear the speaker and to tolerate the noise at the same time. It is after all only a message. And the kids are much cuter. And it is my kid.

You say, why do you bring that up? I am just somehow struck by this. It seems somehow to be a statement of the condition of the church itself. All this and heaven too. All this and heaven too. Children and services.

The word of God and. Do you have something against kids? No, I have something for God. A certain reverence for the holiness of God. And the sacredness of His word. How many of us would bring our kids if we were invited to the royal palace?

And while we were having a dialogue with the emperor. To have the kids running about our feet. Making noise and gurgling and playing. We would consider that an unthinkable distraction. How is it it is not unthinkable for the king?

Do you know what the attitude is that is communicated to me? Just another service. And that is what it becomes. As your faith is, so be it also unto you. You come with a certain kind of limited expectancy.

That is what you get. A little result. When we will seek His face, He will forgive us our iniquities. Something about our attitude. Something about our casual way. That makes one day like another and one service like another.

And by which we miss God. Yes we get a message but we don't get an event. So I just want to end in prayer again. I want to leave you with this thought. The church is the key. The condition of the church affects everything.

The Church as the Ground and Pillar of Truth

God calls the church the ground and the pillar of truth. And if this is not so in the world, what hope is there for nations? If our spirits are so dull that we ourselves cannot see God's judgment in the earth.

How shall we warn them of a judgment to come? So Lord we ask your mercy upon us first. We acknowledge that we are dull of heart and of understanding. We have been spoiled religiously. We have been schooled in limited expectancy.

We don't expect your coming or your presence. We have satisfied ourselves with less than what you desire. We welcome the judgment that does begin in the house of God. Let it begin with us. Forgive us our iniquities.

That you might heal our land. Japan at the conclusion of the morning session. Let's spend a few minutes praying for the church. For his people who are called by his name.