Chickens Come Home to Roost — E.A. Johnston

Great God in heaven, I come to you now and ask that you touch hearts with your divine presence and draw back the curtains of eternity and bring us to the very verge of the last judgment and our accountability to you on that day.

I pray great God that your Holy Spirit will come in this meeting and disturb folks. If there is someone here on a false foundation of an empty religious profession, I pray your word would be like a hammer to bust that thing to pieces.

Let your word run like a fire to burn the conscience. Bring someone here to face the reality of sin and hell in Jesus and salvation. Open hearts, I pray Lord, in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Well, you're going to want to hear this message tonight, friends, because I'm going to preach the undiluted gospel to you.

Like we say in the South, I'm going to give you the oil straight from the can. So sit up straight and get the wax out of your ears. There is a universal statement that has the same meaning to every single person on this planet, whether they are Muslim or Hindu or Jewish or Christian or whether they are educated or uneducated, whether they are rich and prominent in society or a beggar in rags by the roadside.

And when I mention this statement to you, friends, it will need no explanation. Here is the statement. It is also the title of my sermon this evening, When the Chickens Come Home to Roost. Although this statement needs no explanation, I'm going to give you some elaboration, exhortation and application this evening for your own good.

We are familiar with the term poetic justice, where, say, a murderer gets away with a crime of killing someone, but although he escaped sentencing from a jury while he's out walking down the street one day and part of a cement building falls on him, crushing him to death instantly, that's called poetic justice.

He got what he deserved. And when we read a mystery novel or watch a mystery movie that has a villain in it and we want that story to end with the bad person getting his just desserts, we don't like mean people or evil people to succeed in life and get away with it, get away with murder, so to speak.

We like to think that there's justice, some kind of justice in this world. We like to think that the consequences of doing wrong will always catch up with the wrongdoer, that the bad things someone has done in the past have come back to bite them or worse, haunt them.

So the idiom, the chickens come home to roost, means the consequences of one's actions eventually catch up with them. The phrase has its origins in the idea that if you raise chickens and let them roam freely during the day, they will eventually return to the coop or roost at night.

So the result of one's actions will eventually catch up with them just as chickens return home at the end of the day. So the general idea is people will eventually have to face the consequences of their actions, whether good or bad.

Divine Judgment for Every Secret Deed

And that's the theme that's in my Bible. It's the notion, it's in the Old Testament, in the book of Ecclesiastes, where King Solomon declares at the end of his book, For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.

In other words, friends, when the chickens come home to roost, that's a warning that no one can escape the consequences of their actions indefinitely. And eventually those consequences will catch up with them in this world or the next world.

And that's the message tonight, friends. When the chickens come home to roost, everybody has a secret thing in their life that nobody else knows about. And we are afraid if they found out about it, they would think less of us.

Maybe we did something perverted. Maybe we did something hurtful to another. Maybe we stole something that didn't belong to us and kept it, or we sold that stolen item to someone else for a profit. Maybe we ruined a person's character with slander.

Maybe we betrayed the trust of a loved one. Maybe we cheated on our spouse with infidelity and got away with it. Maybe we raped somebody and nobody knew about it except the victim. I'll never forget, as long as I live, when I was the member of a big Baptist church, one of the ministers on staff was raping his 14-year-old son.

And no one knew about it until the son became an adult and told on his father. Well, everybody was shocked. But the whole time that man was on staff as minister of that church, no one knew the evil he was committing.

No one would know about it today had his son not spoken out about it. Maybe you're hiding something, friend. Maybe you regret something you've done. Maybe you killed a life in the womb and no one knows about your abortion.

Maybe you sexually abused another person and no one has found out. Maybe you did something so terrible you wouldn't want it to be found out. You'd be amazed, friends, at some of the sins people have done right here among us tonight.

In Hebrews 9 .27 we read,. And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this to judgment. Well, what kind of judgment is that referring to? A judgment by men? No, friends, a judgment by God. God is the judge of all the earth and shall not the judge of all the earth do right.

We get a sense of this accountability of man in Galatians 6 .7 which states,. That means you can't mock God, friends, and get by. You can't mock God by sinning and think you can get away with it. There's a coming reckoning day when the chickens come home to roost.

Reaping What Sin Has Sown

In the next verse in Galatians reads,. Sometimes when you sow a thing you get more than you bargained for. As seen in Hosea 8 .7,. There are a lot of whirlwinds out there today ravaging our nation, ravaging our families.

Sometimes a sin can create a whirlwind in the domestic life of a home. I'll never forget a man who was a close friend of mine at church. He was even a leader in the church. Well, one day I ran into him in the church parking lot to say hello, and he avoided eye contact with me.

I went home and told my wife there was something off about that man, that he was hiding something. Well, it turned out he was having an adulterous affair with his new secretary who was 20 years younger than he was.

Well, the news got out and he lost his Christian testimony at church. He lost his family of a good wife and three little kids. He lost his new home. He lost his reputation. The chickens had come home to roost, and he ended up with a bunch of cracked eggs.

Sin will do that to you, friend. Sin will bring you low. Sin will wreck your family like a whirlwind. I don't watch TV, but sometimes I like watching old black-and-white film noir movies made in the 1940s and 1950s.

Murder mysteries where the bad guy always gets his due. They think they can get away with the robbery or the murder, but they never do. It's always a bad ending for them, and that's the way it is in life, friend.

Listen to me. Sooner or later, the chickens come home to roost. I like reading gospel tracts, and I read one one time about an atheist, infidel farmer. He lived in a small town that was mainly comprised of Christians.

If you can imagine that today, friends, well, this atheist farmer wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, and he described how he had purposely mocked God by farming his crops on the Sabbath.

He plowed on the Sabbath, planted on the Sabbath. In this October, he said he just reaped a bumper crop, and he wrote that letter to the editor letting them know he had a better crop this year than his Christian neighbors.

Well, the editor printed the letter in the paper, but with an editorial comment at the bottom that said, Dear former friend, God doesn't always settle his accounts in October. That's right, friends. A day is coming, and the day is fast approaching when the chickens come home to roost.

The Great White Throne Judgment

And this brings me to my text this evening, friends, which describes a future judgment that awaits all mankind. Every mother's son will be there on that day. Listen to me, friends. Listen to this terrible scene as it is described in the book of Revelation.

And I looked up and saw a great white throne, and him who sat upon it, earth and heaven, fled away, and there was found no place for them. Well, let me pause here to say, here is a vivid picture of a tribunal judgment, and the entire scene is so solemn, so terrible, that at the very presence of the judge, Jesus Christ, there is a dissolution of the whole frame of nature.

The entire physical realm comes apart at the seams, and it's as if it becomes a giant ball of wax. It all melts away with a fervent heat at his very presence. It is there on that pure great white throne, that holy throne, this judge sits.

Well, let's return to our text. 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.

The Books of Record and the Need for Justification

Well, let me pause here again, friends, to say, well, what books are mentioned here? Well, there is a book of remembrance. God keeps good records, and there is a record of our life, from our birth to our death.

It's our own definitive biography, the good and the bad and the ugly. Then there is a statue book of heaven, containing the rule of life and the touchstone of God's unbending law. Every person will be held up against the strictness and severity of God's law.

And if you stand there in your own merits, you will fail that test. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Listen to me, you must stand there in the merits of another, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be justified in God's sight.

Well, that's another book there, the book of life. That's the one that's going to get you thrown into a lake of fire if your name's not in there, friend. We'll get to that in a minute. Well, let's continue reading about this intense scene where the whole world stands on the very verge of eternity.

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 would judge every man according to their works. Look at that vast heavenly courtroom scene.

There stand the dead from every generation since Adam. Look, there's the antediluvians who drowned in the flood. Look over there, there's the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah that got burned up. They're not standing with any boastful pride, but with cringe and shame.

Look at them. There stands the kings, the monarchs, the presidents, the rulers of every time and tribe and nation, the famous and the not-so-famous, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the meek, every generation from every country.

Your co-workers stand there. Your neighbors stand there. Your relatives stand there, whom you knew and maybe you failed to witness to them about Jesus. So they stand there guilty, facing that judge without any hope.

Each life is reviewed by that judge. And as they pass beneath his intense scrutiny, listen, it's time when the chickens come home to roost. You better watch out. You better stand there and get under that blood, friend.

The Lake of Fire and the Book of Life

In death and hell, we're 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. One book determines their eternal fate, not the church membership role, but the book of life.

If your name's not in there, it's hellfire for you. Oh, friend, when the chickens come home to roost, how will it turn out for you? How will it turn out for you? Will you escape that lake of fire? There's only one way, one refuge, one remedy for sin, and that's in the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ as the Only Way of Salvation

Listen to me. I know I am a sinner, and I need a substitute for sin, and so do you, friend, so do you. Flee to Jesus. He's your only hope. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me.

Here, Jesus answers the three greatest questions of the human heart. How can I be saved? Jesus says, I am the way. How can I be sure? Jesus says, I am the truth. How can I be satisfied? Jesus says, I am the life.

Surrender your heart to God, friend. Put your trust in Jesus, the Savior. He is the pearl, a great price we're selling off for so he can be gained. Listen to me, friend. This sermon to you has been a solemn warning.

Your chickens are coming home to roost, and they're going to roast you, friend. Jesus is your only hope. Jesus is the friend of sinners. Jesus is the Son of God who left heaven and came to earth, suffered, bled, and died.

He rose again and sits now at the right hand of the Father, and he earned that right by way of a bloody cross. Get your sins washed in his blood, friend. The gospel is for the hungry, the weary, and the thirsty.

The Final Gospel Invitation

Let me ask you, friend. Are you hungry for God? Are you sick and tired of your sins? Are you thirsty for Christ? What are you waiting for, friend? What are you waiting for, mister? Put your pride in your pocket and come on, come on.

Come to Jesus, friend, and bring to him your heartbreak. Bring to him your tears. Bring to him your failures. Lay your past down at his nail-pierced feet and have mercy from him. Come to him and believe on him and on him as your Savior and Lord.

Respond to this last gospel call of the Bible. Hear it. I pray it goes down into your very soul. And the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let him that hear us say, come. And let him that is the thirst, come.

And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.