trembling waters of Galilee became a pavement under his feet, and his disciples were thrown into consternation by this miraculous approach of the Lord.  But he instantly dispelled their fears by the assurance:  “It is I; BE NOT AFRAID.”  Peter, James and John on the holy mount feared as they entered the cloud and saw his glory; but he most tenderly said to them:  “FEAR NOT.”  John, on the isle of Patmos, beholding the glory of his unveiled face, “fell at his feet as dead.”  But he laid his right hand upon him and said:  “FEAR NOT.  I am he that liveth and was dead; and, behold!  I am alive forevermore.”

These thoughts lead to the further consideration that there will be no arbitrary or despotic power exercised in “the judgment to come.”  “My words shall judge you in the last day” is given by our Lord as the standard of judgment.  Is there one here who desires to know how he will bear the searching ordeal of that day?  If there is, let me say to such a one, you can decide that question here in this world for yourself.  You have the Lord’s word for this.  “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life.”  To hear is to hearken, and to hearken is to obey, from a right faith in God.  If you believe that this book which I hold in my hand, called the Bible, is the revealed truth of God, and from the heart are willing to obey its precepts under a sense of love and duty to do the will of your Father in heaven therein revealed, and continue faithful unto death, you have the assurance therein given that the judgment to come will be a day of triumphant joy to your soul.  But if you come short of this you can have no such assurance:  and I am compelled to repeat in your ears these terrific words of an apostle:  “If we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversary.”  To sin willfully is to refuse to do what we know to be the will of God our Father in heaven.

I said awhile ago that judgment and reward will be according to works.  Let us now turn to some of the proofs in confirmation of this assertion.  They drop from the lips of our Lord without the least show of any design in him to establish a great principle.  The principle had been established as an element of divine order before the Son of man came into the world.  It is a truth so simple that even little children comprehend it.  If a little child that has been taught any correct ideas about salvation and heaven be asked a question like this:  “Who go to heaven?” it will at once answer with childlike simplicity:  “Good people go to heaven.”  If further interrogated as to who good people are, it will say:  “People who love one another and do good.”  It is a truth intuitively known that good people are saved and happy, and bad people lost and miserable.