Rev 16:7, And I heard the altar saying, "Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments." 
	Last week, we began to look at this passage in terms of why humanity has such a distorted and defiled view of the righteousness and the holiness of God’s judgment. Man does not want to face the prospect of being held accountable for actions here on this earth. He would rather hide within the vast confusion of human reasoning and imagination in terms of there being no God at all. If that doesn’t work, then man tries to redefine God. We attempt to box Him into an image which makes God more palatable to our warped sense of fairness and justice, rather than face the reality of being held to the perfect and holy standard of Jesus Christ. We ended with the prayer that we would come to recognize and accept the truth of both the validity of God’s Holiness and the value it has in our lives. 
	In the course of that consideration, let us spend a bit more time in terms of how we should be celebrating the Holiness and the Righteousness that is the very nature of God, to the best of our understanding on this earth. We continue with the heart of the Psalmist in Ps 72:1-5. Give the king Thy judgments, O God, And Thy righteousness to the king's son. May he judge Thy people with righteousness, And Thine afflicted with justice. Let the mountains bring peace to the people, And the hills in righteousness. May he vindicate the afflicted of the people, Save the children of the needy, And crush the oppressor. Let them fear Thee while the sun endures, And as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
	This is the prayer of David for God to invest Himself into Solomon in terms of being a just and righteous king after the very heart of God, Almighty. This is not the aspect of glorifying the earthly king to be, but that God’s Holiness and Righteous judgment would be evidenced in the manner in which Solomon performed the duties given to him by God. This is a declaration that man has no ability to rule of his own wisdom and imperfect sense of right and wrong. All that is good and pure and right comes to us from God, Alone. He is our source of wisdom and reality in the affairs of this earth, beginning from the earthly throne of those whom God installs into that position. 
	Every thought of what is good, every judgment of right and wrong all proceed forth from the very heart of God. There is no gray area in the presence of God. This world decries the idea that there are absolutes in our dealings with the arenas of this age. It is quickly attempting to shade everything in the grayness of ambiguity and extenuating circumstances. To do so is to make allowances for those things, thoughts, actions, and motives that try to skirt the whole issue of right and wrong. But that will never fly in the face of God Who will judge every man according to the absolute standard of Himself.
	Ps 97:8-12, Zion heard this and was glad, And the daughters of Judah have rejoiced Because of Thy judgments, O Lord. For Thou art the Lord Most High over all the earth; Thou art exalted far above all gods. Hate evil, you who love the Lord, Who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is sown like seed for the righteous, And gladness for the upright in heart. Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones; And give thanks to His holy name. This is the manner in which we should be dealing with our hearts before God. There should be gladness and joy in the truth of the virtue that is ours in Jesus Christ. There should be the evident recognition of those times when we displease God. That realization should cause us to seek Him to reveal all that is necessary in the termination of that wrong course of action in our lives. We should love the truth and hate the evil that plagues our daily walk on this earth.
	In this line, we should be reveling in the fact that we belong to God and that we are being held to the righteous standard of Jesus Christ in Whom is life everlasting. Ps 119:73-77, Thy hands made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments. May those who fear Thee see me and be glad, Because I wait for Thy word. I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness Thou hast afflicted me. O may Thy lovingkindness comfort me, According to Thy word to Thy servant. May Thy compassion come to me that I may live, For Thy law is my delight. 
This understanding changes the manner in which we view the events and the circumstances that are part of our daily walk. Rather than thinking that we have done something wrong and deserve to be punished for it, we recognize God at work in our lives. We begin to see that we are being shaped and molded into a people who reflect the very life of Jesus Christ Who indwells us. We see the trials and the situations and the circumstances as the just means of God to deliver us from the sin that infests this realm. Our entire perception of why He is dealing in our lives changes from that of poor, pitiful me, to Lord, use whatever is necessary to make me pleasing to you.
	Ps 119:137-144, Righteous art Thou, O Lord, And upright are Thy judgments. Thou hast commanded Thy testimonies in righteousness And exceeding faithfulness. My zeal has consumed me, Because my adversaries have forgotten Thy words. Thy word is very pure, Therefore Thy servant loves it. I am small and despised, Yet I do not forget Thy precepts. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Thy law is truth. Trouble and anguish have come upon me; Yet Thy commandments are my delight. Thy testimonies are righteous forever; Give me understanding that I may live. 
It is when we have this correct vision and attitude toward God and His interaction with us through His Righteousness and Holiness that we can face anything in this world with the confident assurance that God is in control. Things are not spinning in unrestrained mayhem and absolute chaos. They are being guided and directed by God to establish our complete trust in His hand of operation. Every event is intended and piloted to the perfect end of God’s Holiness becoming the foundational principle of our life on this earth.
	Isa 26:7-11, The way of the righteous is smooth; O Upright One, make the path of the righteous level. Indeed, while following the way of Thy judgments, O Lord, We have waited for Thee eagerly; Thy name, even Thy memory, is the desire of our souls. At night my soul longs for Thee, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks Thee diligently; For when the earth experiences Thy judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the Lord. O Lord, Thy hand is lifted up yet they do not see it. They see Thy zeal for the people and are put to shame; Indeed, fire will devour Thine enemies.
The prophet Isaiah understood the value of the absolute Holiness of God on this earth. He saw that although the unjust and the wicked seemed to prosper, they were, in fact, lost in their blindness as to all that God has in store for those who love and seek Him. 
There is a kindred heart within those who seek after God to rejoice in all His Goodness and Grace and Mercy and Lovingkindness and Uprightness. 1 Chron 16:8-14, Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually. Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth, O seed of Israel His servant, Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. 
We recognize what the unrighteous do not and can not see. God’s judgments are in all the earth. They maintain His sovereignty through order and stability. Without His governing operation, all would be chaos and upheaval. Therefore we give Him thanks for keeping His loving Hand upon His creation, even though it has been so vilely corrupted with sin, disease, and evil.
	As a matter of fact, even though our testimony is not fully accepted by the unrighteous, we continue to proclaim the excellencies of God in all the earth. We declare His Uprightness and His standard of Holiness. We teach His way to all those in our spheres of influence through our delight in and love of all His precepts. Ps 105:1-7, Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually. Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels, and the judgments uttered by His mouth, O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. 
We look at this world and we sing, with all joy, at the witness of what God does day in and day out. We recognize and give homage to Him for the daily expression of His Providential Grace and Love in operation in our lives - in the lives of those whom we love - and in the very atmosphere of nature.
	How then do we deal with those who refuse to acknowledge the Holiness of the judgment of God? It is quite simple actually. We leave them to God. We pray earnestly for their eyes to be opened, but we do not try to convince them of the blindness that envelops them. We love them with the love of God and we count on Him to remove their blinders. Consider Daniel in his dealings with the most powerful man of that time, Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel dealt with him in the manner in which God directed and then allowed God to do what God chose to do. God very effectively brought King Nebuchadnezzar to the place of humbleness unto the righteousness of the only true God as we read in Dan 4:37, "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride." 
	We can trust God to deal with everyone in all His justice as we read in Rom 9:14-16, What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. Everyone is ultimately accountable to God for the choices that are made in this lifetime. We cannot change a single person. It all depends on the work of God which is always and will forever be done in His Holiness, Righteousness, Mercy, and Grace. All that we can do is to seek Him to establish Himself as the every core of our lives and then deal with one another as He guides and directs.
	2 Thess 1:3-8, We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater; therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 
	We count on God to deal with those who treat us both in love and in hatred. We do not take matters into our own hands to try to force another to face the judgment of God. Rather, we hold that one in prayer with earnest supplication and desire that he or she would come into all the truth of Jesus Christ and be covered by His Righteousness before they have to stand at the judgment seat of God. 
This then brings us back to the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ as we will be joining our voices together on that great Day of Judgment. We will be honoring God for the faithful manner in which He has dealt with mankind from the point of creation onward. Rev 15:3+4, And they sang the song of Moses the bond-servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the nations. "Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou alone art holy; For all the nations will come and worship before Thee, For Thy righteous acts have been revealed." 
We will recognize that all that we suffer on this earth means nothing in the great scale of what God has accomplished. Consider how He redeemed mankind unto Himself through the death and resurrection of His Only Begotten Son. As judgment proceeds forth from the throne of God, all heaven will be of one voice proclaiming the validity of every aspect of what follows. All eyes will be on the Lamb Who was slain. All glory will be offered unto Him for such a magnificent and marvelous manifestation of so great a love. 
In that light, any who have defiled themselves against God and have blasphemed Him and have refused to accept such a freely offered salvation will be rightly judged and deserving of all that is meted out upon them. There will be no claims of innocence, nor any misguided interpretations of unfairness. There will be no accusations of heavy-handedness in the righteous punishment that will be dispensed. All will be amazed at the true and righteous judgment of God that has always been in evidence throughout the history of mankind. And it will all be to the glory, and the majesty, and the honor, and the adoration of God. So be it!
Rev 16:5-7, And I heard the angel of the waters saying, "Righteous art Thou, who art and who wast, O Holy One, because Thou didst judge these things; for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink. They deserve it." And I heard the altar saying, "Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments." Amen.

								
This morning’s benediction is Luke 19:37+38. And as He was now approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Amen.