When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder Series

If you have your Bible, please open it to Revelation Chapter 20. After a long and boring sermon, the congregation filed out of the church saying nothing to the preacher. Towards the end of the line was a thoughtful person who always commented on the sermons. "Pastor, today your sermon reminded me of the peace and love of God!" The pastor was thrilled. "No-one has ever said anything like that about my preaching before. Tell me why." "Well - it reminded me of the Peace of God because it passed all understanding and the Love of God because it endured forever!"

Today is part the third part of the four-part series on old hymnals. Last week, we looked at how great our God is why He is worthy of our praise and worship. This week, we will look at another famous hymn... When the Roll is Called up Yonder. This is another one of my favorite hymns mainly because it has the word “yonder” in it. Over the past 2 weeks, through looking at Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art, I have stressed the point that every single person will spend an eternity in either Heaven or Hell. There is no way of avoiding that. The Bible makes that clear. Let us look at Revelation Chapter 20 starting in verse 11.

READ REVELATION 20:11-15

Revelation 20 makes it clear that one day the roll will be called and either your name is in it, or it is not. You are either a Christian or you are not. There is no grey area on this. None of the “Well I went to church every Sunday. I mean I know that I did not live or talk like a Christian, but I was there in church every Sunday. Surely that will get me in.” Folks, that will not work in Heaven. Either you are a Christian and you live like it, and you talk like it, or you are not a Christian at all. There is more to being a Christian than saying a prayer that some preacher is telling you to pray. There is more to being a Christian than coming to church weekly and sitting in the same pew. See, neither one of those things will make you a Christian. Romans 10:9 says this:

“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

That is what it takes to be a Christian. Not say some prayer that you do not mean or understand. Not sitting in a pew every week, but fully believing that Jesus is the Son of God and He died for your sins and then confessing and saying that of which you believe. Only those who do both of those will find their name written in the Book of Life. Look at part of the chorus of When the Roll is Called Up Yonder:

When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

When that roll is called, will you be there? Revelation Chapter 20 gives us 4 things about that roll:

1. The Roll Will be Called

READ REVELATION 20:12

Folks there is coming a time when the roll will be called. When that role is called, either your name is on it, or it is not. Like I said earlier, there is no grey area. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says this:

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”

Every single person who has ever walked the face of the Earth will one day stand before God and give an account for what they have done whether it be good or bad. There is no getting out of this. It does not matter if you are young or old. Dead or alive. Christian or Non-Christian. Your race does not matter. Your gender does not matter. The scripture says:

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ...”

All includes everyone. It also does not matter if you have never even heard of Jesus before. Those who have not heard will also be judged. It is a sad reality to know that the first time that some people will ever hear of or see God will be Judgement Day. Verse 15 of Revelation 20 tells us this:

“And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

If your name is not in the Book of Life when the roll is called, you will spend an eternity in hell. Verse 15 tells us that. If someone has never even heard of Christ, how can they accept Christ? They cannot. Meaning, all those who have never heard of Christ will be thrown into hell on Judgement Day. Folks, there is a reason why I have said it over and over and over again since y`all made me the Interim Pastor that we need to be going out and spreading the Gospel. There is a reason behind me repeatedly telling y`all that we must become the church and be more outwardly focused than we are inwardly focused. I keep preaching that to y`all because there are millions of people around the world who have never even heard of the Gospel before. They have no idea who Jesus is or what He done for us. They have no idea that they will spend an eternity in hell if they do not accept Christ. They do not know any of that and how can they know if we do not tell them? Romans 10:14 says this: