"I Never Knew You!"

“I NEVER KNEW YOU!”

Matt. 7:21-23

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. Dick Van Dyke once described Mahatma Gandhi.

2. He said, “Gandhi walked barefoot everywhere, ate very little, and often fasted, leaving him thin and with very bad breath.”

3. Thus he is often thought of as a “super callused, fragile mystic plagued with halitosis.”

B. TEXT

1. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” 2 Cor. 5:10.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matt. 7:21-23.

C. THESIS

1. If you’ve accepted the full blown creed of evolution, then you believe that what happens to you when you die is no more significant than what happens to a tree when it dies.

2. It's over. You’ll go out of existence. You’ll feel nothing, know nothing, you’ll have no consciousness.

3. But if you believe the truth of the Bible, that there is a Creator God, and that what separates you from whales and chimpanzees is not mutations, chemicals, or a thumb, but being made in the image of God, then you probably know there’s a life after death, and existence after the grave.

4. We all will die, but death is just the doorway to another life that’s not 70 years, but eternal. You’re not just a hunk of flesh with cloth on it, you’re an eternal spirit-being living in a body.

5. But death is not extinction; we’ll all stand before God and give an account of our lives, and to be judged by His righteous standard.

6. We’re going to take a few minutes to look at that examination Day, and see what will give us a passing grade.

The title of this morning’s message is “I Never Knew You!”

I. ALL WILL STAND BEFORE GOD & BE JUDGED

A. LOST & CHRISTIANS WILL BE JUDGED

1. Rev. 20:11-13,15 says, “11 And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away….12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened…and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 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 were judged every man according to their works. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

2. HUMOR.

a. One old Grandma sat on her couch with her Bible in her lap, reading and praying.

b. Her grandchild walked into the room. “Grandma, after all these years, what are you doing still reading

the Bible?”

c. “I’m Cramming for my finals!” the old woman quipped.

B. EVERYONE IS GOING TO BE THERE!

1. Can you imagine when God takes hold of history and empties it?! When every man who ever walked the streets of ancient Babylon, of Rome, of Hollywood & Washington D.C. must account for himself? When “What happens in Las Vegas doesn’t stay in Las Vegas!”

2. Every king over England, the caliphs of Baghdad, the maharajis of India, the emperors of China, the Presidents, the billionaires -- are all going to stand before God one day! Can you imagine that?

3. Even the Supreme Court justices will stand that day before the Infallible Judge.

4. There are 2 different judgments: one for believers (Bema) and the last for unbelievers (GWT) separated by 1,007 years -- after the Rapture, the 7 years of tribulation, and the 1,000 reign of Jesus Christ.

5. The lost will suffer punishment in the lake of fire; but believers will be spared because of the blood of Christ. Christians will be safe from eternal death.

C. NOTHING WILL BE HIDDEN

1. The Greek word for "judge" is anakrino an-ak-ree'-no, which means to “investigate, examine, enquire into, scrutinize, sift, question; determine the excellence or defects of any person or thing.”

2. SCRIPTURES

a. “For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.” Mark 4:22.

b. “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither anything hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.” Luke 8:17.