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:
“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”
They cannot believe in someone who they have never heard of before. It is our job as the church to tell them. Listen folks, just because we live in the heart of the Bible Belt does not mean that everyone here has heard of Christ before. Some children have not. Some young adults have not. Some senior adults have not. It is imperative that we go out and we tell them. Their eternity could literally depend on it. One day that roll will be called. The Bible makes it clear that will happen. Verse 3 of When the Roll is Called Up Yonder says this:
Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun;
Let us talk of all his wondrous love and care.
Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done,
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
When that roll is called, will your name be in it? Will your name be written in the Book of Life? If so, let us labor for the Lord until He returns. Let us do everything we can to tell as many people as we can about Christ.
2. When the Roll is Called, You Will be Judged
READ REVELATION 20:12-13
Not only will that role be called, but we will all be held accountable for everything that we have done down here on Earth. We looked at it earlier, but 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.”
Not only will we all stand before God, but we will all be judged on what we did while we are here also. 2 Corinthians 5:10 tells us that we will be judged for both the good and the bad. 1 Corinthians 4:5 says this:
“Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”
Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians that the Lord will bring everything to light. That means the things you do when nobody else is looking. The things you do not want others to know about. You will also be judged for those actions as well. Earlier, I said that for the past 6 months that I have been the Interim Pastor, I have been steadily preaching to you about sharing the Gospel with others and why that is so important. Another thing that I have steadily been preaching to you is the need for you to be living your life for Christ. 2nd Corinthians 5 and 1st Corinthians 4 and Revelation 20 all show why that it is important that we live our life for Christ every day and every moment. Listen folks, you cannot live for Christ and act like a Christian only on Sundays. You must do it every day throughout the week too. There is a song called Sunday Morning Faith and listen to a few of the lyrics from the song:
And Hell's not scared of a Sunday faith
If it only leads to empty praise
What really makes darkness run
Is when the saints arise and praise in quiet
On Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday
To know you, to love you, to choose you firs
Thursday and Friday and Saturday
To see you, behold you in worship, singing
It is not just a Sunday thing; it is an everyday thing. In every moment, in every situation, and in every opportunity, we must live for Christ and reflect Him in it all. 1st John 2:15-17 says this:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
That tells us that those who live like the world will one day fade away meaning one day they will spend an eternity in hell while those who live like God will be with Him forever in Heaven. You cannot live like the world and expect to spend an eternity with Christ. Living like the world means that you are of the world instead of God. 2nd Corinthians Chapter told us that one day the roll will be called, and, on that day, you will give an account for everything you have done, and you will either enter the gates of Heaven, or you will be cast into hell. If you want to enter the gates of Heaven, you must live for Christ every day of the week.
3. When the Roll is Called, Christians Will be Saved
READ REVELATION 20:14-15
It said that if your name were not in the book, you would be thrown into hell. That also means that if your name is in the book, you will enter Heaven with Jesus for an eternity. Christians will be saved from an eternal punishment in hell. We have looked at that closely in the past 2 messages about Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art. True Christians will be saved. If you want to be saved, your name must be written in the Book of Life. 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. Verse 4 of When the Roll is Called Up Yonder says this:
On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
When the roll is called, we will all rise. Whether you are dead or alive, we will meet and see Christ. That verse said that His chosen ones will go to their eternal homes. Meaning, Christians will enter eternity in Heaven. I believe there are going to be some people in Heaven that will surprise us. People that we did not think would be there. Earlier this week, Ms. Lynda sent me a post on Facebook that her great niece named Anna Stephens wrote and I want you to listen to this:
Christians…
Did you know there will be rapists in Heaven? Did you know there will be serial killers in Heaven? Did you know there will be ped0philes in Heaven? Did you know there will be child molesters in Heaven?
If not, now you do.
It is possible that you will be next to someone in Heaven who killed your own family member. It is possible that you may be in Heaven with the person who killed you. It is possible the person who sucked every ounce of life from you will be seated right next to you and Jesus in Heaven.
It is crazy to think that it is even possible for this to happen, but it is. Because of Jesus. Because he forgives if/when we ask for forgiveness, and he redeems if/when we ask for redemption.
Do not live life thinking you get into hell for being “bad” and Heaven for being “good.”
I will be in Heaven one day and probably some of my worst earthly enemies will be there with me and I will remember how dumb it was to not forgive them while on earth because we all ended up in the same place.
There are tons of people in prison who are serving life sentences and even on death row that will be seated beside me in Heaven.
I am no better than them in the eyes of Jesus.
Do not let Facebook or worldly views confuse you into thinking you cannot get into Heaven after making mistakes. Even those that have gone the farthest from Jesus can make it into Heaven with the right steps down the right path.
There will be people in Heaven that will surprise us. People that we would have never imagined could possibly be there. That is because that the same God that reached down and saved you in the middle of your brokenness and sin is the same God that can reach down and save them in the middle of theirs. I say all this to make this point... it does not matter what you have done or what you have said, God can still save you and God can still restore you. Nobody is ever too far gone. If you want to be saved when that role is called one day, then you must turn your life over to Christ. That is the only way.
4. When the Roll is Called, it Will be too Late
READ REVELATION 20:14-15
Listen closely to this folks, when that roll is called on that day, it will be too late. At that point, you are either headed to hell or you are headed to Heaven. There will be no changing that. It will be set in stone. There is no amount of begging or pleading that you can do to change where you are going. You will be in that place for an eternity. I have been saying this for 6 months now, but it does not matter how long you have been coming to church if you do not truly know Jesus. There are many people that have spent their entire lives in a church somewhere, but if they dropped dead right now, they would never see the Gates of Heaven. Just because you have spent decades in a church does not necessarily mean you will enter into the Gates of Heaven. The Bible supports this. Matthew 7:21-23 says this:
““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ "
Those are the words of Jesus Himself. Those are some of the saddest words in the whole Bible. Here we see the saddest words ever said in human history. Can you imagine going before the king of kings and you are fully expecting to walk the streets of gold in Heaven and God looks at you and says, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” Billy Graham once said this:
“The greatest mission field in the world is not the foreign field or the home field; it is the mission field of the membership rolls of American Churches.”
The greatest mission field in the entire world is right here in our own backyard... our churches. That is not because we are full of unbelievers, but because we are full of lost people, and we do not even know it. When that roll is called one day, it will be too late. When the trumpet sounds and Jesus returns to rapture the church, for many it will be too late. When you die, it will be too late. The only opportunity you have is in this short time period that we are here on Earth. Luke 16:22-26 says this:
“The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’”
Once you are in hell, there is no way out. You are there for an eternity. An eternity full of anguish. The rich man longed and begged for just one drop of water to cool down his mouth. There will be no help for you if you are there. Folks, none of us know how much time we have here on Earth. Some live to be over 100 years old and some never make it out of their mother`s womb. Time is never guaranteed, but I guarantee you this... if you leave this place, we call Earth either by death, the rapture, or when that roll is called on Judgement Day, your eternal destination will be locked in. That is true for every person to ever walk the Earth. Verse 1 of When the Roll is Called Up Yonder says this:
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
If you have never accepted Christ, then right now your eternal is destination is hell. I know that is harsh, but that is the truth. You must have a true and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If you have that, then your eternal destination is Heaven.
As we come to a close this morning, I am going to ask you a question that Brother Jack Smollon used to say all the time... Do you know that you know that you know if you died today, you would spend an eternity with Jesus Christ? If not, Jesus is calling. What will you do? That roll is going to be called one day. I can assure you of that. When the roll is called, will your name be on it? If not, why not change that today? Let us pray.
