MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER CENTRAL CHRISTIAN, BROWNSVILLE
ILL. An ancient story is told about a slave who traveled with his master to Baghdad. As he walked the busy streets he found himself in the market place where he saw Death in human form. Death looked at him with such a piercing look that it frightened the slave, & he interpreted that look to mean that Death was planning soon to take his life.
He quickly rushed back to his master & told him what he had seen in the market place & asked if he might ride his camel to Samara, 15 hours away, because he was sure that he would be safe there, for Death would not know where to find him. The master gave him permission, & quickly the slave was on his way to Samara.
A few hours later the master was in the market place where he also saw Death in human form. He walked up to Death & asked, "Why did you look at my slave with such a threatening look?" Death answered, "That was not a threatening look. That was a look of surprise. I had a date with him tonight in Samara & I was surprised to see him here in Baghdad."
APPL. Now, we may question the imagery of this story, but the truth is very clear. Death is inescapable. The time of our death is unknown, & the means of our death, perhaps, is uncertain. But ready or not, willing or not, death is one great certainty that we all face.
B. Now in our western culture we have developed an attitude of uneasiness, of feeling uncomfortable whenever the conversation gets around to the subject of death.
ILL. Someone we know is diagnosed as being terminally ill, & it tears us up inside. We wonder, "Have they been told?" "Should we try to keep it from them?" "Do we just pretend like nothing is different, or that we don’t know the seriousness of it?" "Maybe we ought to keep the conversation light & breezy, & leave as soon as we can."
And there is almost no way that we are ever going to bring up the subject first. You see, most of the time we feel very, very uncomfortable when someone starts talking about death.
But uncomfortable or not, we need to talk about it. And not just about death, but about eternity, too.
ILL. John Tillotson said, "He who provides for this life, but does not take care for eternity, is wise for a moment, but a fool forever."
PROP. Now I have no desire to be "a fool forever." So I want to know. What does God expect of me? What does He want me to know about the eternal destiny that is awaiting me?
I believe that He has already answered these questions in His Word. So this morning, as you may have already noticed in your bulletin, I’ve printed a list of scriptures for us on this subject.
While most of them are very familiar, I think you’ll be surprised at some of the things we’ll discover as we look at them together this morning.
I. WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE JUDGED BY GOD
A. First of all, the Bible tells us that we’re all going to stand before God in the judgment - not just some of us, but all of us.
Hebrews 9:27 says, "It is appointed unto man once to die, & after that the judgment."
Romans 2:12-16 tells us that if you live under the law you’ll be judged by the law. If you live out of the law you’ll be judged outside of the law. But either way, God is the judge of us all.
Acts 17:31 says that God will judge the whole world. And Genesis 18:25 says that God will judge fairly.
B. Now if God is going to judge us fairly, just what will He use as a basis of judgment? What will He judge us on? I think that the next few verses will tell us rather clearly.
Jeremiah 17:10 says, "I the Lord search the heart & examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."
Proverbs 24:12b says, "Does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?"
Ecclesiastes 12:14 says, "For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil."
C. But I want you to notice something. Even though those verses talk about being judged for our conduct, our deeds, & for what we have done, the Bible clearly teaches that we are not saved by our works. We are saved by God’s grace, by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, "not by works lest any man should boast."
Romans 6:23 says that eternal life is a gift from God. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ."
SUM. So here is the problem. Because we are saved by grace & not by our works, many have de-emphasized the importance of works. And the word itself has become almost a dirty word in some Christian circles. But it shouldn’t be, for the Bible clearly teaches that while we are not saved by our works, our works will affect our eternal destiny. And I want you to understand that.
II. GOD’S JUDGMENT AGAINST THE UNBELIEVERS
A. To help make that point, let’s look at what God said about the judgment that will be received by those who have rejected everything that God has offered to them. The next few Scriptures on the list, Matthew 25, Revelation 20, Matthew 10, Matthew 13, 1 Thessalonians 1, & Luke 16, all deal with God’s judgment against the unbelievers.
Basically, they say that Hell was created not for people, but for Satan & his angels. However, if we reject Jesus Christ, if we choose to serve Satan, then our destiny will be to spend all eternity with Satan.
B. But notice this. Matthew 11, Luke 20, & Romans 2 all teach us that there will be degrees of punishment. In other words, Hell will not be the same for everybody. Listen to Matthew 11:20-24:
"Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. ’Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre & Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth & ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre & Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.’
"’And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.’"
Did you notice that? Jesus is saying that punishment will be more bearable for some than for others. In other words, there are degrees of punishment.
In Luke 20:47, Jesus says that some will be punished more severely than others. When He talks about the hypocritical religious leaders of the day, walking around in their robes, pretending to be obeying God when in actuality they were not, He said that they will be punished more severely than others.
SUM. So Hell will not be the same for everyone. And Heaven will not be the same for everyone, either.
III. GOD’S JUDGMENT OF THE BELIEVERS
A. To understand that, let’s consider some of the scriptures that tell about how God will judge those who are going to be in heaven.
Revelation 4 & 5 pictures the oratorio of the worship of God that will be ours in heaven. Revelation 7 says that we will serve Him. Revelation 22 says we will reign with Him. Revelation 21 says that heaven will be a place of beauty, gates of pearl, streets of gold, water of life, & so on.
John 5:28-29 says, ". . .for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice & come out - those who have done good will rise to live, & those who have done evil will rise to be condemned."
Now this is wonderful news for the Christian, but what does it mean in 2 Corinthians 5:10 where it says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad?"
And Romans 14:12 says basically the same thing.
Revelation 2:23 says, "Then all the churches will know that I am He who searches hearts & minds, & I will repay each of you according to your deeds."
These verses are saying that even those who are granted entrance into heaven will stand before the judgment throne of God to receive what is due them for the works that they have done while on the face of the earth.
B. Do you remember Jesus telling us that one day He will say, "Well done, good & faithful servant?" Not "Well thought," not "Well said," but "Well done." We are praised & judged for what we do.
And scripture indicates that we serve Christ by serving one another. We take a cup of cold water to someone who is thirsty. We take food to those who are hungry. We minister to those who are sick & in prison. And therefore we hear, "Well done," for our deeds, our work, something that we have done.
And the scriptures tell us that there will be an accounting time when Jesus calls in those who have followed Him & says, "Now I want an accounting. I want to see what kind of stewards you have been."
His parables indicate that. In the parable of the talents the master came back & called them all in. "What did you do with the talents that I gave to you? Did you invest them, or did you squander them?" And there was a judgment based on what they did with those talents.
C. Perhaps the most revealing passage is 1 Corinthians 3:12-15. Listen to what it says:
"If any man builds on this foundation. . ." Now we need to realize that he is talking about Jesus as the foundation & building upon Him for eternity. "If any one builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones. . ."
Now notice the contrast of the next few words, "wood, hay or straw. . ." The first are valuable, the last are not.
Then it says, ". . .his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, & the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."
Better think about that one, hadn’t we? He’s saying, "If you just built with wood & hay & straw, if you just gave God the leftovers while you were here, if you weren’t a good steward of what God gave to you, on the Day of Judgment the quality of your work will be revealed. You won’t be able to fool anybody any longer."
If it was good quality it will last. If it was bad quality it will be burned up. He says, "You will be saved, but you’ll be saved only as one barely escaping the flames."
You say, "Well, that’s good enough for me. I just want to be there. That’s all that matters."
I’m not sure. I think scripture teaches that losing your reward is very serious business. I think that just as there are degrees of punishment in hell, there will be degrees of reward in heaven.
APPL. The point is, "Are you building a pup tent or are you building a mansion? Are you getting ready to enjoy all that God has prepared for you, & is preparing for you now, or are you going to be robbed of that reward because you really haven’t been a good steward of what God has given?"
D. Maybe the problem is going to be the problem of the capacity to enjoy. I’ve seen a lot of people in this world who have a lot of things that I think I could enjoy very much. But they don’t seem to be enjoying them. And I guess the reason is because they don’t have the capacity to enjoy.
If we get to heaven & we are surrounded by all God has prepared for us to enjoy & we don’t have the capacity to enjoy it, that’s going to be painful. We’re going to be missing so very much.
APPL. Think about it. Right now on earth we’re getting all ready, learning how to enjoy heaven. That’s why here we praise God. That’s why here we serve God. That’s why here we worship God. That’s why here we invite God to come into our lives & live with us, & we fellowship with Him. All we’re doing is getting ready for heaven. We’re developing a capacity to enjoy.
And if we haven’t done those things here, then we won’t have the capacity to enjoy what God is preparing for us in eternity.
CONCL. So the invitation is two-fold. First of all, if you are here & you don’t know Jesus as your Savior, then just take a common sense look at reality, & realize that this old world is an empty place. It offers no hope, no promise. It is on a one-way street & it will never ever survive.
One of these days it is going to be burned up. It will be useless. It doesn’t make sense to invest all of your time & all of your energy in this world. Now is the time to get ready for eternity if you’re not ready.
If you’re a Christian & you are out here on the fringe area someplace, & you’re robbing from God by not being a good steward & not serving Him, then heed the warning of scripture that you’re building with wood & hay & straw & it won’t last. It’ll be burned up & you may lose your reward. So get ready for eternity filled with gold & silver & precious stones, something that will last for all eternity.
We extend the invitation of the Lord this morning as we stand & sing.
