What Happens On Judgment Day?
This past week I ran across an interesting websight.
It’s called the Death Clock.
[www.deathclock.com]
All you have to do is type in your date of birth,
and answer a couple questions like,
do you smoke,
what’s your height and weight, etc.
hit enter and it will give you your estimated day of expiration.
My "estimated date" is Sunday,
April 20, 2031.
I’m hoping it happens after the Sunday morning service is over!
And it told me
I’ve got about 807 million seconds remaining.
(counting them down for me as I watched).
This website says at the top: Welcome to the Death Clock, the Internet’s friendly reminder that life is slipping away... second by second.
How comforting – a friendly reminder…
(You’re saying, I don’t want to be reminded….)
Every time I talk about death,
people start shifting nervously in their seats.
We don’t really like to discuss it.
We even avoid saying that someone died.
Instead we say,
they passed away,
or they went to a better place,
they kicked the bucket.” “They are pushing daisies.” Anything but saying that - they died.
Have you watched the news recently? The news is all about death.
Have you noticed that?
This past week what did we see on the news?
Here’s some of the stories I saw.
The death toll from Hurricane Katrina has climbed to 1,037.
As of last Wednesday, 1,907 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war.
Nazi Hunter" Simon Wiesenthal Died at the age of 96.
A 17 year old in eastern Kentucky who’d been sent home from school killed his parents and grandmother, then died in a car crash while eluding police.
4 men died during the Great North Run in England, a marathon with 38,000 runners. One of the men was only 28.
Gordon Gould, the inventor of the “laser” died.
About 75% of the stuff we see on the news is about death.
After watching this you expect the news commentator to say,
“And that’s the news.
We will see you tomorrow evening,
if you are lucky enough to still be alive.”
The fact is, we will die; George Bernard Shaw wrote,
“The stats on death are quite impressive, one out of one die.”
so I’m not going to spend any more time talking about that depressing fact.
But I do want to talk about what happens the moment after we breathe our last breath in this life and our physical body dies.
What happens then? What’s on the agenda?
Everything on my schedule goes into my Palm Pilot,
so I can plan ahead.
(I went to April in the year 2031 on my Palm Pilot, and put in Expiration date) – (Ken, you’re being pretty morbid…)
But I was thinking,
What should I put on my Palm Pilot for the next 5 minutes after that?
The next moment after I graduate from this place to the next?
The Bible describes what’s going to happen that day. We’re going to have a couple meetings,
or appointments
on our schedule that day.
So that’s what I want to talk about.
What does the Bible say happens,
on my big graduation day,
on that day that my physical body dies,
and I graduate from this life into the next.
What’s on the agenda for us? What’s should be on my Palm Pilot the moment I die?
The first thing is...
1. THE RESURRECTION
Acts 24:15-16 NKJV
there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.
We will all be resurrected.
And its says, both the just and unjust.
So whether you’re Mother Teresa or Michael Jackson,
whether you’re Billy Graham or Bin Laden,
The moment our physical body dies,
our soul and spirit are immediately resurrected.
Now, for those of you who’ve studied this,
you know the bible also talks about a resurrection of the body,
when we get our glorified bodies,
but that’s not what I’m talking about here,
that happens later.
But this resurrection is something that happens immediately.
The moment we die, boom,
our soul and spirit goes into the presence of God.
Maybe some of you still have doubts about this,
and you’re saying,
“Well, Ken,
how do you really know,
that there’s life after the grave?”
I know the Bible says so,
but what if the Bible is wrong,
how do you really know?
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this stuff out.
If you just look at all of creation,
there is picture after picture of the cycles of death giving way to life in nature.
Take a seed.
The seed looks like it is dead.
You bury the seed.
It seems like it is over,
curtains for the seed.
But then, the seed germinates and a plant bursts forth.
New life, from the dead.
Think about a caterpillar just kind of crawling around,
an ugly little creature.
One day it surrounds itself with a cocoon,
which in reality is a tomb,
and you think its history for the ugly insect.
Not so fast. Next thing you know,
a butterfly bursts forth with brilliant color.
Look at physics.
Albert Einstein summarized the first law of thermodynamics by saying,
“Matter may change states but it cannot be created or destroyed.”
Many people think that is a clue to life after the grave.
We will change states,
but we will not be created or destroyed.
Anthropologists say that almost every culture and tribe and people group they’ve ever studied has an advanced view of the afterlife.
You find an isolated tribe on a Pacific island that has had no outside contacts in a thousand years,
and yet they always have a belief in some type of gods and some kind of existence after death.
All of creation tells us this is true.
So the first thing on the Palm Pilot: we will be resurrected,
the just and the unjust.
What’s next?
Next you have the most important meeting you’ll ever be in.
Because the next thing that happens is:
2. THE JUDGMENT
I came across some excerpts of actual courtroom cases:
(from transcripts)
A man on trial in Tennessee had pleaded “not guilty” but when the jury of 8 women and 4 men was seated, he abruptly changed his plea to guilty.
The judge asked why he changed. “Were you improperly persuaded to plead guilty.”
The defendant said, “No sir. When I pled “Not Guilty” I didn’t know there would be women on the jury. I can’t fool one woman, so I know I can’t fool 8 of them.”
Another actual case – Prosecutor: Did you kill the victim?
Defendant: No, I did not.
Prosecutor: Do you know the penalties for perjury?
Defendant: Yes I do, and they’re a lot better than the penalty for murder.
One more actual case:
An Attorney said: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
Doctor: No.
Q: Did you check for blood pressure?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for breathing?
A: No.
Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
A: No.
Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar!
Q: But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?
A: Well, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere.
We all have an appointment at a certain time to be standing before the throne of God.
The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27
… man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment….
What happens when we breathe our final breath?
After our soul and spirit are resurrected,
or separated from our physical body.
the next thing that happens is,
we will immediately receive the judgment that will determine where we spend eternity.
Those who have committed their lives,
to following and obeying Jesus Christ,
and have trusted in Christ’s payment on the cross for their sins, they will immediately enter into the presence of God
for the rest of eternity.
2 Cor 5:6-8 NLT
We know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord… and we would rather be away from these bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.
Notice it says that
the moment we are away from our bodies,
we are at home with the Lord.
Now, at the same time we enter His presence,
our soul in heaven is made perfect in holiness and our old sin nature is destroyed.
Heb 12:23 NLT
The spirits of the redeemed in heaven who have now been made perfect.
So finally, we won’t have to constantly struggle with sin and temptation ever again. Finally, we will be perfect.
We see a picture of this judgment in Rev. 20:11-15 And I saw a great white throne, and I saw the one who was sitting on it.
The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide.
I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life.... And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.
This is often called the
Great White Throne Judgment
to distinguish it from another judgment we’ll talk about later.
But this is the most important judgment that I’ll have to face,
because when I stand in front of God,
I’ll find out if my name is in the Book of Life.
And right here,
is the biggest point of spiritual confusion in the universe.
Millions of people miss it right here.
Because they have this idea that God, being so gracious,
will kind of wink at those of us in the middle of the pack,
those of us who are basically good people
and God will say,
“Come on into heaven.
You weren’t perfect,
but you tried hard.
So, welcome to heaven.”
And as long as I’m not really bad,
like Bin Laden,
or the BTK killer in Wichita.
But if I’m a basically good person,
if I keep my nose clean and pay my taxes and throw some money to the church and the United Way and coach kids Soccer—
then, surely God would not throw anyone like me into hell.”
Jesus said that idea about judgment is wrong.
He said that,
whether I am a good guy or not,
whether I’ve paid my taxes,
kept my nose clean,
whether I coached Little League,
or was faithful to my wife —
these things won’t even be brought to the table at this judgment.
Those won’t even be brought up,
at this judgment.
Now there’s a second judgment,
that we’re going to talk about in a few minutes,
and then these good deeds we’ve done will matter.
But not at this first judgment.
Most people are duped into thinking that God grades on the performance plan,
or on some national average,
or some cosmic curve.
and if you’re better than the average,
you’re gonna be ok.
No. God doesn’t compare you against other people.
He compares you against himself.
His holiness.
His perfection.
And if you’re not up to his perfect standard,
then you don’t make the cut.
Because of that,
all of us are in severe trouble.
because I don’t even come close,
to measuring up to God’s standard of perfection.
Fortunately, God gives us another way.
Jesus Christ,
who took our sins on the cross,
and gave us his perfect life in return.
Because of that,
God is only going to look for one thing in this meeting at the first judgment.
He’s going to look at,
do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,
and is Jesus the boss in your life?
That’s it.
If that’s true, then your name will be written in that book of life.
Let me ask you,
Is your name already there, in the book,
or not?
If its not, you’ve still got a chance to change that.
But when you stand before God,
there won’t be any second-chances,
or do-overs.
You can’t take a mulligan,
you can’t hire a dream team of attorneys.
Is your name already there, or not?
If you’re not sure your name is already there,
I’m going to give you a chance at the end of the service to change that.
Don’t miss your chance.
Let’s talk about the third thing on our Palm Pilot
after that big day of graduation to the sky...
First you have the resurrection,
where your soul and spirit are raised from your dead body.
Then you have the first judgment,
where you find out if your name is in the book of life.
Then,
3. THE SEPARATION
The Bible describes how Jesus will separate all of us into one of two camps.
Matt 25:32 NIV
All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Those whose names were found in the book of life,
are the sheep,
and those whose names are missing,
are the goats,
and Jesus next action is to separate them.
When you think about it,
what God does at this point,
is to simply give us for eternity a greater measure of what we desired on this planet.
And so,
If I humbled myself to Jesus Christ,
and told Him, I need you,
and if I followed Him as best I could,
then when I have this meeting with God,
God will say,
“You know what,
your name was in the book,
so I will give you a greater measure of what you went after on this planet.
You wanted to be close to me on earth,
I’m going to let you be with me forever.
Conversely,
those who turned their backs on God on earth,
and ignored his leading,
ignored God’s church,
ignored the Bible,
blew off the Christian people who invited them to church turned a deaf ear to anyone talking to them about Christ,
God will say to them:
“I loved you, I sought you.
I wanted a relationship with you
but you rejected Me.
You pushed me away.
You kept your distance from Me on earth,
and so you will have a greater measure of this in eternity.” You will spend eternity without me.
We make the choice.
There’s an old story about the actor WC Fields,
who had a reputation for drinking and partying.
One time somebody caught him reading a bible.
They were surprised,
and asked him what he was doing.
He said, Looking for loopholes.
Some of us are always looking for loopholes,
looking for the easy way out,
and so some people naturally think,
Hey, all I’ve got to do is say this prayer,
’Jesus Christ come into my life’
and —Boom— I’ve got a ticket to heaven.
But I can keep on living pretty much however I want,
I don’t have to change or anything.
You know what Jesus said about that?
Matt 7:21-23 NLT
"Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as ’Lord,’ but they still won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven. On judgment day many will tell me, ’Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ’I never knew you.
A lot of people just say the words but they don’t mean it,
they’re just words.
In Matthew 7:20 Jesus tells us,
I will know my followers by the fruit they produce.
This is not a deal where you can say,
“Oh, I’ve prayed the prayer.
I’ve got a ticket to heaven,
so now I can do what I want.
If your life hasn’t changed,
if you haven’t grown in your relationship with God,
if there’s no visible fruit of God’s power in your life,
if you’re not a more loving person than you were a few years ago,
then it should concern you,
Because Jesus might say,
I never knew you.
OK, lets review. What’s on my palm pilot after I die.
First, my soul and spirit are resurrected.
Next, I go to the first judgment,
to see if my name is written in the book of life.
Then the Separation,
where Jesus separates the sheep from the goats.
Assuming I’m one of the sheep,
and get to spend eternity with God,
next comes:
4. THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST
You might look at this as a second judgment.
And this one is only for believers,
you don’t make it to this one unless you’re in,
and you’re going to spend eternity with God.
The Judgment seat of Christ
is where the rewards are handed out.
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 NIV
We make it our goal to please (God), whether we are at home in the body or away from it
(in other words whether our physical body is alive or dead…)
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.
Notice is says we’re going to receive what’s due to us,
for the things we’ve done here on earth,
and it adds,
“whether good or bad.”
Let me ask you,
is it possible for a Christian,
who’s on their way to heaven,
to still do bad things?
Of course it is.
Now I have to say that,
I don’t think I’ve done anything bad,
for at least, say, half an hour,
but it can happen.
And both the good and bad things I’ve done,
are going to be weighed
at the Judgment seat of Christ.
Now some of you are probably saying,
Well hold on Ken,
what do you mean good and bad?
Does that mean that some of us,
who have committed our lives to Christ,
and go to be with Him in heaven,
are still going to be punished
for the bad stuff we’ve done?
NO, I’m not saying that.
The Judgment seat of Christ
is only to hand out the rewards.
It explains what happens in
1 Corinthians 3:11-15 For no one can lay any other foundation than the one we already have — Jesus Christ. Now anyone who builds on that foundation may use gold,
silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But there is going to come a time of testing at the judgment day to see what kind of work each builder has done.
Everyone’s work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value. If the work survives the fire, that builder will receive a reward.
But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builders themselves will be saved, but like someone escaping through a wall of flames.
So what’s going to happen is,
you get to the Judgment seat of Christ,
and all the things you’ve ever done,
are going to be piled up like a huge bonfire,
and Jesus is going to toss a match onto it.
And some of the stuff on that pile is not going to burn,
but some will burn.
Notice he lists the bonfire materials,
gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 3 of those burn, and 3 don’t.
You ever tried to light a bonfire using gold, silver or jewels?
No way, it is not going to burn.
But the wood hay and straw will.
So when that bonfire burns out,
there’s going to be a pile left of gold, silver and jewels,
but nothing else.
The gold silver and jewels
are all the good things you’ve done
for God and for others,
and you did them with good motivations,
out of love for God and others,
out of willingness to sacrifice,
just because you love God.
The wood, hay and straw
is obviously the bad stuff you did,
when you were self-centered,
ignoring the needs of others,
ignoring God,
looking out for number one,
and we all know there’s a lot of that in our lives.
But the wood hay and straw also includes some stuff
that looks on the surface like its good,
but it was done with improper motivation.
Everyone’s work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value. It looks valuable, it looks good,
but its going to be tested by fire,
Why?
Because a lot of times, our motivations stink.
How many times have you been nice to someone,
not out of godly love,
but because you want something from them?
or you’re warm and friendly to someone at work,
but inside you’re thinking,
that creep, I’d like to let the air out of his tires.
God cares about our motivations.
There’s people who will help out at church,
and do things for others,
and serve others,
as long as they’re getting recognized and thanked and appreciated for it.
But if they don’t get any recognition,
pretty soon they’re done.
If your motivation is the rewards and recognition
from other people,
then you lose your reward from God,
its wood hay or straw, it burns up.
I’m not saying its bad to recognize what people have done,
but you’ve got to watch your motivation.
Is it for God, or your own pride?
They’re an awful lot of hypocrites in churches all over America,
and the only reason they’re showing up
is so they can look good,
and impress people with how good they are,
and how holy and righteous they are.
That’s wood hay and straw.
But there’s also a lot of people in churches all over,
who are faithfully teaching kids Sunday School,
or working in the nursery,
or serving at our food pantry,
and they do it for years,
and never get recognized,
but they don’t care,
because they’re not doing it for thanks,
they’re simply serving God.
And they are building a huge pile of gold, silver and jewels in front of the Judgment seat of Christ,
that won’t burn up.
because they’ve realized
its not all about them,
its about God and others.
And I can imagine the scene at the Judgment seat of Christ
when people like Mother Teresa arrive.
Jesus tosses a match on her pile,
and nothing happens,
no fire.
And he starts squirting lighter fluid all over,
and there’s maybe a few puffs of smoke,
but the darn thing just won’t light.
Its all gold, silver, and jewels.
But then somebody like (oh, say) Pastor Chris, will get there.
And Jesus will toss the match on,
and everybody’s going to running for the hills,
because of the intense heat.
I’m kidding.
But it does say that some people will make it to heaven,
but almost everything they’ve done will be burned up,
and it says they’ll be saved, but like someone escaping through a wall of flames.
It says they’ll suffer great loss,
In other words, no reward.
Now after the wood hay and straw is burned up,
and we get to see the real value of what we’ve done for God,
then that leads to the final event on that day,
5. YOUR REWARDS
This is when you’ll receive your reward,
for the good you’ve done.
Now, we’ll be rewarded for everything good we do,
but there are certain things Jesus specifically says,
do these, and you’ll definitely get a reward.
They’re especially important to Jesus.
I listed these verses at the bottom of your outline,
but let me run through a few of them quickly.
Helping the Poor
Luke 14:12-14 NIV
Jesus said … when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid (when?) at the resurrection of the righteous."
He’s saying, when you’re at the Judgment seat of Christ,
I’ll repay you if you’ll help the poor.
That’s why I’m always trying to get all of you down to our food pantry to help out, because you’re building rewards in heaven.
(and we do need help: Our helpers are really down in numbers…
Tuesday evening, Thurs and Sat morn, talk to a pastor…)
Giving to God.
Matt 6:19-20 NIV
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
Jesus says,
if you sacrifice here on earth,
you’ll build up rewards, or treasure, in heaven.
But if you spend it on yourself down here,
you’re going to have nothing in heaven.
Loving people who have hurt you.
Luke 6:35 NLT
"Love your enemies! Do good to them! Lend to them! And don’t be concerned that they might not repay. (Why?) Then your reward from heaven will be very great,
Jesus says,
I know this one is especially tough,
to love and do good for someone,
when they’ve hurt you,
and so your reward for this one
will be very great.
Telling others about Christ.
1 Cor 3:8 NLT
The one who plants and the one who waters work as a team with the same purpose. Yet they will be rewarded individually, according to their own hard work.
Every time you invite someone to church,
or talk with them about your faith,
Jesus promises,
He’s going to reward you.
And there’s many other scriptures about rewards in the Bible.
I couldn’t possibly list them all.
So lets go to the Next Question:
What kind of rewards do we get?
The Bible only gives us a glimpse of what those will be,
but we can see at least 2 types of reward.
One is the reward of Rulership.
We talked about this last week,
so I’m not going to say much today.
Believers will help God rule and reign over the universe.
Rev 2:26 NLT
"To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end, I will give authority over all the nations.
1 Cor 6:3 says that we’ll rule over angels.
So that’s the first type of reward mentioned,
authority and rulership.
The second reward that’s mentioned is crowns.
There’s actually 5 crowns mentioned as rewards in the Bible,
(not enough time to say much - might want to do your own bible study on those)
But very quickly,
there’s the crown of Life – given for faithfulness under persecution.
there’s the Incorruptible crown – to the person who overcomes, and keeps their faith strong for their whole life.
there’s the crown of Rejoicing – for the person who pours themselves out for others in evangelism and discipleship.
there’s the crown of Glory – for faithfulness in positions of spiritual leadership.
there’s the crown of Righteousness – for those who live godly, pure lives, ready at any moment for Christ’s return.
Now, do I think that we’re going to actually get crowns to put on our heads and wear around?
Its possible, but I doubt it.
I think Jesus is going to be the only one wearing a crown.
But I think that when the Bible was written,
they were using this as a picture,
of the most valuable thing they could possibly imagine.
Back then,
there wasn’t anything more valuable than a crown.
They didn’t have Bengals Season Tickets.
And so what they’re really saying is,
this reward is going to be more valuable, more precious,
than anything you can imagine.
Now when I’ve taught about rewards before,
I’ve had people come to me and say,
I don’t want any reward,
I just want to give glory to God.
Why do you think God put these rewards in place?
Because when you pursue God’s reward,
that’s when you do glorify Him.
Now the reward isn’t our only motivation.
We serve God because we love him,
and because he did so much for us.
But he also wants us to be motivated by the rewards.
If he didn’t, why would he list them in the bible,
and tell us,
go for it, I want you to earn these.
God is the one who put these rewards in place,
and he tells us,
Here’s how to earn these rewards, I want to give you these crowns,
because that will mean you’re doing exactly what I want,
and you’re bringing glory to me.
We’re going to close in a minute,
but you know something?
If we were to look back at the website I mentioned earlier,
deathclock.com,
you would see that I have already burned up 2,000 seconds.
since I started this message.
I am 2000 seconds closer to my big graduation day,
and so are you.
I hope that, like the website,
this message has been a friendly reminder that your life is slipping away.
So let me ask you again.
Is your name in the book?
Have you made the commitment to Jesus Christ,
and put him in charge?
You are not ready to live until you are ready to die.
Lets stand for prayer.
