Your Final Exam

YOUR FINAL EXAM

Rom. 14:10

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. A priest and a rabbi were standing by the side of the road holding up signs. The rabbi’s read, "The End is Near!" The priest, on the other side of the road, held up a sign which read, "Turn before it’s too late!"

2. They planned to hold up their signs to each passing car. "Get a job." The first driver yelled. The second, immediately behind the first, yelled, "Leave us alone you religious freaks"!

3. Shortly, from around the curve, they heard screeching tires and a splash followed by more screeching tires and another splash.

4. The rabbi looked over at the priest and said, "Do you think we should try a different sign"? The other man responded, "Yeah, probably ’The Bridge is Out’ would be better!"

B. TEXT

“For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Rom. 14:10

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 robot body. Death won’t mean extinction; you’ll still be conscious after death.

5. Many people who died during surgeries have told the surgeons their spirit came out of their bodies and hovered over the operating table.

6. They could tell the doctor exactly which steps he’d taken to revive them. These stories have been compiled into books by surgeons: “Life After Life,” (R. Moody);

“Beyond Death’s Door” & “To Hell & Back” (M. Rawlings).

7. But death is not the end; we will all stand before God and give an account of our lives, and to be judged by His righteous standard.

8. The title of this morning’s message is “Your Final Exam.” There are 4 major issues about the judgment that the Bible makes clear:

I. ALL WILL 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. “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.

3. 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 with all its lusts, or Corinth, 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.