Judgment Day is not a movie. It is not a video game. Judgment Day is not a joke. It is real and we are getting closer to it every day. Judgment Day is near. So how are you living your life? Are you watching and waiting for the Lord’s return? Are you watching and praying or are you living your life like the judgment will never come?
Another way to look at this is: are you ready to meet your Maker? Are you prepared to meet thy God? (Amos 4:12) If you die tonight night are you ready to stand before Almighty God? Before you answer – sure, no problem, I’m not afraid of anything or anyone; please listen to what the Bible says.
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil (Ecclesiastes 12:14). Are you really prepared to stand before God and have everyone look at you while every single thing that you have ever done in your whole life is flashed before all to see? Are you really ready for everyone to see everything that you’ve done in secret? Things that you thought no one else would ever find out about? Even your thoughts?
Have you ever lusted after someone? If so, you are guilty of committing adultery in your heart? Have you ever wished that someone would die? Have you ever hated someone or been angry without cause? If so, God sees you as a murderer. Have you ever stolen anything; even if it was something small or wasn’t valuable? If so, then you are thief. Have you ever told a lie? Of course you have. We have all lied. Most of us have stolen something and we have all lusted; we have all coveted (wanted something that belonged to someone else) and we have all hated someone at one time or another – thereby committing murder in our heart.
We are all guilty. So are you really prepared to stand before God on Judgment Day? Are you truly prepared to stand before God in your current condition – as a guilty sinner? Guilty, guilty, guilty! You are guilty! You don’t have to wait until Judgment Day to be declared guilty. No, you are guilty right here, right now, right where you stand. You are guilty of breaking God’s Law – the Ten Commandments.
Judgment Day is real and Judgment Day is coming. You can’t stop it and you can’t make it go away by not believing in it or by denying that God exists. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). You will die one day and you don’t know when that day will be. It could be tonight. You will die since you can’t stop death and you will stand before God on Judgment Day. That great and terrible Day of the Lord will be a day of sentencing. It is not a hearing date. It is a sentencing date.
Listen to Revelation 21:8: But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. All liars will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Again, Judgment Day is not a hearing date, it is a sentencing date! All unrepentant sinners will be sentenced to eternal damnation if Jesus Christ is not their Lord and Savior.
You will face God on Judgment Day. Will you face Him unprepared? Will you face Him foolishly representing yourself? Jesus said, But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Every idle word! How many of those do you suppose you have uttered in your life time?
Do not be fooled. Don’t wait until Judgment Day to find out that you were wrong; that you made the biggest mistake of your life. Be sure your sins will find you out. The soul that sins, it shall die. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23).
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead (Acts 17:30-31). Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19). Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel (Mark 1:14-15).
You have offended our Holy and righteous God through your sins. There is nothing that you can do on your own to change that. Remember, you are guilty, guilty, guilty. We are guilty. We all have violated the Ten Commandments. None of us have loved God with all of our heart soul and mind. So we have all broken the first commandment.
But God made a way of escape for us; even though we deserve God’s anger, His wrath over our sins. We really do deserve to suffer in Hell for all of eternity. Oh but our amazing God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to be the propitiation for our sins. We did the crime, but Jesus paid the fine. We are guilty – He is innocent. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). We owe a sin debt that we can never repay. The sinless Son of God paid the debt that we owe.
He suffered God’s anger over our sins as the Romans viciously beat Him. Then Jesus suffered God’s wrath even more while He hung on the old rugged cross. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was smitten of God and afflicted. Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities and by His stripes we are healed.
Sin must be punished because God is that righteous. Jesus suffered horribly for guilty sinners like you and me. The sinless One died on the cross, was buried and rose from the grave three days later. He defeated sin, death, Hell and Satan. God offers everlasting life to all who turn from their sins and turn to Jesus.
Repentance is more than just saying that you are sorry. Job greatly offended the great Creator God by demanding the right to defend himself before Almighty God; though he didn’t have any right to make such a demand and when he realized this, Job said, Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:6).
Job said I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Have you ever been so sorry over your sins that you abhorred yourself? Have you ever repented in dust and ashes? This is true sorrow. This is godly sorrow. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death (2 Corinthians 7:10).
Our hope and our prayer tonight is that God will convict you over your sins and reveal His Holiness to you. That you will see how horribly your sins offend our Holy God. The angels in Heaven cry out Holy, Holy, Holy. Please understand that you are a sinner and that you need to be saved. You need salvation and that can only be found in Jesus Christ – there is no other. He is the only Savior. He is the risen Savior. He is the Lamb that was slain and He is worth of our praise and worship.
Repent by turning away from your sins and put your faith in Jesus. We are to have repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus Christ our Lord. Repent and believe the Gospel. Do this today and be saved. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Be saved from eternal damnation. Be saved from being judged by the righteous Judge on Judgment Day. Be forgiven for your sins. If you surrender your life to Jesus, obey Him, deny yourself and live for Him, then He will represent you on Judgment Day. That Day of the Lord will no longer be a terrible day for you. It will be a great day. It will be a day that you rejoice in the Lord. It will be the day where your sins will not be remembered.
Oh, be saved tonight. Submit to the Lordship of Jesus and know that you have eternal life. That nothing will ever separate you from God from this day forward. When you are saved, you truly have something to shout about. Halleluah, praise God. I’m saved! I’m Heaven bound. I get to spend eternity with Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior! Thank You Lord for saving me!
Come to Jesus tonight and be saved. Turn away from your sins and put your trust in Jesus. Submit to our Lord tonight. Surrender your life completely to Him. Sure you will lose the desires of the world when God takes away your heart of stone and gives you a hear t of flesh. But those sins that you once thought you couldn’t live without will become meaningless to you. God will give you new desires, pure desires. You become a new creature in Christ.
Come to Jesus and have your sentence commuted. Come to Jesus and be set free from the bondage of sin and the bondage of the devil. Come to Jesus and never fear what man can do to you. They can kill the body but they can’t kill your soul.
Confess and forsake your sins. Believe in the Lord Jesus. Surrender to His Lordship. Do this tonight and be saved. Pass from death to life. Pass from being condemned to being set free. Pass from judgment to being forgiven. Then abide in the Lord Jesus Christ and never fear Judgment Day again. Then go and warn others that Judgment Day is near.
(This message was proclaimed in downtown Springfield, MO on January 9, 2015)