The Final Judgement of Mankind

tears already knew it revelation 20 the title of my message is the final judgment of mankind let's pray together now father as we open your word very early this Sunday morning we pray that you will speak to us now will see the urgency of the material that we're gonna look at together this coming judgement it's a reality but thankfully Lord those of us will put our faith in you we do not have to fear this judgment but many will have to face it and our concern is for them so speak to us as we open your word we committed to you in Jesus name Amen well I think you know that I'm a grandparent right have I made that clear yeah I have four granddaughters in fact last night they were all over and I have one grandson so we have Riley Stella Ali and Lucy not in that order and then little Christopher named after my oldest son and so they were all together in the house and it was just chaos just mess after mess after mess but a lot of fun at the same time well little alley just cleared - she's about two years and four months and she is a little bunny rabbit named fuzzy it was named by her older sister Riley well Allie gets so excited when this rabbit comes out of its cage and it has a very large cage said he lives in and I know some of you think it's cruel to put a little rabbit in a cage but I guess that's all how you look at things as I'll point out here in a moment but so will bring fuzzy the rabbit out for Allie she squeal went to life but the problem is she doesn't always hold him properly sometimes she picks him up by the head and no no alley support his bottom - and her you know should be holding them in and he'll leap out of her arms and so she'll play with him for a while and I was taking fuzzy back to his cage and I was probably four feet away from the cage he left out of my arms into the cage that girl was open I've never seen an animal want to get back in the cage so badly so this comes right to my earlier point it's all how you look at things he sent me won't say it's cruel to keep a rabbit in a cage those bars are are keeping them confined meanwhile fuzzy the rabbit an actual rabbit who is qualified to address a topic says in his own rabbit way these bars keep Allie out this is a safe place for me I think you know where I'm going with this some people seek God's absolutes His commandments as a cage keeping them in keeping them from doing what they really want to do but a smart person will realize that those rules and those standards and those absolutes are there to keep harm out but some people have to learn the hard way and here before it some revelation 20 is a story of people learning the hard way this is where the Millennium is now beginning we're looking at that section of a scripture were Satan is bound for a thousand years he's been cast into a pit immobilize unable to tempt or harass or attack or accuse and all the world is under the rule of Jesus Christ there's a get any better than this no does everyone appreciate the rule and reign of Jesus Christ again no now we who have returned with the Lord in the second coming at the Battle of Armageddon are ruling and reigning with Christ we now in our glorified bodies which we will get at the rapture but there are people who are on this earth that are not in glorified bodies there are people in this earth who have survived the tribulation period and then they have their children and their children and on it goes until a thousand years transpire and there's actually almost inexplicably a final rebellion against a rule and reign of Jesus after Satan is let out of his holding tank so we're gonna look at that a little bit and then there is a final judgment that all mankind will have to face and I speak of those that have not yet known the Lord but let's come back to the Millennium for a moment before we get to that millennium is just a word that can translate out to a thousand years or simply a thousand so this is the millennial reign of Christ again Satan is bound what would this new world be like that we will rule and reign over with Christ well number one there will finally be world peace no more threat of terrorism no more nuclear threats I don't know if you read the papers this week but North Korea has now threatened a pre-emptive strike against the United States there would have been a time where maybe we would dismiss this as a joke but the problem is is they have developed a functional nuclear weapon maybe not as large and powerful as weapons that we possess but a genuine nuclear weapon nonetheless that they have detonated so it is a concern meanwhile Iran is getting dangerously close to that red line that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu recently warned of now if nuclear war is gonna break it on the earth before Christ returns we don't know I think there are some descriptions in Revelation and we have touched on that would seem to imply perhaps it will but we know this much when Christ returns during his reign there'll be no more war this is a very well known scripture from Isaiah chapter 2 verse 4 the Lord will settled Internet disputes and the nations will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks all wars will stop and military training will come to an end number two there's gonna be joy and happiness and no more disabilities no more depression no more wheelchairs no more blindness no more disability of any kind again from Isaiah chapter 35 verse 5 when he comes he'll open the eyes of the blind unstop the ears of the Deaf the lame will leap like a deer and those who cannot speak will shout and sing number 3 people will live very long lives Isaiah 65 20 says no longer while babies die when only a few days old no longer will adults die because they've lived a long life no longer will people be considered old at a hundred so this is not so much speaking of us because we're in a glorified body at this point so we don't really have bodies at AIDS but the survivors of the tribulation period will benefit from this rule and reign of Christ and will live long lives number four the animal kingdom will be subdue this is that famous passage where we read about the wolf and the lamb together with the child leading them animals will be completely tame and docile I see 11:6 says the wolf will rump with a lamb the leopard will sleep with the kid calf and lion will eat from the same trough and a little child will lead them they'll be no more zoos or animal parts I will be able to interact with these amazing creatures so your little child will say mom I'm gonna take the Gators out for a walk it's a ok honey now don't hurt them don't lift them up by the head I remember I was in Africa years ago I went on a little safari and we are in one of these trucks where they will just drive out in the the open areas there where you can see the animals in their natural environment and we came up on a pride of lions and there are amazing creatures and and and there was the male the female and some little Cubs and and I was amazed that they we were so close I was as close to them as I am from the front row here and I asked the person guy who was guiding us why the Lions don't attack he says well they they won't attack us in the truck but we can't leave the truck well there was a guy with us who was really drunk and this was early in the morning this guy was drunk and he said I want to see the Lions and he was trying to get out of the truck and and the guide would say no sir you must stay in that I wanna see the lion I was saying let him go let's see what happened but his Alliance ate this guy they would have been inebriated for a week but there'll be a time where we will be able to see the lion so to speak number five they'll be universal justice and righteousness no more corrupt lawyers or activist judges or injustice or frivolous lawsuits some 72 - he'll judge your people and righteousness the afflicted ones with justice he'll defend defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy and number six the curse that came upon the world because of sin will finally be lifted Romans 8:19 says all creation is waiting eagerly for the future when cod reveal who has children really are everything on earth which was subjected to God's curse will join God's children in freedom from death and decay and number seven and lastly holiness will prevail all the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord now today the opposite is true unholiness prevails wrong is celebrated writers laughed at but that's all gonna change in the millennium Isaiah 35 eight says a main road will go through that once deserted land it will be named the highway of holiness evil hearted people will never travel on it this is the glorious lynnium but there's trouble in paradise look at revelation 20 now verse 7 when the thousand years are expired Satan will be loosed out of his prison and he will go out to deceive the nations that are in the four quarters of the earth Gog and Magog and gather them together to battle the number of humans as the sand of the sea and they went up to the breadth of the earth and it comes compass the camp of the Saints and the beloved city that would be referring to Jerusalem and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever we'll stop there now why is Satan released again and who is he deceiving oh let me answer the second question first though who will be the descendants of the original survivors of the Tribulation Period you see they still have sinful natures and apparently they respond quickly to the enticements of the just-released devil we love to say the devil made we do it but often we bring a lot of our problems upon ourself they're already willing to rebel against God why is that because we have sinful hearts we're told over in James 1:14 every one is tempted one by his own desire he has dragged away and enticed and when desire has conceived it gives birth to sin and sin when it's full-grown gives birth to death back to the rabbit story these people are living in a perfect environment and I bring this up because people often say the reason that people do the things that they do is because of their environment if we could change the environment if we could change where they are then they would be better people well no actually that's not the case this is the best environment imaginable yet these people still rebel against God Chuck Swindoll in his book unravel and writes and I quote Satan's brief release and humanity's funeral rebellion proves two things the total incorrigibility of Satan and the total depravity of humanity end quote I mean the Bible is so clear in pointing this out again and again because people like to think they're basically good they'll say well you know what God knows my heart man yeah that's the problem the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart here's what the Bible says about the heart Jeremiah 17:9 the human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked Ecclesiastes 9 3 says the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives and it's true your heart is not pure like you may think it is your heart is capable of horrible things it's hard to believe that children born in the Millennium would not want to follow Jesus but some won't and it's just their nature to rebel against God but this is not the first time this has happened we know this happened in heaven they're very angels of God in heaven rebelled against the Lord what could be more perfect than being in heaven itself with a lord presence but yet Lucifer apparently a pretty influential angel led one third of the Angels into rebellion and that was in heaven fast forward to the Garden of Eden here on him and Eve in a paradise God would actually show up every day and take a walk without him and they would converse together yet they rebelled against God this is sort of like Eden revisited it's like the Garden of Eden happening all over again here is mankind in a perfect environment rebelling against the Lord and it happens in Christian homes too you know we raise our children on the way of the Lord we do everything that we can to love them and to point them to Christ and sometimes they rebel and sometimes we feel as though we are failures parents listen if having a prodigal child meant that you were a failure then God is a failure because God has a lot of prodigal children so don't be too hard on yourself if your child is rebelling right now or if your little one is not following the Lord as you hope they would you know sometimes I'll talk to parents and they'll say Oh raising kids it's easy I don't know why people say it's so hard our kids love the Lord they're submissive to us really how old are they five and six shut up you talk to me after you've had a teenager and maybe I'll listen to you I love the advice of dr. Dobson when he talked about raising a teen he said it's like being in a raft and going down the whitewater he says just hold on and remember it doesn't last forever that's probably pretty accurate you know it's just hang in there and they come through these things and keep praying for your kids but my point is this even in a great environment people can and often will Ravel and here is the devil he's been in a pit for a thousand years as this incarceration done him any good as he changed his ways no like a hardened criminal to spend several years in prison and then it's released only to commit more of the same terrible crimes the devil takes up where he last left off he can't wait to get out of that pit and do what he does best which is raise hell so God says okay you want to raise hell I'm gonna send you to hell and that's exactly what happens verse 10 and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever so now we come to the great white throne judgment now the Bible teaches are actually two deaths one is physical death and the other is spiritual death Jesus warned that were to fear the second death more than the first day revelation 20:14 as death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death it's also mentioned in Revelation 21:8 but cowards you turn away from me and unbelievers and the corrupt and murderers in the immoral and those are practice witchcraft are cast into the lake of fire this is the second death what is the second death basically it's Hell which is eternal separation from God Jesus indicated that the depth of the body is nothing compared to the conscious everlasting banishment of a soul from God one commentator wrote and I quote the second death is the continuance of spiritual death and another in timeless existence in quote even another wrote quote eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise it just goes on forever now some might say well I don't believe in Hellfire well trust me five minutes after you get there you'll believe in it it's real and Jesus spoke more about Hell and all the other preachers of the Bible put together so let's read about the great white throne judgment revelation 20 starting in verse 11 and I saw a great white throne if him that sound and up from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them and I saw the dead small and great standing before God and the books were opened in another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged according to their works by the things which are written in the books the sea gave up the dead that were in it death and Hades delivered up the dead that were in them and they were judged each one according to his works then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire stop there clearly this is an ominous scene this is the most serious sobering and tragic passage in all of the Bible abandon hope all ye who enter here are the famous words above the gates of Hell and Dante's poem Inferno this is the great white throne it's called great because of its awesome power in its ultimate purpose and the purpose is judgement it's white because of its purity the verdicts that will proceed from it are righteousness there'll be no debate over killed or innocence at this judgment there'll be a prosecutor but there'll be no defender there'll be an accuser but no advocate there will be an indictment but no defense will be mounted by the accused the convicting evidence will be reset presented with no opportunity for rebuttal or no cross-examination there's no jury just a judge and his judgment is binding for all eternity this is it the final judgment so what happens to an unbeliever when they die right now well they go to Hades or help Jesus gave us a behind-the-scenes look at what happens after death and Luke chapter 16 then we have the story of two men who died one is righteous one is a godless one is wealthy the other is poor one has known the other is unknown on death is no respecter of persons everyone will have to die you know sometimes we think that only non-believers are going to die in an auto accident or die of cancer or have a heart attack that won't happen to Christians well it does happen to Christians everyone dies death doesn't respect persons a it's the great equalizer and it's interesting because when the believer in this story dies who actually has given the name which shows us this is not a parable where a parable is an illustration or an earthly story with the heavenly meaning this is an actual story this is like a behind-the-scenes look at what happens in eternity so one of these men the godly one Lazarus goes straight into the presence of God at death Luke 16 22 Jesus said when the beggar died he was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom and the rich man died and was buried you know it's been almost five years now since our son Christopher went to be with the Lord and it comforts me to know that he like all believers was carried by angels into God's presence that is a great promise you know we could see how glorious this next world is it would change our perspective on everything you remember the story of the first martyr of the church Stephen in Acts chapter 7 he was putting put to death for his faith in Christ and he was given a glimpse of glory Acts 755 says Stephen full of the Holy Spirit case steadily toward heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the place of honor at God's right hand and then Stephen said to the people stoning him look I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man is standing at the place of honor at God's right can and then the scripture says at that moment Stephens face became as bright as in angels can you imagine that moment this young man just radiating God's glory as he has given a glimpse of what is happening on the other side when the great evangelist Neil Mooney was on his deathbed he was quoted to say is this time why this is bliss there is no valley I have been within the gates earth is receding heaven is opening God is calling I must go and then Moody died and went into the presence of the Lord so yes prior to the death and resurrection of Jesus the believer all so went to Hades now this confuses people because they think of Hades as being an entirely horrible place but prior to the death and resurrection of Jesus we could say Hades had two sections smoking and non-smoking non-smoking was a place of comfort described as Abraham's bosom so this comes back to the question what about the Old Testament believer when they died what happened to them they went to Hades to the place of comfort in Abraham's bosom but you see after Jesus died he went to Hades and preached to those who had been waiting for the arrival of the Messiah and now they are in heaven so now when a believer dies he goes straight to heaven the Bible says that's right it's worth clapping for it amen the Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord Paul said I I'm kind of caught in the middle I have a desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better so he understood that when he left this world he would go straight into God's presence but what happens to the numbly ver well that smoking section of Hades is still there and Hades empties out its occupants if you will for the great white throne judgment and then they go from Hades to the lake of fire they go from bad to worse sort of like a person who's arrested maybe they're kept in jail then they're sentenced and they're sent to prison well this is what's happening here they've been in a holding tank of sorts not a pleasant place a horrible place but ultimately they're sent to the worst place imaginable so what do we learn from Jesus about this place that non-believers go to now even before the great white throne judgment well we know people and he these are he'll suffer a Luke 16 23 we read that the rich man who was an unbeliever was in torment in Hades and lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his so he was speaking of torment that's what happens in the afterlife it's mentioned four times in the text of this story non-believers are not reincarnated over and over again they don't go to purgatory they go to this place and it's a place of torment number two once you're there you can't cross over once you're in you know you can't cross over to heaven the impossibility of constant from one side to another suggests that once eternal destiny is settled here and now not in some future world that's why it's so insane when people say well I'll work it out with God later no you work it out with God now cuz once you board that flight you can't get off once you're there you can't change things it's too late for you at that point we make these decisions now physical death is a separation of the soul from the body and constitutes a transition from the visible world to the invisible for the believer we enter into paradise into the presence of Jesus for the non-believer they go to this place Hades or hell number three you're conscious there listen to this you're fully aware of where you are look 16 24 we read that that sinner cried father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus and he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame he's aware of where he is he's alarmed by it he wants his brothers to be warned I don't think it's so much because he cared not much about his brothers and effect he was sort of saying that this isn't fair it's not right I didn't know about this place but he did know about that place because he had been taught the scriptures as a young man so there's no partying there needless to say because people say they'll get to hell and party well unless you like to party in a blast furnace I think you need to do away with that idea there are so many wrong ideas about the after it's almost unbelievable so this is what is happening for the numba livre when they go over to the other side but now let's think about this great white throne judgment because as bad as HEDIS is it's not the end there's still the judgment to come and the lake of fire or the second death who will be at the great white throne judgment short answer everyone who has rejected God's offer of forgiveness through Jesus Christ there's no chance for repentance no second chance at this judgment you've already been arrested charged and found guilty this is for sinners in general but there's different kinds of sinners number one there are just out-and-out are sinners and they're proud of it you know they they don't have time for God they hate God they oppose God sometimes they describes themselves as atheists but for the most part they go out of their way to break every commandment God has given but then there are self-righteous sinners they're different than garden-variety sinners if you will ah they'll be very proud of their moral life or the things that they do they might be kind people they might be considerate they might volunteer to help out here and there and and they give money to worthy causes and so forth and frankly they don't think they need God or as forgiveness because they're generally good people and I think that many of them will be shocked when they arrive at this great white throne judgment because scripture is very clear and pointed out in Titus 3:5 it's not by works of righteousness that we have done but according to His mercy he has saved us everybody needs Jesus even a good person and I put that in quotes and there are good people the Bible doesn't dispute that what the Bible dispute says no one is good enough to get to heaven on their own merit but we have all met people who we would consider good I've met non-believers who I think are nicer people than some believers I know right and the only consolation I find is well think of how much worse that believer would be if they weren't saved I mean this is the improved version but there are genuinely nice people kind people considerate people that's fine but that's not enough to get you to give it you don't get to given by being a good person heaven is not for good people it's for forgiving people only so those self righteous will be there procrastinators will be there too these are people that maybe are closer than the other two groups they might even be people who accepted that Jesus Christ was the son of God maybe they believed intellectually the Bible was the Word of God maybe they even said one of these days I'm going to become a Christian but one of these days never came did they they had many opportunities but they kept putting it off why because they never planned on coming and number four there's going to be unsaved church members unsaved church members now these people are interesting because they went to church they had Bibles they would bow their head in prayer and they knew about God but they did not know God they never really trusted in Christ and they loved double lives perhaps thinking they were fooling people maybe they did fool people but they never fool God as I've said before you can fool all of the people some of the time you can fool some of the people all of the time but you can't fool God any of the time what will happen to these religious people is it just in Matthew 7 by Jesus when he says not everyone that says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he that does the will of my father who is in heaven many will come to me in that day and say Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform any miracles then I will tell them I never knew you get away from me you evil doers what they prophesied in his name they cast out demons in his name and it calls him an evildoer maybe they'll say we receive communion in your name we were baptized in your name we gave our confession in your name we attended church in your name and actually Jesus says you're an evil doer why because if good works are done for the wrong reason they can actually be a bad thing so now we come to that actual judgment verse 12 I saw the dead small and great standing before God and the books were open everyone's there doesn't matter if you were a king or a queen or an emperor or a president or a prime minister or a rock star or a billionaire or an actor everyone's there so why are they there why because they did not believe Jesus said in John 3:18 he that believes in me has not condemned but he that does not believe in me is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son so the question arises if an unbeliever is already condemned what is the purpose of the Last Judgement listen the purpose of this final confrontation between God and men is to clearly demonstrate to the numbly ver why he has already condemned let me repeat that the purpose of the final confrontation between God and man is to clearly demonstrate to the non-believer why he has already condemned and it all comes down to the books I want you to notice there are books plural and there's a book singular first there are the books verse 12 which are opened now what are these books well no one can say with certainty because we're not told here but we can look at other passages that would maybe suggest to us what these books may be maybe one of these books is the book of God's law anyone who has been exposed to the truth of God's law this held respond of all why did God give the law why did he give the Ten Commandments to make us righteous no to show us we're not righteous enough we're told in Romans 3:19 God gave the law at every mouth may be stopped in all the world guilty before God God gave the law to open our eyes and to shut our mouths to help us see that we're guilty so when people say why live by the Ten Commandments that's all the religion I need my responses no you don't and by the way if someone ever says that to you here's what you ought to ask them you live by the Ten Commandments yes I do name them most people can many Christians can't name all the Ten Commandments but the fact is no one lives by the Ten Commandments and no one really can I mean you stop and think about them a have no other gods before me don't take the Lord's name in vain don't steal don't lie well I've never broken those commitments you're lying right now what are you talking about and even if you kept all of them let's just say for the sake of a point though this isn't true but for the sake of an argument you kept all the commandments through your whole life and only once did you break one here's a problem if you offend in one point of a law you're guilty of all of it the scripture says so you see the commandments might be one of these books that are open showing here are the commandments here's where you broke the commandments number two maybe another book is a record of everything we have said and done because we're told in Ecclesiastes 12 14 God will judge us for everything we do including every hidden thing good or bad I mean think about that everything you have said and done everything you have said and done every phone call every email every text everything is recorded you'll have to give an account of that now you say well this is carrying me great but remember now let me digress for a moment if you're a Christian you're not here this has already been taken care of for you because Jesus absorbed God's wrath of the cross of Calvary in your place and you were forgiven for these things you see you're forgiven now if you haven't put your faith in Christ you should be freaking out right now if you have put your faith in Christ you should not be you should be thankful that you'll be with the Lord this is the future of non-believers maybe another book would be a record of how the person failed to live up to their own standards you know people will often say well I have my own view of God the way I see the Lord and I have my own standards I live by I don't even think people live by their own standards because we intuitively know what right and wrong art Romans 2:14 says even when non-believers who did not have God's written law instinctively follow what the law says they show that in their hearts they know right from wrong they demonstrate that God's law is written within them for their own conscience accuses them or tells them what their is doing is right the day will come on God by Christ well judge every man's secret life I think people violate their own standards they knew what was right and they violated it they knew what was wrong but they did it it would seem like another one of these books would be a record of all the times you heard the gospel maybe like that man in the story in Luke 16 that was in torment oh I need to go back into my brothers we never heard about this maybe people will say in this final lake I never knew there was a final judgment I never knew this was coming I never heard about Jesus Christ the Lord will say well actually you did in fact you heard about a many many times and maybe there's a record of every time you heard about Jesus here you are a little child in Sunday school and the teachers talking here you are a little bit later and you heard this Christian radio broadcast here you are a little bit later and someone took you to a Harvest Crusade here you are a little bit someone actually came up to you on the street here you are in the hospital on your deathbed and a member of your family told you they'd been praying for you and you blew them all off don't say you haven't heard it you've heard it and knowledge brings responsibility so there's no one complain ignorance but some would say well how could a God of love send people to hell I mean this is just an inconsistency on the part of God listen to this the fact is because he is a God of love and justice he invented hell there has to be a hell why because there's a devil and there are demons that follow the devil and if ever there was someone that deserved to go to hell it was the devil Jesus said the hell was created for the devil and his angels in Matthew 25:41 hell was not made for people hell was made for the devil and his angels so you might say them why are people going there because they follow the devil and his angels and they reject God's offer our forgiveness what do you want God to do God says all right I sent my son to suffer and die in your place I poured my wrath upon him though he was completely innocent so I could forgive you and all you have to do is accept this gift you blow it off yeah I don't want that gift no really please accept the gift and I want you get throughout life God pursues you accept this gift receive my forgiveness no no can we follow the devil well then you're gonna end up with the devil ends up J I Packer wrote and I quote scripture sees Hell itself chosen hell appears as God's gesture of respect for human choice I'll receive what they actually chose either to be with God forever worshiping him or without God forever worshiping themselves and quote CS Lewis said quote there are only two kinds of people in the end those who say to God thy will be done and those to whom God says in the end by will be done all who are in hell choose it without that self choice there could be no tell so they're there because they effectively chose to go there well people are very uncomfortable with this topic even Christians are uncomfortable with it because this is a not a fun subject to talk about certainly not a fun subject to preach on I'll tell you that but it's a truth right so I have to tell the truth but some people will sort of laugh this off like it's a big joke you know Woody Allen's famous line he'll is the future abode of all those people that personally annoy me have you ever seen that TV show called Inside the Actors Studio and the interviewers named James Lipton and he interviews a lot of actors and he has a series of questions he asked every person who comes on his show and one of those questions is I believe it's the last one if there is a heaven what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates again if there is a heaven or if Heaven exists what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates here's some of the answers from actors out there Ben Affleck says I like to hear God say your friends are in the back they're expecting you ellen barkin the actress come in God will say have a drink sit down smoke a cigarette Angelina Jolie God will say to her she said you are allowed in Johnny Depp said he will say Wow profound Richard Dreyfuss said God will say it's not as boring as you might have thought come in Anthony Hopkins said God will say to him what were you doing down there Will Smith said God will say good work dawg Robert Redford said God will say to him you're too early Tom Cruise said God will say come on in you did a good job susan sarandon says God will say well actually susan sarandon responded she will say speaking of God let's party Robert De Niro says God will say well his response was if Heaven exists God has a lot of explaining to do I don't think so and James Lipton himself said well I would say God would say you see Jim you were wrong well heaven does exist and I'll tell you what will really happen if you're a believer God will say well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of your Lord if you're an unbeliever you'll say depart from me I never knew you you worker of iniquity and you know since we've talked about these books I wonder if one of these books would have all these witty answers that these clever actors and actresses had oh yeah remember when you were on that show let's watch that again not so funny now is it this is the reality of what will happen it's inescapable and unavoidable everyone will meet Jesus Christ either you meet him as Savior and Lord and you spend all eternity in heaven or you mean him as judge and you have to face death the Bible says every knee will bow every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father you see this is really up to us we decide where we will spend eternity Hell is a prison in which the doors are first locked from the inside by us and therefore are locked from the outside by God this is not where God wants anyone to go so how should we react to this well number one we want to make sure we're not going to hell so needless to say we want to make sure we put our faith in Christ but number two we should also want to make sure that no one that we know is going to hell either now I can't control where a person spends our eternal destiny and I cannot force a person to believe but I can do everything I can to influence them right starting by praying for them secondly going to them and sharing the love of Christ with them and doing everything I can to bring them to faith in Jesus and not giving up on them so hearing a message like this should cause us to want to redouble our efforts to reach people that don't know the Lord I remember my mom you know she rebelled against God for her whole life she was the ultimate prodigal daughter and I had many conversations with my mom and they were always awkward and uncomfortable because my mom never wanted to talk about it whenever the topic turned to spiritual things she would say I don't want to talk about it so one day I just woke up and I turned to my wife Kathy and I said I've got to go talk to my mom today she said why so I just have to I have to go see my mom today and we're gonna have the conversation again and I said I have I just knew the Lord was directing me to go talk to her so I went to her and I sat down with her and and I said I want to talk to you about your relationship with God she said I don't want to talk about it I said today we're gonna talk about it see she was stubborn but her son was even more stubborn so we're gonna have the conversation and we had it and that resulted in my mom making a recommitment of Christ and I was on a trip when I heard the horrible news that my mom had died it was unexpected she was ill but we thought she would pull through it and one month later and so why do I bring this up because sometimes God puts it on your heart to go have the conversation let me tell you something when he tells you to do it do it my mom was married as you know many times so the man she was married to at the end and for 25 years or longer it was named bill and so my mom had already died and he was alone and and I heard that bill was very ill bill was on his deathbed and I thought well I was getting ready to go on a trip and I was gonna fly and so on I said well I'll go see him tomorrow and someone said maybe you should go see him today am i I'm really didn't have any time to do it and again I felt that direction from the Lord go now okay so I just went over and I sat down with them and he was oh yeah he looked like he was at death's door and we had the conversation again I said Bill you know my mom put her faith in Christ your wife and and you're gonna be an eternity soon and have you put your faith in Jesus and and he said he really had not yet so we prayed he asked Christ into his life and then I went on my trip and right when I landed I got to call bill died only hours have the conversation Oh Greg gets uncomfortable really who cares it won't be as uncomfortable is the eternal destination of a person now look ultimately God's in control of these things I don't want to lay it too heavy on your like it's all up to you it's up to God and God can intervene but guess what God reaches people through what people and he gives us that burden and then we get the joy of sharing and the work that God does and so you think right now about people you know and maybe they are people that are older maybe it's your mom your dad your grandfather your grandmother someone else you know or it might be someone that is young and vibrant and has her whole life ahead of them but the Lord is leading you to talk to them my advice to you is go do it worst-case scenarios I say no best-case scenario they'll say yes maybe they'll say later but at least you know you've done your part but let me close by saying the only way you can be sure you won't be here is by believing in Jesus and when you do that your name is written in the book it's written in the book let's pray father I pray for anyone hearing now this message who may not yet know you as we saw this great white throne judgment there will be Church people there people who've heard many sermons people who prayed many prayers but people that do not know you lord help them to see their need for you help them to come to you right now we pray now on our heads about her eyes are closed and we're praying maybe you would say Greg I hear I am at this very early surface but I'm not sure that I am a Christian I don't have complete confidence my name is written in the book of life but I want it to be I want to go to heaven when I die I want to be forgiven of my sins pray for me if that's your desire if you want to be sure of this if you want Christ to come into your life and you want him to forgive you of your sin I want you to raise your hand up right now wherever you're sitting and I'm gonna pray for you you want Christ in your life you want to be sure you'll go to heaven when you die raise up your hand I'll pray for you today god bless you anybody else raise your hand if where I can see it let me pray for you God bless you don't be embarrassed god bless you god bless you i admire every one that does this it's great this is why you're here this is what we're here for anybody else you want to be sure you'll be able to stand before God and be forgiven and go to heaven raise your hand up let me pray for you god bless you anybody else up in the balcony god bless you too one final moment if you ever raise your hand yet lift it now pray for you god bless you all right now all of you that are lifting your hand I want you to pray this prayer after me right where you sit again as I pray pray this out loud after me right where you are Lord Jesus I know I'm a sinner but you died on the cross for my sin now I turn from that sin aput my faith in you I want to go to heaven one day so thank you for calling me and forgiving me and accepting me in Jesus name I pray amen god bless you that prayed their prayer all of you you

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 28,259

Rating: 4.8770685 out of 5

Keywords: harvest, greg, laurie, god, jesus, fellowship, final, judgement, mankind

Id: xNwwgOEGp1A

Length: 54min 14sec (3254 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 20 2013