The Final Rules: How to Succeed in the Game of Life 6

this morning is the final sermon in our six-part sermon series entitled how to succeed in the game of life now the reason i'm comparing life to a game is because it's a wonderful analogy to use to explain how to succeed in life people it's true life is like a game it has an objective it has rules and it also has instructions on how to play the game that's why we're studying the bible because that's god's instructions on how to play this game that we call life now i've already explained the objective so now we're actually going through the rules not all of the rules because that would take forever in fact as you continue to come to church here from time to time we'll be going through these rules to the game of life but right now i'm just giving you what i consider to be the top five these are what i consider to be the most important now so far i've given you three rules and since this is the final sermon then you know that i'm going to be giving you the fourth and fifth rule this morning so here's rule number four if you're taking notes write this down you must live life to the fullest and have fun doing it that's right if you really want to succeed in life if you want to make the most out of life you have to live life to the fullest and have fun doing it this is like the number one rule in our house in fact one of the things that i've always told my kids is this dream big aim high and dare to fail in fact that's one of the things you should be telling your children from the time they are toddlers to the time they leave your home you need to be saying dream big aim high and dare to fail now does everyone know what i mean by dare to fail dare to fail simply means to take risk you see some people are so fearful of failure that they never aspire to do great things so they spend their entire life playing it safe and taking the easy route so they won't have to fail listen to me people that is a horrible way to live life trust me if you really want to succeed in life then you need to dream big you need to aim high and you need to dare to fail in other words take risk and don't forget to have fun doing it if you fail so what what's the worst thing that can happen if you fail think about it and say well it's not that bad so if you do fail just pick yourself up dust yourself off and try again i've missed more than 9 000 shots in my career i've lost almost 300 games 26 times i've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed i've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why i succeed that's good people if you want to be a star if you want to do great things in life let me just tell you you will fail that's just a part of life dare to fail listen to me god wants you to live life to the fullest he wants you to have fun doing it i'm serious god wants you to have an exciting fun-filled enjoyable life and i want to prove that to you this morning so if you would turn with me to the book of ecclesiastes chapter 11 but before we read verse number nine let me give you a little bit of background information on the book of ecclesiastes the name of the book ecclesiastes is actually transliterated from the greek word ecclesiastes you see the greek word for the church is ecclesia how many of you knew that you've read enough christian books and you knew that the name for the church in the original greek is ecclesia so the name of the church or the word for church is ecclesia in greek but the word for pastor in greek is ecclesiastes so the church is the ecclesia and the preacher is the ecclesiastes now the reason i think this is important is because in this book the preacher's main objective is to explain the purpose and the meaning of life to the church in other words he wants to explain what's the purpose of life or what's life all about now here's what's funny most preachers teach the exact opposite of what solomon does in the book of ecclesiastes and they do that for two reasons number one they don't feel like solomon's teaching is spiritual enough seriously you see most pastors are what i call mcdonald's pastors everyone anyone ever heard of the term mcdonald's pastors well let me explain what a mcdonald's pasture is what does mcdonald's ask whenever you place your order would you like to supersize that do you remember that well actually they're not doing that anymore and one of the reasons they're not doing that anymore is because of frivolous lawsuits you know now we want to blame everyone else for our problems we don't take responsibility for our life so people like me say the reason i'm fat is because of mcdonald's no the reason i'm fat is not because of mcdonald's the reason i'm fat is because i have no self-control i walk in the flesh because one of the uh of the characteristics of the fruit of the spirits is temperance which means self-control so when i can't control what i'm eating that means that it's my fault it's not mcdonald's fault but before all of these frivolous lawsuits if you went to mcdonald's and you placed an order what they would say is would you like to supersize that and i always said if i wanted to supersize it i would have supersized it anyways most pastors are like mcdonald's they want to supersize the word of god in other words they want to take the word of god and they want to make it super spiritual they want to take something that's real simple they want to make it hard to understand in other words they want to make it super spiritual but solomon kept it simple just like jesus did you know what's interesting to me as i go through the bible and i read what jesus taught it never was really difficult it's really pretty simple and that's the job of a teacher my job is to take something that you think is difficult to make it very simple so that by the time you leave you go i understand that that's pretty simple in fact let me tell you what my goal is my goal is to take anything in the word of god and to break it down and make it where an eighth grader can understand it now the reason it's eighth graders because we actually had church for middle school and under so by the time you get to be a freshman and you come in here i've made it right underneath your level everyone can understand it but jesus did that and so did solomon he made it very easy to understand now the second reason most preachers teach the exact opposite of of what the book of ecclesiastes does is because they've never studied the book of ecclesiastes so they really don't know what ecclesiastes teaches they don't even know that they are contradicting the word of god now i know that sounds condescending but it's true and let me tell you why the majority of pastors never teach on the book of ecclesiastes i just got through saying he keeps it simple but it's because the book of ecclesiastes is hard to understand only because of one phrase you see you start reading the book of ecclesiastes and what does it say it says everything in life is vanity under the sun now we read that and we go what's he telling us he's telling us that life is meaningless that it's that's all vanity no he's saying everything under the sun is vanity and if you don't know what that phrase under the sun means then the book doesn't make sense now once you understand that that phrase is a hebraism all of a sudden it opens up the book of ecclesiastes it's a very simple book to understand it's like the key to understanding it now most of you think i'm going to give you that key but i'm not i don't have time if you want to know what that phrase under the sun means then you need to get my series on ecclesiastes i'm not trying to make money you can go to our website i think it's still on there but you'll figure out what that phrase under the sun means by listening to my teaching on the book of ecclesiastes and then you'll find out wow this is one of the most interesting books in the entire bible so let's find out what the preacher the ecclesiastes has to say about life turn with me if you would as i said in the beginning to ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse number 9. now we're ready to read it young man it's wonderful to be young maybe we could say it like this it's horrible to be old but anyways it's wonderful to be young enjoy every minute of it do everything you want to do take it all in but remember that you must give an account to god for everything you do now i love the way that solomon starts this passage of scripture he starts it with it's wonderful to be young and it's true it's wonderful to have your whole life in front of you and just looking at all of the possibilities that that you have in front of you is exhilarating so it's common for young people to constantly dream about all of the things that they want to do with their life i really enjoy going to ball games when it's homecoming and one of the reasons i do is because you have all of these young people that's coming out before the ball game you know you've got the all sports queen you've got the football queen the basketball queen the wrestling queen and now because of all the sports we have i mean it goes from one end zone to the other end zone but the reason i enjoy watching that is because after they do that little bio their parents are this they're in this club or this organization they finally get to what this person wants to do with their life and have you ever noticed that no one says i want to work a minimum wage job is something i ate i plan on being a huge failure no these kids they're thinking about all the things they have to do in life now they're not thinking about the difficult road that lays ahead to get there but they always want to be a microbiologist or a marine biologist or they want to be not just an architect they want to live in washington dc and they want to design and it's just kind of interesting to listen to this because i'm thinking wow you barely made it through high school and this is what you want to do but anyways it's common for young people to constantly dream about all the things that they want to do with their life and here's what's so interesting about the book of ecclesiastes solomon doesn't tell them that they're wrong he doesn't tell them that you can't do that he doesn't squash their dreams instead he actually encourages them he tells them to enjoy every minute of their life to do everything they want to do he says to take it all in in other words he tells them to go for it i really think if solomon lived today he could file a frivolous lawsuit against nike because they took his phrase solomon said to just do it to go for it now what he's really saying is this do you dream of going to colorado living and just snow skiing all the time do it do you dream of back backpacking across europe then do it do you dream of going to college to be an architect or maybe a lawyer or a doctor or a marine biologist i don't know why that was real popular for a while everyone wanted to be a marine biologist but if you dream of doing that solomon says go for it so what i want you to notice is that solomon's philosophy of life is go for it live life to the fullest do all that you want to do take it all in that's what he's saying now there is one word of caution that solomon gives us look at the last part of verse number nine he says but remember that you must give an account to god for everything you do in other words don't do anything stupid that you might regret later on in life in fact later on after this life he says feel free to do anything you want to do in life as long as not something that you're going to be ashamed of when you stand before god because we get to the end of the book of ecclesiastes and the one thing that we find out is solomon tells us you're going to stand before god one day there's going to be a resurrection and you're going to have to give an account for everything that you've ever done here on this earth and people that's great advice now if this is the case why do some people feel guilty about enjoying life i can remember when i first got into ministry i was actually an associate pastor at another church and we got this phone call and it was for an older man now you have to remember i was very young so he seemed ancient and he was very afraid because he knew that he was nearing death he had cancer and he asked if someone from the church because he didn't go to our church if someone from the church would come and talk to him so of course being an associate pastor the pastor sent me and i sat down with him and you know what i found out he was afraid because he had enjoyed his life he had lived a sinful life so i find that for the majority of us we kind of feel like if we enjoy life you know we'll maybe we should feel guilty about that so why do people feel guilty about it well i'll tell you why it's because they've been taught if they have too much fun or if you enjoy life too much it must be a sin and people that's not true that's a lie the truth is god wants you to enjoy life in fact he wants you to enjoy all aspects of life turn to the book of ecclesiastes chapter 9 and let's read verses 7 through 10 and i'm going to prove it to you notice what it says so go ahead eat your food and drink your wine with a happy heart for god approves of this wear fine clothes with the dash of cologne live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that god has given you in this world the wife god gives you is your reward for all of your earthly toil whatever you do do well for when you go to the grave there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom now in this passage of scripture solomon specifically mentions four different aspects of life the first one is found in verse number seven and it deals with recreation what you might say having fun look at verse number seven so go ahead eat your food and drink your wine with a happy heart for god approves of this people eating and drinking with a happy heart is actually a figure of speech that refers to getting together with friends and family and having fun it's symbolic in every culture of having a good time that's why holidays center around food and alcohol because food and parties go hand in hand now i was raised in the baptist church so i'm going to go off on a tangent here the bible does not teach that drinking is a sin but it does teach that drunkenness is people drunkenness is a sin and one of the reasons it doesn't teach that drinking is a sin is because in those days the majority of the water came from cisterns and cisterns was not what we would call live water it's not flowing it's just sitting there because it's just sitting there you can get a lot of bacteria in there the different type of bugs for that area whatever is there so in order to make sure that the water was safe they would actually mix alcohol with the water they would water it down in the sense the alcohol but the whole purpose of it was to clean the water so you wouldn't get sick because you're drinking out of still water in fact i'll go a little bit further do you remember when paul told timothy drink a little wine for thy stomach's sake do you remember that the reason he told timmy timothy that is because timothy was the pastor in ephesus and he was actually a missionary and he went to ephesus and this was a different area than he was from and you know what happens if you travel somewhere and you drink their water well you're going to get a bug anyone ever gone to mexico and got in a bug it's not fun montezuma's revenge is truly revenge but i want you to understand something you drink that water and you're going to get sick and so basically what paul was telling him is you need to mix a little alcohol without water so you won't get sick timothy that's basically what he was saying now our culture is different we don't have to do that so we get together we have fun usually there's food and there's alcohol but i want you to understand something drunkenness is a sin did i beat you enough on that okay anyways solomon says go ahead eat and drink with a happy heart god approves the second aspect of life that he mentions is found in verse number eight notice what he says he says wear fine clothes with the dash of cologne in other words he says go ahead and buy expensive clothes now every man is angry with me about right now right because you've been telling your wife and your children that's too expensive we can't afford that but here's what's kind of interesting he says wear fine clothes with a dash of cologne in other words go ahead and buy expensive clothes now you need to understand that expensive clothes represent the finer things in life that's because one of the first things that we do when we start making a little bit more money in other words you get that new promotion along with it comes this raise you start making a little bit of money and what do you do you buy nicer things and one of the things that you buy nicer is clothing so actually nice clothes symbolizes prosperity because that's one of the first things that a person does when they start prospering they start buying nicer clothes now notice that solomon sees nothing wrong with enjoying the finer things of life in other words he doesn't see anything wrong with enjoying material possessions now if you've come to cornerstone fellowship for any length of time you know that the key to life is what it's not a trick question balance the key to life is balance so solomon is here and he says god approves of you enjoying material things the only problem with that is that man is competitive so we get to comparing our life with other people's life and our perception of our own situation tells us well we're not living the good life and it affects us we get to thinking we're not happy because we start measuring our life by the material things that we possess and jesus comes along and he wants us to understand that you don't judge success by the material possessions that a person has so he made this comment he says life's consistent not in the in the posit in the material possessions that a man possesseth that's what jesus said in other words don't judge your life by all of your material possessions well i have a lot of things therefore i must be successful people that's not true some of the most unsuccessful people are the richest people in the world they don't have a relationship with god they've been divorced three or four times they don't have a relationship with their children you look at them and you think they're successful and jesus comes along and he says that man's life does not consist in the material possessions that he has that's not true now the balance to that is we're told that it's okay to enjoy the material possessions it's okay to buy some of the nicer and finer things of life it's okay to live in a nice home to drive a nice car to wear fine clothes it's okay to go on vacations but you need to understand there's more to life than just that and you'll realize that the older you get so true the third aspect that solomon mentions mentions is found in verse number nine look what it says live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that god has given you in this world the wife god gives you is your reward for all of your earthly toils so what aspect of life is he talking about love god wants you to have a happy marriage something is wrong when you're married to a christian and you're a christian and you don't have a happy marriage something is wrong people because god wants you to have a great marriage he wants you to be in love now don't make the mistake well i'm not happy because i'm not happy i need to get out of this marriage no there's more to it than that that means you're doing something wrong something's wrong when two christians can't live together and be happy that's good teaching pastor allen and the last one he mentions is work look at verse number 10 whatever you do do well for when you go to the grave there will be no worker planning or knowledge or wisdom now i kind of painted myself in a corner you have to understand that when he's doing this and he talks about the meaningless days of your life that phrase is thrown in there it's just not translated in the translation that i used it literally says under the sun and literally that means i'm going to give it to you without god but you got to get the series ecclesiastes to find out why that hebrew is hebraism under the sun means without god but here's what he's telling people when you die without god buddy is over and it's over when you go to the grave there'll be no work there or planning or knowledge or wisdom now it's different if you die with god if you have a personal relationship with jesus let me just tell you something work won't be over because the bible tells us that when jesus returns and he sets up his millennial kingdom we will rule and reign with him and people that will be work for those of you who are lazy and don't like to work i'm sorry you don't get this little harp and sit on a cloud all day and just play that's not the way it's going to be but for us that like to work it's going to be heaven because we get a rule and reign with jesus but anyways this is what he says in verse 10. whatever you do do well for when you go to the grave there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom in other words he's telling us you go out and get a challenging job something that you really enjoy why because life is too short to do something that you don't enjoy and you're not going to get a second chance let me tell you something about life there are no do-overs there are no mulligans some of you think well if i could just go back to high school and play football again if i could go back to high school and play football again i would still be just to cr just as crappy of a player as i was back then i would still weigh 129 pounds i still wouldn't be fast enough or quick enough or big enough or strong enough or coordinated enough i would just be an average player i would do things different spiritually though but here's the sad thing you can't go back there are no mulligans there are no do-overs look back at that verse when you go to the grave there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom so what he's telling us is you get a job that you enjoy now he says the very same thing in chapter 3 verse number 22 except that he says it a little bit more understandable i like the way he does it because it is easier to understand so notice what chapter 3 verse 22 says this is still in the book of ecclesiastes so i saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work that is why they're here no one will bring them back from death to enjoy life in the future you don't get a second chance that's why we started off with these rules that you need no you're going to have to work and support yourself when you become an adult therefore you better find a job that you really enjoy because one of the rules of life is we're supposed to live life to the fullest and have fun doing it and most of us have never been taught that let me tell you something if your parents and you have children in your home they're not out of the home yet if they don't know that life is supposed to be enjoyable if they don't know that life is supposed to be fun then you've really screwed up as a parent your home should be fun your home should be enjoyable and that's what the preacher of the church is trying to tell us so as you can see god expects you to enjoy every aspect of life people he wants you to have fun in fact let me give you one more verse because there's always some someone out there says well you know that was only one verse pastor i can find hundreds of verses to say differently no you can't you can find other verses that will balance this what if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul that's a balance people that's not against this so let me give you one more passage of scripture this is ecclesiastes chapter 8 verse 15. so i recommend having fun you know we would tell our girls we're going on vacation we're not going to mention the c word why because some of you people are sticks in the mud no fun and you're the type of people that always want to call me you're the type of people that always want to come and start griping about everything so when we would go on vacation we didn't mention the c word and we would always and we only have one rule and that's that we're going to have fun lisa and i are going on vacation this week we're going to have fun we're going to have a pentecostal vacation anyways somebody go watch that should have been here anyways ecclesiastes 8 15. not a baptist we're going to combine ecclesia nevermind so i recommend having fun because there is nothing better for people to do in this world than to eat drink and enjoy life that way they will experience happiness along with all the hard work god gives them people let me tell you there's hard work in this life there are things we don't want to do but even those things if we have the right perception we can still have a good life now if i could encourage you to do one thing it would be to go for it make sure that you have a relationship with god but go for it so rule number four is you must live life to the fullest and have fun doing it so now we're ready to move on to our last rule rule number five and i saved this for last because i'm following paul's example you see whenever paul gives us a list the first thing on the list and the last thing on the list are the most important and the reason paul does that is because he likes to start with the bang and end with the climax and so when i got ready to put these five rules together i literally came in and i put them in what i consider to be chronological order when i say chronological usually that means by time but i guess i should say i prioritize them according to their importance except for one the fifth rule and the reason i put this as last is because if you follow paul's example every time he makes a list he puts the first thing and the last thing or i should say he takes the two most important things and he puts one at the first and one at the last because he wants to start with the bang and end with the climax go to the fruit of the spirit it's interesting he starts with love and he ends with temperance which is self-control let me tell you if you have love and self-control you'll have a great life when he looks at the characteristics of love in first corinthians chapter 13. it's interesting what he starts off with and what he ends are the two most important characteristics of love why does paul do that because he likes to start with a bang but end with the climax and so we're ending this series with the climax so what i'm telling you is this is really the most important rule here it is rule number five you must prepare for the grand finale and i'm talking about when you die and stand before god listen to me you will die if jesus doesn't come back beforehand listen to me you're gonna die no ifs ands or buts i don't know why but most people think it's morbid to talk about death my daughters do i guess i'm a morbid person but my most favorite place to pray is in a cemetery i find great comfort in that that sounds funny but i do man i feel like i'm closer to god in a cemetery because it makes me think about how short life is it makes me think about eternity it makes me think about what jesus christ has done it makes me think about my future home i'm telling you there is no better place to pray than a cemetery now after i finish praying in a cemetery i usually come home and i get real serious with my girls and i start talking about getting old and dying and my girls don't like that here's what they usually say mom make him stop but let me just tell you something this is what i tell them dying is a fact of life i hate to tell you this but everyone in this room every one of you you are going to die unless jesus christ comes back first now the mortality rate on this planet is almost a hundred percent and i hope you notice that i said almost and the reason i said almost is because contrary to what most people think it's not a hundred percent and the reason it's not a hundred percent is because there are two people who never died no it's not jesus jesus died he was resurrected but jesus physically died but there are two people that have never physically died and people that was enoch and elijah looking with me if you would in hebrews chapter 11 verse number five notice what it says it was by faith that enoch was taken up to heaven without dying he disappeared because god took him for before he was taken up he was known as a person who pleased god now look at second kings chapter 2 verse number 11 and you need to understand a little bit of the context here elijah's going to heaven and the reason god's going to take him to heaven is because he's kind of stepping out of line if you understand what the criteria was in order to be a prophet it meant that everything that you prophesied had to come true so elijah started getting out of hand he had people come and get him he would say if i'd be a man of god let fire come down from heaven and consume them boom and they were consumed and people that wasn't god's will so god says okay because he's a prophet everything that he says then i've got to uphold it because if i don't uphold it then he's not a true prophet he's a true prophet so god's getting ready to take him well he goes and he anoints elisha to take his place and of course elijah wants a double portion he wants more anointing upon him than what elijah had and elijah said that's not possible unless you see me taken away and so elijah takes off walking and elijah's his shadow he's not leaving him because he wants the anointing that's upon elijah and while he is there here's what takes place look at second kings chapter 2 verse number 11. as they were walking along and talking suddenly a chariot of fire appeared drawn by horses of fire it drove between the two men separating them and elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven so enoch and elijah never physically died they were both taken directly to heaven but don't think that you're going to be like elijah and eeny can cheat death that's not going to happen people you will die unless you're still living when the rapture occurs when jesus christ comes back at that point you will not have to die turn with me if you would to the book of ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse number 10 two notice what it says better to spend your time at funerals than at parties after all everyone dies so the living should take this to heart now remember we've got the very same person that's telling us to go for it enjoy life god wants you to do this and then he turns around says it's better to go to funerals and parties why is he doing this because the key to life is balance enjoy life but remember you're going to stand before god one day everyone dies so he says better to spend your time in future than at parties and he tells us why after all everyone dies so the living should take this to heart i hope you notice this he said everyone dies and because everyone dies including you you better think about dying and that's why it's good to attend funerals they make you think about it which will hopefully affect the way you live how many of you when you've gone to a funeral and you're listening to this person's life and you're thinking man that pastor's lying i knew uncle john uncle john was lost as a goose he's in hell right now and you think oh my gosh that could be me and boy it's kind of somber and you go to the grave site and he says a little bit more and you tell your wife man that's a downer it's not a downer if you have a right relationship with god and if that person had a right relationship with god that the person who died and you were going to his funeral because if he had a right relationship with god let me tell you something he's in a much better place i've said this before dying doesn't scare me what scares me is leaving my wife alone not being there for my children and for my grandchildren being cheated out of her grandpa i want them to know as a grandpa that god is a good god life is to be enjoyed but you remember all the days of your life that you're going to have to stand before god and you're going to have to give an account of what you've done look with me if you were in the book of ecclesiastes chapter 8 verse number 8. this preacher was a good preacher that's why i'm using his material i'm stealing it notice what it says none of us can hold back our spirit from departing none of us have the power to prevent the day of our death there is no escaping that obligation that dark battle and in the face of death wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked now how many of you ever heard the old saying that he's too mean to die anyone ever said that anyone ever heard that you're talking about someone and you know they're 99 years old he's just too evil he's too wicked to die he's too mean to die well according to solomon that's not true you see that phrase wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked means that no matter how big tough and bad you think you are when it's your time to die you can't stop it so that old saying he's too mean to die it's a lie it's not true because when it's a person's time to die they can't stop it no one can you know i've seen people that i thought man they're a strong person my dad's kind of like that he's kind of like the energizer rabbit you know i mean he's just a goal and going going he does some things i think what were you doing he fell off the scaffolding and he broke shattered two of his vertebrae and you know we just take it easy let that fuse there's nothing really we can do about it he shot a tricep off he's done just about anything and everything i used to think he's too tough to die but one day he'll die no matter how tough you are let me just tell you something you're not tough enough your body starts failing and you're going to die and last but not least i want you to notice what paul said let's go to the new testament notice what paul said in hebrews chapter 9 verse 27 i believe he wrote the book of hebrews here's what he said and just as each person is destined to die once no one is destined to die twice i'll tell you what he means by the second death in just a second but he says and just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes just judgment i hope you notice what paul said paul said everyone's destined to die once you see there's a physical death and then there is a second death and the second death is a spiritual death it's where you're eternally separated from god the bible says that when a person dies if they're a christian their soul goes to heaven if they're not a christian their soul goes to hell hell is not an eternal destination it's a holding place until after the millennium after the thousand years of jesus christ reign the devil is going to be led out of the bottomless pit just for a brief period there's going to be a rebellion once again on the earth jesus will put it down and then there's the great white throne judgment and the bible says that death and hell gave up the grave in other words those who are in hell stand before god and now they're going to be judged out of the things that were written in the books everything that a person's done has been recorded that's what the books are if your life or if your name is not written in the book of life then you are judged out of the things written in the books everything you've ever done everything you thought you did in secret has been recorded and you stand before god and there's different degrees of punishment based on what you've done and then the bible says that those people are cast in the lake of fire and it says this is the second death whoa now the great thing is we're all destined to die once unless we're on this earth when jesus returns and we're a christian then we'll be raptured and we never die but not all of us are going to be around when jesus returns so paul says you're destined to die once and after that he said comes what judgment in other words everyone is going to be judged for what they've done here on this earth look at second corinthians chapter 5 verse number 10 for we must all stand before christ to be judged he's the one that will judge we will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body now people that's a scarish thought but let me let me just explain why i'm not shaking in my boots now if it's a scary thought that one day you're going to die and you're going to have to stand before jesus and you're going to be judged for everything you did that's a scary thought but i'm not scared well that's because you're a pastor and you can't live like the rest no i am a very fleshly man i sin there's some horrible things that i do and at times i said oh god forgive me can't believe i thought that can't believe i said that can't believe i did that so alan why are you not scared because of what it says in john chapter 5 verses 24 through 29 notice what jesus said very truly i tell you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged wait a minute and one passage of scripture says everyone's going to be judged but here it says if you have eternal life if you're written in the book of life you won't be judged what does he mean by that well that word judged is translated from the greek word crisis and it means condemned you see when i stand before jesus to be judged it's not to be punished for what i've done because jesus was punished for my sin and i received him as my lord and savior so when i stand before him i don't have to worry about paying the penalty for my sin because jesus paid it all then what am i doing before him to find out what rewards i will receive but here jesus is talking he says if you have eternal life he says you will not be judged it doesn't mean that you won't stand before him that word judge creases in the greek means you won't be condemned for your sin and then he goes further but it's crossed over from death to life very truly i tell you a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the son of god and those who here will live first the father has life in himself so he has granted the son also to have life in himself and he has given him authority to judge because he's the son of man it's jesus that will judge do not be amazed at this for time is coming when all who are in the grave will hear his voice and come out those who have done what is good will rise to live and those who have done what is evil will rise to be i see that word condemned crisis wow people jesus paid for my sins so i don't have to so when i stand before god it's to see what rewards i'm going to receive not what punishment i'm going to receive now let me leave you with one verse because hopefully if you understand the magnitude of what i'm saying that if you haven't accepted jesus christ if you haven't accepted him as the person who's died for your sin and that god has raised him from the dead you don't have eternal life you're going to go to hell and then after the great the the millennium period you're going to be raised and stand before god at the great white throne judgment you're going to be judged out of the things written in the books and you're going to be cast into the lake of fire you should be shaking in your boots so you're probably wondering well pastoral what do i do let me read one last book that in fact i'm going to read from the book of first john and my degree is in new testament greek you actually take a whole year of great grammar which is 10 hours and then your second year is nothing but syntax that's another 10 hours and then your third and fourth year you take exegesis and you read certain passages of scripture you translate it from the greek and you write critical commentaries that's what exegesis is the class is all about well the very first book i ever translated was the book of first john it just so opened up to me but i want you to read because this is something that's always stuck in my mind ever since i translated this book this is first john chapter 5 verses 11 through 13. notice what it says and this is what god has testified how has he testified he's given you this this is god's testimony this is what god has told us and this is what god has testified he has given us eternal life and this life is in his son and who's his son jesus whoever has the son has life whoever does not have god's son does not have life i have written this to you who believe in the name of the son of god so that you may know that you have eternal life it boils down to this if you believe in jesus and you've made him lord of your life you'll stand before god one day but it won't be to be condemned but if you don't have jesus i would say god have mercy on your soul but i can't because god is a just god and he can't have mercy his mercy was why you were here on this earth and if you spit on the name of jesus by not accepting him as the messiah the son of god the one who holds eternal life in his hand then you will pay for your sin so rule number five is this you must prepare for the grand finale and people this is the most important rule of all if you don't keep any of the other rules please prepare for the grand finale because i'm not up here preaching a fairy tale you will die and you will find out how real what the word of god says the very second you die

Channel: Cornerstone Fellowship

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Keywords: pastor allen nolan, allen nolan cornerstone, allen nolan bible study, allen nolan explained, allen nolan sermon, cornerstone church allen nolan, cornerstone pastor allen nolan, allen nolan, with pastor allen nolan, cornerstone fellowship, cornerstone tahlequah

Id: 4LkGOf0XF7M

Length: 45min 22sec (2722 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 25 2021