[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our
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[00:00:24] Speaker B: We've had a series called Comeback. We've been exploring in the Bible stories of incredible comebacks, how oftentimes the setback that we have in life becomes the setup for the comeback. And God sometimes will use those setbacks in my life and yours to prepare us for something incredibly remarkable. Everyone in the room knows what that's like, to have a setback, relationally, financially, your business life. You've had something happen, maybe your health, that has set you back. But because you are a child of God, the setback is always the setup. Because God didn't finish with you. Because there's a possibility for the comeback. And this weekend we want to talk as we conclude this series on the greatest comeback that any of us could ever hope for, the second coming of Jesus Christ one day for his own. So we've entitled the message this morning coming back. And I believe that is the next great event on God's calendar for humanity is the second return of Jesus Christ for his own. Now, in theological circles, we call the study of the second coming. We call it eschatology. And I will tell you right up front whether you totally agree with everything I'm going to share with you this morning or not. Nothing that I'm going to share is what we would consider to be salvific, meaning that your views on this topic have nothing to do with your eternal destiny, that you can know Jesus as your personal savior, whether you believe he's coming back or not. I'm just saying it will sure make the journey much more pleasant if you accept the biblical view that I'm going to share with you this morning. And that is the reality that he promised he will return again someday. Now, here's what I don't know. I do not know when that will be. And anybody that ever sets the date, I can tell you they're going to be wrong. And I can tell you this. Matthew 24 36 of that day and of that hour, no one knows. Listen, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only. Now, here's what I've told you before, and I'll say it again this morning. If you were to guess right. If you were to guess correctly on when he's returning, he had moved the day just so you'd be wrong.
No one knows. No one knows. Now I'll give you my informed opinion of when that will be. I think right now all he's doing is collecting what we call the body of Christ. We're in the church age or the church dispensation. And so in this church age, this church dispensation, Jesus refers to the church as the body of Christ, and the body is not yet complete. What completes the body, well known in the mind of God, who is sovereign. He knows who will ultimately receive him and who will ultimately reject him. And I believe that God knows who that last person will be, who will say yes to him. And the moment the last person receives Jesus as savior and the body is then complete, God will not leave his church on this earth one skinny minute longer than is necessary. And I believe at that moment, when that last person receives Jesus, the father will look to the Son and say, that was the last one, go get them. And then you have this incredible event that's going to happen. It is called the rapture of the church. So this morning, if you have a Bible, let me give you a good jumping off place as we consider these truths about eschatology. And as I've told you before, I'm going to cover a marathon of truth in sprint time. So get in, sit down, strap down. Hang on. We're going to go pretty quick through this. In John 14, verses two and three, this is the promise Jesus made to his apostles when they were contemplating him dying and going to the cross. And here's the promise he gave. This is beautiful. He said, I go to prepare a place for you. Now, we've covered this before, but it is important to say again, a place is the word topos in the greek language, topos. We get topography from that word, a place. Heaven is a place, not a state of mind, it's not a feeling. It's not just something that we hope for or we wish could be. Jesus himself said, heaven is a topos. It is topography, it is a place. He said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, here's the promise, I will come again. And what is he going to do? I'm going to receive you unto myself. Now, how does he do that? He does it two ways. He does it first of all, through the undertaker. Sometimes he receives his children through death. We talked about that last weekend. How that oftentimes it will be the loss of a loved one is a way whereby he receives that loved one into his presence. When Paul talked about that experience, he said, in one corinthians 15, he said, death is an enemy. And I don't think any of you in the room would doubt that. I certainly would not doubt that. I'll do a funeral this afternoon for a dear friend. And I'm just telling you, death is an enemy. You go to any family in this room who's been touched by death, and they'll tell you, death is an enemy. But when Paul. I'm sorry. When David wrote about it in the 127th Psalm, he used different words to describe death. He said, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Now, I know you think, how can that be? It seems like a contradiction. How can death of a loved one be described as an enemy? And over here in psalm, it's described as a precious thing. Well, you understand it. When you understand context, you understand who it is who is speaking here. In first corinthians 15, Paul is speaking on behalf of us. He's saying, from our point of view, death is an enemy, and it will always be that way. The Bible said, you go on and read that it's the last enemy that ultimately will be destroyed. He'll destroy it when he returns, but it's an enemy, and it'll continue to be as long as Jesus tarries is coming. So he's writing from our point of view. When David penned the psalm, he's writing from God's point of view. He said, death is precious because death is the homecoming of one of my children. So you can begin to understand perspective and context when you study scripture, in fact, text without context will lead to pretext, and you'll misunderstand and misapply scripture altogether. And so in this narrative, Jesus is saying, I will come and receive you unto myself. And then I love this phrase that where I am, there you may be also. So what, then, is the next event on the calendar of eternity? In this great study of eschatology, it is what we would refer to as the rapture of the church. Now, the word rapture, you won't find that word per se in the Bible. You'll find the definition of rapture that describes it, but it is not identified with that word. It's in one Thessalonians chapter four, verse, verse 16, where the Bible says, the Lord himself will descend. He will come down, descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel with the trump of God. That's a lot of noise right there. A shout and a trumpet. If you've been around trumpets, they're loud. If you've been around a shout at a ball game, it's loud. People say, I don't like church to be loud. Well, you won't enjoy the rapture.
It's going to be loud enough to wake the dead.
He said, the Lord himself descends from heaven with a shout, with a trump of God. And then it says, the dead in Christ will be raised first. Those bodies that lay in the ground today, ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Those bodies will be resurrected, recreated, reunited with the spirit and soul that are at home with God today. And then here's the term rapture. First, Thessalonians 417. Then we, which are alive and remain here it is, will be caught up together. Now, caught up by definition, is to be raptured. Caught up. That's where we get the idea of rapture, when we're caught up. And I love this word together. You've got a mom and a dad in heaven, you've got a child in heaven, a spouse, a friend in heaven. One day we'll be caught up together. Where's that reunion gonna take place? In the clouds? And what's gonna happen? He said, we'll meet the Lord in the air, and again, so shall we ever be with the Lord. Time will be no more. Eternity has just begun, and we will never be separated, never again. So the rapture is the next event on the calendar of eternity. Now, when you talk about the signs of the times, perhaps you've done some study on that, or you've read about that in the scripture. The Bible gives over 1500 signs related to the coming of Christ to the earth again. But I would remind you that all the signs point not to the rapture, but to the second coming. And I'm going to explain that in a moment. The difference between the two, the second coming, will happen seven years following the rapture. The next event is the rapture of the church. The Bible describes it as two will be working out of mill. One will be taken, one will be left. Matthew 24. Two will be working in the field, one will be taken and the other will be left second. Peter 310 describes this rapture as Jesus coming as a thief in the night. He's coming suddenly and surprisingly, his coming is not necessarily imminent. I'm sorry, immediate, but it is imminent when the Bible says, even so, come, Lord Jesus. And he said, behold, I come quickly. You say that was written a long time ago. Why didn't he hear yet? Well, again, he's coming. Not immediately, but his coming is imminently, meaning it could happen at any moment now. When he comes, it will be immediate, but until then, it is imminent. We're waiting that return. How fast will this take place? The rapture of the church? How quick will it be? You say, well, I'll wait to receive Jesus until that moment. You won't have time. First Corinthians, 1552. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, in the twinkling of an eye, the last trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised, and we will be changed. Now, how fast is the twinkling of an eye? I read where scientists have actually studied how fast the twinkling of an eye is, and they said the twinkle in an eye is eleven one hundredths of a second. That sounds fast to me. And the twinkle of an eleven one hundredths of a second. So, in other words, we will be here one moment, and we'll be caught up in the clouds with the Lord in the next moment. And that event could happen at any time. When that last person receives Jesus, wherever they are on the planet, the father says to the son, it's time, and go get them. And so I'm just suggesting to your heart this morning that could be at any time, because all of the signs pointing to the coming of Christ to the earth, all of those signs have been fulfilled or in there, they're in the very process of being fulfilled this morning. So the only thing lacking, the only thing lacking is the actual return of Jesus to the earth. So, number one, if you're taking notes, it will begin with the rapture. Following the rapture, there'll be a period on this earth called a period of great tribulation. And I don't have time to delve into all of that, but the earth will go through a terrible series of judgments that God will pour out on those who have rejected him. It's called a time of great tribulation. There will be a number of people left on the earth during that great tribulation who will testify concerning Jesus to those who never had the opportunity to hear. The Bible speaks of 144,000 witnesses that will be left on the earth, and they'll be sharing Jesus with those who never had the opportunity to hear. Now, during that period of time, during the great tribulation, there'll be unnumbered people, millions and millions of people, who will actually receive Jesus as savior. Revelation describes him as tribulational saints. One of the elders in heaven looked and see these saints as they enter into heaven, saying, who are these and where do they come from? And the angel respond, these are they who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. These are great tribulation saints. And so there will be a remnant left on the earth who will have that responsibility of sharing Jesus to the world, who has not yet heard as Jesus has just raptured his church off of the earth. And then there will be this time of turmoil, this time of tribulation, where the armies of the world will be marshaled together to crush even the remnant of the mention of the name Jesus. And their focus will be on Israel. Have you noticed how much of the focus of the world is on Israel? You wonder, how is that little sliver of a country over in the Middle east gaining so much attention? Because it is in prophecy. God has prophesied, the eyes of the world will. Will be on Israel. It's another sign to the nearest coming of Jesus Christ. And when the armies of the world are marshaled together to finally crush the influence of all of God that is left within Israel, they'll gather in the valley of Megiddo. The Bible says an event will happen unlike anything that has ever happened before. Jesus Christ himself will ride out of heaven. And the Bible says he will ride out of heaven all on a white horse. That's why I wear boots. You got to get ready for that, because the Bible said we're going to be coming with him. So I would suggest this to you. It's free advice like the rest of it. Get you some riding lessons. You don't be riding side saddle and looking ridiculous. I don't have to ride away from you and be embarrassed when they come back the second time. So you need to raise your game a little bit, because you're going to come back with him, the Bible says, riding these white horses and before the battle of Armageddon, the battle in Megiddo, before that battle can ever be waged, Jesus will return at the 11th hour, and there won't be a shot that's fired. He will destroy the enemies of the world with the spoken word. And then the Bible says, at that point, his feet will touch the mount of olives. Now, in the rapture, he came for his own. We gather in the clouds. But at the second coming of Jesus, at the end of the great tribulation, now day, he returns with his own, and his feet will actually touch the earth. His feet will touch the Mount of olives. I've been there. It's an amazing thing to think of, standing on the Mount of olives, looking across the valley of Kidron to the eastern gate, knowing that one day the savior of the world, he will be in this exact same area. His feet will touch the Mount of Olives, he will walk through the valley of Kidron up to the eastern gate. If you look at the eastern gate today, you'll see it's completely closed. All the other ancient gates around the city are open and accessible. Not the eastern gate. The eastern gate is closed. And if you ask anyone living there, why is that eastern gate closed? You know what they'll tell you? They'll say we're closing it until the Messiah comes. And one day the Messiah will come, and we're going to open the eastern gate, and he's going to walk through that gate and establish his throne on the temple mount at the throne of David. And so they will tell you that. Now here's the difference between what they'll say and what I say, and that is they're looking for the messiah to come the first time. I'm looking for him to come the second time. I believe Jesus came into the world born of a virgin, born in a manger, lived a sinless life, died a vicarious death, rose victoriously, and he ever reigns and rules to make intercession. And one day, that same Jesus, one day, as he said in acts one to the apostles, ye men of Galilee, why stand you gazing into the heavens? This same Jesus that you have seen taken up from you will so come again in like manner as you have seen him go. So he's coming again in the clouds. His feet at the second coming will touch the Mount of Olives. He'll walk down through the valley of Kedron, up and through the eastern gate, and establish his throne on the throne of David. That's the second coming of Jesus. And the Bible says at that moment, he will rule and reign on this earth for a thousand years. Now, the idea of a thousand years is where we get the word millennium. Millennium is a thousand. He'll have a millennial reign on the earth, a thousand year reign. That's where verses that you read, where the lion lies down with the lamb, and we study war no more, and we beat our weapons of war into plowshares in all those verses, that's when they come to fruition, and that's when they come to fulfillment, when Jesus establishes his throne on the throne of David. And I'm suggesting to your heart that that is as certain to happen as the sun came up this morning, one day, Jesus Christ will come. He'll gather us into heaven. We'll be there for seven years, and then he will return on the earth. His feet will touch. We'll come with him. We'll live on this earth for a thousand years before he ultimately purges this earth. And the Bible says he'll then create a new heaven and a new earth. He'll reset things back as they were in the original time of creation. It'll be a world without heartache, a world without pain, a world without sorrow. And Jesus will rule over that world for a thousand years and then for an eternity to come. So it's a beautiful thought. It's a wonderful promise that Jesus himself has given us that he will establish his throne on the throne of David. So you have the rapture. If you're following with me, you have, secondly, the return, which establishes his millennial reign here on the earth. And we're going to be reigning with him, by the way. Let me, this is a little side, Barbara. This is interesting. I joked last week about not being spirits, strumming on harps in the clouds. Let me build on that a little bit. I really believe for eternity, God is going to use the gifts that he's given us here in this life to be used for purposes in eternity. We're gonna have things to do in eternity. God's gonna give us assignments and responsibilities. We're gonna be able to live out and fulfill a life throughout all of eternity. And we're going to serve the Lord and serve one another with gladness and joy as we live out our eternal life. Now, I believe with all my heart that we're not gonna be bored in heaven. I think we're gonna have plenty to do. You'll travel at the speed of thought? We don't travel at the speed of thought, but you'll be able to travel at the speed of thought. Can you imagine Maui? Boom, you're on a beach. That'd be kind of cool. Now, don't go anywhere. You can't do that yet. This room would be empty.
The speed of thought. That's amazing. But you'll be able to travel. You remember Jesus, though. He was in a body of flesh and bone. He could walk into a room. He could appear in a room. I should say that he didn't have to walk through a door in order to get there. His body was able to be transported at the speed of thought. I mean, that's Star Trek stuff, isn't it? I mean, that's pretty crazy. But when you really think about eternity and how we'll be able to navigate and all the things that we'll be able to do, we're going to be able to serve our savior throughout all the ceaseless ages of eternity, and we're going to be fulfilled in that role. So what an incredible thing to think about, to think about an eternal existence with God and with our loved ones. You'll be able to talk to people that you've heard about and you've studied about in scripture. You'll be able to talk to people that you've heard about and studied about in history. What an amazing time we're going to have one day in heaven. And so on, the millennial reign, God will begin to establish all of that, and we'll experience it. Here's the third thought, and this probably is the most sobering thought of eschatology. It involves rapture, it involves a return, but it also involves a reckoning. A reckoning. In Hebrews 927, the Bible says, it is appointed unto men once to die. And then here's the line after this, the judgment. There will be a reckoning. Now, I don't believe it'll be a general reckoning. I don't believe it'll be a general judgment. I believe it'll be separate judgments. And when I use the word judgment to describe what Christ's followers will go through, I don't mean judgment in the sense that we're going to be weighed. The sins that we've committed on the earth will be weighed against us, and we're there to see if we stay or we go. Some people have that image of heaven that you can never really know, that when you get to heaven. There's a big scale at the gate. St. Peter guards the gate. And God puts every good thing you've done against every bad thing you've done. And if the good outweighs the bad, you go in and you can't know till you get there. Now, I don't believe that. I don't believe it because the Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible says, jesus said, john 14 six, I am the way, the truth, the life. You don't come to the father except by me. The problem that we have with sin, that was dealt with at the cross, we saying, jesus paid it all, all to him I owe sin had left the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Our relationship with God is secure. It is eternal. Ephesians one said, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption, meaning that our salvation is good. The Holy Spirit would have to lie in order for it not to be good. The seal will never be broken. So we're not in heaven. Hear me now. We're not in heaven as a Christ follower to be judged for sins committed on the earth. Now let me chase this rabbit a little farther and I'll tell you this much about it. I think sin that we commit as christians on the earth, that's dealt with this side of heaven, not that side. Meaning that God sometimes will allow the fruit of our sinful behavior to come to fruition in our life. Now let me give you an understanding of your heavenly Father. He doesn't do it to be vindictive toward us. He doesn't do it to be judgmental of us. Sometimes we throw the word judgment around so freely that we forget God has promised judgment for those who reject him. You don't judge your children. There's not a parent in the room who's ever disciplined their kids and called that judgment. You call it something else. You call it chastisement. Man, that's an old word. You wouldn't call it that. You call it discipline. That's a better word. What does discipline do? Discipline corrects a behavior so you get a different outcome. Hurt, didn't it? Don't do that again. That'll hurt. Okay, I'm trying to help you here. And so we know as a parent that our kids are gonna formulate their view of authority based on their view of us. And if we don't establish authority by consequences within our home and within our children, if they don't respect us, they're not going to respect their teacher, they're not going to respect the law enforcement officer. They're not going to respect anyone. And we're going to have a problem in society if children are raised not to learn the value of respect. So it's not judgment, it's chastisement. It's correction of a behavior for a different outcome. Well, if we love our children that much, how much more does our heavenly Father love us? You remember on one occasion Jesus was talking about this. He said, who among you as fathers, if your son asked for a piece of bread, would he give him a stone?
Or if he asked for a fish, you would give him a snake. Now there's humor in the Bible. I mean, there's humor in the Bible. I don't know. I found that funny. A kid comes up and he's hungry, and he says, dad, I want something to eat. And you pitch him a rock. Suck on that. Right? That's funny. Maybe you didn't see it that way, but I think that's funny.
Dad, I want some fish. How about a snake? You know, I mean, you know. So the point I'm making is Jesus was saying, if you being earthly of this earth, love your children enough not to do them that way, how much more does your heavenly father love you?
He never said, thou shalt not in order to withhold something good from us. He just said thou shalt not. Because he knew if you do the thing he said you shouldn't do, it's gonna be worse for you. So that's all it is. It's the curbs on the highway. The highway is grace. You never know. The curbs are there till you stray from grace. The curbs are law. Law keeps you on the road. You don't even know what's there till you get off grace. When you get off grace, law is there to bump you back out in the road. And so if you start, you know, trying to go off road, law's there to bring you back. There's a consequence. There's a consequence, the soul that sins will be dealt with. And so here's what I view the judgment of the Christian for based on one corinthians three will be evaluated based on the opportunities we had, the resources we were given, the time that we spent and how we spent it, how we treated one another. All of those variables will go into whether or not in heaven a Christ follower like me and like you will receive an award or not. That's what's determined. It's called the judgment seat of Christ. It's also referred to as the bhima, the bima. Now, abema was an awards stand where olympic athletes would receive medals. A bima. And that's how you should think about this judgment. And I'm using that word again, but just so you understand of the save, what it will look like, we're not being, it's not being determined whether we're going to stay or go. That's dealt with down here. Now let me run one other thing by you. Gosh, I'm just thinking a lot of these thoughts here. I hope I'm not so convoluted, I'm confusing anybody, but it just hit me here. I'm a little scattered here. I'm a squirrel. I'll be off over there in a minute, so hang on.
Here's how it goes.
Sin, sometimes God will not allow the fruition of sin to develop in the life of his kids, because he'll take the result of that sin and put it to the cross. Sometimes he can do that and be just. Sometimes God will take the result of sinful behavior and allow it to come to fruition if he thinks it's necessary to teach me a lesson, make sense? So sometimes I don't bear the consequence of every stupid thing I done. Because the Bible says if God would call into judgment every iniquity, it says, who could stand meaning if he nailed us every time we did something crazy, none of us would be here this morning. The Bible says the thought of foolishness, of sin. Who among us has not had a foolish thought since we woke up this morning or since we've been in this room? So God is gracious and merciful. So he picks the fights, and he determines what areas that need to be dealt with in our life and the others failures he puts against the cross. Jesus paid it all, and we're his child. But sometimes the fruition of sin comes to result in our life. So he teaches us the lesson right? To correct the behavior. So the rewards in heaven will be determined based on how I've lived my life. Now, one corinthians three describes it this way. He said, everything we do on this earth will be appraised by three criteria. Gold, silver, precious stone, or to the contrast, wood, hay, stubble. And part of that appraisal will be based on my attitude. I can do the right thing for the wrong attitude and not be rewarded for it. Right? If I have.
The Bible says you give, but don't give begrudgingly, are of necessity. Why? God loves a cheerful giver. So everything, even down to the Bible says you can't give as much as a cup of cold water in his name without him rewarding you generously. Even the cups of cold water we give to people, God sees it, and he will one day reward it. So this time that we stand before God, the works that we did, the attitude that we had, the life that we lived, the resources that were given to us, God will evaluate all that we did with what we had.
Romans 1214. So then each one of us one day will give an account of ourself to God. So we'll give an account some of those things when he appraises them by fire. Now, I don't know if that's figuratively speaking or literally speaking, but he's helping us get an image in our mind of what this looks like. He said, I'm going to appraise it by fire. Some of the things that I've done a lot of the things that I've done will go up in smoke. I mean, I did good things, but with a bad attitude are some of the things that I did, I did to receive the applause of men. And God says, if you do things to receive the applause of men, when that applause is over, you're paid in full. So he's saying it's better not to receive the payment down here. Wait till you get up there. It's a lot better reward. And yet sometimes, you know, that's something I did. That was a good thing. I got the applause and I was paid. God said, I don't owe you anything now and then. Sometimes, though, I've done things that survive the appraisal. It's gold, silver, precious stone. And so those things that survive mean I will have something in my hand, tangible, to lay at the feet of Jesus as an expression of worship, to say, thank you for the life that you gave me. Thank you for the opportunities that I have. Here is my life. Here are the rewards of my life. Live. I lay them at your feet in appreciation for all that you've done for me. Now contrast that. I'm still in first Corinthians three. It's all there. If you'll take time this afternoon to study that, it's there. In first Corinthians three, he said, there will be people in heaven who everything they did on this earth will go up and smoke.
They'll have absolutely nothing to show for the life that they're lived. They're saved. They're still in heaven, but they're singed.
And I love this expression in the King James. It says, they are there yet, so as by fire, meaning by the skin of their teeth, meaning they got through the gate and that gate shut right on their backside. They're in heaven, but barely. They knew Jesus, but just a little bit. They knew just enough Jesus to get them to heaven, but they have nothing to show for the life that they've lived. And people say, oh, well, Bill, I don't think that'd bother me. If I can get to heaven, I'd be reward enough. Well, think about that. What if your house, God forbid, but if you were to lose your home in a fire and everything that you loved and all your memories in that home were suddenly lost in the fire as you stood outside of that home, you wouldn't be looking at your home going down in flames saying, well, at least I got out.
No, you would grieve. You'd be happy you got out, but you'd be grieving over the loss. You'd be grieving over things that can't be replaced. You'd be grieving over things that you lost in the fire. Well, that's the image in heaven. Because for a little while, the Bible says the children of God will weep, will weep at lost opportunities. We'll weep because we didn't take advantage of things of God sent our way. Because the Bible says one day God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. Who he's talking about his kids. So there will be some regret. There'll be a time of remorse in heaven when I think we realize some of the opportunities that we missed, some of the lives we could have blessed, and we didn't, and we missed those opportunities, and we lost the reward as a result. So that's the judgment seat of Christ. That's the reckoning for all of us who are saved. The good news, again, is, because of the cross and what we celebrated last weekend, the resurrection of Jesus, we're in heaven, but we're in heaven, perhaps with not a lot of rewards, or we're in heaven, perhaps with great rewards. So there'll be a time of reckoning for the saved, and then I'm gonna close on this. There'll be a time of reckoning for the lost. It's called the great white throne judgment of God. Revelation 20 describes it. It's a fearful thing when you read about this. These are people who knowingly, willfully rejected Jesus. They said, I don't want God in my life. I don't want Jesus in my life. And they died in that condition. They died committing the unpardonable sin. What is the unpardonable sin? It is to die rejecting Jesus as your savior. It is the only sin. God will not pardon every other sin he'll forgive every other sin. He will pardon. He refers to it one place in scripture as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, meaning it is to walk by the cross. And you see jesus as he's on the cross dying. It is to walk through the blood of Jesus at that cross, look at him and say, that means nothing to me. I don't care. And God is saying, you will not disrespect my son, and you will not reject the payment he gave for sin, for your sin. You won't die in that condition, and me be okay with that and welcome you into my heaven. So it is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. To die without Jesus is the unpardonable sin. So these are people who one day will be summoned. In fact, the Bible says again in revelation 20, I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away. And here it is. There was found no place for me, for them. And God will summon one day all of those who have ever lived since the time of Adam who rejected him, an unnumbered multitude of people before this event called the great white throne judgment. In Matthew, chapter seven, it says, there will be many people in that day who will say, Lord, did I not do good things in your name? Did I not even cast out demons? And I helped the poor, and I did a lot of great things. And then he said, listen to this. He said, then I will profess unto them, depart from me. You have worked deceit. The worst deceit is to deceive yourself. You've worked deceit. And then he'll say this, I never knew you. He doesn't say, I knew you, and you blew it, and I wrote you out of the book. He didn't say, I knew you. And I weighed the good against the bad. You didn't make it, so you didn't make the cut. You're out. No. He said, I never knew you. I never knew you. You never received me as savior. You were never one of my children, and you died in that condition. Now, in heaven, he will judge the great white throne judgment out of three books. Three books. One is the Bible. The Bible says, concerning itself, heaven and earth shall pass away. My word will not pass away. The second book that will be there is called the Book of Life. The Book of Life. It is the registry of all humankind. Everyone who has ever lived will be recorded in the Book of Life. And then there is a third book called the LAmbs Book of Life. God's a great accountant. It is his double entry system. It means when you are born the first time, you're in the book of Life. When you are born again the second time, now you're in the Lamb's book of Life. Remember what he said to Nicodemus in John three? Nicodemus, you're a good man, but you must be born again. You've got to be born again. You need to be born the second time. Well, when Nicodemus receives Jesus as savior, he is written in the Lamb's book of Life. Well, the BIble says that the great white Throne judgment, the final thing God does the final act before he casts all those who've rejected him from his presence into eternity, into a place called hell, whatever that looks like. And wherever that is, he said this. He said, I will then blot, get this now. I will blot their name from the book of life. Now, think about this. This is the ultimate judgment. It will be in that moment in the mind of God as though they never existed. Can you imagine God in blotting them from the book of life? God was saying to them, I will never think of you again. That's why you say, man, how can I be in heaven knowing that someone that I knew here on the earth didn't make it? They didn't receive Jesus. They died. Isn't that going to take some of the happiness out of heaven? No, because when their names are blotted from the book of life, just as it will be in the mind of God, as though they never existed, it'll be in the minds of us as though they never existed. We will never think of them again. It is the most desperate thought to think, the God who created everything, who sent his son to die so that no one would ever face that type of judgment, that. That God would not think of us again. And yet that is the ultimate frightening scenario of those who one day stand before this great white throne and they face the reckoning of failing to receive Jesus Christ as their savior. So, yeah, there's a fear factor. And you say, well, Bill, as a Pastor, should we, should we use fear to try to challenge people to receive Jesus? Shouldn't it always just be love? Well, I think love is the highest motivation. Love is certainly the thing that motivates us to take care of our families. I mean, I love my children. When we had kids at home, let me tell you what Cindy and I didn't do. We didn't feed our kids because there was a law on the books saying if we didn't, they were going to take them away from us. None of you do that either. Can you imagine that being your motivation? I would say that is the lowest level of motivation. If it takes you to do that, can you imagine? Oh, honey, we got to feed. Let's go buy Kroger. Golly. They're going to take them away if we don't feed them. We got to. They're hungry again. We got to clothe them. Oh, my God. They're going to take them away. Right? That's. Now the law is there for the stupid people, but the people.
And you got to have something for the stupid ones. But normal thinking, intelligent people don't need that. We don't need. We don't need somebody to tell me to feed my kids take care of my kids. I get it. I'm going to take, I got them.
I may go without so that they have what they need, but that's what we do, right? Moms and dads, we'll do that. Some of you grandparents, that's what we do. So I'm just suggesting your height, that the lowest level of motivation is. I do what I do because I have to. The highest motivation is love. And that's what I want people to come to Jesus because of love. But I also want them to know there is another motivation out there. Fear can be a good motivator.
Fight or flight. Fear is a good. They use fear to scare you away from smoking, right? This thing can kill you. Stay off of those cigarettes. You said you, Bill, do you think smoking will send you to hell? No, I don't. I just think it'll make you smell like you've been there. But anyway, but here's the point. They use fear to scare you away from that stuff, right? They say you abuse anything on this earth, all things in moderation. You start abusing things, you're going to face the con. And they tell, we see doctors on ads every day going, quit doing this. This will kill you.
And it's fear. It's a motive. It works. And so I'm saying, if we accept that as a motivation in every other area of our life, why would not accept a little fear when it comes to warning people of a judgment that's coming and that they don't have to be there, that they in a room like this, in a moment like this, can humble their heart and receive Jesus and never have to worry about their eternity. And I can tell you as a pastor, it takes a lot of pressure off of me. I know that's not a great motivation for you to do it. I'm just speaking selfishly. I do hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of funerals, and I can tell you the most comforting funeral that I can do for a family is when the family knew without a shadow, but out, my loved one knew Jesus. The greatest gift, if you need another motivation, the greatest gift you give your family is the assurance that you know Jesus. Now, if they call on me to do your service and you weren't a great person, I'll do my, I'll tell you, I'll do my best to spin you.
I'll try to make you look good as I can. I'll take all the positives out of your life, and I'll really try to do it. I did one, one time with this old boy that died. And I had a lady that had known me all my life, and she knew him, too. They went to high school together. And so after the funeral was over, she came by. You know how you pass in review? And I was standing there at the head of the casket, and she came by, and she's like I said, she's known me like a grandmother figure in my life. She grabbed me and pulls me down real close to her, and she whispers in my ear, Billy Lloyd, know when they call you by your full name, they know you've known that. She know me a long time. She said, billy Lloyd, you did a good job. But honestly, after hearing what you said about him, I had to come by and be sure I said the right funeral.
I've never forgotten that.
I'm just saying, don't let that be you. I don't want to have to spin you where people have come. God. Well, I wasn't really sure. Yep, that was them, all right. Oh, man, Bill, you sure accentuated the positive on that one. In other words, your life should be so exemplary. It ought to be easy. Most of the funerals that I do, I'll say better than 95%. Most of them I do. You've got so much material that you don't have time to work through it. They have so many people that your life has loved and that you've touched that there's just not enough time spent to really share all the blessings. And that's the way you want to go. I mean, if he tarries his coming, that's the legacy that we want to leave. But the greatest legacy, guys, let me, let me. I'm second closing. I'm done here. The greatest legacy you can give your family is the knowledge and the assurance, hey, I know Jesus. I'm going to see in heaven one day. Everything's right between me and my savior, because everything I've shared with you based on God's word, and I can flesh it all out for you. I've just kind of. Like I said, I tried to cover a marathon of this truth in a sprint time. All these things are going to happen as sure as the sun will set tonight. And I'm just suggesting you, the most important thing is not where you go to church or whether you go to church. It's not whether or not you ever give a dime to another ministry or you ever sit and hear another message. The most important thing that determines your eternal destiny is what you do with Jesus. You either receive him or you reject him. Jesus said if you're not with me, you're against me. There's no middle ground. So I'm just asking you with all of your heart if you never trusted him to say, Jesus, I'm all in. And as of right now, I receive you as my savior. Would you pray with me, Father? Thank you for this. The truth of knowing one day, one day will be in your presence, reunited with those who've gone before. Thank you for the hope of heaven.
Thank you for the assurance that we have that in knowing you, we can know where we're going. And I pray for my friends this morning. They've never yet made that decision, that this might be the moment when they just simply humble their heart and say, God, I want to settle this.
I want to get resolution in my own mind and heart about this. So right now, in this moment, I ask you, father, to come into my heart. I ask you right now to forgive my sin. And with everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Be a reality in me, Father. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:42:09] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
