When we preach on hell we might at least do it with tears in our eyes. D.L.Moody
What if? What if you never surrendered your life to Christ?
What if you come to the end of your days and you never had that moment in which you repented and placed your trust in Jesus.
What are the consequences? Specifically - What will you have missed? And What will you face?
The time has come for you to get serious about Jesus because the consequences of not surrendering to Him are grave.
1. If you do not surrender your life to Jesus you will miss the best possible life.
2. If you do not surrender your life to Jesus you will face the justice and judgment of God.
1. If you do not surrender your life to Jesus you will miss the best possible life.
Today we are going to be all over the place in the Bible but I’ll direct you to two pieces of scripture if you want to grab a bible…
John 10:10
Context – Sheep and their shepherd.
· Human beings are sheep, Jesus likens himself to the shepherd and to the gate of the sheep pen. i.e. the sheep go through him to their best possible life (grass) and are led by him to the best possible life (grass). Contrasts himself with others who would like to steal and destroy the sheep.
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
· full = ridiculous level of goodness… overflowing…over the top…beyond measure.
How would an Americans define a “full” life?
· Material – large, nice home, car, toys, stuff you enjoy
· Relationships – family close by, happy and if you’re a grandparent breeding like rabbits
· Health – fit, trim and active
· Food – all you want when you want it
· Job – fulfilling and rewarding financially
That’s not what Jesus was referring to…looking at the rest of his teaching we can piece together what he had in mind for an exceedingly full life:
· The full life of Jesus: an unusual sense of peace 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27 ( incl. no guilt)
· The full life of Jesus: deep rest. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
· The full life of Jesus: supernatural comfort through pain. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4
· The full life of Jesus: an extraordinary destiny. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12 (and Ephesians 2:10)
· The full life of Jesus: a rare sense of community. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34
· The full life of Jesus: a mind-blowing level of wisdom. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. John 16:13
o “phenomenal cosmic power in an itty bitty living space”
Listen carefully…all of those benefits you will miss if you choose never to surrender your life to Jesus Christ.
Jesus illustrated this in an unusual story he made up one day…about a wealthy man throwing a feast. (Luke 14)
· He sends his servant out to invite guests.
· The servant comes back with the RSVPs…no thanks.
o just bought a field…just bought some oxen…just got married
· The wealthy man is furious and sends the servant back out to invite the poor, crippled and outcast. They are more than willing to come to the feast.
The point: the ones who turned down the offer of a feast were the ones whose lives were generally OK…seemingly comfortable…the affluent…like us.
1. If you do not surrender your life to Jesus you will miss the best possible life.
2. If you do not surrender your life to Jesus you will face the justice and judgment of God.
Revelation 20:11
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne…
· there is existence after physical death
· every person who has lived will stand before God
…and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
· every human being’s life will be scrutinized by God
· e very human being will be shown (based on their lives) to not measure up
o fall short of the glory of God
o judged as sinners incapable of balancing the bad with the good.
15 And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:15
· elsewhere in Revelation this book is the Lamb’s book of life (Jesus)
o those who had surrendered their lives to Jesus – repented and trusted in him
At some point there will be a reckoning… Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Daniel 12:2
So, yeah, this is not good.
If you do not surrender your life to Jesus you will face the justice and judgment of God.
And it will be unpleasant and quite awful:
…shame and everlasting contempt…Daniel 12:2
…shut out from the presence of the Lord…2 Thessalonians 1:9
…weeping and gnashing of teeth… Matthew 8:12
…torment…Luke 16:23
…everyone will be tested with fire…Mark 9:49 (NLT)
And apparently there will be degrees of judgment:
That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Luke 12:47-48
If you know better and still would not surrender to Jesus the judgment is more severe.
Now…there are two big questions and they are related. For the un-surrendered to Jesus will this judgment be eternal and once you die have you lost your chance at redemption?
Jonathan Edwards – first half of the 18th century was unsparing in his opinion about what happens to the un-surrendered.
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire. He is of purer eyes than to bear you in his sight; you are ten thousand times as abominable in his eyes as the most hateful, venomous serpent is in ours.
O sinner! consider the fearful danger you are in! You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of Divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it and burn it asunder. . . .Jonathan Edwards, sinners in the hands of an angry God.
Is that accurate? Herein lies an enormous amount of debate and disagreement among followers of Jesus. In preparing for this series the pastors of Grace dug deeply into this subject.
We looked in particular at the character of God and the whole story of God and we found two things to be true about Him:
Ø He is holy and just.
o he cannot just turn a blind eye toward sin as you’ve seen in the scriptures we’ve examined already today
o from the very beginning he has judged sinners and sin
Ø He is loving and merciful
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. Psalm 103:8
He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
God’s great desire is that everyone would be saved from judgment. Some would ask a good question: Is there anything God really wants that won’t happen?
So bottom line…what do we believe about the judgment of God?
1. Everybody will be judged and found to be deficient.
2. Those who have surrendered their lives to Jesus will enter eternal life with God.
3. There is only one way to eternal life – there are not many paths up the mountain – but one … surrender to Jesus.
4. Those who die having not surrendered will face the extended judgment of God and it will be unpleasant. (their souls are not annihilated)
5. It is possible that that judgment could be eternal. We hope not but have to face that possibility.
6. What we hope is that those who haven’t surrendered their lives before they die will get another chance beyond the grave.
a. scripture does not rule this out but neither is it explicit that it is true.
b. we are hoping that God’s judgment is restorative and not retributive…that his judgment is linked to his Fatherhood – he judges to refine not punish.
But let me re-iterate that we do not believe that everybody automatically at some point will catch a break…that will God will just unilaterally pardon everyone without them surrendering to Jesus.
All of history both on this planet and beyond in the eternal world of God rides on those 72 hours in AD33 when Jesus suffered, died was buried and rose again. What you do with that will determine your eternal destiny.
The time has come for you to get serious about Jesus because the consequences of not surrendering to Him are grave.
So…will you surrender your life to Jesus? Right now we want to give you yet another opportunity to do exactly that…