Two Appointments We Will Keep

The message was brought by Rev. Eddie Foster on 4/28/24.

We have all canceled appointments before. Two have been set on God’s calendar. We don’t like to be reminded of either of them, but we will keep them:  death and judgment.

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

Death:  it’s the rule of God that all die.  Adam lived 930 years.  Many others lived into the 900’s.  Methuselah was 969. Listing the number of years, the Bible still says the same thing about them: and they died.  When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden death passed to the human race. You cannot avoid it. There are some exceptions. The Bible says Enoch walked with God and “was not for God took him.”  He went to be with the Lord without dying. Elijah was carried into heaven by a chariot of fire.  Christians alive when the Lord returns won’t die but they will still put off this mortal body. We’ll leave everything here when we go into eternity. You CAN DETERMINE HOW you’ll die but not the method of your death.  We determine the condition of our soul now, before our death.

Stephen died unafraid still preaching about the Lord. He even asked God to forgive those who were stoning him to death.  Give us people who serve God unafraid.  Whose side are you on?  God takes away the fear of death.  Ananias died unclean.  I’m not debating here where he went, but both he and his wife lied to the Holy Spirit to get glory from others. They died with unconfessed sin. Are you in that condition? Do you have unconfessed sin in your life?  Still alive, you can take care of that.  I urge you to deal with any unconfessed sin!  Judas died unfaithful.  He served Jesus when it was easy. When the popularity of Jesus started going away, it was hard for him. Things go awry in life. We all get sick–yes even Christians.  We may be healed but maybe not.  Don’t die unfaithful to God.  The rich man died unprepared.  He didn’t go to hell because he was rich.  Neither did the poor man, Lazarus, go to heaven because he was poor.  The rich man made preparations to live but none to die. You must prepare to die. There’s a story of another rich man who had so much that he tore down his barns and he built bigger ones. He thought he had it made. However, that night God required his soul. We all have our things insured–houses, cars, health.  We’re insurance poor. Nothing is wrong with those preparations. We need them. But we must prepare for eternity. No one will ask how much money we had when we die or where we went to college. All will wonder if we were ready to meet God. You don’t want to go to hell as this rich man did. Will you die ready or unprepared? 

Judgment:  Thank God our sins were judged at Calvary when Jesus died on the cross. He didn’t do anything wrong; he wasn’t dying for himself.  It was all for our sins.  The Judgment Seat of Christ is only for the believer–those who are prepared to meet God.  There’s the judgment of angels. One-third of the angels followed Lucifer–the devil– and were cast into judgment. The Great White Throne Judgment is unbelievers–those who reject Jesus as Savior.

The world as we know it will come to an end with the rapture of the saints. The Judgment Seat of Christ will immediately follow. On earth Tribulation will begin. The first 3 ½ years won’t be near as bad as the last 3 ½; it is called GREAT Tribulation.  Believers will experience judgment and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb during this time. Then the Second Coming of Christ will happen. The rapture and the second coming are not the same events. After the Second Coming, Jesus will reign 1,000 years on the earth, and we’ll reign with him.

What’s the purpose of the Judgment Seat of Christ?  When we accept Jesus as Savior on this earth dealing with our sins and where we’ll go after death or the rapture, we go to this Judgment to receive rewards for the labor we did for the Lord after salvation.  Remember whether a person goes to heaven or hell is determined in this life. There is no place called purgatory that you can be prayed out of and go to heaven.  It’s all settled before death.  

The Great White Throne Judgment is for those who didn’t believe in Christ, those who did not repent and receive Him as Savior. Revelation 20:11-12 says And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Death isn’t the end.  We’ll live as long as God does–that’s forever.  We will not cease to exist. We’ll live either in heaven or hell.  We will not escape God because all will stand before him at one of these judgments.  Sin must be reckoned with. Someone has to pay for your sins.  You can accept the payment Jesus made on the cross or you can die eternally in hell paying them yourself.  

Two appointments. We must keep them. We can’t cancel death. We can’t cancel judgment.  Be prepared. Receive Christ as Savior if you’re unsaved. For the saved, deal with things not pleasing to God.  Do it today.