The certainty of death and the subsequent divine judgment for all humanity, as declared by Jesus in John 5:24-29. It highlights that while judgment is inevitable, believers in Christ have already passed from death to life and possess everlasting life, thus avoiding condemnation. The message contrasts the two resurrections—one to life and one to judgment—and underscores Jesus' authority as the Son of God and Son of Man to execute judgment, urging listeners to consider their eternal destiny and be prepared for the accountability before God.
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Remember the words that John writes in chapter one. The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to him say, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that set me hath everlasting life. shall not come into condemnation, but is, meaning already passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, please note the solemn words that follow.
And don't forget who spoke then. And don't forget to realize they will be fully truth. Verily, verily, I say unto you the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that here shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment Also, because he is the son of man.
Marvel not at this. Don't be surprised at what I'm saying, says the Lord. For the hour is coming. Don't forget he said it. The hour is coming. In the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. and shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life. They that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation or judgment. May God bless the portion of Scripture that we have read.
It is but a fraction of the portion of this wonderful chapter, manifesting and declaring the greatness and the authority of one who was and is the Son of God. But I want you to think with me of two things. I quote a verse now that I would like to emphasize at this moment. Many of you may be familiar if you are believers, I'm sure you must. For as I consider our meeting tonight, we'll gather together as a group of believers in the Lord Jesus. We're looking for the teaching of God's word to our hearts and our souls and our lives and our consciences.
I would like to emphasize our word in introduction to our study that we'd like to follow in the will of the Lord, as he may leave. Hebrews nine and verse twenty seven, which all of you may remember, when the apostle writes to say, and what solemn words they are. It is appointed unto men once to die. And after this what?
The judgment. My beloved may I humbly but very solemnly say, I wish every man, woman, boy, and girl in the world was solemnly thinking of that fact. They have a divine appointment to die. And following that death, they have another divine appointment, the judgment. The word of God clearly states, as you have in Romans ten, fourteen. Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. But may I raise the question, as I quoted that verse, again I raised the question, do you realize and do I realize the most important problem I have in it you have and every other person has is to face death and following it, the judgment.
May I ask again, I say it reverently, lovingly. How many persons do you think even in our city are thinking about their death, undercoming judgment? It's inevitable. There were only two persons that went through life without dying into heaven, and you may remember them from the word of God. One was Enoch. The other was Elijah. But there's a wise man Solomon's written. There's a time to be born.
And there's a time to die. What? Let me ask you a question, have you thought about your death? I'm glad I did. Very recently there was a young man that sought the Lord. And the brother I personally know, who led him to the Lord, asked him, Why do you want to be saved? And his answer was great, that I'm afraid to die. And may I remind you, I think of the children, they're not too young to die either.
You can't determine the age factor you've got to reach. But there's one sure thing is coming. I've sure been waiting for it for quite a long time. But may I say, and I say this lovingly, and particularly do I think of the children who were in our midst in the preceding portion of the service. I hope they're concerned about their eternal welfare, the welfare of their soul. Just this past week, to my surprise, I received a letter from one of my young, great-grandchildren, in early teenage, writing a blessed confession of the Lord Jesus as a Savior.
But she didn't wait until she was a teenager. He wrote and told me she was five years of age. When it came to her soul, she needed to be saved and confessed she was a sinner. Oh, my beloved, may not be big sinners, but we're all sinners, whether young or whether old. And I say again, praise God when you settle the question of your eternal destiny. And she confessed it to me. I confessed I was a sinner and believed that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sin.
Now I want to confess him and make everybody, let everyone know he's my Savior. But, beloved, what we have read tonight is another portion we would like to consider and take up, God willing, as we may go on in the following Wednesday night under the will of the Lord. The Lord in this chapter that we have read, he not only speaks of death and judgment, but he speaks of judgment particularly. First of all, may I point out to you that if you know your Bible, judgment can be expected by all.
Let me repeat the words of Romans ten, fourteen again. Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. My beloved, as I look at you and as you look at me, I can't answer for you. You will never answer for me. I'll have to give my own account. It's inevitable. But I want you to notice the introduction of the portion that we have read. To you and I, who may I now be believers in the Lord Jesus? There's a blessed assurance here in verse twenty-four.
It's one of the greatest gospel texts you could ever preach and use for the glory of God in seeking to win precious souls. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word. Oh, please may I pause again. I cannot help it. His word. Not my word, his word. And he goes on to say, And believeth on him that sent me. Who sent him? Oh, you know the word very well.
In the gospel of his speech, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Hearing his love, not that we loved God, but he loved us. and sent, oh, his son, to be the propitiation for our sins. And he goes on to say, if he hears my word, and it's one thing to hear it, but it's another thing to believe. Let me quote the words of Romans chapter ten, verse nine and ten. If thou shalt believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and confess him with thy mouth thou shalt be saved it's not just the confession of the list it's the faith of the heart it's the believing in the heart you confess with your mouth but you're believing in your heart and Paul wrote and believe and whoever does that believes on him that send me know what he says not in shall have half a present tense everlasting life shall
not come into condemnation meaning judgment but is passed from death unto life please let me say and let me repeat it again I think of the dear letter I got from this little great-granddaughter she says he took my sins away when I trusted him as my Savior She doesn't expect to meet God and answer for her sin. The Lord Jesus took them away. And first John chapter one, verse nine, certainly declared, verse seven rather, and what a joy to realize the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from what?
All sin. Please me, I make a statement. I love to make it. And I'm glad. For every person, boy, a girl, man, a woman, who realizes it. When God forgives sins, He forgives the sins of the whole life. Past, present, future. And as the Lord Jesus said, He has present possession, everlasting life. Shall not come into condemnation, meaning for his and her sins. But His past, And then you have the truth from death unto life. But I want to follow through on the subject.
Coming judgment. It is appointed and the man wants to die. But after this the judgment. Now beloved if you study your word God's word carefully. Judgment is in the future. referred to here and in many other places of God's world. Let me give you another example. In chapter seventeen of the book of Acts, the beloved apostle Paul said to the Athenians in the Areopagus on Mars Hill in the city of Athens long ago, God at the point of the day in which he will judge the world by that man whom he hath ordained.
In raising him from the dead. Speaking that Christ will be the judge of all the earth. But I want you to go further down the chapter quickly please. Let me go to verse twenty seven with you. As in verse twenty six the Lord Jesus speaks of the equality of himself having life. That the Father has given him that privilege and glory too to have life in himself. But now know that twenty-seven. God has given him, the Son of God, authority to execute judgment. Also, my beloved, may I ask the question, who is to be the judge of all the earth?
Who is to be the judge of all humanity? Let me ask you to think if you possibly can, I know you'll never be able to conceive it in need of do I. How many millions, and I emphasize it, millions from the day of Adam to the end of the human history as it will yet come? Will Christ have to judge? Not just the population of Florence, not just the population of South Carolina, nor even of the United States, but the population of the world from the beginning to the end.
Now, I hope you realize it. Please, if God says we were appointed to die, we ought to know that we're going to get out of this world somehow. But there's a judgment day coming. And here you have the Lord Jesus saying, God has given me authority to execute judgment. Why? I'm the son of God. And in so declaring himself, he is emphasizing his equality with his father. Pilate, please let me say, when the Lord Jesus said these words, he was on the earth.
He was in the form of humanity. He was the man or the babe of Bethlehem, the youth of Nazareth, the man of Galilee, the man of Judea, as well as the man of Calvary. And when he spoke these words, he spoke with authority, telling who he was and is, because I'm the son of God. Now you have further on, as you've got another example, as to who he is at the end of verse twenty-seven, please let me emphasize this.
Not only because I am the Son of God, but I'm the Son of Man. My beloved, please let me say, did you ever notice the words, and I commend them to your memory? How the dear apostle Paul in Romans chapter fourteen particularly advises the Christians not to be judges of one another. Oh, it's easy to judge another. And even the apostle said himself, I judge no man. And no man judges me.
He that judges me is the Lord. And he wrote, in the book of Romans also. But what a joy to realize the Lord is the perfect. Look, you've got to have a perfect human being to judge and pass judgment on all other human beings. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew? Judge not the GB, not judge. My beloved, I'm sure we should realize.
Lord, please let me say. As we go on to study this subject, the judgments, there will not be one occasion only when Christ will be sitting as judge in the future. If I know my Bible correctly and I mention to you, there are four coming future judgments. First of all, let me name. There's the first judgment that will ever take place, which is to be our study, the judgment seat of Christ, which according to the Word of God is only.
for Christian believers, for believers in the Lord Jesus. As Paul wrote in St. Corinthians five, ten, to the Christians at Corinth, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to be judged for the deeds that we have done in our body, whether good or whether bad. Now, beloved, let me say this. I can't judge you. I want to tell you I'm going to have my own problem. I've got to give my own account to the Lord for what I've done, what I've been, what has been good, and even though I'm a believer, what may have been wrong.
It's going to be stable. And also, there's another judgment which will begin after the rapture, after the Lord takes his church out of the world. In the word of God, it will be called the Great Tribulation, period. And it will be the judgment of God upon the earth and over the nations, consummating by the coming of the Lord Jesus back to the earth and setting up what he calls, in Matthew twenty-five, the judgment of the living nations. My beloved, let me say reverently and lovingly, please let me say, the nation, God's going to judge them.
Every nation is responsible for their government and the character of their nation before the living God. And they answer for it. And we know from Matthew chapter twenty-five, verse thirty-one through forty-six, Do you ever notice what will happen to the ungodly nations? Everlasting fire. Eternal punishment. But then there's another great judgment. You've got it in the book of Revelation at the end time. Half of the heavens and the earth are passed away.
There's no more seed. And God sets up the great white throne judgment. And no one but the unsaved dead. The unsaved dead from beginning to the end of humanity. Stand before him. Did you ever notice in the reading of that portion in Revelation twenty? Did you ever consider where they stand? They stand in space. The heavens and the earth are destroyed. as the throne is set up.
But, may I go again? Reemphasize. It really burdens my heart. Who in the world today is considering their eternal future? Appointed to die and following this unfailing judgment. Again, let me repeat, I thank God for everyone, whether young and whether old, that begins to have the fear of God in their hearts and seeks for salvation through grace by faith in the Lord Jesus to be sure that they're saved.
But then there's not only that great eternal day of judgment in at the great white throne, where all the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books are opened according to their record. There's a false judgment. You find it in second Corinthians chapter six and verse two, I believe, in that section. I know little of it. There's nothing said about it. Except this. Paul writing to the Corinthian believers said, What? Know ye not that ye shall judge angels? And if I know my Bible correctly, there are not only holy angels, but unfortunately there are myriads of fallen angels, unholy, and their day of judgments coming.
And the final disposition of them is what is the unsaved. will be the eternal bold of the lake of fire. But, beloved, I want you to notice something. Go down with me in our closing moments and see what the Lord Jesus said in verse twenty-eight and twenty-nine. Marvel not of this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth They that have done good unto the resurrection of life. And they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation or judgment.
Now you know what the Lord says. He declares there's two resurrections. One we can say for blessings, the other for judgment. May I repeat again, I say it lovingly and I say it earnestly. I say it for the fact that you and I should be concerned that the many around us do not realize the eternal danger they are facing. Not only death, but coming judgment. Some will be raised, the whole will be raised, but some will be raised for life eternal, others for death eternal.
Who's going to be the judge? The Lord Jesus said, I'm going to be the judge. The Father has given me authority. He has a divine authority as being equal to deity, having the ability, divine and eternal, capable to be a judge. Did you ever hear the words or read the words of Abraham when the Lord was before him in chapter eighteen of that blessed book of the Bible, the book of Genesis? And the Lord was telling him what he was going to do to Solomon Gomorrah.
And as the Lord made the confession as to what would happen, all that Abraham could and did say. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? My beloved, listen. Can I say it lovingly and personally to my own soul? When the Lord judges me at the great judgment seat of Christ, which will be the place for the believers to be judged, he'll do it fairly, righteously. May I go further, as we shall see in our succeeding study, God willing, it's capable of doing it.
We read in chapter one of the book of the Revelation, in the opening part of that chapter, a description of the Lord in that coming day of judgment. How he's dressed. And particularly, may I emphasize this one fact, he has eyes of fire. And as God willing we shall see when we go further in the word of God next week, it's going to judge the believers by fire. And may I say, please may I say it, I can look at you, but I don't know you. I may think I know you.
know you to some degree. But look, you don't know me perfectly either. But the Lord Jesus knows every one of us perfectly. And in that day of judgment, we won't have to tell him what we've been. He's got the record. And may I say, my fellow believers, Each day you and I are writing the record in that book of life which we shall face in that day of judgment. But here's the thought. Are we looking forward to it?
It should have a salutary effect upon us. Effecting, guiding, and directing our conduct. and developing our character. If the Lord was to come tonight, may I just raise a question for your heart and mind? Would you be glad to see him? And may I raise the question as I close. Are we ready in heart? Oh, yes, I'm ready in soul. My sins are forgiven. Thank God there's no condemnation of my sins before me.
But I've got to give an account. Every one of us are given an account unto God. Shall we pray? Our beloved Father, our blessed Savior, in that day of judgment, Lord, may we raise our hearts to question. How shall I feel? What will be my portion to stand, expose, and examine in that day when thou wouldst call thine own to thee with thyself?
Ah, blessed Father, we thank thee. One person alone in it, thy dear son. who not only was the son of God, but was the son of man. And the man that is equal to execute judgment is the only one who died to save us. The Lord Jesus. Oh, we pray tonight for the unsaved. We pray for our young children, Lord, that we're together with us. And thank thee for the dear little ones who may have confessed Christ, and pray that the genuine of their conversion may be exhibited, and their lives for thine honor and glory.
But we pray for each other. Lord Jesus, look, Lord, we haven't seen thee as the judge yet, but we've got to come before thee. And Lord, there's one thing sure. It'll be a righteous, bona fide judgment. But we're so glad we have everlasting life. I give unto my sheep eternal life they shall never perish. Blessed Lord, that's true of every believer in the Lord Jesus, no matter where they are and who they are, if they have believed. And thy word declares, They have already passed from death under life.
Eternal. Now, Lord, please, you're coming. We die people in this assembly. We're going to be judged. What we have been in this assembly. What we have done for thee upon the earth. And been for thee. We shall be judged. Every one of us shall give an account, none of the other one, but of ourselves to God. Lord, we ask you to speak to our hearts, consciously and mind, for the glory of thy name as we give thee our thanks.