[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:13] All right, take your Bible and go with me to Matthew chapter 25. And let's go back over the passage of Scripture and understand what's happening. Jesus is finishing up his Mount Olivet Discourse, the Olivet Discourse.
[0:26] He has explained to them, they came to him and they said, what's it going to be like in the end? What are the signs of the end? What's about you coming back again? And this is his last discussion of that. And so he talks to them about his judgment of the nations.
[0:39] You might write that in the margin of verse 31. And so the Son of Man comes in his glory and he's going to sit on his throne and he's going to call the nations to him and he's going to divide them out between sheep and goats.
[0:52] And he is going to say, it depends on how you treated my brothers. These Jews in the tribulation period will be sheep that treated them right and goats that treated them wrong. And then they'll go into the kingdom or they'll go into outer darkness.
[1:07] So you're going to walk your way through this passage with me if you would. Look in your Bible at Matthew chapter 25 and verse 31. Write this down somewhere if you take notes. Jesus will return in glory with his angels and set up his kingdom.
[1:21] Look at verse 31. The Bible says, You want to mark that verse?
[1:33] You want to understand what's going on there? You see, Son of Man, that's a term that Jesus uses to refer to him. He's God in human flesh. So he's the Son of God. He's the Messiah.
[1:44] He's the Son of Man. He's human. And he's got the humanness about him. And he's come here to the earth and he is about to die. In just a few days now, he will be on the cross and be crucified.
[1:55] But the Jews were looking for a king that would come and reign. Their Messiah, they thought, would throw off the nation of Rome, would set up Israel as a great kingdom.
[2:06] And Jesus came instead of that as a suffering servant or a savior. He came to die and give his life for sinners. But he will come again in glory and sit on his throne.
[2:19] Look at Revelation 19, 11. Write that down in the Margie Bible. Revelation chapter 19 and verse 11. Look what the Bible said. And I saw heaven opened.
[2:30] And behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire. And on his head were many crowns.
[2:42] And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. And his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
[2:58] And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he might smite the nations. He should smite the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treads the winepress of his fiercest and wrath of Almighty God.
[3:12] And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, Lord of Lords and King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus will return someday as King.
[3:25] He will set up here on earth a kingdom and he will rule in that kingdom. He will come back as King. Look if you would in Matthew chapter 25 and verse 34.
[3:38] You stay right there and you mark these things. I think it will help you. Matthew chapter 25 verse 34. Then shall the king say. Circle that. That's the first time he's making it clear. Matthew is a book about Jesus' kingdom.
[3:51] The kingdom of God. His kingdom on earth. And he's a king. Then shall the king say. Come unto them on his right hand. Come ye blessed of thy father. Inherit the kingdom.
[4:02] Circle the word kingdom. He was a king. He had a kingdom. And it was prepared for you from the foundation of the world. He will determine who enters into his kingdom. And their actions will be evidence of their faiths.
[4:14] First thing. Jesus is returning someday as a king. And he will set up a kingdom here on earth. And he will decide who leaves that tribulation period.
[4:25] And enters into that kingdom. He's coming back to do that. When he does. The second thing that I want you to look at. Verse 32. Write this down. There's a judgment of the nations. If you study your Bible.
[4:36] You're going to learn all about judgment. There will be God judging the earth. God's going to judge everybody. Everything is going to be judged here on earth. Verse 32.
[4:47] And before him shall be gathered all nations. And he shall separate them one from another. As a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. So he's going to call everybody up. That's been alive during this time period.
[4:58] And he's going to separate them as sheep or goats. This is the judgment of the nations. Or. Put a circle around the word nations. And write Gentiles. That's nations.
[5:09] Put a circle around the word nations. And write the word pagans. These are the nations. Not Israel. But everybody else is going to be being judged at that time.
[5:19] They're going to be judged as individuals. Not as a group or a nation. This isn't like God's going to call the United States in front. He's going to say this is how you treated. You get to go into the kingdom. But the nation of Russia mistreated.
[5:32] That's not what he's doing. It's a judgment of individuals taking place before he establishes his kingdom on earth. He is going to set up a kingdom here on earth. And he's going to rule and reign for a thousand years.
[5:45] You'll see that before we're over. Look at what it says in Matthew 25 verse 34. This is about who gets to go into the kingdom. Who gets to go into the kingdom. Verse 34.
[5:55] Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand. Come ye blessed of my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
[6:06] A basic understanding of judgments might be necessary right here. Maybe we ought to stop just a second. And figure out what goes on in the Bible and all these judgments. You do know that the world's going to end someday.
[6:18] You do know you're going to die. I suppose you figured that out. There's a lot of funeral homes around here. And there's a lot of graveyards around here. So we're all going to die. And it's appointed unto man once to die.
[6:29] And after that the judgment. So we're going to die. So judgment number one that you might want to understand is this one. Go with me to Revelation 20 11. I don't know how much we'll get done and everything today.
[6:39] But let's go to Revelation chapter 20 and verse 11. The first judgment I want you to understand. Now we're in the judgment of the nations. And we'll talk about that more. But I just kind of want you to get your bearings in the Bible. In Revelation chapter 20 and verse 11.
[6:52] You have the great white throne judgment. You can write that in the margin of your Bible in Revelation 20 and verse 11. You can write that on your notes. There's a great white throne judgment.
[7:02] It's going to happen at the very end. You're in Revelation. You're after the thousand year period. You're going to see that here in just a second. And listen to what the Bible says about that. Chapter 20 verse 11.
[7:14] And I saw a great white throne. And him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. You understand that? The earth ran. And the heavens ran.
[7:26] 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 saints which were written in the books according to their works.
[7:41] And the sea gave up the dead which was in it. And death and hell were delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works.
[7:52] And death and hell were cast in the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. Great white throne judgment.
[8:03] Look here just a second. Eyeballs just a second. Here's what you got going on. This is the end of the world. It's actually the millennial reign. This is for everybody who has never been saved. It is going to take place somewhere in space.
[8:16] The earth and the heaven have fled away. And they're not there. Revelation chapter 20 verse 11. Did you notice that? It's all over. Everything's over. And God's sitting down somewhere. You're going to find out in a minute.
[8:26] Jesus is on the throne. Heaven and earth have fled. Every lost person is going to be called before him. There's going to be opened a book. And in the book is the book of life. And it's going to have the name of every person who has ever been born again.
[8:39] They're going to go to heaven. And if your name is not in the book of life, you're going to be cast in the lake of fire. And that's what the passage of scripture says to us. And it's going to take place after this thousand year reign.
[8:52] Look at Revelation chapter 20 and verse 7. That comes right before verse 11. Look what it says. And when the thousand years are expired and Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.
[9:03] So verse 7, there's a thousand years that just ended. Verse 11, we got a judgment taking place. This judgment is not going to take place for a long time. This judgment is not going to take place for a long time. It's going to take place after the thousand year reign.
[9:15] And it's going to be for people that are lost. Now listen, two or three things are interesting. One, he's going to judge them according to the things that are written in the books. He's keeping a record. He's keeping a record of every time you've lied and stolen and cheated and committed adultery.
[9:28] He's keeping a record of every word you've ever spoken that was out of place, out of turn, wrong. You're laughingly mocked the things of God. He's keeping a record. It's all written down in books.
[9:40] Every sin of every human ever will all be judged. But the judgment seat of Christ, he's going to first, he's going to look and say, are you in the book of life? And if you're not in the book of life, then steps forward and he says, let's call it up.
[9:54] You probably heard that story all your life about the great screen. They're going to play a great screen. And on that screen, they're going to bring all your sins out. And they're going to say, well, right up here, you can just see Austin as a five-year-old boy cutting up in Sunday school and church.
[10:07] And everybody's watching. And you're all saying, I ain't believing that. And then I'm seven. Then I'm eight. Then I'm 10. Then I'm 15. And you're all thinking, wow, look at all the stuff that boy did wrong. And even my thoughts that nobody knew about are all going to be played.
[10:19] That's going to happen for lost people. For people who are not born again. Every word and everything, and they'll be judged.
[10:33] Their names aren't in the last book of life. And they're going to be judged. And they'll be cast into the lake of fire. So understand this. If you're not saved this morning, you need to know if you're not a born-again believer, if you've not had your sins forgiven, if Jesus hasn't washed you pure in the blood of Jesus, there's coming a day when you will stand before Almighty God, and every thought and every word and every act and every deed of your entire life will be brought up and put on a screen.
[11:00] And you will see that, and you'll be judged according to that. That's not our judgment if you're born again. That's the judgment called the great white throne.
[11:11] It's at the very end. There's no such thing as a general judgment. We're not all going to be judged together. That's their judgment, not our judgment. That's the lost people's judgment. That's people whose name is not written in the Lamb's book of life.
[11:24] Look, if you went in the verse, you should have marked it as we come through, but let's look at the verse, chapter 20. Let's see, chapter 20 and verse 15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
[11:40] So if you're not born again, if your name's not written in the Lamb's book of life, you're going to go to hell. You're going to go to hell, and you're going to be, all your stuff is going to be brought out, and it's going to be real obvious.
[11:54] You had every chance to accept Christ. You heard this message this morning. You knew you had sinned against the holy God. You know you've done wrong. Way down deep inside your heart, you know I have failed God.
[12:05] And today you may reject Him, and someday you may see this video, and the Holy Spirit will be saying you had your chance. You could have trusted Christ, but you chose to remain in your rebellion and your sin, and you didn't trust Christ and what He did on the cross.
[12:19] That's the judgment for those who are not believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now go with me, if you would, to 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10. There's another judgment that's talked about in the Bible, and that's the judgment seat of Christ.
[12:34] And that's for those of us who are born again. That's for those of us who are saved. Now let me explain something to you because I don't want you to leave here not understanding about the video. They won't be playing a video of your sin if you're a born-again believer.
[12:49] Okay, hear this. They will not be playing a video of your sin if you're a born-again believer. Because as a born-again believer, all of your sins, past, present, and future, are already forgiven.
[13:02] We're going to look at some verses to make sure you understand that. But all of your sins are already forgiven. What did Jesus say He would do? He said He would blot them out. In Colossians chapter 2, He says this.
[13:13] In Colossians chapter 2, He says, I will blot them out. I won't remember them. This is a whole bunch of verses, actually. And He said, then I will nail them to the tree. And what He did is on the cross of Calvary, that's where all the things against me are nailed.
[13:27] And He says, if anybody ever comes and says, Austin, let's talk about what happened when you were seven. They're going to look up on the cross and Jesus is going to say, It's forgiven. It's nailed to the cross. I remember it no more.
[13:39] He's a new creature. Okay? I'll tell you what, before we look at that other, let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21. The day you get saved, here's what God does for you.
[13:50] The day you get saved, God takes all of your sin, past, present, and future, and He puts it on Jesus. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21.
[14:03] He made Him, that's Jesus, to be sin for us. When Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, they had nothing they could write on the placard above His head.
[14:13] They knew what the thieves were. They knew what their rebellion was. They knew what their crimes they committed. But there was nothing to put above the head of Jesus because He hadn't done anything wrong. And so they finally said, We will put up the King of the Jews.
[14:26] And in fact, the Pharisees, the religious people, said, Say, He said He was the King of the Jews. They said, No, just put up King of the Jews. There's nothing He'd done wrong. He's dying in my place. He is a substitute all through the Old Testament.
[14:39] You've been taught all the stories of every time a lamb dies, every time an animal dies, it's a substitute to take our sin. He made Him to be sin for us. Look at this. Who knew no sin.
[14:51] Jesus never sinned. That we, born-again believers, might be made the, what's it say? We might be made the what? The righteousness of God. Did you know if you're born again, you do have a past?
[15:04] And your past is the righteousness of God. And so if He were to show my video, He would say, Good night. Born of a virgin.
[15:15] Perfect. Never sinned. Sinless Son of God. This guy's perfect. Why? Because my past and His past have been exchanged. A great big exchange took place.
[15:25] All of my sins were laid on Him. Look at Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 6, if you would. Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 6. You see, all we like sheep have gone astray.
[15:37] We have turned everyone to His own way. Everyone has chosen that we would live life our way. We've told God, basically, I know you've got some things you'd like, and I know you wrote a Bible about that, but I've got my own choices here.
[15:49] And I'll go my own way, and I'll do my own thing, and I've got my own plan, and I've got my own ideas, and the God of heaven says, when you go out of the way, you're walking away from Him. But look what He does. The Lord has laid on Him, on Jesus, the iniquity of us all.
[16:05] So on Calvary, every sin that you committed, if you're a saved person, all of your sin was placed on Jesus, and Jesus died for you.
[16:17] And He paid your sin debt. And just let me explain something to you. He didn't pay your sin debt for the past, because He died 2,000 years ago, and you wouldn't have a past. He paid for your sins today, and tomorrow, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
[16:32] Salvation was a pure gift of God to totally undeserving people. It is totally undeserved. Go back to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. You've got to get this straight.
[16:43] You've got to get this straight. When you look at Austin Gardner, you see me, the guy who can get aggravated. You see me, the guy who can think thoughts he ought not think, do things he ought not do.
[16:54] You see a guy that can do wrong, but when the Lord sees me, He sees me as the very righteousness of God in Christ, in Him. He made us His.
[17:06] So when we get judged, we're not getting judged in the same way the lost people are. Lost people are getting judged according to their works. We're getting judged according to His works. So when we stand before the Father, we're not going to be judged about whether or not we did good.
[17:22] There's not in the Bible anywhere where all your good outweighs your bad. This passage of Scripture, you might take it that way, but we'll understand it, Lord willing, in a second. What's going to happen is you're not going to go to heaven and God's going to say, well, you missed church 28,000 times in your lifetime, and I kept a record.
[17:40] And while you were at church, the other times you came, you weren't paying attention. I saw you playing tic-tac-toe and words of friends. God's not up in heaven keeping that record on you because you're His child and your sins are already forgiven.
[17:52] They're already under the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, and you've been made new. So we're only going to go to a rewards seat. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, and verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he done, whether it be good or whether it be bad.
[18:15] We're going to stand there, and we're going to find out what we did. It was worth something, and what we did, it was worthless. And He's going to say, here's some rewards for you. I don't have time today to go through this. We've done it other days, but keep coming.
[18:26] You'll get to it. He's going to give us crowns for the way we've acted, and He's going to let us wear some crowns that we'll later cast at His feet, but it's a rewards seat. You do not serve a God who expects merit from you.
[18:41] You do not serve a God who says, were you baptized just right? Did the man hold his hand up when he baptized you? Was it his right hand or was it his left hand? Did he say exactly the right words when he baptized you?
[18:53] Did you sign the church paper right? Did you pray the prayer right? Did you do all that? That's not the question in the Bible. The question in the Bible is did you come to a point in your life where you realize you had sinned against the Holy God?
[19:04] Did you come to a place in your life where you realize I deserve to die and go to hell if I get what I deserve? See, it's pretty easy somewhere along the way to begin to think, well, I was raised in a deacon's home and I've been in church all my life, and to be honest with you, I've not ever done many of the big sins that people might talk about, so I'm okay.
[19:23] I'm okay, and you're okay, and God would say, no, you're all bad. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one. In fact, there's no one even seeks after God.
[19:34] They've all turned out of the way into their own way, and the Bible's just full of all that stuff about us. So salvation's not based on what I do, but do I realize that I need him?
[19:45] Well, I realize I have to trust him and believe him to save me. He paid my sin debt. He took care of that. Romans 14, 10, the Bible says, but why dost thou judge thy brother?
[19:58] Or what dost thou said it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. You know, the truth is, it's God that's going to judge Christians too, but we're going to get rewarded.
[20:09] You might look around the room and say, I think that's a really great Christian, and God in heaven might say, he's not doing as much as you think. I know what's really going on. Paul even talked about that one place. He said, I don't judge my own self, and I really don't care how you judge me because I know someday Jesus will be the judge.
[20:24] So watch this. I want you to understand there's no general judgment. There's no thing, like we're all going to get to heaven one day and God's all of a sudden going to, like you can live in this I'm not sure stage. Will I go to heaven or won't I go to heaven?
[20:35] Did I do enough good or did I not do enough good? When I get to heaven, is God going to say, Austin, you were almost there, buddy? I mean the scales, well you were like, oh, almost, almost, but not quite so you don't get to go to heaven.
[20:46] That's not what's going to happen in the Bible. There's no general judgment. Salvation is never earned by good works. Listen to what the Bible says in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9.
[20:58] Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. The Bible says, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
[21:11] You should underline this. It's a gift. It's a gift. Do you know what that means? Somebody else paid for it. Do you know what that means?
[21:22] You didn't pay for it. Do you know what that means? It was given to you. You know, I can't go to, I can't go to my wife and say I'm going to give you this gift, and the second you mess up, I'm taking it back.
[21:33] That's not, that wouldn't be a gift. That wouldn't be a gift. He said it's the gift of God. Then he said this in the verse, he said, and no man should boast. Nobody's ever going to get to heaven and be able to walk around heaven saying, I was a missionary for 20 years.
[21:47] I started more churches than all of you. I gave more money than all of you. None of that's going to happen. We get to heaven and it's going to be all by grace. It was all what Jesus did.
[21:58] All what Jesus, he wouldn't have needed it on the cross if you could have been good enough on your own. Some of you might be thinking, what about the Old Testament Christians? They had to do a lot of stuff. They had to keep the Ten Commandments.
[22:09] They had to obey all the laws. They had to get circumcised. They had to keep the Sabbath day. How did they go to heaven? Open your Bibles to Romans chapter 4. The Apostle Paul is going to explain to us how they got to heaven.
[22:20] Romans chapter 4 verse 2. The Bible says, For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath were of to glory, but not before God. Now look at Romans 4.2.
[22:31] Romans 4.2, notice what it says. If Abraham were saved by works, he'd have a right to brag. Abraham could walk around and said, I'd like to brag. That goes along with Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 9 where it says, there's not going to be bragging going on in heaven.
[22:46] By the way, when we get to heaven, none of us are going to walk in there like, whoo, man, look what I did to get me here. We're all going to walk in there and say, thank you, Jesus. Every one of us, thank you, Jesus, for what you did. So if Abraham were justified, made right, did right, made righteous, sins were forgiven by his works, he'd have somewhere up to glory, but not before God.
[23:05] Read on with me if you would to verse 3. For what says the scripture? What does the Holy Scripture say? What's the Old Testament say? Abraham, underline it, believed God.
[23:18] Abraham believed God and that was counted to him for righteousness. So how did Abraham get saved? Abraham got saved? Abraham what? Help me, Abraham what?
[23:29] Believed. Abraham believed God and that was counted to him for righteousness. Now look at verse 4. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt.
[23:40] That's a hard verse. You know what that verse is saying? If you think it's what you do, then it's what you owe. So if you're going to start trying to think, well I need to this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this to go to heaven, he said, then you've got to do all this, this and this and this and it's not going to be a gift of reward.
[23:58] It's not going to be something I give you. It's not going to be grace but debt. You will owe it. In other words, nobody can live up to that. If I started, you know, I don't know. Some of us have a hard time accepting that we ever sinned really bad but you know, when I was in, when I was in second grade, I got caught stealing.
[24:18] Don't tell anybody this but I got caught stealing. I was in second grade. In second grade, I went to the little grocery store. Our little bus drove us to a certain spot. We got off that bus and another bus came by and picked us up because I live well out in the country in Tennessee and everybody would always go in the store and every day, everybody bought a candy bar but I couldn't buy a candy bar so I'd walk over and these candy bars, you know, back then, good night, back then they cost three cents or something, you know, it was like ridiculously cheap but I didn't have that and they would all walk in there so I'd go in and I'd pick up a candy bar and look around make sure nobody was looking and I'd stick it in my pocket and I'd walk out.
[24:50] I got away with that for several days. Don't tell anybody I did that and then one day when I picked up the candy bar and I was looking around to see if anybody was looking I didn't look right there but the owner who knew my daddy was standing right behind me and I picked up the QR and I started to stick in my pocket and he said, Austin, do you really want to do that and be watching?
[25:07] And I said, oh no, no, I was just, I was just sitting there and I put that right back. He said, you've been doing this for days, I've been watching you. You need me to talk to Charlie? Thief, convicted, caught. Another day in school I was first or second grade I was a math whiz.
[25:22] I could add up one and one and two and two and three and three like nobody's business and there was this one kid that was doing better than me and so I decided to copy him. The teacher figured it out. You know, when you're six or seven you're not as smart as you think they are and the teacher saw it so she told the really smart kid that no one next to you is cheating so I want you to put down all the wrong answers so he wrote down all the wrong answers and I copied every one of them.
[25:45] Then he went back, we went up to turn our paper in and I turned mine in and he went back to the seat and erased them all and put the right answer. He got a hundred, I got a zero and then she called me up and said, I told him to do that. I had to prove to you you're cheating.
[25:56] You see, you're looking at a liar and a thief and a cheat and so here's what the question is Austin, if you started doing right the day you got saved at the age of seven could you be perfect the rest of your life?
[26:09] No, I couldn't. So read what it says in Romans chapter four if you would, verse five. But to him that works not but believes on him that justifies the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness.
[26:23] You need to underline that in your Bible. But to him that what? Help me. To him that what? Worketh not. You see, some of us are like, man, I got to do some good stuff and you're about to read a passage of scripture where he's going to say something like this.
[26:37] He's going to say that you saw me hungry and you fed me. You saw me thirsty and you gave me the drink. You saw me without food or without clothing. You saw me in prison and you visited me. You saw all these things happen and you were good to me and you could easily walk away thinking there's some salvation based on what I do but it's never that.
[26:54] Salvation is based on what Jesus did. On what Jesus did. Look at the verse. To him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly.
[27:06] Look who he justifies. I need you to underline that in that verse. Who does he justify? The ungodly. What does ungodly mean? Not godlike. Not God. Not doing right.
[27:17] The guy who's wicked. That's who he justifies. Did you know you don't get good enough for God to save you? You don't get good enough for God to give you any brownie points? You don't come up here and say you know I've turned over a new leaf and I've quit smoking cussing dancing chewing and going with him to do and I think I'm almost ready to get saved.
[27:32] God will look at you and say it isn't about what you do buddy. It's never about your works. It's not about your works. He justifies the ungodly and what's counted for righteousness is underline it.
[27:43] Your faith is counted for righteousness. Now let me explain something to you. A born again believer is going to have fruit of their salvation and if you're a born again believer Ephesians 2.8 and 9 said for by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves it's a gift of God not of works as any man should boast but Ephesians 2.10 says but you are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God had before ordained that we should walk in them.
[28:13] So you're going to live and your salvation is going to begin to produce good works but it is always the fruit and not the root. It is always what happens because of be who you are not what you do.
[28:29] You don't do things so God will save you. You don't do things so God will keep you saved. You are and so you do. You do what's based on who you are.
[28:39] You don't say well God I'm going to do about ten things. I'm going to get I'm going to pray the prayer get baptized go to church take communion blah blah blah and I'll be saying that's not how it works. That's not how it works.
[28:50] That's not how it works. It works based on you trusting what Jesus did there. Now go back with me to Matthew. I've got seven minutes and a lot of stuff to cover. We will not get through with it but look at this.
[29:02] Go to verse 32. Jesus is the judge. This is probably one of the hardest things in the Bible. It's not the Father who's going to judge us. It's actually Jesus is going to be the judge.
[29:14] Look what it says in verse 32. Now this is a judgment of the nations which is what we're talking about right now. Verse 32 it says and before him shall be gathered all nations all the Gentiles all the pagans all the peoples these are the ones that are living right now and he shall separate from one right then not now he will separate one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.
[29:38] Watch this John 5 22 it's a verse you want to write in the margin here. all judgment is given to the Son. The Bible says for the Father judges no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.
[29:54] You understand the judgment seat of Christ that will be Christ sitting there. The great white throne that will be Jesus sitting there. It's always Jesus. If you accept him he knows that. You're his. If you reject him he knows that.
[30:05] You chose to say no to him and he knows that and so he's the one going to be doing the judging. And here in this story he's the one doing the judging. And he will do the judging immediately of this nation.
[30:19] You see you got one that's going to take place before the thousand year period. You got one that's going to take after the thousand year period. You got one that's going to take place here on earth and one that's going to take place there in heaven.
[30:31] This one that we're talking about right now is not the one it is not the one that's going to take place at the end and it's not the judgment seat of Christ. It's about who gets to go into the thousand year reign.
[30:42] Can you imagine this? It'll have to be a next week before I can get it all to you but Jesus is going to come back. He's going to set up a thousand year reign here on earth and the whole earth is going to be radically changed.
[30:53] There's a thousand things in the Bible that you don't yet know that you're going to learn. He's going to set up this kingdom. The lion will lay down with the lamb. The kid can play with the snake. Babies will die at a hundred years of age.
[31:04] Things are going to change back to more like they used to be and Jesus himself will be reigning. Some of the people living in the tribulation period will get to go into that. Verse 29 chapter 24 verse 29 said immediately after the tribulation verse 30 shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven coming in the clouds with his angels with power excuse me with power and great glory.
[31:30] For the sake of time I just want to take you today to verse 41 last thing for today. There is no proof that God predestined anybody to go to hell. If you're sitting in this room and you have not trusted Christ I want you to know he loves you and I want you to know that he wants to save you and he wants to forgive you and if you'll look at Matthew chapter 25 and verse 41 you're going to find a crazy wild verse.
[31:56] In this passage of scripture he talks about two eternal destinies one that's eternal life and one that's eternal death but here he explains about the everlasting fire hell or the lake of fire whatever you want to call it he explains that and he says then shall he say unto them to them on the left hand depart from me you cursed now I want you to look what he said into everlasting fire underline everlasting you say Austin do you really believe God would make a person suffer forever yeah everlasting that means it lasts forever it forever lasts everlasting but notice who he prepared hell for notice who he prepared this fire for notice who he prepared this punishment for prepared for the who the devil and his angels we'll get to the judgment of the nations a little bit more next week but watch this if you don't go to hell you're going to a place he never wanted you to go if you don't go to hell you're going to a place he never wanted you to go when he made hell when he made the everlasting fire when he made the lake of fire he made it for the devil and his angels or the demons that followed him in rebellion against God was never made for you was never made for wasn't made for people look at it
[33:12] Jesus said in the end you're going to go to this place prepared for the devil and his angels now what did the devil and his angels do they told God we'll do what we want to do we'll go our own way we'll choose our own route we'll choose our own life we'll make our own decisions and that's what sin is in Isaiah 53 verse 6 all we like sheep have gone astray and turned every man to his own way and our own way is not always the same way some of you have been really good moral people you know you've been really good moral people I mean you're the best neighbor anybody could ever dream of having you give money to the march of dimes and every other little thing that comes along you pull up to the exit 14 and the mason's right there taking up money you're going to put money in you need a little patch you want to stick something on you I mean you're giving blood you're doing everything you could possibly do you're good you say well I'm good I think if anybody ought to go to heaven it ought to be me I know the problem is that's your choice that's not how he set it up he set it up that you would only go to heaven when you realize you were a sinner and you obeyed God see just saying Lord
[34:20] Lord won't get you to heaven just saying I believe God won't get you there what will happen is when you do what he commanded you to do trust Christ believe the Lord Jesus that's what you were commanded to do and so I want you to notice go back with me to Matthew chapter 25 and verse 41 if you would and look what the verse says it says everlasting fire was prepared for the devil and his angels what'd they do they rebelled against God they said we'll do it our own way some of the people their own way was wickedness their own way man they were like vile adulterers and murderers and gangsters and really bad but you see the devil doesn't care which road you take he doesn't care if you're the most wicked human on the planet or if you're the most wonderful model moral citizen on the planet he doesn't care as long as you don't trust Jesus Jesus said I'm the way the truth and the life no man comes to the father but by me you could be a great Muslim you could be a great Buddhist you could be a great quote unquote Christian you could be a great neighbor but if you don't know
[35:25] Jesus you are saying the same thing the devil said you're saying God I know you got your way and your truth and I know you got all that lined up and I know you said Jesus somebody actually said to me recently I don't believe God would ever be that picky to say you had to go only one way I said well I'm sorry he did and I quoted that and he said I think you twist that I said how can I twist this Jesus said to them I'm the way the truth and the life no man comes to the father but by me he said well I don't think that means that I said well tell me what it could mean I'm trying to figure it out too he said it means what it says it says what it means God's not that dumb he could write it how he wanted it amen so just understand please quickly understand this if you decide not to trust Christ you're choosing to go to the place prepared for the devil and his angels it is Jesus who died on the cross of Calvary to pay our sin debt it is Jesus the bible says in Romans chapter 5 and verse 6 Romans chapter 5 and verse 6 that Christ died for the ungodly they'll get it up here for you a second for when you we were yet without strength thus Christians back when
[36:33] Austin was without strength unable to go to heaven on his own Christ died for the ungodly just on time in due time he died for the ungodly now go down to verse 8 if you would look at Romans chapter 5 and verse 8 but God commended his love toward us and while we were yet sinners Christ died for us he paid for your sin so I stand before you today and say to you you could go to a place that was prepared for the devil and his angels there will be a judgment I don't know your heart I don't know if you've accepted Christ I know you could look like a far better Christian than anybody I know and not be saved I said you could look like a Christian and not be saved you could have been baptized in Peru where I used to live people would tell me I've been to every church in town I'm doing whatever one of them say to me so that when I die I got all my bases covered that doesn't work that doesn't work here's the way it works you recognize that you've sinned against the holy god for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god it's written none are righteous none are perfect no not one and then you realize that
[37:40] Jesus died to pay your sin debt and on the cross of calvary he took all your sin and paid for it and offers you a free gift by the way let me tell you it's already paid for it he's already paid for it he's already done everything for you to go to heaven right now all you need to do is receive the free gift all you need to do is receive the free gift Romans 6 3 3 says for the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ the lord he wants to save you if you're not saved today be saved there will be a judgment jesus will sit there and there is a place of eternal punishment but it wasn't for you where you can find our service times location contact information and more audio and video recordings