After This the Judgment

Hebrews 9:16-28 READ But after this the Judgment. 

• • A college student murdered. A man sucked into a jet engine. Human remains recovered. A cold case killing reopened. A famous reporter suddenly gone. Scuba Divers die in the water. 
  •  Open the news for sixty seconds and you’re reminded how fragile life is, how suddenly death comes, and how none of us are promised tomorrow.

• Many people live day to day with almost no thought of their eventual end. 

• • I’ve watched people live a quasi-Christian life with little concern for holiness, worship, repentance, or how they treated others. With no regard for ongoing sin in their lives. 

• You need to live with the awareness that one day your life will suddenly end. ///

• Jas 4:13-14 come now you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
• There is no spiritual benefit in avoiding the reality that one day you will stand before God.
• Phones. Entertainment. Food. Drugs. Alcohol. Noise. Busyness. People fill their lives with Anything to keep us from thinking about eternity. 
• There’s a sobering scripture in our passage today- Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
• Are you ready to face Christ on judgment day? Or do you pretend that our Master delays his coming?

• We must live with an sober awareness of our inevitable death. 

• • Christianity only makes sense, and grace means more, when viewed through death and eternity. 
  • The writer of Hebrews uses death as an example of how inheritances work: 16 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.
  • If someone is leaving an inheritance to someone, they must first die for the other to inherit. 
  • Christ became a man to give us an inheritance, but He had to die for us to receive it.
  • But it came at a cost: Death. He had to die. If he had not died, he could not have blessed us

• Why did he die? Christ Died so you could have new life. V26…but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 

• People talk about the power of the blood of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, but the death of Christ is the power that caused the New covenant. 

• • When Christ died, He entered heaven itself and offered His blood for us.
  • 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—
  • It was his blood and his blood alone that purchased this inheritance for us, but it took death. 
  • Romans says it this way- Romans 5:17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
  • This death was real. The crucifixion was real, the blood was real and his payment was real. 
  • Christ truly became a man, truly died, and reminds us that our own death is unavoidable.
  • And this was his promise-  John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
  • You must live with an expectation of your death. Life is fragile. Its possible to die unexpectedly. 
  • Some live with no awareness of God, no concern for holiness, and no conviction over sin.
  • Hebrews reminds us of death because ignoring this reality can cost a person eternity.
  • There was a man who attended this church years ago. Lied to his fiancé about money given to him for their wedding he gambled away, stole the church tithe, multiple DUIs, thievery of her company credit card, lost their house, their money, cheated on her, and eventually died in his drunken vomit. All the while claiming that he was a Christian who was under the grace of God

• I wondered then and I wonder now- Did he never reflect on the reality of his eventual death?

• Jesus spoke about a parable of a man such as this in Luke 12:16-20 READ
• 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
• Even Jesus spoke of this sobering truth. No one knows the day or the hour. Are you ready?

• You will face the judgement seat of Christ

• • You must face God for your life. How you lived. What you believed. How you treated people. Your money. Your relationships. Your thought life. Your worship. All of it. 
  • One day you will die. As surely as you’re sitting here, you will face Christ and give an account for your life.
  • Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 
  • The writer of Hebrews pivots from Christ’s death to our death. Christ’s death purchased our inheritance, but our coming death reminds us that we will stand before Him.

• Our sin must be judged. Evil must be answered for. It must be atoned for

• • 22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission
  • We cannot escape the judgment of God and we must be purified to face the judgment. 
  • Ecc 12:14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing,
    Whether good or evil. Matt 12:36  for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. Jn 5:28-29 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
  • This appointment belongs to every man. The debt all men pay is death
  • Many people don’t want to think about this truth. Its why people avoid funerals. Its why we live in a way that delays reconciliation and repentance. We all tell ourselves “I’ll deal with it later”

• The danger of that mindset is that it delays repentance, holiness, and reconciliation because we assume we still have time

• • So we hold a grudge. We harbor unforgiveness. We hurt others and ourselves. 
  • We hide our sins from ourselves and God assuming that we have more time 

• What I’ve seen in my life is that God is gracious. He gives men time to make things right///

• • He’ll speak through His Word, through preaching, through people, through the conviction of the Holy Spirit
  • And the call is simple- Repent. Stop. Change. Forgive. Reconcile. Bow the knee. 
  • But people refuse./// I do my part. I’ve tried to build a church environment that does not minimize sin or obsess over earthly pleasures. We’re here to worship God and walk in holiness
  • Paul Spoke this to the Ephesian elders and it’s a call upon my life- Acts 20: 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
  •  My primary role in your life is not merely to make you comfortable. My assignment is to preach the whole counsel of God. To push you to holiness and not complacency. 
  • And one day when I stand before God, I’ll be held accountable to what I preached to you. 

• I don’t take it lightly because I love God and I love you. I want you to make It to heaven. 

• • Acts 17:30-31 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. 
  • And you must repent. You must turn away from the sins of your life
  • Romans 2:5-6 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”:
  • 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

• This should concern you. It should sober you. It should caution you in how you live. 

• Have you ever sinned and felt conviction deep in your gut? Felt the fear of God come over you?
• Good. That’s an indication of the spirits work within you. There’s Hope for you. 

• Christ is the ONLY refuge

• • We must trust in Christ’s sacrifice. We must turn from our sin and trust in Him.
  • 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. 
  • Christ accomplished salvation for us by His death. He took upon Himself the sins of humanity once and for all. He will never have to do it again. He died once. He shed His blood so we would not face condemnation
  • 23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 
  • 1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

• For those who trust in Christ, we can have boldness in the day of judgment because Christ stood in our place and now appears before the Father for us.

• • We don’t live in fear because we believe In him! His blood is enough to save us!

• Romans 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

• • Praise God! Wrath is not the inheritance of the Child of God who trusts in Christ our Lord
  • John 5:24“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
  • Do you believe? Do you believe that Jesus paid the penalty for your sin and you’re forgiven?

• Do you live like you’ve been forgiven or do you sin like you’ll be forgiven? Big difference///

• • 2 Cor 5:14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

• When we truly grasp that we’ve been forgiven, it should change the way we live

• • We become more loving. More forgiving. We become more Christlike and we live differently

• That’s why I struggle to understand people who live in a perpetual cycle of sin with no battle, no conviction, and no desire to change

• • Can I let you in on a little secret? Sometimes I miss gangster rap.  80-90s gangster rap. 
  • Snoop. NWA. Dre. D.O.C. Brotha Lynch. Too Short. Easy E. But I don’t listen to it. I just cant. 
  • I know the effect it has on me, so I avoid it. I don’t feed it because I know what it produces
  • “but its just music”. Maybe. But does it end with me in a club with a blunt and Hennesy?
  • I don’t want that in my life. I’ve been forgiven and set free. I live differently to honor him. 
  • 1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
  • God reconciled me to Himself through the sacrifice of Jesus. Why would I go back?
  • Christ has delivered you from the wrath to come. 1 Thes 1:10 …. His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
  • SO what do we do? We labor. We fight. We live in this world and we fight for holiness! 
  • John 6:27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you
  • What are you laboring for? What inheritance are you trying to receive? The one of the world?

• Christ is the answer for the weary soul. The answer for the wayward heart. If you find yourself unsatisfied with the things of this world it might be that you’re eating the wrong bread. 

• • John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
  • Years ago in the Movie Braveheart its about Scottish men fighting the English for freedom
  • And the main Guy William Wallace is trying to inspire his men to fight, knowing the cost

• He says-  Every man dies. Not every man really lives

• Your death is inevitable, but your victory in this life can be just as inevitable if you trust In him
• 1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
• He’s provided the way of salvation for all of us through his death burial and resurrection. 
• It is received by faith. Believing Jesus died for your sin, rose again, forgives you, and becomes Lord of your life
• The same Christ who will judge the world is the very Christ who died to save it.
• John 3:16-18 READ (maybe if time) 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
• Flee to Him while the door of mercy still stands open.