I. There will be a time in which all of us will be on trial before the
Judgment seat of Christ. Hebrews 9:27.
A. When?
1. Other than the fact that it will be at the second coming of Christ, we
do not know. 2 Timothy 4:1.
2. It will come as a thief in the middle of the night. 2 Peter 3:10.
3. It is a case of consent preparing.
4. We might be called today to Judgment seat of Christ, or we might all
die before Christ comes again.
B. Judge - Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:10; Acts 17:31.
1. He is infallible.
a) A lot of people have been convicted of a crime by a jury and spent
time in prison that are innocent.
b) A lot of people who are guilty of committing various crimes have
been set for one reason or another.
c) The problem is that the judges and juries are fallible.
d) But we will stand before an infallible judge.
e) He sees every deed and hears every word; in short he knows it all.
Hebrews 4:13.
f) He will make known our secret thoughts and deeds.
2. He is not impressed with human greatness.
a) Sometimes a rich man or a man of great earthly power is set free
and we wonder did his money talk or did his power has influence.
b) There is no doubt that today human greatness or money may
influence the courts.
c) But it will not influence Jesus.
(1) He called one rich man a fool.
(2) He said that it is easier for a camel…than a rich man to
enter heaven. Matthew 19:23-24.
(3) We are to humble ourselves. Matthew 23:12.
3. It will not him in that day, it will be a fair trial.
C. What Law?
1. Books in the New Testament. Rev. 20:12
a) Book of Life – a book that contains all of God’s faithful
children in it. (They are enrolled in heaven. Luke 10:20; Revelation
3:5)
b) The Book of Life is here on one hand and the other hand are the
books that we will be judged by.
c) The New Testament is a book of many books.
d) These books contain the words of Christ. John 12:48.
2. Matthew 7:21
D. The sentence.
1. There are two possible sentences – Matthew 25:31-34, 41, 46.
a) Matthew 25:34 – "Come, inherit the kingdom…"
(1) Verse 46 shows that it is life eternal.
(2) Matthew 7:14 shows that only a few will find it.
(3) Revelation 21:4 show that there will be no death, no sorrow, no
crying, and no pain.
b) Matthew 25:41 – "Depart into everlasting fire…"
(1) Matthew 7:13 shows that many will find it.
(2) They will be thrown into the lake that burns with fire and
brimstone. Rev. 21:8.
(3) There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 8:12.
II. There are some things that I want to do and you should want to do before
the Judgment Day comes.
A. Obey the Gospel. Do what is necessary for me to obtain the forgiveness
of sin by the cleansing of the blood of Christ. Romans 1:16; 2 Thessalonians
1:7-9.
1. Hear – Romans 10:17.
2. Believe – Mark 16:16.
3. Repent – Acts 2:38.
4. Confess – Romans 10:9-10.
5. Baptized – Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:27 – where all spiritual
blessings are located, which includes eternal life, Ephesians 1:3.
B. Have a reasonable knowledge of the word of God, since we are going to be
judged by it.
1. I would hate to stand before Christ in the Day of Judgment and not
know the law that will judge me.
2. I would hate to stand before Christ in the day of Judgment when
whatever I did in religion was because someone told me and I did not know if
it was in the Book or not.
3. I would not want to stand before Christ unless I could give book,
chapter, and verse for what I did.
4. This involves studying the Bible:
a) At home
b) At the services of the congregation
c) At gospel meetings
d) And any other opportunity to learn
C. Attend the services of the church. Hebrews 10:25.
1. Worship God.
2. Learn more about the word of God.
3. What if Christ was to come during the time of the services, where
would you want to be?
D. Convert some people.
1. I do not want to stand before Christ empty-handed.
2. I do not want to say, "Here am I Lord" and Him ask,
"have you converted anyone?" and I have to say no.
3. The problem with converting people is that we have a combination of
their lifetime and ours.
4. We should not wait until it is too late (before one of us dies).
E. Adequate preparation.
1. Do not want to be a borderline Christian.
a) Some think that there is a line and heaven is one side and hell is
on the other side. Heaven . Hell
b) They want to get as close to the line as they can. They want to
get by with the minimum service that they can give to the Lord.
c) The problem is that there is no such line.
d) What if I thought that the border was here, but it was over there;
that would put my in bad shape. Heaven . Hell
2. I want to give my all for the Lord.
a) I do not think that I will regret in the day of Judgment:
(1) Time spent in Bible study
(2) Time spent in worship toward God.
(3) Time spent in teaching others
b) I can think of regretting that I did not spend more time during
this life doing them.
3. The example of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-10.
III. What time of day is it? John 9:4
IV. What if I am late in years? Matthew 20:1-10
A. It is never too late to obey the gospel as long as there is life (need
to cram as much as possible).
B. Then some may think, let us just wait until the eleventh hour before
obeying the gospel.
1. We do not know when our eleventh hour is. James 4:13-15; 2 Corinthians
6:2.
2. When one hears the gospel and is convinced that he is a sinner, there
is only one thing to do. That is to obey the gospel and devote the rest of
your life to Christ.
This outline is based on a sermon that I heard Bill Hall preach at North
Terrace church of Christ in Chattanooga, TN.
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