IF A person wants to be a doctor, they don\u2019t wake up one day and say, \u201cI want to be a doctor,\u201d and then start practicing. That decision to be a doctor would have been made years in advance. That decision would have determined what college they went to and would have required years of commitment to make it through an internship and residency. In other words, a person doesn\u2019t become a doctor the day they decide that a medical career is what they want to pursue. The decision about direction requires a process.<\/p>\n
A person doesn\u2019t just wake up one day and say, \u201cI\u2019m going to be a lawyer,\u201d and then start trying cases the same afternoon. A decision has to be made long in advance of taking on clients.<\/p>\n
For any professional career, there are requirements that must be met in order to enjoy the benefits of that decision. A career requires an investment of time and energy before it becomes a reality.<\/p>\n
Some of us have retirement accounts and IRAs because we are planning for sixty-five and beyond. You don\u2019t wake up at sixty-five and say, \u201cLet me start a retirement plan.\u201d That decision is made in advance so that when you arrive at sixty-five, you have something laid aside. Some of us, perhaps, may be saving for our children\u2019s education. You don\u2019t wake up on the day of their high school graduation and say, \u201cI\u2019d better put something aside for their education.\u201d That decision has to be made in advance. The point is that the knowledge of the future controls activity in the present. When you know where you are going, you will make decisions about what you must do in the now.<\/p>\n
There is a day of reckoning coming when all men will have to be confronted by God and where every Christian is going to have to give an account. And when that day comes, it will be too late to make any adjustments. Your decision about that meeting, that day of reckoning in which you and I are going to have to meet Jesus Christ, will have to have been made long in advance of that occasion.528<\/p>\n
[Salvation, Need for; Sin, Judgment on; Spiritual Death, Concept of]<\/p>\n
2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20:11\u201315<\/p>\n
IT WOULD be a miserable thing to almost win the lottery. Let\u2019s say you played the lottery and you decided to listen as the winning numbers were being announced. Your excitement would rise as you realize that you\u2019ve got the first number, then the second number, then the third number, and then the fourth and the fifth numbers. You\u2019d also be severely deflated when they call out the last number and you realize that you\u2019ve missed winning by one digit. You\u2019d probably be pouting, crying, screaming, and agonizing over this close call. For a long time, every time you pay a bill, you would remember, \u201cI could have been a millionaire.\u201d<\/p>\n
What God is going to do on judgment day is to show you what you could have had, what you could have been, and what He could have done with you in that kingdom that is to come. Then you will watch Him \u201cscratch\u201d your name off of those possibilities and give it to the man beside you.529<\/p>\n
[Heaven, Entrance into]<\/p>\n
Matt. 25:29; Luke 16:19\u201331<\/p>\n
ON MY desk, I have some evaluation forms because I have to evaluate the staff. These forms give me the option of giving my staff one of two ratings: Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory.<\/p>\n
If they get an unsatisfactory, that will have profound ramifications because unsatisfactory means a lower raise due to the fact that we give merit raises. Unsatisfactory means that staff member will not get the raise they hoped for and it will be too late to change that rating when we sit in the office to discuss their performance.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, if a staff member gets a satisfactory rating, that means they\u2019ve done a great job, and we give them a year-end expression of appreciation to say, \u201cWe recognize that you\u2019ve gone above and beyond the call of duty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just like there are evaluations on earth, there\u2019s coming a day when God is going to take every Christian and He\u2019s going to evaluate them or rate them.530<\/p>\n
[Sin, Judgment on]<\/p>\n
Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10<\/p>\n
IN 1988, an awesome event happened. Ben Johnson of Canada broke out of the starting gates like no other man in history. I remember sitting and listening to the commentator say, \u201cDid you see that start? Ladies and gentlemen, it\u2019s Ben Johnson! It\u2019s Ben Johnson! It\u2019s Ben Johnson!\u201d<\/p>\n
As we watched, the time lines on the TV said that the man had broken the Olympic record. Ben Johnson had turned that sprint for the fastest human alive upside down as it had never been demonstrated before! The crowd went wild! The other runners congratulated him. What a run by Ben Johnson! Until it all hit the fan. When it went before the judges, they tested his blood and found steroids. When they found steroids, they sent word back for Ben Johnson to give up his gold medal and they awarded it to another.<\/p>\n
The gold medal that Ben Johnson had won was snatched and turned over to another. He went back to Canada a disgrace. The crowd didn\u2019t know it when he was running it. The crowd didn\u2019t know it when he was sprinting. When he was darting out of the blocks, the people went wild. When he did his victory lap, he looked like he was a winner. He felt like he was a winner. The only problem was the judges went inside of his body and extracted what was on the inside and brought it to the light.<\/p>\n
On that day, many of us who think we have won will find out that we have to turn in our medal because we didn\u2019t run according to the rules. The question is. will He call your name or will He strip you of your crown? Carnality will receive its just reward.531<\/p>\n
[Carnal Christians; Sin, in the Believer; Sin, Judgment on]<\/p>\n
Matt. 7:21\u201323<\/p>\n
MY SON Jonathan has a highlight tape. Professional football teams have reviewed these tapes. It shows his greatest blocks, his greatest catches, and his greatest runs. It\u2019s a twenty-four minute highlight tape showing Jonathan at his best. Now, this tape is made from extracted plays taken from all the tapes of his games.<\/p>\n
One year, when playing against Texas Tech, he was handed the ball, got hit, and he fumbled. That\u2019s not on the highlight tape. During another game, he was on the punt team. He was one of the first ones down to the other end of the field to get the receiver, but the receiver did one of those quick moves and danced around him. That is not on the highlight tape either. The only things on the highlight tape are the highlights\u2014the things he\u2019s proud of and the things he\u2019s excited about. He doesn\u2019t show everything.<\/p>\n
He did get calls from a few pro football teams who have watched his highlight tape and liked what they saw. Because of the tape, they planned to watch him during his senior season. They saw enough on the highlight tape to let them know that even if Jonathan was lacking some skills in an area, he was more than talented and skilled enough to make up for those things. They knew this because of the tape. There were enough highlights to overrule whatever flaws may have been there.<\/p>\n
One day we will all go before God and He\u2019s going to show our whole tape. However, He will also extract some highlights. The highlights will be the times where we showed love. Where we have shown love during our lives, those moments will make it onto the highlight tapes.<\/p>\n
The question is, will there be enough highlights on your love highlight tape to cancel out all the fumbles, missed blocks, flaws, sins, failures, compromises, evil thoughts, and evil deeds you\u2019ve had in your life? God wants us to know that if we have a highlight tape, a tape full of love, we can have confidence in the day of judgment.532<\/p>\n
[Reward; Sin, Judgment on]<\/p>\n
Matt. 25:21\u201323; Luke 19:17; 1 Cor. 3:12\u201315<\/p>\n
MY MESSAGES from the ministry at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship are played regularly over the air. They\u2019re played all over the country through The Urban Alternative. People who hear the messages over the air don\u2019t hear everything from the sermon that members of Oak Cliff hear on Sunday mornings. The messages from Sunday mornings get edited and things that are inappropriate for radio or specific to the church congregation are cut out. A forty-five to fifty minute message is cut down.<\/p>\n
One day we\u2019re going to sit before the judge and He\u2019s going to roll the tape. Anything that we have done that is not for His glory gets edited out. Some of us just aren\u2019t going to have much on the reel! Acts of mercy will be left in. Acts of kindness will be left in. Serving others will be left in. However, unkind words will be edited out. Taking advantage of others will be edited out. Grumbling and complaining will be edited out. Only the things that are honoring to God will be left on your recording.<\/p>\n
You cannot fix yesterday, but you can start today making sure you have ample material for the recording that will play on judgment day. If you\u2019re losing in a race, don\u2019t stop running. Speed up! Make up ground that you lost so that you still cross the tape a winner for Jesus Christ.533<\/p>\n
[Reward; Sin, Judgment on]<\/p>\n
Matt. 25:21\u201323; Luke 19:17; 1 Cor. 3:12\u201315<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IF A person wants to be a doctor, they don\u2019t wake up one day and say, \u201cI want to be a doctor,\u201d and then start practicing. That decision to be a doctor would have been made years in advance. That decision would have determined what college they went to and would have required years of … Continue reading “JUDGMENT
\nDAY”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}