Are You Ready for Judgment Day?

Intro

Here in my hand I hold a calendar. Does anyone here have a calendar at home? You know what people do with a calendar? They put appointments on it, they schedule events. And it’s amazing—when you put something on a calendar, the chances of that event actually happening become much more likely. You see, months ago (in February) we put the “Night of Champions” on the calendar for Friday, May 28, and here we are, on Friday, May 28, having the Night of Champions activity. Amazing, isn’t it? If we hadn’t put this event on the calendar, do you think we would have woken up this morning and decided to have a Teen Activity? Of course not. It happened because it was planned—it was put on a calendar. But you know, sometimes events get canceled. I mean, we’ve all experienced that during COVID, haven’t we? How many of you had some event on your calendar, that you were really looking forward to, and it got canceled? I know the feeling! We made a 2020 church calendar, and we had all these awesome events planned—camp in California, a big Thanksgiving dinner that we invite all of Burnaby to…but those things got CANCELED. So, just because we put something on our calendar doesn’t guarantee that it will actually happen, right?

But did you know God has a calendar? That’s right. And because God doesn’t make mistakes and He can do whatever He chooses to do, what He puts on the calendar always happens.

Psalm 33:6, 8-11 “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”

Ok, but does He actually have a calendar? Yes and I want to show you a particular day on God’s calendar that you had better pay attention to!

God tells us in Hebrews 9:27, “…It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

Your Appointment with Death

On God’s calendar, He has scheduled your appointment with death. You can’t avoid it. Most people don’t like to think about death, and they don’t prepare for it. They decide, “I’m just going to enjoy my life as much as possible and not worry about that right now.” But if you’re smarter than that, you will prepare yourself for that day on God’s calendar, and you will get yourself as ready as possible for it. Why? Because God tells us here in His Word, that after you die, you’re going to be judged!

You don’t know when or how, but one day you’re going to die. And if it’s on God’s calendar, you are going to make that appointment whether you like it or not!

Perhaps, one of us has an appointment with death tonight. We could get in a car, be hit by a drunk driver, and say goodbye to our life on earth.

Death is certain. And your appointment is on God’s calendar—there’s nothing you can do to miss it.

God says in the book of Job that your “days are determined, the number of [your] months are with [God], [He has] appointed [your] bounds that [you] cannot pass.” (Job 14:5)

That means that you only have a certain number of days that God is going to allow you to live, and once your time is up, it’s all over!

Death is certain. And your appointment is on God’s calendar—there’s nothing you can do to miss it. Why does this matter? Because after you die, you will stand before God in His courtroom and be judged. Are you ready to die and face God?

So, not only do you have an appointment with death that you can’t avoide, but you also have an appointment with the Judge of the Universe.

Your Appointment with the Judge

Acts 17:31 “Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”

On God’s calendar, He has scheduled a day when every human being will stand before him and be judged by His Son Jesus Christ. Are you ready? Let’s see...

Revelation 20:11-15 “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; 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 things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Is your name written in the “book of life”? If it’s not, then you’re not ready to face God! If you’re name is not written in the book of life, and you died tonight, you will never have another chance to get ready for God’s judgment. And when Judgment Day comes, you will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

Revelation 21:8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Now you might say, Well I’m not all that bad…I don’t deserve to go to hell. It doesn’t matter what you think of yourself, or what your friends think of you, or even what your parents think of you. It matters what God thinks of you. And the Bible tells us that...

“All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23)

All it takes is one sin to make you a sinner. All it takes is one lie to make you a liar. And we just saw that all liars shall be thrown into the lake of fire!

Anyone whose name is not written in the book of life will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

So I ask you tonight: Are you ready to die? Are you ready for Judgment Day? If you were to stand before God tonight, would your name be in the book of life?

If not, then you’re in trouble tonight! You’d better do something about your situation.

You might ask, “What must I do to be saved?” How can I get my name written in the book of life?

Well, you’ve got to do what the Judge of the Universe tells you to do! Remember, God has appointed His Son as the Judge, and this is what He commands you to do, in order to be ready for Judgment Day. These are the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Judge of the Universe. He’s saying to you tonight:

Mark 1:15 “Repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

What Does it Mean to Repent?

It means to change your mind.

Maybe before you came here tonight you thought, I’m willing to check out this whole church thing, but I don’t know if I really need God. My life is pretty good. But I’ll check it out.

Maybe before you heard these warnings from God, you thought, I’m a pretty good person. God will probably let me into heaven because I’m not really that bad.

To repent means to change your mind about all that. You may have thought that you were a good person before, but you’ve just heard God tell you that you’re a sinner. You’ve found out that all the bad things you’ve done in your life, including all the evil thoughts that have gone through your mind, have made God angry. And there is a day on His calendar when you will be judged!

So you change your mind. You agree with God that you’re not a good person, that you don’t deserve to go to heaven, and that all the times you’ve disobeyed God’s commandments (all the times you’ve gone against your conscience) have made God angry.

To repent is to change your mind and agree with God!

What Does it Mean to Believe the Gospel?

Well, to believe something, you have to first understand what it is. So what is the gospel?

Well the Word gospel means good news.

And the good news in the Bible is summed up in John 3:16.

You deserve to be judged, but God loves you so much, He sent His Son to die for your sins. That’s what it means when it says that God “gave His only begotten Son.”

When Jesus died on the cross, He died in your place. He took God’s judgment upon Himself, so that instead of perishing (dying and being judged for your sins), you could have everlasting life (a never-ending relationship with God)!

And that last phrase of the verse “have everlasting life”—that means that your name gets written in God’s book of life, so that when you stand before God one day, you won’t be cast into the Lake of Fire with those whose names aren’t in the book of life.

And all God asks you to do is repent and believe. Believe that Jesus Christ is the only remedy. Believe that He took the punishment of your sins on Himself. Believe that He is the only way you can be saved from God’s judgment.

Illustration of the Israelites and the serpents.

Romans 10:9-10, 13 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Christians, Are You Ready for the Judgment Seat?

I Corinthians 3:13-15 “Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

II Corinthians 5:9-11 “Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”