A
man walked home one evening after having some drinks at a local bar. He decided
to take a shortcut through a cemetery. Unfortunately, he fell into an open
grave and could not get out. He fell asleep and woke up the next morning when
the whistle at the local factory blew. He was still suffering the effects of
the previous evening, but he managed to get out of the grave, look around and
exclaim, “Well what do you know? It’s Judgment Day, and I’m the first one up!”
What
kind of legacy do you want to leave when you die? If you knew that today was
the last day of your life, what would you do? Are you prepared to spend
eternity with God? There are times when we need to stop and look at our lives,
what we are doing and whether or not it’s worth the time and effort. We need to
decide if our lives have any sense of accomplishment or purpose.
A
police officer stopped a driver for going 25 kilometres over the speed limit.
After he received the ticket, the driver asked the officer “Don’t you give out
warnings?” “Yes, sir,” the officer replied. “They’re all up and down the road.
They say, ’Speed Limit 100.’
There
are some people who have rejected God all of their lives and refused to accept
his forgiveness for their sins. When they stand before God when they die, they
will have to give an account of their lives just like the rest of us. When they
receive their judgment, they will probably say the same thing as the driver did:
“Don’t you give out warnings?”
God
will probably reply, “Yes I do. The Bible is full of warnings to prepare for
eternity. Every year you were reminded of my offer of forgiveness and eternal
life at both Christmas and Easter. I never knew you; depart from me, you who
practice lawlessness.” Because they refused God’s offer of forgiveness and
salvation, they will have to pay the penalty for their own sins.
Those
who believe in God and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour have their
names written in God’s Book of Life. They will still have to stand before God
in judgment, but instead of being judged for their sins they will be judged on
the basis on how they served God here on earth and be rewarded accordingly.
One
way we can serve God is to meet the spiritual needs of other people. For
example, Rev. Billy Graham’s father-in-law, Dr. Nelson Bell, was a medical
missionary to China. He built a 300 bed hospital in the community where he
lived. Because of his skill many of his patients were cured, but eventually
they died. He knew that it wasn’t enough to meet their physical needs, so every
patient who was mobile was required to attend chapel every day in the hospital
where they were given a Bible lesson and presented with the Gospel. Those who
weren’t mobile were visited by someone who would share Christ with them.
Consequently, thousands of Chinese men and women received Jesus as their Lord
and Saviour at that hospital.
There
is nothing we as humans can do to win our salvation. Not even church membership
can win our salvation for us. Only Christ can save us, and our hope and trust
must be in him alone. He became the sacrifice we need for our sins, and only he
can give us hope for eternal life because of his resurrection. Just has humans
die only once and after that they are judged, Christ sacrificed himself once to
bear all of our sins and will return to save those who are waiting on him for
salvation.
The
eternal heavens are realities because they are God’s dwelling place. They are
truer than earthly copies. In a similar way, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross
because of the single offering of himself is sufficient for all his followers
for all time. It was superior to the Old Testament sacrifices because the Old
Testament sacrifices had to be repeated, and the high priest had to atone for
his own sins as well as the sins of the people. Christ was sinless, so he did
not have to atone for his own sins. He died once as an offering for all our
sins, and he will return to judge the world and save his followers. Each of us
has a single life before eternal judgment, so there will be no “second chances”
after death.
The
copies of the things in heaven were the tabernacle, the laws and the Old
Testament rituals. They were only pictures of Christ’s sacrifice. That the
heavenly things needed to be purified doesn’t suggest any defilement in heaven,
but they represent the complete cleansing brought about by Jesus’ death. This
inaugurated heaven itself as the new holy place and Christ as the new and final
high priest.
“Presence”
actually means “face.” Jesus has entered into the holy places on our behalf and
represents us as our mediator, advocate and attorney before God. Because
Christ’s sacrifice to put away sin once was sufficient, it doesn’t have to be repeated,
unlike Old Testament sacrifices. For this reason, Communion services today do
not repeat Christ’s death but celebrate his once-for-all sacrifice.
Christ’s
ministry has three tenses:
1.
Past: His
First Advent to save us from the penalty of sin.
2.
Present: He
is in heaven to save us from the power of sin.
3.
Future: His
Second Advent to deliver us from the presence of sin. It will be confirmation
that God has been fully satisfied with Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. At
that point salvation will be consummated.
God
is a God of infinite holiness who can’t stand sin. No sinner can survive in his
presence. He is also a God of infinite justice, so all sin must be punished
according to his standard of holiness and perfection. His justice calls for
death, and if we don’t accept Christ as our Saviour that death will be
spiritual death, which is eternal separation from God in hell. God is also a
God of love. That’s why he sent Jesus to die on the cross 2,000 years ago in
our place to meet the demands of God’s justice so that we can be forgiven of
our sins and receive his gift of eternal life.
When
Christ first came, he came because of humanity’s sin. When he returns, he won’t
atone for sin. Instead, he will complete salvation for his people. We need to
be prepared for life after death. We must endeavor to live our lives in such a
way that when we stand before God and give an account of how we have lived our
lives, God will say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Because of
Jesus’ sacrifice, we have the evidence to stand boldly before God in prayer,
and we can go boldly into the world to serve others and be witnesses to God’s
love.
1.
Jeremiah,
David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood,
TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013)
2.
ESV Study
Bible. Part of Wordsearch 11 Bible software package.
3.
Evans, L.F.
& Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s
Commentary Series, Vol. 33: Hebrews (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.;
1985)
4.
MacArthur,
J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, NASV
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5.
Lucado, M: The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible (Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson; 2010)
10. Anne Graham Lotz, ”Physical & Spiritual Needs.”
Retrieved from angelmin.info@angelministries.org
11. Billy Graham, “If I’m Not a Church Member, Will I Be
Kept Out of Heaven?” Retrieved from www.arcamax.com
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