Death and Judgment, Part 1 - Hebrews 9:27-28

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Death and Judgment, Part 2 - Hebrews 9:27-28

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And will you please turn now to Hebrews chapter nine. Hebrews chapter nine.

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Before we begin, let's bow our heads. Father, it is in your word that we see light.

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By your word, we understand and know all truth. A truth about life in this world, a truth about life in the world that is to come.

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Truth about eternity and all spiritual things. And we pray that you would convict and convince our hearts this morning of those things which are true concerning the life that is to come.

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Open our eyes and our hearts to your word and incline us to your truth, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Well, today we're talking about death and judgment and you might have picked that up from the title of the sermon in the bulletin.

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Some of you might have read the title of the sermon in the bulletin and wondered if I mistakenly thought that today was Mother's Day. For those of you who don't know what that's a reference to, when preaching through the book of Ecclesiastes, it just happened to fall out as if Ecclesiastes doesn't talk about death enough, but it just happened to fall out that we were talking about death in a real somber way on Mother's Day.

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It was very memorable. But it's not Mother's Day today and it's not

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Father's Day next week when we talk about judgment. Instead, we are in Hebrews 9, verses 27 and 28, closing out this, the end here of the book of Hebrews, or sorry, the end of chapter nine of the book of Hebrews.

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Chapter nine, verse 27 and 28. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes the judgment, so also

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Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him.

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This is probably a familiar verse to you. It's one of those verses that is often quoted in Christian circles.

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Hebrews 9, 27, inasmuch as it is appointed unto man once to die and after this comes the judgment. Or at least we would say that part of verse 27 is often quoted in Christian circles.

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Sometimes verse 27 is quoted as if it is a standalone sentence. It is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment, period.

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But you will notice that there is no period at the end of verse 27, and you will notice that even that quotation does not represent the entirety of the thought that those words are part of.

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We sometimes use that verse to refute the doctrine of reincarnation, the notion that we live now and we die and we have lived before and we live and die continually, dying over and over again, living and dying over and over again until we finally reach some sort of divine status, a divinity, a salvation, a nirvana, and we would refute that by saying it's appointed unto man once to die, not multiple times to die, and after this comes the judgment.

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So obviously I don't believe in reincarnation. I did in a past life, but I don't in this one. I might believe in reincarnation in a future life, but I don't in this one.

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In this life, I believe what Scripture says, that it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. Those of you who didn't laugh or smile at that, you'll get that after lunch.

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We have sometimes quote that verse to remind people of the seriousness of death and the certainty of death.

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It works great in a gospel presentation because as human beings, death is certain.

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We don't like to talk about it. We don't like to think about it. So sometimes reminding people that God has appointed a day in which you will die and after that you will face the judgment, that can go a long ways toward making them face the somber realities that life should be presenting to them continually.

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But I want you to notice that it is not a standalone statement. It's actually part of verse 28, or it's actually part of a sentence that goes all the way into verse 28.

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Verses 27 and 28 are not only go together, but they also go with the argument of the context, and I want to just remind you of the argument of the context that we've looked at in recent weeks.

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It's appointed unto man once to die, and he has been using this word once and often in the closing verses of chapter nine to contrast the work of the

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Old Testament priests with their sacrifices and the work of Jesus in his one -time offering. They went into the tabernacle every year.

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Jesus has gone into the true tabernacle once. They offered animal sacrifices frequently. Jesus has offered one sacrifice.

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And so now it seems fitting that he would then argue that just as it's appointed unto man once to die, that's the reason why

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Christ died once and not over and over and over again. Why? Because it is appointed unto man once to die, and Jesus Christ, being fully man, it also was appointed for him to die.

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And so we have in verses 27 and 28 really God's appointment concerning two groups of people or two persons, men in verse 27, and Christ in verse 28.

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And so that's really our outline for this passage as we work our way through it. We're gonna look at what God has appointed for men in verse 27, and then what

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God has appointed for Christ in verse 28. The contrast with the words often and once are intentional in the entire context because again, the author is showing the superiority of the work of Jesus.

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The fact that he died once is no indication of the inferiority of his work, as if offering more than one sacrifice or multiple sacrifices would have been better than offering one sacrifice.

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The superiority of that sacrifice is contained in that word once. He was offered once to bear the sins of many, once at the consummation of the ages.

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Having offered one sacrifice for all time, he has sat down at the right hand of God. That's no inadequacy.

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It shows the superiority of his sacrifice, the glory of his sacrifice. So with that background in mind, let's look now at verse 27 and 28.

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I want you to notice that there's a parallel structure between these two verses. In verse 27, you can see the parallel structure, but just look at the opening words of each verse.

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In verse 27, in as much as, and in as much as it is appointed, and then verse 28, so Christ also.

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Just as with this, what God has appointed to men, so it is with Christ also. Just as in the one case, so as in the case with Christ, and recognizing that parallel structure in those two verses will go a long way to helping us see the author's argument and the point that he is trying to make in verse 27.

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So now let's just look at what God has appointed for men in verse 27. God has appointed something for men. God has appointed something for Christ.

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What has he appointed to men? To die once, and then after this to face judgment.

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That is what God has appointed for men. To men it is appointed to die once. To Christ it is appointed that he die to bear the sins of many, and return again with salvation to those who eagerly await him.

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So to men it is appointed to die and face judgment. For Christ it is appointed to die and bear judgment, and then to return with salvation.

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That is what Christ has been appointed to do. We are appointed to die once. The word translated appointed there is a form of a word that is used often in the

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New Testament. It simply means to be laid away, to be laid up in store. It describes something that is set aside or reserved, something put away or put aside, something that is inevitable, unalterable, promised, something that most certainly will happen, something that is reserved.

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In fact, Paul uses this word twice, and I want you to listen to how Paul uses it. First in Colossians 1 verse five, he describes the hope that is laid up for you in heaven.

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That's the word laid up. You have a hope that is reserved and laid up for you in heaven.

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It's kept there. It's set aside for you. Something guaranteed, something reserved, and something preserved for you.

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He uses the same word in 2 Timothy chapter four verse eight to describe his confidence that, quote, in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the

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Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.

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Do you hear that word? For me, I have laid up a crown of righteousness, which the

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Lord, the righteous judge, will give me. Reserved, kept, preserved in heaven. Something set aside.

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Well, God has not just preserved for us a hope, appointed us a hope, he's not just appointed us a crown of righteousness, but guess what else he has appointed to us?

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Good news, to die once. And after this comes the judgment. You see, this is not your typical

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Mother's Day sermon where I talk about death and we all walk away, wishing, hoping that that's our last

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Mother's Day that we ever face on the face of the planet. It's not that at all. He has reserved for us death.

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To die once, he has appointed this. The fact of our death is unalterable, it is certain, and it is appointed for us.

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And though brought into an otherwise perfect creation by Adam's sin, that sin has brought disease and destruction and death with it, so that the death of all of Adam's descendants is absolutely guaranteed and promised, because that is the judgment upon mankind for their sin.

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And even though it is the most certain thing about life, death, it's the most certain thing about life, we just don't think about it.

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We don't wanna think about it. We go to great lengths to not think about it. We go to great lengths to put it out of our head, to not have to contemplate it, to not give any serious thought about it, to not prepare for it, to deny that it's gonna happen.

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When the nature of death is that it's been appointed by God for us to die. It is set aside and reserved for each one of us to die.

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We most certainly will die, and yet though it is the most certain thing in life, it is the one thing that we just spend the least amount of time thinking about.

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And the timing of our death is appointed for us. We are on a crash course with death. God knows the day of your death, the very moment of your death.

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He knows with whom you will die. He knows where you will die. He knows how you will die. He knows how long it will take for you to die.

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He knows the exact future moment of the death of everyone in here. And he knows it infallibly, which means he cannot be proven to be in error regarding the nature of your death.

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Which means that it is predetermined, because there's no way that you are gonna die in such a way or in such a place or in such a time that it will take

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God by surprise. We think, well I thought that was gonna happen five years later, but turns out he was early. There's no such thing as an early death.

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There's no such thing as an untimely death from God's perspective, because he knows the moment he is appointed, both the day and the hour and the minute and the manner of the death of each and every one of us.

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King David was reflecting on this in Psalm 139 verse 16, which we read at the beginning of the service, when he says, your eyes have seen my unformed substance and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them,

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David said. In God's book were written every single day that I would live before I had ever even lived a day on this earth.

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God knew every day that I would live. He knew the moment of my conception. He knew the moment of my birth and he knows the moment of my death and nothing can alter that because he knows it infallibly and it is fixed and ordained for me and for you.

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We cannot avoid that. The certainty of our death, the fact of it, the timing of it is all known.

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It is appointed for us. I'll make this personal for just a moment. One of these days, the

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Lord is going to kill me. I don't have a problem announcing that or saying that.

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I came to grips with that a long time ago. One of these days, the Lord is going to kill me and I've said this to my children.

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When our children were getting old enough, when they first started to become aware that there's an end to death and all kids go through this where they start to realize that things die.

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It might be a hamster or a mouse or grandma or whatever it is and they see death. They see death and it's displayed for them and then they start to realize that while living, things die and if grandma died, then someday are you gonna die?

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And so my children would ask me when they were really young, Daddy, are you going to die? And you know how

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I'd answer that? Yes. I don't know when but my death is certain.

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I am going to die. I hope it's a long, long time from now but I am going to face death. That's true, we're all gonna die and you're gonna die someday too and mom's gonna die.

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And one of these days, none of us are gonna be here. This sounds like Ecclesiastes all over again, doesn't it? Let's back off of that for just a second.

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So then I would share with the children the one thing that I think can give them certainty. That yes, I am going to die but listen,

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I'm not the one who determines that. The Lord determines that. And the Lord is gracious and wise and good and kind and he determined that before I was born and before you were born and he knows exactly how

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I'm going to die. So who else would I want to be in charge of taking my life and timing the moment of my death other than such a good and benevolent and gracious Lord?

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Who else would I want determining that? I wouldn't want to be in charge of that because I'd mess it up. I'd get the wrong day.

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And so I would explain to my children that God in his goodness has appointed this. And when that happens, whenever it is, whether it's tomorrow or whether it's 50 years from now, when

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God has appointed for that to happen, that will be the best time because the Lord knows better than you and better than me exactly when the best time for me to die is.

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And when it happens, it might not seem like the right time to you. It might not seem like the best time to you. But God in his gracious benevolence and wisdom knows exactly when that is.

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And even though it might be difficult for you, it will be the best thing for you and we can trust God in that. That's the answer to that question.

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I want my kids to come to grips early with the reality of sin and death and the fact that I'm going to die and that they are going to die.

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Our duty is to reckon with this, to reckon with it, to come to grips with this reality and to embrace it.

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Listen, whether you embrace it and face this or not, it's still going to happen. You can deny it, it's still going to happen.

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You can't avoid it. You can deny it and pretend like it's not going to happen. That's just going to mean that it still happens anyway.

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You're just not going to be prepared for it. So it's our duty to reckon with it, to embrace it. Listen, brethren, it is our duty to prepare for this inevitability, to prepare to die once.

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It's our duty to get ready for this. So are you ready to die? I don't mean have you chosen an executor for your will, have you given to your wife or to your spouse and your kids the passwords to all your computer accounts?

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Have you put away enough money? That's not what I'm talking about. I mean, do you have a clear conscience before God and man?

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Have you disciplined yourself for the purpose of godliness? Have you pursued holiness and sanctification without which no one will see the

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Lord? Have you thought about the rewards for your service? Have you thought about the eternal glory that is to follow?

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Have you laid up for yourselves treasures in heaven rather than treasures on earth? Have you set your mind and affection on heavenly things?

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Or are you still in love with the things of the world? That's what I mean by preparing for death. Are you ready in that moment that God has appointed for you to die in faithfulness, in tranquility, in peace, and in grace, and in resting confidence in him in such a way that it honors and glorifies the one who has appointed that for you?

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Are you prepared to do that? Or are you gonna go frustrated, and kicking, and screaming, and clinging to this world as if this is your only hope?

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Are you prepared to face what God has appointed for you? Will you die well? That's really the question. Will you die well?

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Because you only get to do it once. So since you have to do it, then the real issue is will you do it well?

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Will you do it for the glory of God? You only have one shot at honoring the

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Lord through that one final act of service that he has appointed for you to do. It's the last thing he calls you to do on this earth is to die well.

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It's the last thing he asks of you. It's the one final act of service, your one last opportunity on this world, on this mortal coil, to glorify

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God with your life, and your testimony, and your last breath. I don't want to die quickly.

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It might happen. I haven't appointed that. I've already covered that. That's not my appointment to make, whether I die quickly or whether I die slowly, whether I die suddenly or whether I live a long time and it takes me a while to die.

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I don't want to die quickly, and I'll tell you why. I was reading a biography of Martin Lloyd -Jones by Ian Murray.

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It's a two -volume set. It's about 1 ,000 pages between the two volumes. You think, how could anybody write 1 ,000 pages on one man's life?

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Ian Murray can write 1 ,000 pages on one man's life. And you get to the end of that second volume, and you read the testimony of how

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Martin Lloyd -Jones died. He died from throat cancer, and how he struggled in those final moments, and how he gave God glory in his final days, and I got to the end of that book and I said,

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I do not want to die quickly or suddenly or unexpectedly. I want to have the opportunity to die like Martin Lloyd -Jones died, giving honor and glory to God.

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It's the last thing that God has appointed for you to do on this world, on this earth. Are you prepared to do it well?

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You know he's appointed it for you. I do not know if God has appointed for me to preach one more sermon.

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I don't know that. I don't know if God has appointed for me to write another book. I don't know that. I don't know if God has appointed for me to share the gospel one more time before I die.

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I don't know that. But I do know that he has appointed for me to die once. That I know that he has appointed for me.

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That I know that I am destined to do, and so that it is up to you and I to embrace this and to resolve to do it well.

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Because we only have one chance to do it. It will help us if we understand what the Christian view of death is, and to think of death in the way that God thinks of death.

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Psalm 116, verse 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Precious. God looks at saints, saints,

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God looks at your death and said the moment of your death, that is precious in God's sight. Meditate upon that.

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The moment of my death is precious in God's sight. Because Paul said it is better to depart and be with Christ than it is to stay in here.

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I'd rather be absent from the body and present with the Lord, Paul says. Why, because as Hebrews 2 says, he has in his flesh defeated the devil who held the power of the fear of death over us all of our lives, and he has released us from our slavery that we had in fear of death.

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And since he has released us from that slavery of the fear of death, and since we can know for certain what awaits us, and we know that it is precious in God's sight, and it is better to be absent from this body and present with the

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Lord than it is to remain on here in the flesh no matter what. Because we know that all of that is preferable. You and I can say,

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I can die that one time, and I can die well, and I can prepare to do it in a way that will honor and glorify my

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God. We know what awaits us. We know that we shall live again, right?

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You realize that? There's gonna come a day when the Son of Man will say the words, he will call your name, and like Lazarus, you're gonna come out of the grave in a glorified body.

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We know that these bodies of flesh must be put away for bodies of glorified flesh. We know that this physical body must become a spiritual body, this earthly body, a heavenly body, this mortal body, an immortal body.

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We know that that has to happen. We know that we have to shed this in order to get bodies that have no inclination towards sin, no desires for unrighteousness, no moral imperfections at all.

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We have to put off this body of death, so we ought to long for that, knowing, as Job said, that there will come a day when we will stand upon this earth and we will see our

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Redeemer with our own eyes, in our flesh, because he will be raised and we will be raised and we will see him face to face as he is.

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Man, what a magnificent promise that is. I hope you're actually looking forward to death by the end of this sermon. Now, Christian, all

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I've said up to this point should be of comfort to you, but here's one more comforting thing. You only have to do it once, not twice, not three times, not 10 times.

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It's pointed unto you to die just once. So there is, in that word, both a challenge and comfort.

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The challenge is this, you only get to do this once, so do it well. The comfort is this, you only have to do this once, so you can do this.

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You can face death that one time, without any fear, without any doubt, and you can do it in faith.

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He's appointed unto you to die once. Now, in that word once, there's a challenge and a comfort for Christians, but this is a word of terror to the unbeliever.

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If you're not in Jesus Christ and you've never trusted Christ for salvation, I wanna tell you something, unbeliever.

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You only get to die once. There's no coming back here for a second shot at grace, repentance, and the mercy that God offers you in this moment right now.

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Once you die once, it's over. That seals your fate, it is over. Your opportunity for grace, your opportunity for repentance, your chance at salvation is done.

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There's no coming back here. You get no mulligan on life. You get no opportunity to come back here, to live again, to repent, to seek mercy and grace.

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That is why today is the day of salvation, and if you do not know Jesus Christ, you must repent of your sin and believe upon him and be born again, or you will perish everlastingly.

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You will face the judgment that is promised in verse 27. For it is appointed unto you only once to die, and after this, judgment.

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No second chance, no second opportunity. I want you to, before we leave this word once,

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I want you to notice its connection to the context. Why, again, was Jesus required to die only once?

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Because it is appointed for men to die once. That was the judgment on sin. God said to Adam, in the day you've eaten the fruit, you will die.

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The soul that sins, it shall die. The judgment upon sin is physical death, and so it is appointed for all of Adam's descendants to die but one time, and so it is appointed unto us to die once,

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Christ being a man, dying in our stead, it was appointed for him to die once, but in his death, he bore the sins of many, and now he returns a second time without reference to sin, with salvation to those who eagerly await him.

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So he was appointed to die once because it is appointed to all men to die once, and Jesus Christ, being a man, only had to offer himself one time.

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That's the point of the passage in this context. Now, you're probably thinking to yourself, Jim, you've been talking a lot about dying once.

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You're talking about how it's appointed unto men, all men to die once, all of Adam's descendants die once, but there are some exceptions, aren't there?

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Have you been thinking about the exceptions while I've been going through that? I hope not. I hope you've been thinking about what I've been saying, because that's the whole point of everything

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I've been saying, but if it has come into your head to be thinking about a couple of exceptions, let's deal with a couple of the exceptions that we might be thinking of.

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It is appointed, there is a group of people to whom it was appointed to die twice. Most notably and memorably would probably be

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Lazarus. He died, and four days later, the Lord raised him from the dead. We would assume that Lazarus died a second time.

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That would be the assumption that we would make. So Lazarus died twice. Now, I don't know if Lazarus died well the first time or not.

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We're not told. I like to, I wonder if Lazarus even remembered dying the first time and going to heaven for those four days.

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We're not told if he remembered that. He didn't write a book, My Four Days in Heaven, showing that heaven is for real.

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He didn't write anything like that and leave it behind, trying to prove to us that there's actually a heaven. So we don't know if he remembered that or not.

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Maybe he didn't even remember dying the first time or his time in heaven. Maybe for him, on the other side of the resurrection, he just woke up and thought, wow, how did

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I get in this tomb? Wander out, how did you guys get here? How did we all get here? Maybe he didn't remember any of that. I like to think that Lazarus died well the first time, and even if he didn't, that he at least knew enough to die well the second time.

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That he could have said to all of his friends and family members gathering around, look,

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I don't know what I was so worried about, that whole death thing. I mean, it turns out on the other side of it, it's not that bad.

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It's really quite easy to go through. And so, I'm kind of looking forward to dying again, because I'm not really worried about the second time through.

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That's possible. Lazarus had to die twice. Peter and Paul both are said to have raised somebody from the dead.

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Elijah, Elijah, Elisha, Elisha. What do my notes say? One of them, Elisha resurrected a servant boy, or a son in 2

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Kings chapter two. There are a couple of other resurrections that Jesus did, but by and large, we're probably talking all told less than a dozen exceptions to this general rule that is appointed to men to die once, because there is this group that dies twice.

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But then there's a group of people on the other side of it that are an exception in a different way. There is a group of people that never died.

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Enoch and Elijah. Neither of them died. In Genesis chapter five, given that genealogy,

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Moses writes about all of Enoch's predecessors, all of his ancestors, and says of each one of them that they had a child and they lived to be such and such in age, and then they died.

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And then in Genesis chapter five, verse 21, it says Enoch lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah.

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Then Enoch walked with God 300 years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters, so all the days of Enoch were 365 years.

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Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Now you say, maybe by God took him,

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Moses simply meant that he died. No, because in the context, Moses describes the death of everybody before Enoch and everybody after Enoch with the words, and he died.

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Enoch's death was different. Enoch did not die. He simply was no more. God took him.

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We don't know how that happened. If he translated him into a glorified state right there, or if he just assumed him bodily into heaven, in some way,

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Enoch was gone, he was no more, for the Lord took him. So Enoch, and then Elijah goes to heaven on a chariot of fire, so those two men are exceptions on the other side.

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They actually never died, never experienced physical death. So there's a group, a small one, that died twice.

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There's a group, a small one, two men, who never died. Then there is yet a third exception to this.

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You know who it is? Those who are alive at the coming of the Lord. They go through something that can only be described as an instantaneous and simultaneous death slash resurrection.

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They go through a death -like experience, but it is instantaneous with, and simultaneous with, their resurrection or their gaining of a glorified state.

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This is what Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15, when he says, now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

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Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, that is, we will not all die, but we will all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

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For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

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Paul's describing there the coming of the Lord, and he says it will be at the last trumpet, in the twinkling of an eye, that quickly, those who are alive and remain until the coming of the

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Lord will, in that moment, experience something that is death -like. It will be the shedding of this mortal coil, but it will be simultaneous with the translation of this flesh, earthly flesh, physical flesh, into a spiritual flesh, a transformation that will grant us a glorified body.

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It will be a death resurrection at that one moment, in the twinkling of an eye. There will be a transfiguration.

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So we won't actually, if we're alive when the Lord comes, and I sure hope we are, if we're alive when the

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Lord comes, we will experience something akin to death, but it won't be death like all of the rest of humanity experiences.

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To be honest with you, I'm not quite sure which of those options I want more. Whether I want to go through death, and have a period of time, and come back with the

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Lord in the clouds, and see my body resurrected, and me get that resurrection body, or if I want to experience that instant transformation in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet.

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I'm not sure which one of those I really want. I'm not asking you to choose, because it's not your choice. It has been appointed to us to die once, and after this comes the judgment.

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So those are the three exceptions, but those three exceptions only prove the rule. Even those groups, the group that died twice, the group that never died, and the group that dies, resurrects in an instant, you put all of those together, and is still a infinitesimally small fraction of humanity that does not fall prey to this rule, that it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment.

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So don't make any plans about being part of any of those three exceptions. Don't base any plans on being one of the exceptions.

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Plan to do this, to die once, and to die well for the glory of God, because that has been appointed to you.

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I think maybe you're an exception, but don't make any plans on the exception. Plan on dying once, plan on dying well, because it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment.

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Now let's talk about judgment. Since we're on cheery topics, we're talking about death, let's talk about judgment for a moment.

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Judgment is also appointed by God. God has ordained not just the day of our death, but the day of judgment for the wicked as well.

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The day has been appointed, in fact, 2 Peter says that the present earth is being reserved for judgment, it's being kept.

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God is keeping this. Global warming is not gonna destroy it. Coronavirus is not gonna destroy it.

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Nothing we do is gonna destroy it. Emissions are not gonna destroy it. Pollution is not gonna destroy it.

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Acid rain is not gonna destroy it, because the present earth and heavens is being reserved and kept by God for the day of judgment, 2

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Peter 3, 7. But by his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment, and the destruction of ungodly men.

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The certainty of that judgment is described in Jude 14 and 15 when Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, behold, the

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Lord came with thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

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Only seven generations from Adam, almost 6 ,000 years ago, God was predicting a judgment for the world, why?

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Because before he ever spoke a molecule into existence, he set it on the calendar, a judgment day. And he knows exactly when that day is going to be, and it is fixed, it is appointed, it is unalterable.

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He knows it perfectly. And only the Lord knows exactly how many days are between this day and judgment day.

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He knows exactly how many days until then. And he is holding everything to that moment, because that judgment is coming.

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It has been appointed. It is described in the end of the book of Revelation, in Revelation 20, 11 through 15.

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Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.

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And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. The books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life.

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And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them.

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And they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

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This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

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That day is fixed. It will happen as certain as I am standing before you.

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All the kings of the earth, the great men and the small, all the movers and shakers, all the influencers, everybody who has had their day on this mortal coil, they will all stand before that great white throne, and he will judge the nations, and he will judge all men right there before that throne.

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That is, I am as certain as that, as I am as certain about anything in my life that that day will happen.

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It's certain, and it is fixed. And not only is that day appointed, but listen, the judge has already been appointed as well.

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In Acts chapter 17, Paul says this, speaking to the philosophers, the

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Stoic and Epicurean philosophers on Mars Hill outside of Athens. Paul said, therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance,

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God is now declaring to all men that all people everywhere should repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness, having furnished proof to all men by raising that man from the dead.

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He has fixed not only the day, but he has fixed and appointed the one who is to judge all men, that man, and he has furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.

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Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter four, verse one, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead by his appearing in his kingdom.

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Peter said to Cornelius that God ordered us to preach to the people and to solemnly testify that this is the one who has been appointed by God as the judge of the living and the dead.

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That was an evangelistic sermon that Peter gave. This was his evangelistic message. God has appointed

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Jesus Christ to judge the living and the dead. It wasn't God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

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It was instead God knows every thought, word, and deed you have ever done. He searches it, he knows it all.

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He's gonna judge you according to the law. He has sent his son to save sinners, and that son is also appointed as the judge of all mankind.

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So repent this day or face that judge. That was Peter's evangelistic message. Jesus said of himself in John chapter five, for not even the father judges anyone, but he, that is the father, has given all judgment to the son so that all will honor the son even as they honor the father.

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He who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. And a few verses later, Jesus said do not marvel for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth.

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Those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the deeds, evil deeds, to a resurrection of judgment.

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There'll be two resurrections, a resurrection to life and a resurrection to judgment. You will be in one of those two resurrections.

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You will be resurrected. The only question is whether you will be resurrected to eternal life or whether you'll be resurrected in a body that is fit for eternal judgment.

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But God has fixed both the day and the judge for the day of judgment. And all the nations will stand before him.

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The Lord has warned us of this judgment in our conscience. He has told us the standard of this judgment in his law.

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And he has warned us of this judgment in his son. And all of this has been published to the entire world so that we are truly without excuse.

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Now here's God's remedy. The bad news is in verse 27.

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It's pointed unto man once to die. And after this, the judgment. The good news is in verse 28.

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Christ came, he was manifested to do what? To bear the sins of many.

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That's the good news. You're not going to avoid death and you're not going to avoid judgment if you're wicked.

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If you're a Christian, you're not going to avoid death. But there is one way you can avoid judgment. There's only one way you can avoid judgment.

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And that is if somebody else has taken your sin and borne your sin in your place.

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If somebody else suffered that wrath and bore that sin, then you can escape the day of judgment. So unbeliever, this is my call to you to repent and to believe and to come to the one who has borne the sin of men so that men can have eternal life.

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Come to him and be saved for the only way that you can escape judgment is if somebody else bore it on your behalf.

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If somebody else took the punishment that you deserve, then no punishment will fall upon you. So if you are in Christ, there's no condemnation to you.

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If somebody else has taken your judgment, then the judgment and wrath of God will never fall upon your head. If somebody else has borne your sins, you will never bear that sin for all of eternity.

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You cannot, you will not, if somebody else has taken your place. So you must come to the sin bearer.

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You must have somebody who has borne your sins to die in your stead if you ever hope to escape eternal judgment.

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As we observe the Lord's table, this is what we remember in the sacrifice of Christ. Not that in his dying and in his bleeding and in his suffering and resurrection that he just gave us a good example or that he just demonstrated the love of God or that he just showed us to be kind to one another, but that in that bleeding and that suffering and that dying, our

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Lord Jesus Christ bore the sins of many. Are you among the many?

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Did he die for you? Can you say that he bore your sin? If not, there's appointed for you a day of judgment.

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If he has, you can celebrate the Lord's Supper, remembering the fact that he died, he was buried, and that he rose again on behalf of many.

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That's what we celebrate. That's what the Lord's Supper means to us. We celebrate these emblems, the juice and the bread, not because there's anything magical in it.

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They are symbols of something real that has happened. They're symbols of his suffering. They're symbols of him bearing our sin, and we remember that, and we look forward to the salvation that is to come.

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When we observe the Lord's Supper, Jesus said we do this until he comes. We're always looking forward, looking back at that sacrifice, but looking forward to the salvation that is to be revealed in that last day.

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This is what the author of Hebrews says at the end of verse 28, when he says the Christ is coming again without reference to sin, but with salvation to those who eagerly await him.

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We partake of communion recognizing he bore the sins of many, that's us, and he's coming again with salvation, not to deal with sin the second time, but he is coming again with salvation to those of us who eagerly await him, with judgment to those who do not eagerly await him, who are not believers, who have not had their sins carried away or put away through the death of Christ.

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For this purpose he was manifested, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. As we partake of communion, that's what we're reflecting on, and I would just encourage you, if you are not a believer here this morning, do not partake of communion.

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Let the elements pass from before you. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 that you eat and drink judgment to yourself if you do that.

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As a believer, we can partake of the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner if we are not putting away sin, if we are not putting off sin and mortifying sin and repenting of sin.

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If we are living in unrepentant and habitual sin and we partake of the Lord's Supper, we're doing it in an unworthy manner because we're proclaiming to others and to the

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Lord that we've been set free from this, when in fact we haven't. So it's not a matter of being perfect in your struggle with sin or your mortification of it.

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It is a matter of being repentant. And so as we partake together, let's bow our heads. We'll have a few moments of quiet prayer together and then

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I will lead us in prayer of confession at the end. Let's bow our heads. Father, as we read earlier, you know our thoughts.

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You know our secret thoughts. Neither the light nor the darkness can hide us from you. Everything is laid bare before you.

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You know the intentions and the motives of our hearts. You know the secret things that we are not even aware of. You know all of the deeds done in darkness.

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You know all of the motives of our hearts and they are all open before you. And we thank you that you know them.

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We confess to you that we long to be rid of these bodies of death. We long to dwell in righteousness and in holiness with no inclination or proclivity towards sin at all.

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We long to be free from this body of death as Paul did in Romans 7. And we thank you that there is victory in Jesus Christ and that someday you have made provision by which we may put off our sinful selves and that is through physical death.

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And then we should be resurrected and we should stand before you. In the meantime, we confess to you that we are sinners.

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We confess to you that we do not even know the depth and depravity of our own sin. We're unaware of the wicked thoughts of our hearts from time to time.

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We sin without even knowing it. We fail to do those things that you have called and demanded of us, required of us.

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So we confess this to you and we pray that you would cleanse us from all unrighteousness and continue to give us strength to mortify sin, to put it off, to turn from it, and to live in holiness and in righteousness before you.

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Cleanse us in that way and restore to us the joy of our salvation. And establish us firmly in the truth and give us strength from day to day to fight the war against sin and to look forward to that day when

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Christ shall come again with salvation to those who eagerly await him. May all of us who are here today be in that group of those who eagerly await his coming.

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We praise you and we thank you for so great a salvation and so infinite a provision in the death of your son for unworthy sinners.