The Certainty of Death and Judgment I believe this world is a sinking ship, and things have gotten so bad, friends, in our world today, everybody's shooting one another, it's a madhouse, fighting and cussing, people punching one another, society's gone into a time of violence, it's moral chaos, and it's spinning out of control, I believe that in Washington today, the inmates have taken control of the asylum, yet the word of God declares in Hebrews 9, 27, and it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment, this text promises two things, one, you're gonna die, and you're going to a final judgment, you have a date with destiny, friend, that you can't escape, and that's the last judgment, every mother's son, from every generation of mankind that ever lived, will have to stand at that future judgment, in fact, the longest line in eternity, leads right up to the last judgment, oh, I have a hard message to preach to you tonight, friends, it's gonna take all I've got, gonna take all my strength to pull this off, and as I preach it, loud and clear, every hellhound will be barking to drown me out, because the devil doesn't want you to know, what I'm gonna share with you tonight, I've got to stop right now, friends, to pray, please bear with me a moment, friends, I need help from above, great God in heaven, you who created heaven and earth, you are the almighty, you are mighty Lord, you sent your only begotten son to die for sin, on a cruel cross for sinful man, oh, great and terrible sovereign, I need your help right now, right now, come Lord, the devil's got his artillery pointed at me tonight, because he doesn't want the truth to get out, the devil's got so many pastors in his claw, who are false prophets and ravening wolves, going after the sheep to hide truth from them in these last days, and feed them lies, great God, let your truth be known tonight, about your final judgment, I plead with you now, Lord, that you give me a large portion of your spirit, and I beg you to attend this message tonight, Lord, and open eyes, and show folks where they're going, either to heaven, or to a devil's hell, break up every false foundation, I pray, with the hammer of thy word, and get out your sword of the spirit, and slay someone here tonight, with holy ghost conviction of sin, oh Lord, oh Lord Jesus, walk out of the pages of your book, and walk among us tonight, and disturb folks, let them see hell and eternity, let them see the line in eternity that leads up to the judgment, oh sweet Jesus, come save a sinner here tonight, reveal yourself to them, I pray these things, in the strong name of Jesus, amen, well thank you friends, I'm going to begin my message now, you know, everybody thinks everybody's going to heaven, just listen to the world talk, when somebody dies, that's all they say, they'll say, well he's no longer suffering now, or she's up there watching over you, everyone is good, and God is good, and he sends everybody to heaven, and only serial killers, and sociopaths, hitlers like that, go to hell, that's what most folks think, everyone believes, whether they're a muslim, or a mormon, or a buddhist, or a baptist, they all are convinced, they're going to some kind of paradise, when they die, nobody believes God sends anybody to hell anymore, unless they are really, really bad, or the devil himself, but if you take the time to read the book of Ecclesiastes, you will soon see that King Solomon was a man who had it all, who had seen it all, who had done it all, and who was sick of it all, it was just all vanity, and emptiness to him, and he ends his book pointing his long finger down the corridors of time, to a future event, and he cries out, for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil, you know the words friends, there's a day reckoning, fast approaching, when the chickens come home to roost, and that's the title of my message tonight friends, when the chickens, when the chickens come home to roost, we have a saying in the south, that means, when the bad things that someone has done in the past, they've come back to bite them, or haunt them, we call it, when the come home to roost, you may label it karma, or poetic justice, you may say, well he got what was coming to him, but the bottom line is friend, that one day future, you will stand before the judge of all the earth, and he will open the books on you, every act, every word, every thought, every lie, every dirty deed, will be dragged out and placed beneath the spotlight, for the world to see, and that judge will hold up his magnifying glass of eternity, on your life, how you lived, and it will pass under his intense scrutiny, yes sir, the chickens will come home to roost, every American president will have his dirty laundry exposed, all his adultery exposed, all the crooked deals he made under the table exposed, all the reasons why he threw this nation into war, oh listen to me friend, we'll find out on that day, the secret things, like who killed Marilyn Monroe, who shot JFK, who really gave the orders to kill Martin Luther King, all the crooked politicians in Washington, and all the robber barons will be exposed on that day, yes sir, the chickens will come home to roost for sure, and there'll be a lot of hooting and hollering in the crowd going on that day, as they see all that dirty laundry hanging on the line to dry, yes sir, we'll have us a time on that day, sitting in that audience, hearing about all those dirty crooks, and what's coming to them, oh but before you get all worked up friend, about seeing all these other people getting their due, bear in mind when the judge is through with them, the judge will turn to you, do you have any skeletons in your closet, how does your hen house look, do you have some chickens that will come home to roost, maybe you should be worried, maybe you should be concerned, there's not that much amusement when it comes your turn to stand before that judge yourself, when I was a 16 year old boy, I got my driver's license, and while I was driving my mother's car, I ran a stop sign, and a policeman pulled me over and wrote me a ticket, when I showed that traffic ticket to my mother, she said don't worry, we'll go to court and beat it, I said how, she said it's easy, you just lie to the judge, tell him you didn't do it, chances are that cop won't be there anyhow, so we spent the day downtown in a courtroom, waiting for my name to be called, and when the bailiff called my name, I approached the bench, and I looked that judge square in the face, as he sat there looking ominous in his long black robe, and my knees went to knocking, and they asked me how I pleaded, and I blurted out in a little nervous voice, I said guilty, I couldn't lie to that judge, even if my mother wanted me to, and all the way home, I got chewed out by my mother, for being such a stupid boy, to waste her time, to just plead guilty, well there's a coming day friend, when every mother's son will be arraigned at a future judgment, and stand before the judge of all the earth, who declares I will in no wise clear the guilty, evidence will be presented, cases will be reviewed, and sentences handed out, because all sin will be punished, and all sinners will be convicted, because the sentencing of the law must be carried out, upon all guilty lawbreakers, I'm telling you the truth friends, you better listen to me, you can't escape that coming day, there's a judgment day coming down the road, when the chickens will come home to roost, I'm telling you the truth now friends, I can prove it to you now, if you have a bible, turn to the book of revelation, go to chapter 20, put your thumb there and wait, while I begin this message, we're going to start in verse 11, and as I read this striking passage of scripture to you friend, I want you to imagine in your mind, that you were standing in the crowd that day, in that heavenly courtroom scene, with the attending angels as the bailiffs, the prosecuting attorney is the devil himself, but the judge who sits at that great white throne, has eyes of fire and feet of brass, and he is the risen Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, he sits on a pure white throne, that denotes holiness and purity, the narrator of the story is none other than the apostle John, who'd been banished to the isle of Patmos for preaching the gospel, I've been on that isle of Patmos in Greece, I've stood at the very cave where tradition has it, that the apostle John received these heavenly visions, he was an old man at the time, and he had to lay his head on a ledge of a cave, and as he got those visions, he would recite them to his scribes, and they would write them down, and this became the written book of revelation, here now is God's holy word, 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, listen friends, here they come, look at that scene, every generation from Adam, that long line standing in eternity, here come the antediluvians, who drowned in the flood, in the days of Noah, that entire civilization perished, except Noah and his family, there they're marched out right now, and the judge would deal with them one by one, here come the citizens of the plains, in the days of Lot, when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, there stand the Sodomites, before their throne, and before that judge, as he reviews their cases, one by one, here come the ancient civilizations of the world, the Mayas, and the Incas, the Persians, and the Medes, the Assyrians, the Romans, all of ancient Greece, here come all the ancient rulers of the earth, why, there stands the Caesars, there's Julius Caesar, there's Tiberius, here come the pharaohs, here come the monarchs, here come the kings and queens, look, there stands Bloody Mary, look, there's Napoleon, here come the distinguished members of parliament, here come the American presidents, along with their dirty laundry, here come the richest men of their generation, there stand the billionaires, who made money their god, when they lived their life, they were the movers and the shakers, here come the captains of industry, those who held the reins of power in their day, here come the great painters of the ages, of the Italian renaissance, the French impressionists, the Spanish surrealists, here come all the famous opera singers, here come all the classical composers, here come all the Hollywood movie stars of every generation, it's a roll call of everyone who was great in their day, here come all the rock stars and all the celebrities of every generation, why, here come the philosophers, why, there's Plato and Socrates, here come the great playwrights like Shakespeare, here come the great poets, some who were atheists in life, here are the literary lions like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, Flaubert and Tolstoy, here come the famous atheists of their generation, like Voltaire and Paine, why, it's a roll call of the who's who in every generation, from every nation that ever lived, the great stand before that throne and their cases are reviewed one by one, men who were great stand there, then come the small to stand there as well, the billions of people from every generation that were the nobodies in the eyes of the world, just ordinary people, there stands your co -worker, there stands your neighbor, there stands your school classmates, there stands your relatives, there stands your friends, names never heard of in their generation, but they lived their lives for either two things, they'll live for themselves and this world or for God in eternity, so the small and great stand there before that great white throne, then our text says, 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, listen to me friend, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire, that's right friends, this is when the chickens come home to roost or roast, I want to share a story with you friend, which means so much to me, there was a man traveling through the city of St. Louis and it was a Sunday and he was a Christian, so he parked his car at a downtown church and went inside to worship, but once inside he realized he was the only white person in an all -black church, so he took his seat on the back row, up on the platform was an elderly well -dressed pastor who was speaking on his subject that morning and his subject was heaven, he began his sermon by saying, some folks call heaven paradise, other folks call it Abraham's bosom, but I like to think of heaven this way, here is Jesus, just returned from his earthly ministry and old Gabriel greets him, hello Jesus, sure is good to see you Jesus, welcome home Jesus, but wait, who's that with you, is that that thief, that thief from the cross, oh no sir, we can't have no thieves up here, he's not welcome here, then Jesus replied, never you mind Gabriel, never you mind, and just then Jesus placed his arm around the thief and said, never you mind Gabriel, he's with me, he's with me, oh well I like that story friend, don't you, if you will allow me a little literary license here, let me describe this heavenly courtroom scene as I see it, like when I was a 16 year old boy in court myself and my name was called and I went before the judge, but this time I'm at the final judgment and an angel calls my name and I go stand before that throne and the judge of all the earth sits there and behind me I can feel the heat from that lake of fire as it crackles and spits and as I stand there while the books are opened on my life, it's my own personal biography recorded, every act I did, every word I spoke, every thought I thought, everything I should have done and I didn't and everything I should have done and I did, the good, the bad, it's all there, why you don't even have to read it Lord, I know I'm guilty, I know that sure, I'm a guilty sinner, guilty as charged, I deserve hell, I'm not gonna argue with you, but suddenly the judge rises from his throne and that judge walks like an earthquake with every footstep he takes around beside me and he wraps his arm around me and he shouts with a voice that sounds like a volcano erupting and it's for all the world to hear, he says this sinner is acquitted, my blood is upon his soul, he's with me, oh glory, why there's shouts of hallelujah in that courtroom as I'm escorted into glory and I see a big crowd of friends and loved ones waiting for me, God's word is true and he's true to his word, Jesus is a wonderful Savior, how about you friend, do you know Jesus as a Savior, how is it with you, are you going to be ready for the day when the chickens come home to roost for you, how will you stand, how will you stand when the strict, severe, unbending law of God is held up against you, how will you stand, will you stand guilty in your own merits or will you stand forgiven in the merits of another, are you washed in the blood, are you washed in the blood of the lamb, are you born from above, listen dear sinner friend, Jesus is the pearl of great price, we're selling all for so he may be gained, but you have to feel your need of him, he can't help the self -satisfied, the gospel is for the hungry, the weary, and the thirsty, let me ask you friend, are you hungry for God, are you sick and tired of your sins, are you thirsty for Christ, then come, come in repentance, confessing your sinner and own him as your Savior and Lord, get to Jesus friend, get to Jesus friend, you must close with him, his blood must be on your soul, listen to this gospel call, a day is coming when the chickens will come home to roost, listen to your, listen to this gospel plea friend, and the spirit and the bride say come, and let him that hears say come, and let him that is the first come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.