Ten Excuses on Judgment Day — E.A. Johnston

The Certainty of Final Judgment

My Bible declares that a final judgment awaits all mankind. We see this in Hebrews 9 .27, which declares,. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. When all mankind faces the God of all eternity at the final judgment, I believe there will be a lot of excuses made on that day, friends.

Charles Dickens once wrote that no man can escape death and taxes, and it's true. Death is a specter which looms on the horizon for every person ever born. Death is an inescapable fact and a painful reality.

Death and the Soul’s Return to God

Have you ever seen a funeral home go out of business for lack of customers? Our Bible speaks of the death of a soul as it returns to God, as seen in the book of Ecclesiastes. And it reads,. Because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets, or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

So our Bibles state that every man will one day die, and every soul will go back to the God who gave it. I want us to see, friends, these two aspects mentioned in our text, once to die and a future judgment, for every man and woman will one day die and leave this earth and enter another world.

In fact, our text states that every person already has a predetermined appointment, an appointment with death and an appointment with the judge of all the earth. I like what the Puritan Bible commentator Matthew Henry has to say regarding this.

The Terror of Dying in Sin

Man must die once, undergo a change equivalent to death. It's an awful thing to die, to have the vital knot loosed or cut asunder, all relations here dropped at once, and put to our probation and preparation state, and to enter another world.

It's a great work that can be but once done, and therefore had need to be well done. This is a matter of comfort to the godly, that they shall die well and die but once. But it is a matter of terror to the wicked, who die in their sins, that they cannot return again to do that great work better.

It is appointed to man that they shall come to the judgment immediately after death, for the soul returns to God as to its judge, to be determined to its eternal state. Just think friends, of the millions and millions of souls standing before God at that final judgment, what will they say as they stand there before the one who has eyes of fire?

Like I said, I believe there will be a lot of excuses made on that day, and I believe that these excuses may fall into the following ten categories. The title of my message today is, Ten Excuses on Judgment Day.

Excuse One: Relying on Personal Goodness

And here's the first excuse. Number one, I was a good person in life. People will excuse themselves by saying they were not as bad as they could have been. Many will stand there in their own self-righteousness.

But in Isaiah, we see how God views the self-righteousness of man. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fate as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Have you ever witnessed to a person, friend, with the gospel, and they say to you, I believe God will let me into his heaven because I've been a good person. I've never killed anybody or robbed a liquor store.

I've helped friends out who are in need. I always give money to homeless persons. I volunteer at the local hospital, and so on. Most folks don't see themselves as God sees them. God looks at a sinner, and he just sees a guilty rebel who's broken a strict and severe law and who deserves punishment in a burning hell.

But people don't see themselves that way. They believe only really bad people go to hell, like serial killers and rapists. So we see this excuse of, I am a good person, and I don't deserve hell. But listen, friend, good people don't go to heaven.

Excuse Two: Trusting in Baptism

Only forgiven people get to go there. Number two, I was baptized in a church. I believe a good many folks standing there on that day would try to produce their baptismal certificate and believe that's their ticket into heaven.

But a person is not saved by being baptized. That's baptismal regeneration, and it doesn't work, friends. The Holy Spirit of God must regenerate the sinner's heart. My Bible declares that it is God who takes away the heart of stone and makes it a heart of flesh.

So the fact that you were baptized won't secure your entrance into heaven anymore. They don't keep you out of hell. The only thing in the water is H2O. Number three, people will rest in their religion and say, I am a Catholic.

Excuse Three: Resting in Religious Affiliation

I am a Mormon. I am a Muslim. I am a Buddhist. I am a Baptist. I am a Presbyterian. But religion won't get you into heaven, friend. The world is full of world religions that pass. They're just paths that lead to hell.

The fact you belong to a particular denomination won't help you either, friend, and some of them will probably hurt you. You better forget all about religion and focus on a relationship with Jesus Christ, for he is the only way, the only door that opens the gates of heaven.

Jesus had this to say about world religions. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber, so multitudes will stand at the judgment and rest in their religion.

Excuse Four: Mere Intellectual Belief in God and Christ

But it won't do them any good. Being saved is not having a religion, but having a relationship with Jesus Christ. Number four. But I believed in God, and I believed in Jesus. I believed Jesus died on a cross.

Many folks will say they indeed did believe there was a God, and they also believed there was a Jesus. They believed in the historical Jesus. But a mere belief in a historical Christ will not save you, friend.

Having only a historical Christ and not a personal Savior won't do you any good at the judgment, for my Bible declares that the devils believe, but they are not saved. Listen, friends. Many are in hell right now who believed a fact.

They believed in the death of Christ, but they never believed on the Christ who died. So many will stand there resting in their religion, resting in their facts. But a fact never saved anybody. Number five.

Excuse Five: Making a Decision or Believing a Verse

Many will stand before God and say, I made a decision to become a Christian, and therefore I deserve heaven. I believed John 3 .16. That had applied to me. Listen, friend. Believing a verse of Scripture won't keep you out of hell.

Just making the decision to become a Christian won't keep you out of hell either. You can trade religions all day long, but that won't save you. I believe there are many in hell right now who were what I call textual decisionists.

They believed a text or they believed a verse, and their Christianity is based on their believing in that text. They became a Christian based on believing a text. But the problem is they were never awakened to their lost condition, never convicted of sin by the Spirit of God, and never born again through a supernatural work of grace on the heart called regeneration.

Excuse Six: Depending on Good Works

Number six. My good works will save me. I was a good church member, and I served my church as a deacon. I served my church as a Sunday school teacher. I served very faithfully as an usher or as an elder and so on.

Listen, friend. The fact that you were a good church member won't keep you out of hell, and I don't care if you were the chairman of the deacons. The fact is there are many good church members who rest on their track record of service to get them into heaven.

They're resting on their good works. This is a false foundation of carnal security. Just because someone has a long track record of service for God doesn't guarantee their escape from hell. So many will stand in that day in their good works, but good works won't save a soul.

Excuse Seven: Accepting Jesus as Savior Without Submitting to Him as Lord

Number seven. I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior, but the trouble is they never bowed and took Him as Lord of their life. I believe, friends, this one error in our modern-day preaching will damn its millions.

The Bible seminary that propagated the only-believed gospel has damned its millions in the last 60 years. Listen, friend. You cannot cut Christ in two and divide Him in halves and take the half you want like Savior and leave the other half alone like Lord in Acts 5 .31.

God declares how Jesus is offered to be a prince and a Savior. Folks won't accept the salvation of Christ as He intends it, so they divide Him up and choose the side they like. But a true Christian takes a whole Christ, so this excuse, as popular and plentiful as it will be on Judgment Day, will not hold water.

Excuse Eight: Professing Christianity Without Holiness

Listen, friend. If Jesus is not your Lord, you will one day face Him as your judge. Number eight. I was a Christian, but their lives did not demonstrate their Christianity. Many call themselves Christians but live like the devil.

Jesus speaks of the false professor in these terms from Matthew 7 .21 -24. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name have done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I'll never forget having one of the oddest conversations ever had with a Baptist preacher who claimed Elvis went to heaven. He was trying to convince me that Elvis was in heaven.

I asked him why he thought Elvis went to heaven, and his answer was that Elvis was basically a good person, and he was a Christian all his life, but he sinned the sin of death. I looked at this Baptist preacher in amazement, and I thought to myself, I wonder if this Baptist preacher is even saved.

Excuse Nine: Trusting a Pastor’s Assurance

Listen, friend, you can't claim to be a Christian and live like the devil without going to a devil's hell. My Bible declares without holiness no one shall see the Lord. Number nine, my pastor told me I was saved.

I wonder how many good men in ministry through the years with well-meaning intentions mistakenly told someone they were now saved. Listen, friends, it's not our job to tell someone they are saved. That's the office of the Holy Spirit.

My Bible declares for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, and the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit. That we are the children of God. Dear brother evangelist, never ever tell someone they are now saved.

That's the Holy Spirit's job, not yours. Listen, friend, only God can save you, and only the Holy Spirit can give you that assurance of your salvation. And lastly, the tenth excuse on Judgment Day. I walked an aisle, and I made a public profession.

Excuse Ten: Walking an Aisle and Making a Public Profession

I am afraid our modern methodologies in evangelism have damned their millions. How many pastors have said the following to their congregations? Listen, friends, Jesus said, whoever is ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of him.

So you need to make it public if you want to be a Christian. Just walk this aisle now, and come forward, and make a public profession for Christ, and you will go to heaven. So folks do what the pastor said.

They get up out of their seats, and they walk that aisle, and they go down front, and they mistakenly believe that by doing a physical act, they are now a Christian. But there were many who followed Jesus in his day.

They publicly walked around right alongside of him because they saw the miracles which he did. But my Bible declares in John 2, 24, but Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men. Walking an aisle won't save you, friend.

Repeating a sinner's prayer won't save you either. Raising your hand and accepting Christ because the evangelist told you to do so won't save you either. Just doing a physical act publicly won't save a flea.

Repentance, Faith, and Complete Surrender to Christ

You must turn from your sins. You must exercise repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ. You must bow your neck in subjection to a sovereign king, and throw down your shotgun of rebellion, and lay everything at his feet in utter surrender to him as Lord.

For if you don't bow your neck to him now, friend, you will on that day as he puts his foot on your neck when he makes his enemies his footstool. Like I said, friends, there will be a lot of excuses made on judgment day, but they won't cut the mustard.

They won't hold any water. Those excuses will be the cords which will only bind you hand and foot as you are cast forever out of the presence of a holy God while you are dragged down to a devil's hell.

God’s Invitation to Forsake Sin

Listen to this verse, dear friend. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.