Unappealing.

In this past Sunday's sermon, Pastor Sam made reference to the Revelation 20 passage that gives us a snapshot of the final judgement that will occur. Verses 11 through 15 indicate that everyone will be judged "according to what they had done".

We are judged based on our record. The passage speaks of books that are maintained by God- books that hold data on what we have done, and a particular book called the book of life where names are written down. But, as we see in the passage, not everyone's name is in the book of life. By default, if your name is not in the book of life, you are not going to have the benefit of eternal life with Christ; you will be destined to eternal punishment in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).

As was shared so poignantly on Sunday, there is no appeal process in this final judgement. Let's revisit some of the things we heard in the sermon:

-the resurrection of all people is for the purpose of judgement (Acts 17:31);
-God, our Owner, is the only one who has the right to be our Assessor;
-God's justice requires judgement;
-God's judgement is based upon His complete knowledge of our motives as well as our actions;
-God will bring every deed into judgement, whether good or bad (Ecclesiastes 12:13,14)

There are some who believe that they can live a life of dichotomy and still back their way in to eternal life with Christ. If that's you, may I ask you why you believe that? What Scriptures are you using to support that assumption?

God doesn't want you to perish. That's why He's given you the opportunity now, during your earthly life, to repent and live for Him. Don't wait. You aren't guaranteed tomorrow.