The Bible says: Hebrews 9:27 (ESV)
It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
Have a think about this verse for a minute. Firstly it is telling you something we all know: that it is appointed for us to die. Death is an unavoidable, sad fact of life. We see celebrities on the news, living in their prime, having their lives suddenly taken away. We mourn them for a while. Then they are forgotten, erased from our minds. The world keeps moving and spinning with or without them. It makes us think how empty and futile our lives are.
And we will all die likewise. We will pass from time into eternity in a matter of seconds. The verse says that death has been "appointed" to us, meaning that there is an exact time and date that has been set for you when you will be snatched away from among the land of the living. It may be sickness, or an accident, or in a natural disaster - but however you will die, it is certain that you will not last forever here. Like the grass of the field, you will wither away, and like the flower of the grass, your beauty and glory will fade.
But the Bible tells you that death is not a natural process of life. Death is not just another part of life. Try telling someone that at a funeral. They cannot believe what happened to their loved one, how they could be simply disappear from the face of the earth, never to be with them anymore. Death is not natural. That's why every death is so shocking and tragic. Human beings were originally made to last forever. But the Bible tells us that death came into this world because of SIN:
Romans 5:12 (ESV)
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-
Our first parent Adam sinned, and death came to the world as punishment for sin. Sin is anything we do that does not please God, anything that does not glorify God. Sin is disobedience to God Word, and transgression against His Law, against any of His Commandments. Sin is a failure to reflect the good, loving, and perfectly holy image of God. Sin is a failure to do God's will, but doing your own will. Sin is a failure to live according to our conscience, which God has given as a guide to our soul. Anything that made us feel guilty or shameful is sin. Sin is that evil thing we have done or thought that we could never tell even to our closest friend or family, because we are so ashamed and embarrassed of it. We know that we deserve death for these things, and we know that these things are bad, because we often condemn others for doing these same things that we commit.
Everyone in the world has sinned. It doesn't matter who we are or where we were born, Bible says we were born slaves of sin:
John 8:34 (ESV)
Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.
This means that we cannot do anything but sin. Even our best thing that we have ever done was to God's eyes, sin. This is because God's standards are PERFECT. Think of it: God has NEVER, ever sinned or done or thought anything sinful. He is perfectly good and perfectly loving and perfectly holy. His eyes are purer than to look upon any evil. He cannot tolerate any evil, not even a tiny dot of sin is hateful to His eyes, and He must punish evil.
For example, let's say you went to a restaurant, and you ordered some soup. But in the soup there was one fly. Just one. Would you take it out and drink the soup like there was nothing wrong with it? No. You would immediately ask the soup to be taken away from you, even though it was just one fly. That is why it is enough for one sin to condemn a person to an eternity in Hell. Even one sin is an abomination to God, and it ruins the entire person. Adam only once ate the bite of a fruit, and the entire human race became sinners and subjected to death and eternal destruction. Then ask yourself how many times have you sinned, on just today? Hundreds of flies are in your soup. How then do you expect God to be satisfied because of your good works? Even your good works are defiled and contaminated by the decay of sin. You deserve death, like the rest of us. There is no one good that deserves life:
Romans 3:10-12 (ESV)
"None is righteous, no, not one; [11] no one understands; no one seeks for God. [12] All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
And the verse in Hebrews says that it is appointed man to die ONCE. You will not get a second chance in life. Do not believe in this lie that you will get another chance, or will come back to life as another being. There is only one life, and one death. And after death, Bible says you will either spend eternity in Heaven, in continual fellowship with God, or in Hell, being in endless pain and torment for the sins that you have committed against the everlasting God, who is Your Creator. Your eternal fate will be determined on how you go on the Day of Judgment.
Hebrews 9:27 says that after death you will face the judgment of God. Here is something that you don't realize: God is preparing a lawsuit against your soul. Every time that you have sinned and done, spoke or thought that which is not right in His sight, He has marked the time, date and the offense, and recorded them all His books. By these records you will be judged on the Day of Judgment:
Revelation 20:12 (ESV)
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
Perhaps you have had another person make a lawsuit against you. And perhaps it was not successful because there were not enough evidence against you. But GOD is the one who is entering into judgment with you on the Last Day. He has gathered more than enough evidence to condemn you to an eternity in Hell. God sees all things, and does not need any one to witness to Him about what is in man (John 2:24-25). He knows all your thoughts, all your intents, and all your secrets. He will therefore need no one to give witness about you on the Day of Judgment, for your own conscience will bear witness, and agree with God as the records are being read out for your condemnation:
Romans 2:15-16 (ESV)
They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them [16] on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
And since God is bringing a charge against you, a human being, there will be a suitable Judge who will judge between God and you. This is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is God who was came to earth as a human being, clothed with flesh, being born of a virgin. He is fully God, yet fully Man. That is why He called Himself the Son of Man, as well as the Son of God. And because He is both God and Man, He alone is the adequate Judge who will judge between God and you on the Last Day:
John 5:25-27 (ESV)
"Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. [26] For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. [27] And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
Every person will stand before Jesus Christ to be judged by Him for every sin they have committed. Everyone will see and believe on that Day that Jesus is real, and that He really did rise again from the dead, and that He is indeed the Son of God and the Judge of all the Earth.
Now perhaps you are thinking that God is good, and that He will forgive you on your Day in God's court. But because God is perfectly good, and just, He must punish your sins. Think of a judge you lets a murderer go because he is a "good" judge. You would not say he is good at all, but an EVIL judge with a crooked standard of right and wrong. God is not a corrupt judge, but He will righteously avenge all the evil that you have ever committed. Or perhaps you are thinking that God is love, so He will have compassion on you when you are judged. But because He IS love, He must punish you, since you have NOT been loving at all both to God nor to your fellow man. You haven't loved your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength, all the time. And neither you have loved all your neighbors perfectly, but you have hated most of them in your heart. And God can never allow an unloving person into His Kingdom.
So in your current state you will most surely die and be sentenced to an eternity in Hell. Hell is eternal because you can't pay your debts to God fully. Sinning against God is not like breaking a parking violation. You have hated God, who is your Creator, the one who gave you life, and rebelled against His Commandments. You have listened to the Devil and joined hands with him in treason against the King of Kings. You have made yourself God, living for yourself, serving yourself, pleasing yourself. You worship yourself, and give yourself credit for all things you have, instead of God the provider and sustainer of all things. How do you expect to go to Heaven, when you have done nothing that has pleased Him? You will spend an eternity in the lake of fire, and not even a drop of relief will be given to you. You will forever be locked up in a dark solitary cell of pain and misery, since you have ignored God and abused His blessings. This is the fate that awaits your soul.
But God has provided a way for you to be saved. The Good News that God is announcing to you is that He has made a way for you to have peace with Him. The Gospel is what God has done for you in Jesus Christ His Son. God laid on Jesus Christ the sins of the world, and made Him to be crucified on a Roman cross. This was an actual event in History. God the Son came down on Earth for this main reason: to live a perfectly righteous life for His people, and to be forsaken by God on the cross for the sins of His people. He did it because He loved the world, and did not desire us to be condemned without a hope of everlasting life.
Jesus Christ took the punishment that you and I deserve on the Cross, so that we can go free on the Day of Judgment. Not only that, Jesus Christ lived the perfect life that we could not live, so if we repent and put our trust only in Jesus, we can be seen as righteous before God, and deserve to go to Heaven on that Day. This is nothing we have done: we have done nothing but to condemn Jesus on the Cross with our sins. Christ died for us WHILE we were sinners, while we hated Him in our hearts.
What you must do is to put your trust in this Saviour, Jesus Christ. He did not remain dead, but He rose again from the dead on the third day, so that He may go to the right hand of God the Father, and be an Intercessor for all who trust in Him. Jesus Christ is the only Bridge between you and God. Though God is angry against your sins, and though you are His enemy, if you confess and are willing to turn from sin, and put your trust in Jesus Christ, He will turn away all His wrath against you. He will dismiss your case, and He will erase all the records that has been written against you, because Jesus has died for them all:
Colossians 2:13-14 (ESV)
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, [14] by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
And when you believe in Jesus, God's Spirit will come and dwell in you, and will be with you, and He will change your heart and make you more and more like Jesus Christ. You will be born again as a child of God, and Spirit of God will bear through you fruits that are pleasing to God. Holy Spirit, and the fruits that He will bear through you, will be a guarantee and evidence of your eternal life, until on that Last Day you will fully take possession of it in heaven:
Ephesians 1:13-14 (ESV)
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
If you have not yet put your trust in Christ, please do so today. Jesus Christ will be your Judge, but He can also be your Advocate on that Day. He can plead and speak for your case by His blood. There is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ, for God has not given us another Name by which we must be saved. Do not put off getting right with God until later, for you don't know when God has appointed you to die and face Him. God wants you to turn to Him now, by the way of Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ is only one Way back to Him. Put your whole trust in Christ alone to save you. Receive Him as your only eternal life and as your salvation. Receive Him as your King. Throw away all your hope in yourself to make you right before God on that Day, or in any other god, and put your whole trust in Jesus, and you will not be condemned. This is God's promise to you. Believe in His promise!:
John 5:24 (ESV)
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
Have a think about this verse for a minute. Firstly it is telling you something we all know: that it is appointed for us to die. Death is an unavoidable, sad fact of life. We see celebrities on the news, living in their prime, having their lives suddenly taken away. We mourn them for a while. Then they are forgotten, erased from our minds. The world keeps moving and spinning with or without them. It makes us think how empty and futile our lives are.
And we will all die likewise. We will pass from time into eternity in a matter of seconds. The verse says that death has been "appointed" to us, meaning that there is an exact time and date that has been set for you when you will be snatched away from among the land of the living. It may be sickness, or an accident, or in a natural disaster - but however you will die, it is certain that you will not last forever here. Like the grass of the field, you will wither away, and like the flower of the grass, your beauty and glory will fade.
But the Bible tells you that death is not a natural process of life. Death is not just another part of life. Try telling someone that at a funeral. They cannot believe what happened to their loved one, how they could be simply disappear from the face of the earth, never to be with them anymore. Death is not natural. That's why every death is so shocking and tragic. Human beings were originally made to last forever. But the Bible tells us that death came into this world because of SIN:
Romans 5:12 (ESV)
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-
Our first parent Adam sinned, and death came to the world as punishment for sin. Sin is anything we do that does not please God, anything that does not glorify God. Sin is disobedience to God Word, and transgression against His Law, against any of His Commandments. Sin is a failure to reflect the good, loving, and perfectly holy image of God. Sin is a failure to do God's will, but doing your own will. Sin is a failure to live according to our conscience, which God has given as a guide to our soul. Anything that made us feel guilty or shameful is sin. Sin is that evil thing we have done or thought that we could never tell even to our closest friend or family, because we are so ashamed and embarrassed of it. We know that we deserve death for these things, and we know that these things are bad, because we often condemn others for doing these same things that we commit.
Everyone in the world has sinned. It doesn't matter who we are or where we were born, Bible says we were born slaves of sin:
John 8:34 (ESV)
Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.
This means that we cannot do anything but sin. Even our best thing that we have ever done was to God's eyes, sin. This is because God's standards are PERFECT. Think of it: God has NEVER, ever sinned or done or thought anything sinful. He is perfectly good and perfectly loving and perfectly holy. His eyes are purer than to look upon any evil. He cannot tolerate any evil, not even a tiny dot of sin is hateful to His eyes, and He must punish evil.
For example, let's say you went to a restaurant, and you ordered some soup. But in the soup there was one fly. Just one. Would you take it out and drink the soup like there was nothing wrong with it? No. You would immediately ask the soup to be taken away from you, even though it was just one fly. That is why it is enough for one sin to condemn a person to an eternity in Hell. Even one sin is an abomination to God, and it ruins the entire person. Adam only once ate the bite of a fruit, and the entire human race became sinners and subjected to death and eternal destruction. Then ask yourself how many times have you sinned, on just today? Hundreds of flies are in your soup. How then do you expect God to be satisfied because of your good works? Even your good works are defiled and contaminated by the decay of sin. You deserve death, like the rest of us. There is no one good that deserves life:
Romans 3:10-12 (ESV)
"None is righteous, no, not one; [11] no one understands; no one seeks for God. [12] All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
And the verse in Hebrews says that it is appointed man to die ONCE. You will not get a second chance in life. Do not believe in this lie that you will get another chance, or will come back to life as another being. There is only one life, and one death. And after death, Bible says you will either spend eternity in Heaven, in continual fellowship with God, or in Hell, being in endless pain and torment for the sins that you have committed against the everlasting God, who is Your Creator. Your eternal fate will be determined on how you go on the Day of Judgment.
Hebrews 9:27 says that after death you will face the judgment of God. Here is something that you don't realize: God is preparing a lawsuit against your soul. Every time that you have sinned and done, spoke or thought that which is not right in His sight, He has marked the time, date and the offense, and recorded them all His books. By these records you will be judged on the Day of Judgment:
Revelation 20:12 (ESV)
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
Perhaps you have had another person make a lawsuit against you. And perhaps it was not successful because there were not enough evidence against you. But GOD is the one who is entering into judgment with you on the Last Day. He has gathered more than enough evidence to condemn you to an eternity in Hell. God sees all things, and does not need any one to witness to Him about what is in man (John 2:24-25). He knows all your thoughts, all your intents, and all your secrets. He will therefore need no one to give witness about you on the Day of Judgment, for your own conscience will bear witness, and agree with God as the records are being read out for your condemnation:
Romans 2:15-16 (ESV)
They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them [16] on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
And since God is bringing a charge against you, a human being, there will be a suitable Judge who will judge between God and you. This is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is God who was came to earth as a human being, clothed with flesh, being born of a virgin. He is fully God, yet fully Man. That is why He called Himself the Son of Man, as well as the Son of God. And because He is both God and Man, He alone is the adequate Judge who will judge between God and you on the Last Day:
John 5:25-27 (ESV)
"Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. [26] For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. [27] And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
Every person will stand before Jesus Christ to be judged by Him for every sin they have committed. Everyone will see and believe on that Day that Jesus is real, and that He really did rise again from the dead, and that He is indeed the Son of God and the Judge of all the Earth.
Now perhaps you are thinking that God is good, and that He will forgive you on your Day in God's court. But because God is perfectly good, and just, He must punish your sins. Think of a judge you lets a murderer go because he is a "good" judge. You would not say he is good at all, but an EVIL judge with a crooked standard of right and wrong. God is not a corrupt judge, but He will righteously avenge all the evil that you have ever committed. Or perhaps you are thinking that God is love, so He will have compassion on you when you are judged. But because He IS love, He must punish you, since you have NOT been loving at all both to God nor to your fellow man. You haven't loved your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength, all the time. And neither you have loved all your neighbors perfectly, but you have hated most of them in your heart. And God can never allow an unloving person into His Kingdom.
So in your current state you will most surely die and be sentenced to an eternity in Hell. Hell is eternal because you can't pay your debts to God fully. Sinning against God is not like breaking a parking violation. You have hated God, who is your Creator, the one who gave you life, and rebelled against His Commandments. You have listened to the Devil and joined hands with him in treason against the King of Kings. You have made yourself God, living for yourself, serving yourself, pleasing yourself. You worship yourself, and give yourself credit for all things you have, instead of God the provider and sustainer of all things. How do you expect to go to Heaven, when you have done nothing that has pleased Him? You will spend an eternity in the lake of fire, and not even a drop of relief will be given to you. You will forever be locked up in a dark solitary cell of pain and misery, since you have ignored God and abused His blessings. This is the fate that awaits your soul.
But God has provided a way for you to be saved. The Good News that God is announcing to you is that He has made a way for you to have peace with Him. The Gospel is what God has done for you in Jesus Christ His Son. God laid on Jesus Christ the sins of the world, and made Him to be crucified on a Roman cross. This was an actual event in History. God the Son came down on Earth for this main reason: to live a perfectly righteous life for His people, and to be forsaken by God on the cross for the sins of His people. He did it because He loved the world, and did not desire us to be condemned without a hope of everlasting life.
Jesus Christ took the punishment that you and I deserve on the Cross, so that we can go free on the Day of Judgment. Not only that, Jesus Christ lived the perfect life that we could not live, so if we repent and put our trust only in Jesus, we can be seen as righteous before God, and deserve to go to Heaven on that Day. This is nothing we have done: we have done nothing but to condemn Jesus on the Cross with our sins. Christ died for us WHILE we were sinners, while we hated Him in our hearts.
What you must do is to put your trust in this Saviour, Jesus Christ. He did not remain dead, but He rose again from the dead on the third day, so that He may go to the right hand of God the Father, and be an Intercessor for all who trust in Him. Jesus Christ is the only Bridge between you and God. Though God is angry against your sins, and though you are His enemy, if you confess and are willing to turn from sin, and put your trust in Jesus Christ, He will turn away all His wrath against you. He will dismiss your case, and He will erase all the records that has been written against you, because Jesus has died for them all:
Colossians 2:13-14 (ESV)
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, [14] by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
And when you believe in Jesus, God's Spirit will come and dwell in you, and will be with you, and He will change your heart and make you more and more like Jesus Christ. You will be born again as a child of God, and Spirit of God will bear through you fruits that are pleasing to God. Holy Spirit, and the fruits that He will bear through you, will be a guarantee and evidence of your eternal life, until on that Last Day you will fully take possession of it in heaven:
Ephesians 1:13-14 (ESV)
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
If you have not yet put your trust in Christ, please do so today. Jesus Christ will be your Judge, but He can also be your Advocate on that Day. He can plead and speak for your case by His blood. There is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ, for God has not given us another Name by which we must be saved. Do not put off getting right with God until later, for you don't know when God has appointed you to die and face Him. God wants you to turn to Him now, by the way of Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ is only one Way back to Him. Put your whole trust in Christ alone to save you. Receive Him as your only eternal life and as your salvation. Receive Him as your King. Throw away all your hope in yourself to make you right before God on that Day, or in any other god, and put your whole trust in Jesus, and you will not be condemned. This is God's promise to you. Believe in His promise!:
John 5:24 (ESV)
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
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