Preaching About the Upcoming Judgment

Preaching About the Upcoming Judgment

We are in a series of posts about preaching on doctrine.  In this post we are going to look at preaching about the upcoming judgment.

In the last post, we considered that Jesus promised to return.  That’s an exciting truth, to be able to proclaim that all the hurts and ills of our world will end.  No more death.  No more crying.  There will be no hungry people dying for lack of food.  Cancer will be a thing of the past.  Wars, with all the horrors that accompany them will be a thing of the past.  What a great thing to look forward to!  No wonder the early church prayed fervently, Revelation 22:20:

Preaching About Judgment

Unfortunately, for many people that return will not be positive.  It will involve a judgment.  This is not a popular subject in our world today.  There are even some in Christendom that prefer to believe that there will be no judgment.  Several years ago, Rob Bell, popular preacher and writer, published a book titled Love Wins.  The overall theme is that God’s love is so great that he will eventually forgive every sin and save everyone.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t jive with what the Bible says.  Here is a listing of all the passages in Scripture that refer to the upcoming judgment.

Some Things To Keep In Mind When Preaching about the Upcoming Judgment

Scripture

When I am preaching about the upcoming judgment I like to use these verses from John 5:

²⁴ “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. ²⁵ Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come 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 judge because he is the Son of Man.

Points to Make

• This is a good time to remind people that salvation is by faith, not by works.  We are so conditioned to believe that we are judged on the basis of our performance.  That’s the way it works in our world.  But in heaven’s economy, the price is paid, the performance was finished on the cross.  There will be those who need to be reminded of this.  Even as I’m writing I think of my mother.  When she was dying of kidney failure, she had a dream while in the hospital.  In the dream, she went to heaven as a sheep , and Jesus rejected her because her coat was so messy.  As she neared heaven, I am convinced the enemy was attacking one more time.  So, we talked about being saved by faith and affirmed this once again.  In my mind, my mother was not some great sinner.  She was a saint.  Yet doubt crept in at the end.  I heard similar doubts from others, especially those who had great sin.
• 

  Martin Luther King

  This is also a good time to remind people of the truth that Martin Luther King pointed out years ago when in the midst of the challenge of fighting for civil rights for everyone:  “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”   There is a great deal that is evil in our world.  Yet, God will bring about justice where right now we see none.

• This is a good time to recommit to sharing the Good News with our friends, our families, our neighbors, our world.  Belief in Jesus is the only thing that bring people over the line of judgment into heaven.

Preaching About Judgment

Even this doctrine can be presented in a positive, life-giving way.