HELL IS REAL!  And one day God will sentence everyone who has broken God’s laws to Hell.  This sometimes is a hard message to swallow.  With all the sermons these days on the love of God (which is another hat of God that I will preach in two weeks), we sometimes forget or ignore the fact that God is still Just.  And a just God cannot and will not allow those who have broken God’s laws into heaven.  God Justice cannot do it.  And God’s love (despite what some people think) will not allow it either.  The fact of the matter is when we die here on earth (or are raised to heaven at the end times) will stand before the Judgment seat and will be judged.  Those who know Jesus as their lawyer (if you follow the courtroom metaphors) will be declared justified and free from the penalty of death.  Those who try to make it to heaven on their own (without this lawyer), will be sentenced to die.  It is all spelled out in black and white in Revelation 20.  We also have hints of it in Matthew 25 with the sheep and the goats parable (sheep and goats are shepherd imagery that we will look at when I preach on God as Shepherd (tentative date Dec 30th)).

  So the question the question is, who is your Lawyer?  Jesus or are you going to represent yourself?  Because the fact of the matter is we have all broken God’s law.  As mentioned in the book of James, if we break even one of God’s laws, we are guilty of breaking it all.  We are all transgressors of God’s laws. And no amount of legal wrangling will get you off.  No technicalities, no  mental illness defense, no nothing.  The only way to be pronounced innocent is if you have accepted Jesus’ death on the cross as your payment for your sins.  Because Jesus suffered and died the death of an innocent man, His payment of death can be put onto your verdict.  Jesus can say to the Judge, “I paid the penalty for this person’s sin”.  So even though we are guilty, God can treat us “just as if I’d” never sinned. (Justified).

  If you would like this kind of payment put on your account, you can simply talk to God saying, “God. I know that I am guilty.  I have sinned against you and have no defense for it.  But I know that Jesus died for me.  He paid the price for my sin.  Please accept His penalty for the one I know I deserve.  I want to have Jesus as my lawyer and I claim Him as such right now. Amen”

  If you prayed that prayer, please contact me.  I would love to give you more information on how you can live a justified life before God.  Email me at timclaassen@truevine.net.