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TL05. How to Survive God's Verdict

THE VERDICT FOR YOUR SIN IS DEATH!

In reading this book, have you seen clearly that you have disobeyed the
laws of God?

If you still think too highly of yourself and claim that you have violated only
one commandment (say, you lied only once in your life), then here is what the
Bible says about you:

“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is
guilty of breaking all of it.” (James 2:10)

Do you now see that you have broken the whole law? …

As a result, you were separated from God:

“1 Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too
dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” (Isaiah
59:1-2)

That state of being separated from God is called death:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins (Ephesians
2:1).

Included among those who died spiritually are those who did not believe
among the Jews and those who committed fornication in the time of Sodom
and Gomorra.

“Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord
delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not
believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but
abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with
everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom
and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual
immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer
the punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 1:5-7).

Notice that the tense of the word “suffer” is in the present tense. Hence,
we can be sure that even until now, unbelieving Jews and immoral
Sodomites are suffering in hell! So is the case of a rich man:

In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far

away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have
pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool
my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ But Abraham replied, ‘….
between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want
to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to
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us” (Luke 16:19-31).

We can see here that when a sinner dies, he will go to hell or Hades. There
he will be recognized, as the rich man was. He will have a body—a head that
enables him to look up, eyes that can see, tongue that can be cooled by water.
He is suffering in fire. He cannot transfer to a place of rest!

Because of your sin, you have been separated from God and are in danger
of suffering in the fires of Hades. If you get there, you will be placed under
punishment until your body and soul will be judged:

“… the Lord knows how … to hold the unrighteous for the day of
judgment, while continuing their punishment”
(2 Peter 2:9).

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. … And I
saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were
opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were
judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The
sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the
dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he
had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake
of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the
book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15).

“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the
sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all
liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the
second death” (Revelation 21:8).

Indeed, when judgment day comes, the souls of the dead who are now
continuing in their punishment in Hades will be judged based on their
works. They cannot be saved. If they think their names are written in the
Book of Life, they will be disappointed! They will be cast into the lake of fire!
That is the HELL where their bodies and souls will be destroyed (Matthew
10:28).

Are you afraid to die, as the disciples were in Mark 4:38-40? … Then you
belong to those who are cowardly!
Have you participated in incest, homosexual or lesbian acts, sex with
animals (Lev 18:22-30)? … Then you are vile!
Have you hated someone? … Have you cursed him/her? … Have you
allowed a day to pass without forgiving one who offended you? … Then you
are a murderer like the one who participated in abortion!
Have looked at a woman not your spouse to lust for her? … Has anything
you have done caused another to look to lust for you? … Then you are
sexually immoral!
Have you received acceptance, knowledge or power from a spirit other
than from the true God?… Then you have practiced magic arts!
Have you allowed anyone or anything to have a higher priority in your life
over God? … Then you are an idolater.
Have you enjoyed making a lie (Rev 22:15), causing others to believe
something which is not true? … Have you lied? … Then you are a liar!
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Have you gotten something which is not yours? Then you are a thief.
You will accompany the idolaters, the murderers, the practitioner of magic
arts and the sexually immoral (Rev 9:20-21).

If your name is not written in the Book of Life, after you face judgment, you
will be thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

A geologist friend of mine told me, “When molten lava flows you may say
that it is a river of fire. It is also lake of fire if it is confined or not moving....”

The temperature of molten lava is about 1,000 degrees Celsius as

compared to 100 degrees for boiling water. Thus, the temperature of hell may
reasonably be assumed as about 10 times hotter than boiling water.

If you go to hell, you will cry out in pain! You will not even have water to
quench your thirst (Luke 16:24; Zechariah 9:11)! You will waste in hunger
and have no strength (Psalm 88:4) against the fullness of violence (Psalm
74:19-20) which include the teeth of wild beasts and venom of vipers
(Deuteronomy 32:22-24) and worms that cover (Isaiah 14:11). There will be
fire there but it will be dark (Job 10:21-22; Jude 1:13; Psalm 88:6). There
will also be no peace there (Isaiah 57:21).

If you go there, you will want to leave the place but you can not (Luke
16:26)! Your spirit there will be imprisoned (1Peter 3:19; Isaiah 24:22) just
like the “angels who sinned” and “cast ... into hell and committed ... to pits of
darkness” (2Peter 2:4 NAS). In hell, there are “gloomy dungeons” (2Peter
2:4), chambers (Proverbs 7:27) or rooms, gates (Matthew 16:18), bars (Job
17:16; Jonah 2:6 KJV) and keys (Revelation 1:18).

There you will gnash your teeth for not receiving the truth that was made
known to you (Luke 16: 29-31).

There will be degrees of punishment there. The worse sinner will suffer
more. It will be more bearable for some:

“But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of
judgment than for you” (Matthew 11:24).

What makes it worst is that the punishment of destruction there is

everlasting ... away from the presence of the Lord! (2Thessalonians 1:9)!

However, you can escape that wrath! Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world” (John 1:39). In His flesh, God condemned sin:

“[There is] therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ

Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the
law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak
through the flesh, God [did] by sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the
righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk
according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-4 NKJV).
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Yes, God judged the sins when he sent his own Son that you can be freed
from sin to obey the righteous requirements of the Law. You just need to walk
by the Spirit.

You might ask, “How did God judge sin?”

“For the wages of sin is death ….” (Romans 6:23)

“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the
unrighteous, to bring you to God. …. “ (1 Peter 3:18; Romans 5:8; 1
Corinthians 15:3-4).

Indeed, it was Jesus who received the death penalty.

IN WHAT WAY DID HE DIE?

FIRST, PHYSICALLY WHEN HE GAVE UP HIS SPIRIT.

“… Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave
up his spirit” (John 19:30).

“… body without the spirit is dead…” (James 2:26).

“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous,
to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by
the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18; Romans 5:8).

Yes, when Jesus was crucified, he took our sins. As a result, he died
physically (in the body) or his spirit got separated from his body (James 2:26).

SECOND, HE DIED SPIRITUALLY WHEN HE WAS SEPARATED FROM GOD.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, … “My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me” (Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46)?

Jesus quoted with a loud voice a portion of the Old Testament:

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? …. Yet you are
enthroned as the Holy One” (Psalms 22:1,3).

Jesus made known that He was forsaken by God because God is holy that
He could not have fellowship with Jesus who at that time took our sins:

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might dies
to sin and live to righteousness.”
(1 Peter 2:24).

But before you can live righteousness, you must believe that He did not just
take the judgment upon Himself. You need to receive the following truth about
Jesus:

THE ONE WHO RECEIVED THE JUDGMENT

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WAS GOD WHO TOOK THE FORM OF A MAN.

I suggest that you read the Bible and begin with the Gospel according to
John. Here’s John’s purpose:

“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples,
which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing
you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).

Son of God means equal with God.

So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews
persecuted him. Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this
very day, and I, too, am working.” For this reason the Jews tried all the
harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even
calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do
nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because
whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the
Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him
even greater things than these. For just as the Father raises the dead and
gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
Moreover, the Father judges no-one, but has entrusted all judgment to the
Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He
who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him
(John 5:16-23).

You can see from this passage that Jesus claimed equality with the Father:

1. In power: He can do what the Father does. He raises whoever He wishes

to raise from the dead.

2. In honor: Whoever does not honor Jesus as He honors the Father does not
honor the Father. The Father wants people to honor Jesus as they honor the
Father for the Father has entrusted all judgment to Him.

Jesus continues:

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who
sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over
from death to life” (John 5:24).

To receive eternal life and not be condemned to hell, you need to listen to
the word of Jesus. You also need to trust in the Father who sent him and who
by raising Him from the dead testified that Jesus is His Son (Romans 1:4).

YOU NEED TO RECEIVE CHRIST!

You can begin hearing Jesus’ word and believing in the Father
by asking Jesus to come into your life. He says:
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“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and
opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him
who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I
overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Revelation 3:19-
21).

Jesus will not eat or have fellowship with you unless He first forgives your
sins. He will also not allow you to eat with Him—to join Him in doing God’s will
(John 4:34)—if you do not repent, if you do not want to forsake your sins.

Do you want to be forgiven of your sins? Are you willing to forsake them to
be able to do God’s will—to overcome sin and sit with Jesus at his throne? If
so, open now the door of your heart. Tell Jesus the following suggested
prayer:

Lord Jesus, I agree that I am a sinner in danger of suffering torments in

hell. I believe that You are the Son of God whom He sent in the form of a
man to judge my sins in Your flesh. I believe in my heart that God raised You
from the dead (Romans 10:17). I now open the door of my heart and receive
You as my Savior and God. Thank You that You have forgiven my sins. Let
me eat with You—strengthen me that I may be victorious over sin and Satan.
I want to sit with You on Your throne.

Have you prayed this prayer? If so, read again Jesus’ promise:

“…. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in…”
(Revelation 3:20).

Based on this promise, if you have opened the door of your life to Christ,
what did He do? … Yes, he came in! You also have the Spirit of Christ and of
God.
“You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature
but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,
he does not belong to Christ”
(Romans 8:9).
“[There is] therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus,
who do not walk according to the flesh,
but according to the Spirit”
(Romans 8:1 NKJV).

If you prayed this prayer, you may write me at equippers@msn.com. You

may also want to read the rest of my free book that can be downloaded
through http://www.scribd.com/doc/22396391/Toward-Lasting-Change-Part-1.

Questions for Discussion with others who may have read this article:
1. Read Romans 7:14-25. Have you experienced something similar to what
Paul experienced—you wanted to do what is right but could not?
2. Are you sure that you will not be judged? … How do you know?