Revelation 20
¹²   And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
¹³   And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
¹⁴   And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
¹⁵   And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

We see a picture of the judgment.  I confess, that I’ve always been nervous of the 2 sets of books.  Even though the critical thing is whether or not our name is written in the book of life, it still bothers me that I will be judged according to what I’ve done.  There are a lot of evil deeds that I would just as soon not discuss with anybody at the judgment.  This is why I have always tried to put this event together with God’s word to Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 18
²¹   But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
²²   All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.

So here it appears that as long as my name is written in the book of life, as long as my sins are forgiven, as long as my relationship with Christ is one that allows grace, then there will be no mention of my evil deeds at judgment.  I have perhaps preached this in error in the past by saying that God forgives and forgets my sins.  Actually, God remembers everything.  If He didn’t, He would not be omniscient.  What He does is more correctly stated as not remembering my sins against me.  He doesn’t recall them to hold me accountable for them.  So I don’t know whether my evil deeds are blotted out of the book, or if they’re recorded there and simply not mentioned at the judgment.  Again, this is all based on forgiveness based on the right relationship to Christ.

What I’d like us all to do this morning is to consider this question.  What would these books say about us if the evil deeds were removed?  Would it be really boring?  Would consist of an endless repeating of the same old thing day after day?  Jack got up, went to work, came home, watched a little TV, and went to bed.  Day after day after day, the same thing, without one good work to my credit.  I believe that we often approach our walk in the wrong way.  We are so afraid of doing something that will make God angry, that we forget to do the things that please him.  James writes:

James 4
¹⁷   Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Just as important as repenting of evil deeds, is to repent of omitting of good deeds.  There are good deeds that every Christian is commanded to do.  Failing to carry out these commandments is just as sinful as any evil deed that we can do.  Our commandments do not consist simply of a list of “Thou shalt nots”.  Many are stated in affirmative ways.  We don’t have enough time in one sermon to cover all of them, so I’ve picked three or four that I want to share with you this morning. Turn with me to:

Matthew 28
¹⁹   Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
²⁰   Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Jesus makes this commandment to his apostles.  Within the commandment is a commandment to teach us to observe all of the commandments.  If Christians are taught to observe all of the commands of Christ, wouldn’t it include this one?  In view of what we read in James then, for a Christian to disobey this command would be sin.  It would also coincidently be a sin to omit baptism from our teaching.  I’d also like for us to notice that there is a blessing attached to this command.  Jesus promises to be “with us always.”  If we willfully disregard the importance of this command, can we reasonably expect Jesus to be with us?  I don’t believe so.  Perhaps this is why Paul records in:

1 Corinthians 9
¹⁶   For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!
¹⁷   For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.

Paul recognized that there was reward for preaching the gospel willingly.  But even if willingness is not there, commandment is still present.  The dispensation (or distribution, or spreading) of the gospel is committed unto every Christian.

Having the keys to the Kingdom is a sacred trust.  When you know the way to eternal life and fail to warn the lost, it is a terrible sin.  It is not something to be taken lightly.  Turn with me to:

Ezekiel 33
⁸   When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
⁹   Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

Is this not a sobering thought?  There is a principle at work here.  I don’t want any here to miss it.  The unrepentant man is accountable for his iniquity whether or not he has been warned to repent.  Therefore God holds us, who know the way to repentance, accountable for not warning them. 

Make no mistake; it is sin to not preach the gospel.  Will I fail in this area of service from time to time?  Probably.  I fail in many areas.  Is failure unforgivable?  Absolutely not!  It is something to repent of, like any other sin.  What I cannot do is consciously decide that I will not preach the gospel.  This is rebellion against God.  And we can’t win if we want to play that game.  I also cannot decide that I will only preach the gospel under certain circumstances.  That would be obedience on my terms.  This is rebellion as well.  I hope and pray that everyone here at the judgment will have the book full of incidences where we’ve shared our faith during our life.  Would we not feel wonderful to have that recounted to us?

Open your bibles to:

Matthew 6
¹⁴   For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
¹⁵   But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Another affirmative command that we see in scripture is to forgive men.  Well, that seems easy enough doesn’t it?  Let us consider then that Jesus here does not say to forgive only men in the church, or only men you like, or only men who repent.  We are called to forgive men, period, and end of sentence!  The term, men, is obviously inclusive of both genders.  I shouldn’t have to mention this, but I want no misunderstanding.  Understand this however; failure to forgive will cause us to lose forgiveness.  And without forgiveness, we are lost indeed.  Understand that Jesus statement is made in context with the request made in:

Matthew 6
¹²   And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

We are to forgive as God forgives.  We are not to remember the transgression against the offender again.  This is different than forgive and forget.  Does that mean that if my neighbor steals from me, I don’t call the police?  No, there are consequences to crime, whether against man or God.  When David committed adultery and murder, God forgave him and prescribed penalty for the sins in the same statement.  But God never brought it up against him again.  David worked from that point with a clean slate.

Sometimes we get confused with what it means not to remember sin against someone.  Sometimes it is important to remember the sin.  It is possible to remember the sin without remembering the sin against somebody.  For example, if a brother was found guilty of embezzlement, served his time, repented before the church and was restored to the church, it would not be necessarily sinful to rule this brother out when there was an opening for church treasurer.  We might rule this brother out with an eye of not placing a stumbling block in his path.  If there is a weakness in this area, to withhold such a post is simply to save our brother from an unnecessary temptation.  In like manner, if a brother has been guilty of crimes against children, you might not want to make him a youth group leader.  There plenty of other works available to these brothers that would not be a source of temptation to them.  Wouldn’t it be nice at the judgment to hear several accounts of people that we forgave, God’s way?  Make certain of this; we don’t want to here accounts of men that we haven’t forgiven.

Finally this morning, let’s take a look at:

John 13
³⁴   A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
³⁵   By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

This is the distinguishing mark of a disciple of Jesus.  Loving as Jesus loved us.  Jesus love was above all self-sacrificing.  Brethren, I know of members of this congregation that do things for other members even when it’s terribly inconvenient.  They do for others even when it works against their own best interest.  This is exactly the love that Jesus speaks here.  I believe that there is a special place in Jesus’ heart for these.  As a matter of fact, Jesus says that this is the mark of a true disciple.  The interesting thing about these brethren, and we are blessed with more than one, is that they often feel as though they have sinned, because they feel inconvenienced.  You know, I imagine that Jesus felt inconvenienced as they nailed Him to the cross.  Yet he endured, regardless of how he felt.  He did this because we needed him to do it.  Turn with me to:

1 Peter 4
⁸   And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
⁹   Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

Many of us look at this passage and think that when we feel inconvenienced, that we are grudging.  I don’t believe that this is so.  I believe that grudging is an outward expression of that feeling of being inconvenienced.  When we offer hospitality, we should do it without complaining, by word or by body language or any other action that might make the recipient of that hospitality uncomfortable.  When we’ve fulfilled this, I believe that God is pleased.  Won’t it be nice at judgment if there is mention of several times that we’ve gone out of our way to help someone, even though it was inconvenient for us?  I imagine that every such account would be followed by a hearty “Well done My good and faithful servant.”

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, when the book of your life is read, will the love of Jesus show through?  John 14:15 says “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”  Again in Luke 6: 46 we find “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”  This morning we’ve shown that doing what Jesus says is more than simply avoiding sin.  It is doing good for my brother and my neighbor.  If I am not doing anything positive for the kingdom of Christ, how can I say that I love Him?  How can I call Him Lord, Lord?  I simply can’t do it.  I need to do everything that He says.  When I fail, I need to recognize it as a shortcoming, and repent, take steps to correct the situation.  Perhaps this is why baptism is chosen as the final step through the threshold from the world into the Kingdom.  It requires simple obedience.  In Mark 16: 16 Jesus says, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”  Jesus said that I need to be immersed in water,  “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28: 19), in order to be saved.  Even in spite of all of the imagery in scripture concerning baptism, the only reason for baptism that truly makes sense is Jesus commanded it.  He said that I needed to submit to baptism to be saved.  How can I say that I love Him, or call Him Lord, and refuse baptism for salvation?  I can’t.  It would be rebellion.  To be baptized for any other reason (i.e. an outward sign of inward grace) would be setting my own terms for baptism, different than Jesus’ terms (to be saved).  This too would be rebellion.  If you’ve not been baptized to be saved, and you love Jesus, won’t you keep his commandment today?

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