September 27, 2009 Your Final Breath Hebrews 9:27-28

1 September 27, 2009 Your Final Breath Hebrews 9:27-28 Please open your Bible to Hebrews 9:27-28. (27) And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, (28) so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. These two verses are clear. Verse 27 tells us all of us are going to die. Verse 27 informs us we ll be judged. Our judgment will be based on our decision to accept or reject Jesus. Verse 28 says Jesus is coming back to Earth. He's not going to die again to deal with sin. He's going to save those who accept him and take them to heaven. A man went to the Melbourne Square Mall to buy a pair of socks. He parked his car and walked through the entrance doors. As he cut through the food court, he saw an eerie person in a black robe with a black hood. The hooded person called him by name. The robed figure declared that his name was Death and announced that he had an appointment with the man that night. The man was stunned. He felt faint. He panicked. He forgot about the socks. He raced to his car and drove home immediately. He packed a suitcase hurriedly. His wife asked him what he was doing. He told her that he had seen Death at the mall food court, and he was leaving to hide in Orlando. He wasn t ready to take his final breath. He threw the suitcase in the trunk, got in his car, and raced away to Orlando. The wife was shocked. The only thing she knew to do was to go to the mall. She found her keys and sped off. She ran from the parking lot to the food court. She scanned the crowd of people for a suspicious character. She saw a figure dressed in a black robe with a black hood. She made eye contact with the person. She felt herself being drawn to the person in black. She asked for his name. He noted that his name was Death. She said, My husband saw you a few minutes ago. He said you have an appointment with him today. Is it true? Is my husband going to die today? The hooded person replied, Yes, it s true. Everyone has an appointment with

2 death. By the way, I was surprised to see your husband here in Melbourne. Why is that the wife asked. Death replied, Because my appointment with him is in Orlando. We can t run or hide from death. The Bible tells us we have an appointment with death. One day, each of us will take our final breath. ***Ask John to put the death clock on the screen*** www.deathclock.com is a website that will count down the seconds left in your life based on average life spans. All you have to do is enter your birth date, gender, outlook on life, height and weight. Then, wait a few seconds, and the death clock starts counting down to remind you how short life is, compared to eternity. In this short life, we will make a decision that will determine where we spend eternity. We'll make that decision before we take our final breath. Let's look at three lessons we can learn from Hebrews 9:27-28. 1. You have an appointment with death you must keep. We know what an appointment is. It's a set time to meet with a certain person or persons. I have numerous appointments on my calendar. I'm in the middle of an appointment right now. I set this time aside today to meet with God and you. It's an appointment. Seven days ago, I began to prepare for this appointment. I studied and prayed. I thought about how to present this topic in an effective way. I asked God to give ideas to me. Some of the ideas came from the Bible. Some came from the daily devotion book that Margy and I use each morning. Some of the ideas were inner promptings from God. I heard about the deathclock.com website from a preacher on TV. God helped me to assemble all the ideas into this message for use at this appointment. I made an appointment with God each day, so I would be ready for this appointment today. Many of you have appointments on your calendars. There are appointments with the doctor, mechanic, dentist, appliance repair person, insurance salesman, and hair stylist. Your start time each day for work or school is an appointment. I hope you have an appointment to meet here next Sunday. I've mentioned a lot of appointments. Each of the appointments is a set time to meet with a certain person or persons. Each of the appointments I've mentioned can be broken. I could have skipped my appointment with you this morning. You can call off the next appointment on your calendar. We can cancel most appointments.

3 Death is different. Death is not negotiable or cancelable. You can't break your appointment with death. You can eat better. You can exercise more. You can handle stress more effectively. You can try to run and hide from death. None of that will change the fact that you have an appointment with death, and it's an appointment you must keep. One day you will take your final breath. The man who met Death at the food court thought he could run and hide from his appointment with death. He could run, but he couldn't hide. You have an appointment with death. You can t run, and you can't hide. Ninety-five million people die every year. 260,000 every day. 11,000 every hour. 180 every minute. Every second, three people arrive at their appointment with death. Let's count the seconds. Three people dead. Six. Nine. Twelve. Fifteen. At that rate, it would take about 30 seconds for this room to be void of human life. Your appointment with death may not be today or tomorrow or this month or this year or this decade. However, your temporary survival does not change the certainty that you have an appointment with death you must keep. There is a second lesson that we can learn from Hebrews 9:27-28. 2. You have an appearance after death you must make. All of us have sinned. Maybe our sins aren't so bad, but they're sins. We've broken God's Law, the Ten Commandments. When we exaggerated, it was a lie. We broke God's law and sinned. When we didn't tithe, we stole from God. We broke his law and sinned. When we used God's name in a cursing or empty way, like "Oh my God," we broke God's law and sinned. The Bible says, "All have sinned." (Romans 3:23) We are part of the all, who have sinned. You are part of the all who have sinned. Because we've sinned, we have an appearance with Christ after death to receive his judgment. Hebrews 9:27 says, "It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment." Because we've sinned, we will appear in front of Christ, where he will judge us. We have an appointment to die and an appearance for judgment. In this life, we can do things that violate the law and possibly get away with it. We can exceed the speed limit and not get caught. We can cheat on our income taxes and escape detection. We can use illegal drugs and not face judgment for our crime. We can break the law and never appear before a judge.

4 In the criminal justice system, not all offenders are caught and brought to justice. Law enforcement isn't everywhere. The police don't see and know everything. Therefore, we may break the law and never have an appearance before a judge in this life. It's much different with God. God doesn't have the limitations that law enforcement has. God is everywhere, sees all, and knows everything. We've sinned, and when we sinned, God was there. He saw it. He knew all about it. One hundred percent of us are guilty and busted by the ultimate law enforcement officer. Some of us have sinned less than others, but all of us are guilty of sin. It only takes one sin to be guilty of sin. We're way beyond one sin. Immediately after our appointment with death, we have an appearance with the judge of the universe. We can't run. We can't hide. After we die, we have a required appearance. It's an appearance that we must make. Revelation 20:11-15 says, "Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 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. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Because we've sinned, we have an appearance after death we must make. Our appearance will be exactly as described. Jesus will judge us exactly as described. All of us have sinned. The penalty of our sin is the lake of fire. All of us deserve to be thrown into the fire. Is there any hope? Yes, there is hope, because there is a third thing we can learn from Hebrews 9:27-28. 3. You have an appeal before death you should accept. In Florida, we have judicial courts at three levels. The courts you are most familiar with are the trial courts. In Brevard County, we have trial courts in Melbourne, Viera, and Titusville. A person is sentenced for a crime in the trial courts. Secondly, we have District Courts of Appeal. A convicted person can appeal his

5 sentence by presenting his case before a panel of judges at an appellate court. Thirdly, we have the Supreme Court in Tallahassee. It is the final court of appeal in Florida. In some cases, a defendant can appeal his case to the Florida Supreme Court. During an appeal, a person can explain to the court why he shouldn't be sentenced for his crimes. If his argument is sound, he will be set free from all penalties. We are guilty of crimes called sins. Because of our sin, we have been sentenced to death in the lake of fire. Because of God's grace, we have a way to appeal our sins before we die. If our argument is sound, we will be set free from the death penalty of sin. Those who have not accepted Jesus as Savior have no effective appeal. Other than accepting Jesus, there is no valid argument for forgiveness of sin crimes. Being a good person is a worthless appeal. Going to church regularly is a useless appeal. Doing good deeds is a futile appeal. A person who depends on these appeals has no hope. There is no manmade appeal that can overturn the death sentence for our sins. Fortunately, there is a God-made appeal. God sent his Son to die on the cross. When Jesus died, he paid the penalty for our sins. If we accept Jesus as our Savior, we still have an appointment with death and an appearance for judgment. The good news is we have an appeal. The appeal is, "Jesus, I'm guilty of sin, but you're my Savior. You paid the price for my sin. Because of you, Jesus, my name's written in the Book of Life" The Book of Life contains the names of all those who have accepted Jesus as Savior, and therefore, have received everlasting life. It's eternally important that we accept rather than reject Jesus. We must accept Jesus and appeal our sentence before we die. We must exercise our appeal before we take our final breath. If we appeal to Christ based on having accepted him as our Savior, our names will be written in the Book of Life. If our names are written in the Book of Life, we'll live in heaven forever. If our names aren't written in the Book of Life, we'll be judged and thrown into the lake of fire. Several minutes ago, we read Hebrews 9:28. It told us that Jesus died on the cross to bear the sins of many. It told us he's coming back to earth one day to accept the appeal of his followers and save them from the lake of fire. Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? If you have, Jesus saved you from the penalty of your sins. You're guilty of sin, but Jesus served your sentence on the cross.

6 If you haven't accepted Jesus as your Savior, at your appointment with death, you will appear before him without an appeal. You'll receive an eternal, death sentence in the lake of fire. It doesn't have to go down like that. You can accept him today. By faith, you must believe that Jesus died for sins and was raised from the dead. By action, you must confess that he is Lord. You can call on him today to save you from your sins. Romans 10:13 says, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." You can call on him to save you right now. Let's review. You have an appointment with death you must keep. You have an appearance after death you must make. You have an appeal before death you should accept. One last thought... it's too late, once you take your final breath. Let's pray.