In Touch Ministries

Guest (Male): If you had to make a reevaluation of your life and reprioritize the way you're living and you look at what the priorities are in your life, where is Jesus? Is it your vocation? You're consumed by it. Is it your desire for some particular pleasure? Consumed by it. Are you consumed by someone else? Consumed by reaching some plateau and recognition and goal in your business or among your friends? Where is Jesus?

Guest (Male): Do you have an eternal perspective on your life? If you've received Jesus Christ as your Savior, God has given you a new life and secured your place in heaven. Well, today's message on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, helps you cultivate that right perspective on life now by first learning about our predestined appointment. Let's listen in to Dr. Stanley's message.

Dr. Charles Stanley: The title of this series is Countdown to Judgment. The title of the message is Our Predestined Appointment. We have an appointment with Almighty God. We all have one. You say, "Well, I didn't sign up for that." You didn't have to. He signed you up. You will be there. You will be on time. There'll be no delay. Our unavoidable, predestined appointment with God cannot be changed. Now, for something to be predestined means that God prepared it beforehand, planned it, and since He is ruler over all things, it will happen. It will not be delayed under any condition.

And oftentimes what to us seems to be an accident, because God is in absolute control of all things, He knows the very single moment in which we are going to be called. And is it not true that so many people leave this life and they didn't plan on it? They didn't plan it that day. They got up and went to work, they never got there. They left work, they never came home. They were going on a trip and they never arrived. No one knows when that moment is. The issue for us is are we ready to meet the Lord who has predestined and planned our life?

And the clock is ticking down. It may tick a long time or a short time. The problem is we don't know what it is. That's why it's foolish for someone to say, "Well, after I'm about twenty-five or thirty or forty, I'll think about being a Christian." You may not live that long. It's very foolish for you to presume upon God how long you're going to live. You don't know how long that is. And so what I want us to do in this message is to just understand one thing: we each one will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and give an account for our life.

Now, I want to clarify a couple of scriptures here, and we're talking about the judgment seat of the Christian. There are two judgments. And I want you to read briefly just about one of them in a moment. But the judgment seat of Christ is where all believers are going to go for judgment. And that judgment, which we will discuss later in the message, has nothing to do with salvation. Judgment seat of Christ, salvation's not an issue. It's how we've lived our life.

The second judgment is found in Revelation chapter twenty. And what you'll find here is this: this is called the great white throne judgment. Briefly, I'll read this part. "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away. No place was found for them. I saw the dead, the great and the small standing before the throne. Books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds.

The sea gave up the dead which were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 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 in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." That's God's final review. People who've died in the past, the final review. The name's not in the book and they're lost for all eternity.

As a believer, you can forget that part because you're not going to be there. The judgment seat of Christ is what we're talking about where God judges and rewards. Watch this: it is not a judgment of condemnation. Great white throne, judgment of condemnation. The judgment seat of Christ is a judgment of rewards where we will receive God's reward for our labors. And at that judgment, there will be loss and there will be tears. And so when I think about the fact that He's predestined this appointment, here's what it means.

I'll never be able to have an excuse to change it. As we said, no doctor can keep me any longer. No prayer can keep me here any longer. And you and I have been given a length of time, a designated, predestined length of time. And you mothers, when you bring to birth a child and put that little child in your arms, the clock's already ticking. There will come a time when God will call that child home to give an account for his or her life. What I want you to see is this: do you realize how serious it is to be a Christian?

Now listen, we're joyful, happy Christians, but we're also serious. What makes it serious is this: that every single one of us will one day stand before the Lord and give an account for our life. That's serious business. We're all accountable. And what I'm saying to you is simply this: what you and I do in any given day, what we say, motives and our attitudes, all of that is a part of standing before Him, giving account for our life. And Christians ought to be the happiest people in the world because we have the most. We're the only ones who have the absolute assurance.

Even amidst our pain, difficulties and hardships, we still have it over everybody. It has nothing to do whether we deserve it or not. It's because we've been willing to submit ourselves to Jesus Christ as His children and submit ourselves to His will for our life. Now, I want you to see something here. When He talks about this judgment seat, what does He mean about that? Both of these passages talk about it. Well, He uses a word here in the Greek, it's Bema. And the Bema seat was where the judge would sit and make announcements or make decisions of proving people guilty or not guilty or whatever might be going on.

Plus the fact that sometimes that's where the judges would be in order to give the laurel wreath for the people who won in the Olympic games and so forth. And if you go to Corinth today, there is a Bema seat, a partial one left there, and you can see sort of what it was like. Well, here's what He's saying. The Lord Jesus Christ will be our judge. He will sit upon His throne in the heavens. And each one of us will give an account. Now somebody says, "Well, wait a minute. How are all those millions and millions and millions and millions of people who've lived, how are they going to give account individually?"

God is absolutely infinite. Let me ask you a question. When you pray at your house, don't you talk to Him? When He speaks, does He oftentimes speak to you? Is that a problem with Him? No. Because let's say, for example, everybody in Atlanta's praying at the same time you are. Does that confuse God? No. It's so crystal clear. God would never put it in the Bible if He did not mean what He was going to say. And one of the reasons He says each one of us shall give an account is because in the judgment, He's going to treat each one of us absolutely fairly.

Which brings us a whole subject that we'll talk about later, and that is this whole issue of the degrees of rewards and the degrees of our knowledge and understanding and how we're made accountable. And some people know more than other people and how will God distinguish all that? He's going to judge each one of us accordingly, judge us according to our deeds. And so this is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who will be our judge.

And think about this. Think about living your life and saying, "I don't want anything to do with that God business. Don't give me that Jesus stuff." Or people who say, "Now, I believe in God but I don't believe in Jesus. I believe in God but don't tell me about Jesus because I just... He was a good man and a good teacher, but I don't believe in Him." One day you will stand before Him and one day you will believe in Him because here's what the scripture says: that one day every knee, every single knee will bow and every tongue confess, "Yes, you are Jesus the Lord." And we're going to give an account to Him.

Somebody says, "Well, that being the case, I've just been saved maybe... let's say you've been saved about three years and so the first fifty-seven years of your life you just wasted it." You say, "Well, is He going to take that into account?" Yes. Somebody says, "Well look, I know how to be saved but I'm not interested in getting saved. When I get on my deathbed, I may give my life to Jesus." You may never reach a deathbed number one. And second, if that's your attitude, I doubt that'll be what you do.

The only thing I want you to remember when you walk out of here is this: when you were born, the clock started ticking. And your day of judgment is getting a second closer every time it clicks. Now, that being the case, whatever your life has been, what should you do at this point in your life? Well number one, first of all, if you have never received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, the most important thing for you to do is to ask Him to forgive you of your sin based on what He did at Calvary by shedding His blood, paying your sin debt in full, receiving Him as your personal Savior, yielding your life to Him. First thing. Most important thing. Or otherwise, you'll be separated from Him eternally.

The second thing is to reevaluate your lifestyle. What kind of life are you living? Now, this is what... I trust people to do what I know they have to do. Nobody can tell you how you ought to live. I can simply lay out the principles, but you have to decide it. Only you know what kind of lifestyle you're living. You can be living a lifestyle of godliness and righteousness and holiness, a lifestyle of love and peace and happiness and helping others and being faithful to God. Or you could be living a lifestyle that on the surface looks good, but beneath the surface is rotten to the core.

You can be living a lifestyle of pure hypocrisy or you can be living a lifestyle of genuine loving caring. Nobody knows that but God. But this is a good time to stop and ask yourself the question, "Lord," and remember there are no secrets to Him. He says the darkness and the light are the same with Him. If you had to give an account today, could you say, "Lord, I think I'm ready"? If the Lord said to you, "I want you to give an account of your life today," would you say, "Well God, just give me a little time to straighten up some things. I need to straighten up some things"?

There's not going to be any straightening up. And listen, at the judgment seat of Christ, there'll be no discussion. I hear these people say, "Well, let me tell you something right now. When I get to heaven, here's what I'm going to say." No, you're not going to be saying anything. "Well, here's what I'm going to tell Jesus." No, there'll be no discussion. There will be no defense. There will be no excuses. There'll be no second chances. We are the ones who are standing before the judge to give an account. God does not have to give an account to us. We give an account to Him.

It's a good time to stop and ask yourself the question, "What kind of life am I living? What's at the center of my life? What do I think about the most? Where, in genuine reality and honesty, where is Jesus in my life? Is He on the shelf six days a week or is He at the heart and core of everything I do? Is He in the midst of my conversations, my motives, my conduct, my thoughts? Where is He?" The third thing you might consider doing is having done that, you might reconsider your priorities in life. Where are they? Is your priority your pleasure or is your priority pleasing the Lord?

Because when Paul wrote this, he said, "Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him." Is that a priority in your life? You can hear something like this and say, "Well, but let me... I just need to tell you something." There are no excuses. In other words, I either have Him at the heart of my life and be obedient to Him or I don't. And we can give a lot of excuses. But the truth is when you get on your knees at night, if that's what you do and you should, and talk to the Father, it's you and Him. You can be absolutely honest.

One thing about God is He's always fair and just, willing to listen. If you had to make a reevaluation of your life and reprioritize the way you're living and you look at what the priorities are in your life, where is Jesus? Is it your vocation? You're consumed by it. Is it your desire for some particular pleasure? Consumed by it. Are you consumed by someone else? Consumed by reaching some plateau and recognition and goal in your business or among your friends? Where is Jesus? Because the clock's ticking and we're going to give an account.

And it may be that today you need to make... listen to this. You need to make... watch this carefully. You need to make a decision to begin your days, starting tomorrow morning, to begin your days with surrendering your life to Jesus Christ. I'm not talking about getting saved, you're already saved. Surrendering your life to Jesus Christ and saying to Him today, "Lord, here's my life. I want you to live your life through me today. Wherever you send me, whatever you'd have me to do, whatever you'd have me to say. My life is yours. I want you at the heart of my life all day long. I want to live this day for you on my job, in my family, my friends."

But most of all, Lord, I want you uppermost in my thinking so that because you're uppermost in my thinking, you'll help me determine what I say and how I say it, what my motives are and how I think and how I behave and how I respond. Here's what will happen. Your life's going to change. Because when you surrender your life to Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and Master, here's what He's going to do. He's going to begin to release Himself in you and through you so that your life is going to begin to impact the lives of other people.

You're going to be happier without seeking happiness. You're going to have more peace without seeking peace. You're going to have more joy without thinking about it. You're going to have a greater sense of satisfaction without trying to figure out something. You're going to have a greater sense of accomplishment and achievement. And you're going to be happier with yourself because you are living a life pleasing to Him. And I want to encourage you before you go to bed every night to get your Bible out. You just may read a few verses or whatever it might be. But listen, what you're doing, what you're saying before you go to bed, "Lord, I want you uppermost in my thinking as I go to sleep. And Lord, you can work in my heart and in my life and in my subconscious mind all day long and all night long. I want you working in my life."

It just might be when you wake up in the morning, be a good idea to read another little passage. And what it's doing, it's programming you to think the way He thinks. Then you act the way He would act. Now listen, nobody else can take your place and nobody else can do this for you. You and I must choose how we're going to live. And we're going to give an account for how we live with the information we had, the knowledge we had and what we did with it because we are accountable. I just want us to remember one thing primarily: the clock's ticking. It's ticking down to that moment in time when we meet at an appointment which is unavoidable, inescapable, no way to miss it, to give an account for our life.

And I pray to God if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you would ask Him to forgive you of your sin, surrender your life to Him. And if you are a believer, that you take a good look at yourself and your life and maybe your family and be absolutely honest. Where is Jesus Christ, the Son of God my Savior, in my life and in my lifestyle? And it may be that you need to make some adjustments. And the only adjustment that really matters is He becomes number one above everything else.

Father, how grateful we are that you are a God of grace, very forgiving, very loving, very kind, very gentle. But also a God that calls for accountability because you know that accountability is very wise for us. I pray the Holy Spirit will sink this message deep into every single hearer, even to the point when they look at their watch or they look at the clock at night or in the morning when they get up, to recognize afresh and anew the clock's ticking and my responsibility is to be a faithful servant of the living God, doing whatever you call me to do this day. And Lord, that's my prayer for all of us in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us on In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley. Are you ready for the judgment? The first and most critical step is to place your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior. Humbly trust in Him to forgive your debt of sin today. To learn more about who Christ is and what He did for you, visit us at intouch.org or go back through what you just heard today by following the link to Today on Radio. You can also order a copy of today's complete message online at the bookstore. The title is "Our Predestined Appointment" or order Dr. Stanley's "Countdown to Judgment" teaching set. Again, log on to intouch.org or call or text us at 1-800-IN-TOUCH. To write to us, address your letter to In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357.

Guest (Male): Believers will face the judgment seat of Christ. What will that be like? Find out in today's moment with Charles Stanley coming up. In Touch Plus is streaming on local now, featuring all the best of Dr. Charles Stanley. In Touch Plus, your streaming network for quality Christian programming twenty-four-seven. Now watch this. In Touch Plus, streaming free on local now. From the pastor's heart is an in-depth teaching letter inspired by the teachings of Dr. Charles Stanley. To receive In Touch's From the Pastor's Heart letter, call 1-800-IN-TOUCH or visit intouch.org/pastorsheart.

We're not the first to seek a life of purpose. The Bible tells of many who followed a specific path step by step with courage, with surrender for a deeper purpose, a stronger passion, a lasting peace. Introducing Your Path to Purpose, Passion and Peace, a new ninety-day devotional inspired by the timeless teaching of Dr. Charles Stanley, available now at intouch.org/store. You're listening to In Touch.

Guest (Male): A final judgment isn't just for unbelievers. The Bible says that all Christians will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Now what can we expect when we stand before Him and give an account of our life? Somebody says, "Well here's what I'm going to say when I stand before Him." And I want to assure you, you're not going to say anything. You will be standing in the presence of absolute holiness, absolute righteousness, absolute purity and absolute glory. You and I are not going to say anything. But in a split second, we will see ourselves as He sees us. What we have done that was unworthy will vanish in a moment and He will reward us for those good things that we've done.

But this applies only to believers because you see, if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're not going to be in this judgment. You will be in the judgment of the great white throne where only those who are lost will be. I would just admonish you today to take a fresh look at your life and remember: life does not end when they put your body in a grave. You're going to live forever somewhere. And what you and I need to think about is what's going to happen when we stand before Him.

Will He say, "Well done, good and faithful servant"? Or will He have to say in the great white throne judgment, "Depart from me, I never knew you"? Living the Christian life is serious business. Reverencing God is serious business. It is time for us to surrender ourselves to Him and to serve Him with our whole life. And in so doing, one day we'll stand before Him and hear those awesome words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Guest (Male): If you don't think you're ready to face God's final judgment, you can receive His forgiveness today by trusting in His Son, Jesus Christ, as your Savior from sin's penalty. Visit us at intouch.org and you can learn more. How are you challenged to live for God today? We'd love to hear about it. Tomorrow on In Touch, each of us will one day give an account for our lives to God and next time Dr. Stanley provides us with a comprehensive overview of who our judge will be. That's Wednesday on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley.

This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.