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Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards may very well be the scariest sermon ever preached in America. “There is nothing,” Edwards argued, “that keeps wicked Men, at any one Moment, out of Hell, but the mere Pleasure of GOD.” If that doesn’t scare the hell out of you, nothing will.

I mention Edwards because we don’t often hear sermons about hell anymore, or heaven for that matter. Perhaps in reaction to older preachers who talked about the hereafter too much, contemporary preachers instead focus on the here and now. And they’re right to do so. After all, that’s what the Bible itself does. It’s a misreading of the Bible to become so heavenly minded that we’re of no earthly good.

And yet, open the Bible to just about any page, and you’ll a reference to the final judgment. Consider, for example, Romans 14.9-12:

For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written: 

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.’”

So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Paul brings together four issues here: First, the intention of God to judge the world, which Paul proves by quoting Isaiah 45.23. At the final judgment, “every knee” will bow to God in recognition of his right to judge us, and “every tongue” will offer an explanation of its life.

Second, Paul talks about the role of Christ in the final judgment. Christ died and rose again to offer salvation to all humanity. All who respond to him in faith will be given salvation as a gift. All who continue to resist him with sin will be given judgment as repayment. “The wages of sin is death,” Paul writes in Romans 6.23, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In eternity, as C. S. Lewis pointed out, there are only two kinds of people. Those who say to God, “Thy will be done.” And those to whom God says, “Thy will be done.”

That’s the third point: the necessity of decision. Knowing that “we will all stand before God's judgment seat” and “give an account of [ourselves] to God,” what decision have we made about Jesus Christ: To submit to his will or persist in our own?

And that brings us to the final point: the impropriety of judging one another. “You, then, why do you judge your brother?” Paul asks. “Or why do you look down on your brother?” God is the Judge, not you or me. So, let’s leave eternity in his hands and concentrate on getting more people into heaven (and more heaven into people) right here and now.