Do you remember the movie, “The Green Mile,” starring Tom Hanks? It was a movie about inmates on death row back in the 1930’s. Have you ever imagined yourself in a similar situation, on death row awaiting your execution by the electric chair or by lethal injection? Imagine that all legal challenges to reverse your sentence have failed and the only hope you have left to avoid execution is a last minute a pardon from the governor of whatever state your prison is in. I have a vivid imagination and I’ve thought about how I would feel in that situation. But my mind didn’t stay on that topic for very long because the thought of being on death row was uncomfortable to think about. In fact, it is a downright scary subject to dwell on. Most of us shudder at the thought of being on death row and say to ourselves, “I hope I never do anything that puts me there.”
John 14:6 – (Jesus speaking) – I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.
John 3:36 – (Jesus speaking) – He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
It’s also human nature to put off thinking about our own mortality. We all know we’re going to die someday but most of us just put off thinking about it altogether. Just like we put off thinking about God and what we ought to do about him. One of the problems that we have is a lack of information that stems from us not reading God’s Word. The Bible provides all the knowledge, understanding and wisdom we’ll ever need to make informed choices about our lives. Let me be clear. Every person who has even been born on this earth comes into the world already on death row. When Adam fell from grace in the Garden of Eden for the sin of disobeying God Adam’s sin was passed on to all men who came after him. That was the spiritual law of imputation at work. That sin nature we human beings received at birth causes all of us to continue to sin on earth all our lives There are no exceptions.
Romans 3:20 – Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Ephesians 2:1-2 – And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sin, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
God cannot abide sin and he won’t allow sin in heaven. Even thought God made man to fellowship with him in heaven our sin separated us from God. One of the spiritual laws of heaven is the wages of sin is death. Since we’re all born in sin our sentence is death. I’m not talking only about our physical death (the first death) which we all have to face. I’m also referring to our spiritual death sentence (the second death) in the lake of fire for eternity which we’ve all earned by our sins. God knew we couldn’t remove our sins and save ourselves so he sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place. Jesus came to redeem us so our sins could be forgiven. God is better than any governor could be because only God can issue us a pardon that’ll get us off spiritual death row. Only God can pardon or forgive our sins, which will restore the broken fellowship between God and man and allow us to go to heaven to be with the Lord forever. Our deliverance by God can only come through our belief in Jesus Christ and our acceptance of Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Luke 19:10 – (Jesus speaking) – For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
1 John 5:12 – He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
You either have everlasting life within you or the wrath of God upon you. Those are your only two choices. Another spiritual law of the kingdom of God is that you must accept God’s mercy and grace unto eternal life before you physically die. The wrath of God hangs over all the unsaved like the sword of Damocles. Imagine you’re facing the guillotine and your neck is already in the notch waiting for the blade to fall and end your life. Only the thread of a human heartbeat keeps the blade from falling on the neck of all unbelievers. The moment believers are saved unto eternal life God removes their neck from the notch of the guillotine leading to spiritual death. By our faith in Jesus God has forgiven our sins.
Hebrews 9:27 – And it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.
God has given us his Word, the Holy Bible, so we can become aware of the spiritual blade that is suspended over our heads and so that we can remove ourselves from the danger. God exhorts us all throughout the Bible to study his Word for knowledge, understanding and wisdom so we’re aware of the danger of spiritual death we all face. You cannot act appropriately in this world until you know what to do and the Bible tells us everything we need to know. The Bible is key to understanding what we’re supposed to do in this world so it’s critical we read it. God made us and he has a reason for everything he does. God is allowing our time here on earth as our grace period, our “testing time”, for us to decide whether we will serve God or Satan and the Bible is our guide to the truth of God.
John 1:4 – In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God’s grace automatically extends to all children from conception up to the age of decision, which is normally around twelve years old. It varies depending on the individual. God is both merciful and just. When a person is old enough to make a decision about God he must accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to be saved unto eternal life. To reject Jesus or to make no decision means we don’t get our pardon from God and we remain on spiritual death row. On the last day when Jesus judges the unsaved the death sentence will be carried out. Unbelievers will be tossed into the lake of fire for eternity.
Here’s the picture I want you to hold in your head. Imagine you’re bobbing up and down in the lake of fire and brimstone like a cork. You’re screaming your head off because you’re in constant pain and agony 24 hours a day of every day for all of eternity. Remember that a hundred billion years is only a blink of the eyes in eternity. No matter how uncomfortable it may be to think about our impending death, thinking about the alternative of going to hell is downright terrifying to contemplate but we must do it. Our eternal soul depends on it. We must avoid the fate of eternal damnation at all costs. We must take action now and make the right decision before it’s too late. We’re only a heartbeat away from either heaven or hell so please repeat the sinner’s prayer to God right now and ensure your eternal destination is heaven and not the lake of fire.