Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment;
4 sermons cite this verse
… But then everyone must die once and then they are judged. Hebrews 9.27. No post-grave mulligans. This was not an evangelistic sermon. So what was it? What do you think? well a more complete answer would be this this is a victory sermon a proclamation sermon i can envision this happening i've been accused of having an overly fertile imagination but i can see this happening i can envision satan and hell's inhabitants hearing a voice at hell's gate. They look up and it's Jesus. Jesus requests entrance. The devil sees him. He has no cause for concern. He just killed Christ on the cross. He's not afraid of Christ. Satan approaches the gate. He sees a subdued Jesus, even in his spirit form, still bearing the marks of a violent death. And Satan smirks. Glad to welcome this defeated foe into his caverns. But Christ rises up, suddenly shining and bright. So bright that the devil has to shield his eyes against the light. And he stumbles and he falls back. …
This, however, is not a mere matter of inference, for the teaching of Divine Revelation agrees with it and confirms it. The wicked man who was in great power here, in due course, dies—and he wakes up in the next world to find himself only a feeble worm exposed to all the fury of Divine Wrath! He had servants and slaves on earth to do his bidding, but there are none to crouch at his feet now! He was held in honor in this world but there are no praises or flatteries for him now. His wealth could at one time buy for him anything that his heart might wish, but he had to leave it all behind him—and even if he still possessed it, he could not purchase even a drop of water to cool his parched tongue. Nothing remains for him, now, but shame and everlasting contempt in that terrible prison where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched. Throughout all Heaven and Hell there is nothing that can afford him even a moment's solace—he has made an awful and an eternal failure of his whole life—and his dolorous cry is, "Lost! Lost! LOST!" But, just in passing, though my text speaks especially of the wicked who are in great power, I must remind you that their doom will be the doom of all who believe not in the Lord Jesus Christ—whether they are in the higher or lower walks of life! So, dear Friends, whoever and whatever you are, if you live only for this life, you, too, will pass away and be forgotten here—but you will not be forgotten in the next world! Remember that "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Make the only fitting preparation for that judgment by repenting of sin and trusting in Him who died, "the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God." O Man, play not with shadows! Let not that which is the only real and substantial thing pass by you unheeded! If you must have something to play with, let it not be your immortal soul, for though you can play your soul into Hell, you can never play it out! Nor pray it out! Nor weep it out, nor workit out! Once there, it is there forever! Do you ask, "What is there that is real and substantial? What is there that will abide when all earthly glory has passed away?" Listen. "All flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower thereof falls away: but the Word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." So, my dear Hearer, believe that Gospel, lay hold on the hope set before you, trust in that blessed Savior who died in the place of sinners, put your eternal interests into the hands of the one Mediator between God and men and then, with the Apostle Paul, you will not be afraid to look forward even to the great Day of Judgment, but you will be able to confidently say, "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He …
… We sometimes try to change the subject, but the Bible says in Hebrews 9 verse 27, it's appointed unto man once to die. That's an appointment, my dear friend, that you have. man wants to die. And the same Bible says in Romans chapter 5 and verse 12, wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men for that all have sin. The only exception to whether or not you might die is if Jesus comes first. But if Jesus does not come first, you're certainly going to die. There's a new statistic out on death, one out of one people die. Okay? One out of one. It's appointed unto man wants to die. But not only is it a stubborn fact, it's an uncertain fact. You don't know when you're going to die. You see, David said, yea, though I walk through the valley. He's walking through the valley, and he doesn't know from one moment to the next what is going to happen. The psalmist said, there is but a step between me and death. It is a stubborn fact, but it is an uncertain fact. You don't know when you're going to die. I must preach, dear friend, as a dying man would preach to dying men because I don't know, this may be the last sermon I'll ever preach. It may be the last sermon you'll ever hear. Many a time I've preached the last sermon a person has heard before that person …
II. I shall describe the wrath that attends wicked men hereafter. 1. The soul, when it is separated from the body, shall be cast down into hell. There is without doubt a particular judgment by which every man is to be tried at death, beside the general judgment: for the soul, as soon as it departs from the body, appears before God to be judged. Eccl. xii. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it:” that is, to be judged and disposed of by him. Heb. ix. 27. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” But this particular judgment is probably no such solemn transaction as that which will be at the day of judgment; the soul must appear before God, but not in the manner that men shall appear at the end of the world. The souls of wicked men shall not go to heaven to appear before God, neither shall Christ descend from heaven for the soul to appear before him; neither is it to be supposed, that the soul shall be carried to any place where there is some special symbol of the divine presence, in order to be judged. But as God is every where present, so the soul shall be made immediately sensible of his presence. Souls in a separate state shall be sensible of the presence of God and of his operations in another manner than we now are. All separate spirits may be said to be before God: the saints are in his glorious presence, and the wicked in hell are in his dreadful presence; they are said to be tormented in the presence of the Lamb. Rev. xiv. 10. “The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.” So the soul of a wicked man, at its departure from the body, will be made immediately sensible that it is before an infinitely holy and dreadful God and his own final Judge; and will then see how terrible a God he is, he will see how holy a God he is, how infinitely he hates sin; he will be sensible of the greatness of God’s anger against sin, and how dreadful is his displeasure. Then will he be sensible of the dreadful majesty and power of God, and how fearful a thing it is to fall into his hands. Then the soul shall come naked with all its guilt, and in all its filthiness, a vile, loathsome, abominable creature, an enemy to God, a rebel against him, with the guilt of all its rebellion and disregard of God’s commands, and contempt of his authority, and slight of the glorious gospel, before God as its Judge. This will fill the soul with horror and amazement. It is not to be supposed that this judgment will be attended with any voice or any such outward transactions as the judgment at the end of the world; but God shall manifest himself in his strict justice inwardly, to the immediate view of the soul, and to the sense and apprehension of the conscience. This particular judgment probably will not hinder, but that the soul shall be cast into hell immediately when it goes from the body; as soon as ever the soul departs from the body, the soul shall know what its state and condition are to be to all eternity. As long as there is life, there is hope. The man, while he lived, though his case was exceedingly dreadful, yet had some hope; when he lay dying, there was a possibility of salvation. But when once the union between soul and body is broken, then that moment the case becomes desperate, and there remains no hope, no possibility. On their death-beds, perhaps, they had some hope that God would pity them and hear their cries, or that he would hear the prayers of their pious friends for them; they were ready to lay hold on something which they had at some time met with, some religious affection or some change in their external conduct, and to flatter themselves that they were then converted; they were able to indulge some degree of hope from the moral lives that they had lived, that God would have respect to them and save them; but as soon as ever the soul parts from the body, from that moment the case will be absolutely determined, there will then be an end for ever to all hope, to every thing that men hang upon in this life; the soul then shall know certainly that it is to be miserable to all eternity, without any remedy. It shall see that God is its enemy; it shall see its Judge clothed in his wrath and vengeance. Then its misery will begin, it will that moment be swallowed up in despair; the great gulf will be fixed between it and happiness, the door of mercy will be for ever shut up, the irrevocable sentence will be passed. Then shall the wicked know what is before them. Before, the soul was in distress for fear how it would be; but now, all its fears shall come upon it; it shall come upon it as a mighty flood, and there will be no escaping. The soul was full of amazement before through fear; but now, who can conceive the amazement that fills it that moment when all hope is cut off, and it knows that there never will be any difference! …