Sermon Transcription:
Lord we bless you today Lord. Father, I thank you for your heart, that you have given me today, Lord God. I ask you, Lord God, to go before me. Lord, I ask you, Lord God, to deliver your word into the heart, God, that you have tested and counted to seek the truth. Lord, I pray, Lord God, that you make a way where there is no way. Lord God, I pray, Lord God, that you deliver people. That you deliver people, Lord God, from everything that is deceiving, every single thing, Lord God, that is confusing, every single thing, Lord God, that is blinding. Lord God, every single thing that is causing lukewarmness in the heart that is going unnoticed until today.
Lord God, I pray, God, that every person that believes they are a Christian, Lord God, but you're seeking to save their life today. Lord God, I pray, Lord God, that your Spirit may be allowed, Lord God, to penetrate the heart, to speak unto the mind, Lord God, and to revive, Lord God, what was once there—to open eyes one more time, Lord God. Lord, I pray that you have your way. I pray that you cover my weakness in grace, Lord God, and that your word may come forth and may come into the hearts that you send it out to bear fruit in. Lord, in Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
It was years ago that I was in this city. I was visiting, and I was at a mall. My wife may know which one it was; I don’t remember which one it was. But I remember approaching the mall, and I was about to walk into it, maybe 20-30 feet away from the door. All of a sudden, the Lord told me something, as clear as you hear me speak right now. He said, "Stan, I’m coming soon, and my people are not ready." I broke down right there on the street, just weeping and weeping because the Lord was beginning to give me His heart. I didn’t know He was giving me His heart for this city. I wasn’t living in this city; I was just visiting. But something began to stir in my heart that day that allowed my eyes to open more and more to the reality of how many people go to church year after year, claim Christianity year after year, and they’re not ready to meet their Maker face-to-face.
So, today’s title is: Are You Ready? Are you ready? If this word is for you, God is seeking to save your life. I don’t care how long you’ve been in church; this may be the most important message I’ve ever preached. If it is for you, you need to hear it with all of your heart. Put your pride aside, no matter how long you claim to have followed the Lord, no matter how long you’ve been in church, no matter what you’ve done for the Lord, no matter the service or the mission trips that you may have done. Put it all aside and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart. If there’s anything here today for you—are you ready? Let’s pray. Lord God, I ask you, God, that no one that you call today to receive this word would harden their heart. I pray, Lord God, that no one would leave this place being a halfhearted or a half-dedicated follower of Christ. Father, I pray that every person may leave here—and online as well—Lord God, a surrendered, dedicated, and sold-out vessel for Christ crucified. The world in this service, Lord God, left it all behind to have nothing left but you, Lord Jesus. Lord, I pray that you show us to our heart if this is a service for us of rejoicing because the Spirit is showing us that we are ready, or if this is a service where the Spirit is seeking to move us into safety, that we may be ready at the return of the Lord or when we come home to Him. Lord, only you can show people what you have shown me in my heart. I'm solely dependent on you now. Lord, have your way. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
I thank the Lord for the time of worship that we had. Now, I want to share this word with you: Are you ready? Are you ready? All throughout this word, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, you see a principle that comes back everywhere. Old, new, Spirit-filled, or still awaiting the coming of the Lord—there was something always present in the children of God. They looked forward to the end of their stay on Earth. They were never living on Earth for their today. You see it again in the Old Testament. You see it in the New Testament. Any time that people became the people of God, they now belonged to Him. You see a shift happen—people looking forward to the end of their stay on this Earth. They have an understanding that they belong to God and to the place where God dwells. They belong to the new Earth that He is going to make. They belong to possibly a time in Heaven if we pass away or if He brings us home before He makes the new Earth. But in every case, we see a longing.
They didn’t always understand it. They couldn’t always properly explain it. They explained it the best they knew how. Often, we saw it in their actions. But in every case, we see it back in the life of every person that was part of the people of God—a looking forward because they can see the end of their stay on Earth. Today, in the Church of Jesus Christ, so often, I wonder how many people can still see the end of their stay. How many people see that they are alive for eternity, not for this Earth? How many people can see that they will stand before God very, very soon? I can tell they are seeing because of the way they live. How many people are able to still see? We see it in the life of Paul. Paul said, "For me to go and be with the Lord is far better, but for you, it's better if I stay a little longer on this Earth." He could see the end of his stay, and he longed for it. But because he knew that God placed the Holy Spirit inside of him, he said, "It’s better for me to just wait a little longer. I’ll stay on Earth a little longer because it’s going to be for your benefit."
God placed giftings in Paul’s life. God still had a call ahead of him that was going to benefit the churches. So, we see in Paul’s life, he could see the end of his stay. He speaks about it. He feels it. He longs for it. Then he makes the equation and says, "Well, it is coming for me, and so it is a price to pay, but I will gladly pay the price to be a little longer here on Earth because that is going to be good for you, for the kingdom of God, for the people of God. But for me, it would be far better to go home to where I belong and be with my Lord." Hebrews 11 tells us of sojourners. It calls the people of God—even far before the New Testament time where Jesus had actually appeared—sojourners, the people that were waiting for God to fulfill His promises.
These were people that were on a journey. No matter where they went on this Earth, they never claimed to find their place. They never claimed to come home. They were those who had believed in God and became strangers on this Earth, no longer belonging here.
The Word tells us they were longing for a heavenly homeland. They could see the end of their stay here on Earth, and, as it were in the Spirit, in their heart, they could look beyond the end of their stay. They were longing for the home that is truly theirs, looking ahead. Their spiritual eyes, if you will, were open, and they could see that there was something far greater they were called to beyond this time on Earth. So their actions, the way they lived their lives—their entire lives—were based on the fact that they were leaving soon and were going to stand before God. That’s how they lived. So, the question today is: Are you ready? Are you able to see, or is this kind of thing only on your mind when someone else brings it up? Are your eyes closed to seeing every day the end of your stay, understanding that you’re here for such a short time and you’re living for eternity?
The investments you make, the way you spend your time, have to do with eternity. The way you spend your resources has to do with eternity because you can see the heavenly homeland that is waiting for you, and you no longer feel at home in this world. You have been made a part of a different kind of people. Let me read to you 1 Peter, chapter 1, starting in verse 23:
"Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, becauseall flesh is as grass,and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.The grass withers,and its flower falls away,but the word of the Lord endures forever." Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you: to be born again.
Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible. To be born again. Corruptible means it dies; it is in decay. Incorruptible literally means imperishable—it cannot perish. It’s impossible to go bad, it’s impossible to die, it’s impossible to perish in any way.
How does that happen? How does someone become born again so that the word has entered into them, and the everlasting word causes that person to become imperishable, unable to perish? How?
The word tells us: Through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. I’ll read it to you again: "Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever." So, what is the man or the woman like? What is the man like who is formed by the word of God, who is shaped by the word of God? The word of God has entered into their heart, into their life, and now it is the foundation of their heart. It has filled their heart, it is changing them. What does that man or that woman look like? Let’s hear from Jesus, who is called the Word. Let’s see what He has to say about it. In Luke, chapter 6, starting at verse 46, Jesus is speaking: "But why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to me, and hears my sayings—my word—and does them, I will show you whom he is like. He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great."
The man or the woman who builds their entire life on the word—on what God has said, on what God has for you, on what God has asked you to lay your life down for, whatever He has spoken and made known to you as His will for your life—the man or the woman who builds their life on the word, a doer of the word, the person that trusts the word, that person will be unshakable. That’s what Jesus is saying. That person cannot be shaken. No matter the storm that hits their life, no matter the uncertainty that comes into their life, it won’t shake them. It won’t cause a lack of peace, it won’t cause anxiety, it won’t cause fear. No matter the calamity, no matter if death comes, that person cannot be shaken. That house will stand. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently, and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great. When we hear the word but do not let the word take the throne of our heart—the word of God, what God has to say to me about my forgiveness, about following Him, about surrendering to Him, about trusting Him, about how to spend my life—when the word of God does not become the building block that I build my life on, this is what begins to happen, church: The enemy will be able to come after your peace. God gives supernatural peace to His people. That means even though your situation is not nice, even though your mind is racing, even though things are going on in your life, He gives supernatural peace.
It makes no sense, but you have perfect peace. You can never worry in your head; you can never grow anxious; you can never grow fearful because supernatural peace is commanded by God upon your life. When you are a man or a woman that is not building their life on what Jesus has said, that is not true for you. You can have peaceful moments—the absence of conflict or the absence of fear—but when the storm comes or when the stream begins to beat on whatever is made up out of your life, the enemy is allowed to come. You're shaken. The peace is robbed. The peace in your marriage is under attack. The peace at work is under attack. The peace with your identity is under attack. The peace to raise kids in a generation like this, in a time like this, is robbed. The enemy is allowed to take it. You will be shaken when the storms come. You will be shaken when death begins to knock on your door. And all of a sudden, now you're thinking about death. Now you're realizing, "What’s going to happen when I breathe my last? What is going to happen when I stand before the King of Kings?" Peace is all of a sudden not there. Fear begins to creep in. Wondering begins to creep in. Uncertainty begins to make its way into your heart. In John 12:46–48, Jesus speaks again to us:"I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me and does not receive My words has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day."
Church, are you ready to be judged by the word of God? Are you ready to stand before the King of Kings? God, divinely, is able to lay out every single promise, every single verse in front of you, and He’s going to judge you by that word. He’s going to judge you according to what He has taught you, what He made available to you. Every promise that you ever heard about was for you. He’s going to judge you according to whether or not you built your life on that promise and the call to lay down your life for the salvation of many, to seek and save the lost. He’s going to not judge you by anything else but His word. Are you ready to stand before the Lamb of God today?"The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day."
Let’s look at what that word entails. Romans 13:11–14:"And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts." This is what the word tells you: Do this.
Remember, do the word. Jesus says, "I’ll tell you what the man is like who hears My words and does them." Right here, the word tells you: Do this. Awake out of sleep. That’s what the word says: Do this. Awake out of sleep.
Now, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. In other words, our stay on Earth is ending a lot sooner now than when we first began to hear about Jesus and we first began to believe in Him, just a little bit, or gave Him our hearts. Your life is so much shorter now than when you first believed. And the word says: Do this. Awake out of sleep. In other words, open your eyes again. Take a good look again. Begin to live, seeing that your stay is ending. Wake up, is what the word is saying. Wake up. Your time is slipping away. Are you ready to face the king, or have you grown distracted and blind? Are you building stuff here on Earth that will all wash away on that day that the Lord knocks on your door, or that death knocks on your door? Is it not built on the foundation?
Here's another thing that the word has spoken—really, another building block for an unshakable life. God desires for you to have an unshakable life, for you to not be shaken by death, for you not to be shaken by any storm in life. That is His desire. This is another building block. I use it for my life—no matter what comes my way, no matter what comes your way. This is a building block that allows you to stand, no matter what comes. Jesus, speaking in Revelation 22:6 and 7: "Then he said to me, 'These words are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the Holy prophets sent his angel to show his servants the things which must shortly take place. Behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.'" In other words, wake up. Behold, I am coming quickly. The Word tells us that the servants of the Lord will receive this word, that God will send His angel, that God will make known this word to the servants of the Lord—that there are things that must take place shortly, that Jesus is coming. He Himself says, "Behold." In other words, look up! Behold, look at this. Wake up. Open your eyes. Awake from sleep. Behold, I am coming quickly. Behold, I am coming quickly.
He's coming soon. He gave you His word that He's coming soon, as if He's saying, "I'm giving you My word. I'm coming soon. I'm coming to bring you home." Are you building your life on those words? Are you living by those words? Because you're going to be judged by these words. He told you He'd be coming soon. Did you behave like it? Did you believe Him? Did you trust Him? Did you build on these words, or were you building something else? Romans 14:12 tells us: "So then, each of us shall give account of himself to God." In other words, every single one of us will stand before the Lord. But this is what John tells us. This is the John that laid on the chest of Jesus. This is the John that walked with Jesus personally for three years, knew Him personally. This is the John that Jesus said to behold, "Son, see your mother." He—this is John who took care of Mary after Jesus died on the cross and rose again. This John gets to see Christ in His glory. This is what he says in Revelation 1:17: "And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead."
This is the John that knew Him. This is the John that has been closer to Him than you and I could ever possibly imagine. When he saw Him, he fell at His feet as dead. What do you imagine it will be like for you and I when we first see God in His glory, when we first see Christ in all of His majesty, glorified by the Father, the King of Kings, the highest name given under Heaven, by whom all men must be saved? Are you ready for this? Are you ready if tonight the Lord brings you home, and you will stand before Him? Are you prepared to stand before the Lamb? You will give an account as if the Lord says to you, "Explain yourself. I've given you all of this. I've met you time and time again. I drew at your heart so many times when others were speaking the word, and when you were in a service, I touched your heart to let you know this is the time you need to respond to My word. I'm trying to prepare you. I'm trying to get you ready. I'm trying to make sure that My children have crowns for eternity."
I don't care if you have that much on Earth. The Lord doesn't care if you have that much on Earth. He's seeking to make sure that you have an eternity that is glorifying Christ. He's seeking to get you ready. But you will give an account. I won't be there to help you. You can't ask me about your doctrine or your theology. You can't tell the Lord, "But I had membership. I even got baptized. How many, Lord? How many times did I take communion?" It matters nothing, because you'll be judged by the word, not by what you did. You'll be judged by God's word—what He spoke to you. He gave you His word: "I'm coming soon." What did you do with the time that you had? Did you enter into the word? Did you allow the word to enter into your heart and make every change that the word desires to make? Did you let the word make you imperishable? Did you allow the word to cause you to painfully but surely become born again—taken out of a complete life and brought into a completely new life? Did your heart and did you become a doer of the word, or was it just knowledge? You know a lot of things about God. You know a lot of things about His word, and you respect it, but you're not doing it.
In other words, now everything that you do is based on what the Lord told you. Now you're a doer of the word. Church, you're not going to be judged according to what church you were a part of, what denomination you supported, whatever your parents taught you or raised you in. You're not going to be judged according to your circumstances. God has no respect for your circumstances. You're going to be judged by His word. Your baptism won't help, giving to the church won't help, taking membership won't help. The only thing that matters is, have you given Him all of your life? 'Cause He told you, He gave you His word: unless you lay down your life, you will lose it. Are you ready? But he who heard and did nothing, the ruin of that house was great. But he who heard, wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also, but did nothing. But he who heard, go and make disciples of all nations and did nothing. But he who heard, pray without ceasing, whatever you ask of me, this I will do for you, yet he did nothing. But he heard, cast your anxieties on me because I care for you, yet he did nothing. He that heard, go in the highways and the byways and compel them to come into the marriage feast of the Lamb, yet he did nothing. The ruin of that house will be great when unexpectedly death comes to knock on your door. When unexpectedly, for you, the heavens open and Christ comes to bring home His bride and says, "Explain yourself. I gave you Myself on the cross. I gave you Myself. I promised you My spirit. I gave you Myself. I had all My word written down and gave it to you. I gave you servants that sought to remind you. Explain yourself. What have you done after I told you, I'm coming for you soon? "
Church, you cannot be born again without letting the word of God come inside of you and make whatever change it's desiring to make. Church, you cannot be born again without letting the word of God take the throne of your heart. But those that do will be ready. Those that let the word get into the heart and remove those things that so hurt but are seeking to save you and prepare you and get you ready. Those that say, I'm going to let the word do what it was sent for. They will be ready when the last trumpet sounds. They will be ready when maybe unexpectedly you pass away and come to meet your Maker. You will be ready if you have given away the throne of your heart time and again, with all of your life laid down for His purposes, laid down to see His will be done.
Let me read to you again 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 23 to 25:"Having been born again, not of corruptible but incorruptible seed, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass; the grass withers and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you." Here's what Jesus tells us in John 12 about one of the reasons why the Father sent Him, what the Father sent Him to tell us. This is what He says: His command is everlasting life. That’s what Jesus told us—the Father’s command is everlasting life. The Father commands everlasting life through Christ, the Word, upon every life that is willing to be conquered by Him, to let every wall down, and to let Him take whatever He’s seeking to take. Let Him take the throne and declare victory over you—conquered, no more in control of my own life, no more authority over my future decisions, no more my will, Your will be done, conquered by the King of Kings.
The Father commands everlasting life, and in that place, death will not be able to take hold. Nothing will be able to shake you. No storm will throw you off. You will be imperishable because of the blood of the Lamb. That is what God seeks to do. That is what He seeks to do—to make you ready for whatever comes your way. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you give yourself to the word of the Lord completely, if you trust Him fully, if you place everything of your life before Him—your dreams, every aspect of your life, the way that you raise kids, the place where you desire to live, every way that you speak, everything that you do—place it all before Him and let Him burn it all up. Let Him take it all away, that you may have nothing but Christ, that you may have nothing but what God sent from heaven to invade your life, to save you, to prepare you, to set you free, to make you a divine vessel for Kingdom work in an earthly world that will never understand you, that you will never be at home in again. But you will be used to thwart the enemy's plans. You will be used to sow seed that will begin to produce divine life into people, that they may also be rescued and saved out of their journey toward hell—saved in the Lamb, made imperishable by the word that was shown through you into their life.
If you trust Him fully, if you entrust yourself to Him fully, He will give you eternal life. You will never perish. You will never be done away with. Church, the word of the Lord will endure forever. I need you to see this: the word is seeking to come alive inside of you so that even though this fleshly body may pass away, you cannot perish. How does He do it? He does it through the word, incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. But the Holy Spirit is asking you to give yourself completely. He’s seeking to save your life. He’s seeking to get you ready. He seeks for you to be born imperishable, to become born again. Nothing can be shaken. Nothing throws you off. Nothing can touch your peace, because it was divinely commanded upon your life. Nothing worries you, not even death, because God commanded eternal life upon your vessel. The Spirit wants to get you ready. If you would stand with me for a moment, the Holy Spirit wants to make you born again. The Holy Spirit wants to help you see again the ending of your stay, so that you may live for eternity, so that you may find the wisdom and the strength to obey God at His word, to trust Him, to follow Him, to give the throne of your heart for the first time or once again away. The Spirit wants to get you ready.
If you are willing, would you please join me at this altar if you are willing? Hallelujah.
As we just focus our hearts and our thoughts towards the King of Kings, whose eyes are like a flame of fire, His blood cleanses sinners, but His wrath will burn up sinners that have not partaken of the blood. As we come before the Lord, let's surrender our lives wholeheartedly, every aspect of it. You may get nothing back, you may get way more back than you expected, but you will not know what you will receive back from Him until you have fully trusted Him and given Him all things—every plan, every desire for the future. But when you give Him all things, you will be made ready by the Holy Spirit. You will be unshakable, imperishable. You will have peace always, and the word of God inside of you will be life and produce life through you in other people's lives. Let's surrender our lives to the King of Kings. Let's commit one more time, as the church, to fearing God, to fear Him, to tremble as the word tells us to do, to tremble at His word. We're going to be judged by every word, and only the Spirit of the living God, by the power of the blood, is able to prepare people like you and I for that judgment. Only divinely can He do that. By the power of the blood of the Lamb, it will bring so much glory to the Lamb. His majesty will reign forever and ever. His glory will never fade. No one will hear of the enemy again; his name will not be mentioned. But the name of the Lord will forever be a beacon.
-Pastor Stan Mons