Remember the Future
June 15, 2025
I am not much of a movie watcher. I probably only go to one or two movies a year at the theater and that is almost always at the request of someone else. Neither do I watch much at home. People have told me that I am fussy about movies and that is true. I am not that easy to please when it comes to movies.
Two months ago Genevieve and I watched the Back to the Future trilogy. Even though those movies are quite old we thoroughly enjoyed them. I had not seen them in so long I had forgotten most of them. Both travelling into the past and into the future are intriguing.
In real life it is possible to travel into the future (because of time dilation due to either extremely high velocities or though gravitational time dilation). But it is impossible to travel into the past. So, if you did travel into the future, you could never return to your original time era.
We know much of what has happened in the past because people have written it down. But no one has been to the future so we know very little about it.
I am entitling this sermon, Remember the Future. Does that title even make sense? If no one can travel into the future and return then how can we remember it? Marty and Doc Brown came back from the Future and remembered what they saw. Their knowledge of the future helped them make decisions that would forego the very bad future that they saw. But that was just a movie. No one is going to remember the future in that way.
We can remember the future in this sense: although no one has gone into the future and returned, yet the Lord Jesus has revealed the things that will happen in the future. Since he has revealed them, we can remember them.
Knowing the future will not help us change the past, as in those movies. But remembering the future can help us change the present. Let me say that again: remembering the future can help you change the present.
This idea is so important that I am going to say it a third time.
Remembering the future can help you change the present.
You can change your life by remembering the future.
Everyone has a future. Even if you will die ten minutes from now, you have ten minutes of future. But today I wish to talk, not about the future of this age, but your future after this age. That is, the future that awaits after a person dies.
The first thing that everyone must know is that once you die your future is sealed. There are no second chances. The Scriptures say this:
We die only once, and then we are judged. (Heb. 9:27; CEV)
We die only once. There is no such thing as reincarnation. After death we are judged by God. Contrary to popular notions, judgment will not be based on good things done versus bad things done. This is the common understanding of judgment and it is as wrong as wrong can be.
The reason that this notion is so wrong is that it fails to take into account the seriousness of sin. Sin is more than a mistake. Sin is far, far more than an error in our thoughts or actions.
- Sin is a violation of what God has spoken.
- Sin is rebellion against a good God.
- Sin is cosmic treason.
- Sin is a reflection of a corrupted and evil heart.
- Sin is a slap to the face of God.
- Sin is spitting in the face of God.
Sin is so serious that when Adam and Eve sinned they began to die and were cast out of the garden of Eden. Why would a loving God cause them to die? Why would he cast them out and curse them? Because sin is evil and there is no excuse for it. It is horrible.
Sin is so awful that God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus, to this earth to die for the sins of some people. Not everyone will receive the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice, but sin was serious enough that God the Father was willing to send his most beloved Son, whom he had loved from all eternity, to this earth to die and suffer. That is how serious sin is!
Therefore, this notion of God weighing our good deeds and bad deeds and, if our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds, then he will allow some to enter heaven, is so wrong because it fails to assess how bad sin is.
Another reason why this notion is wrong is because that is not the way justice works. God is a God of justice. This testimony about the nature of God is replete in the Bible. You can imagine a man who kidnapped a young girl and raped her. As sexual perverts often do, he then kills her. He is not identified immediately and even when he is he cannot be found. Ten years later, he is caught and brought to justice. Standing before the judge, he says. “You honor, I know what I did was terrible. But for the last ten years I have been a good citizen. I have worked hard jobs. I have volunteered in civic organizations. I have fed the hungry. I have helped people less fortunate than me. I ask for clemency.” Do you think the judge will not hold him accountable for his heinous crime? Of course he will. It doesn’t matter what he has done that was seemingly good. What matters is whether or not he committed the crime. In Missouri he would get the death penalty. As he would in Texas, Florida, Ohio and 23 other states.
Good deeds don’t outweigh bad deeds when capital crimes are considered. And every sin against God is a capital crime. Not necessarily capital in this life, but capital in the next phase of our living. Every sin deserves eternal punishment because sin is so serious and justice demands it.
So, the first thing to remember about the future is that when you die your future is sealed. There are no second chances and there is no weighing of good and bad.
The second thing to remember about the future is that everyone dies. There have been only two people who did not die but were taken directly to heaven: Enoch and Elijah. You are going to die. (When Jesus returns to the earth most will not physically die at that time, but every person will still be judged.)
The third thing to remember about the future is that no one knows when they will die. Your parents may have lived long lives so you may think that you will too. But death often comes unexpectedly. The brother of our secretary at the government office where I once worked was diagnosed with stomach cancer. I visited him in the hospital. He died only one week after his diagnosis. Some cancers overtake you that quickly. I knew another brother, a good friend, who was diagnosed with throat cancer and died only four months afterward. People die in car accidents in the U.S, at the rate of 120 people per day! One hundred twenty per day!
Those who died and are even dying right now while I speak, didn’t think they were going to die when they got into a car that day. They assumed that their day would be much like any other. Our lives can end at any time!
Does 120 people dying daily in car accidents in the U.S. seem like a lot? Well, in the U.S., 1,905 people die every day from heart failure! That is one person every 33 seconds. Now, some of those people had already been diagnosed with heart problems, but many of those 1,905 people had no history of heart problems and died unexpectedly. No one knows when they will die.
All these facts being true means that we must all prepare for judgment now. Your eternal destiny is at stake!
You can be delivered from being judged for your sins by three simple things. You must believe that the Lord Jesus died in your place on the cross. He was judged so you will not have to be judged. You also believe that he rose from the dead. For this is the testimony of all twelve apostles and the “13th apostle,” Paul.
The Lord calls everyone who comes to him to repent. This means to turn away from your sins and begin following Jesus. If you sincerely believe these things,
- Jesus died on your behalf,
- He rose from the dead, his risen self being witnessed by many,
- And you renounce your sins to begin to live for him
Then you will have all your sins forgiven and possess new life!
There is another matter to remember about the future. The judgment that I described is a judgment that every person who ever lived will undergo. It is called the Great White Throne judgment and you can read about it Revelation 20:11-15. But there is another judgment that is only for those who belong to Jesus already. That judgment happens when Jesus returns to the earth. He will judge those who have already believed in him.
At the Great White Throne judgment, which is for everyone without distinction, the only thing to be considered is guilt or innocence. Either you will be considered in your sins and counted guilty, or you will be considered to be covered by the sacrifice of Christ and considered innocent.
But, at the judgment of Christ’s own people, what you have done will be considered. Those who belong to Christ will be rewarded or disciplined because of how they lived after coming to Christ:
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Cor. 5:10; ESV)
The first few years I was a Christian I didn’t understand this. I only thought of the final judgment and I felt secure knowing that Jesus had died for me. But, as I read the New Testament more and more I finally saw that there was going to be preliminary judgment for his own people. When I saw this it made a difference in how I was living.
By the words of the apostle, we are going to receive what is due to us according to what we have done. According to what we have done! Do you see it? While final judgment has nothing to do with our deeds – we are counted as righteous by trusting in what Christ did for us – the judgment of his own people is according to our deeds. In other words, we are secure in Christ because of our faith. We can rest in knowing we will live with the Lord eternally. But our lives will be reviewed and we are going to receive either reward or discipline according to what we have done after coming to Christ by believing into him.
2 Corinthians chapter 5 is too clear on this matter. But Paul writes the same thing elsewhere:
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.” (Col. 3:23-25)
See the similarity to the passage in Corinthians? When we stand before the Lord we will either be rewarded or “paid back” for the wrong we have done. This refers to sins done after coming to faith, not sins done before we became Christians.
Seeing that this is so, how can we avoid being “paid back”? I do not want to be paid back for my wrong! Do you? I fear it! (As we ought…that is the whole reason Paul writes what he writes! To illicit fear. Fear of the Lord is a good, healthy thing.)
Here is how we can circumvent being paid back for our wrongs: we confess our sins to the Lord (1 John 1:9). If we do this we receive forgiveness. Then we repent. Repentance is a step further than confession. In repentance we not only acknowledge our sins but we renounce them and we deeply commit to not repeat them.
We can overcome sin in our lives by the power of the Spirit who resides in every believer. But its not magic. The Lord kindly expects you to take some practical measures to deal with sin in your life.
- If you speak harshly to your husband or wife, then you vow to not answer back so quickly (James 1:19) and listen. Then answer kindly (Proverbs 15:1).
- If you are prone to overindulging in alcoholic beverages, don’t purchase any at all. Let your cupboards be empty of them.
- Whatever sin it is that you have a propensity towards then you must take some practical measure to run from it. We do need to run away from all sin, including sexual sin:
“Run from sexual sin.” (1 Cor. 6:18a; NLT)
If we run from our sins, calling upon his name, then they will not be brought up at the judgment seat of Christ. (Again, this review of our lives by the Lord is not for eternal judgment – all our sins are covered by the blood of Christ in that respect – but for reward or discipline.)
[Conclusion] We can never travel to the future and return. But we do not need to do that. Because the Lord Jesus and his apostles have revealed things about the future. Therefore, we can know those things and we can remember those things.
Two momentous and ultimately consequential events to remember are, first, that there is coming a judgment for eternal life or eternal punishment. The only way to prepare for that day is by trusting in Christ and by repenting. This is why the first words out of Jesus’ mouth in public ministry were, “Repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
The second event to remember is that the lives of those who belong to Christ already will be evaluated when he returns to the earth. Remembering this will divinely motivate us to prepare for that day rather than wasting our lives on frivolities and comforts. Seek the kingdom of God first. Those are the words of Jesus (Matt. 6:33). This command to seek God’s kingdom first is for those who follow Jesus already. An unbeliever cannot even seek the kingdom of God because he is not interested in it.
Remember that we will stand before the Lord. Therefore, seek God’s kingdom daily and have done with lesser things.
“Lord, we thank you for revealing the future to us. Let what you have revealed be remembered by your people and may it divinely motivate us to love you more and to forsake all sin. Make it so, Lord.”
