INTRODUCTION:

1. We pick up tonight where we left off last Sunday night. The Lord appointed and sent out seventy men (10:1). They went out "two and two" (10:1).
2. He told them, "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few" (10:2). And of course it still that way today.
3. The Bible does not say how long the seventy were gone, but Luke 10:17 says, "And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name."
4. Victory over devils is something to be joyful about.
5. We are in a spiritual battle. Soulwinning means rescuing people out of the clutches of Satan and his demons.
6. When the Lord saved Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, He told him that from now on instead of persecuting Christians he would be rescuing sinners who were in bondage to the devil.
7. "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins" (Acts 26:18).
8. Ephesians 6:12 says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
9. Satan is a defeated foe. The seventy disciples came back rejoicing, saying, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name" (Luke 10:17).
10. And then our Lord said to them, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke 10:18).
11. And our Lord said in Matthew 16:18, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
12. Our Lord gave His disciples "power (authority) to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy," assuring them that "nothing shall by any means" hurt them (Luke 10:19).
13. Then our Lord made a very interesting statement, "Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20).
14. Tonight, if you are saved, "rejoice because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20).
15. If you are not saved, make sure your name is written in heaven!

 

I. MAKE SURE YOUR NAME IS WRITTEN IN HEAVEN

1. Some people may wonder -- where in heaven are these names written?
2. And, how can one know for sure that his name is written in heaven?
3. These are important questions, and the Bible gives us the answer to these questions.
4. Revelation 20:12 says, "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."
5. Then we read in Revelation 20:15, "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
6. This is why it is important to make sure your name is recorded in the book of life.
7. In Philippians 4:3, the apostle Paul writes, "And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life."
8. Therefore, by studying these Scriptures, we know that those who are saved have their names recorded in the book of life.
9. And we know that those whose names are "not found written in the book of life" will be cast into the lake of fire.
10. That is why our Lord told the seventy disciples, "Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20).
11. Rejoice because you are saved, and going to heaven.
12. Rejoice because you will not be cast into the lake of fire.
13. In Revelation 21:27, the book of life is referred to as "the Lamb's book of life."
14. It is called "the Lamb's book of life" because in the book of Revelation, the Lord Jesus Christ is repeatedly referred to as "the Lamb."
15. And is called "the Lamb's book of life" because the Lord Jesus Christ will be the Judge at the Great White Throne Judgment when the books will be opened.
16. Acts 17:31 says God has "appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."
17. The Lord Jesus said in John 5:22, "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son."
18. The Lord Jesus said God the Father "hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man" (John 5:27).
19. James 5:9 says, "The judge standeth before the door."
20. Will Jesus be your Saviour, or will He be your Judge?

 

II. EVERYONE'S NAME IS IN THE BOOK OF LIFE AT ONE TIME

1. Some people say that a person can get saved, have his name written in the book of life, and then get backslidden and have his name blotted out of the book of life.
2. They base their position on Revelation 3:5 and 22:19.
3. Whatever these Scriptures mean, they cannot teach that a genuine Christian can lose his salvation because that would contradict many other Scriptures.
4. "Everlasting life" (John 3:16) is for eternity (cf. John 10:27-29).
5. Everyone's name is recorded in the book of life at birth (Psalm 139:13-16).
6. Do you think God would blot out a baby's name? (Cf. II Samuel 12:15-23)
7. Revelation 20:12 says that when the book of life is opened, the dead will be judged out of those things which were written in the books, "according to their works."
8. What "works" can a baby do to deserve eternal damnation?
9. Everyone's name is recorded in the book of life at birth, but there comes a time when God has to remove some names because of persistent wickedness and unbelief (cf. Exodus 32:30-33; Psalm 69:28).
10. Those that are genuinely saved (like Moses) need not worry about having their names blotted out. But it is different all together with those who hate God and mock the Bible and persist in wickedness.
11. Consider Pharaoh (Exodus 8:15, 19, 32; 9:34, 35; 10:3, 20, 27-29). Was Pharaoh's name blotted out when he drowned in the Red Sea, or was it blotted out when his heart was judicially hardened by God?
12. God confirmed Pharaoh's defiant, willful stubbornness by judicially hardening his heart. His name was blotted out of the book of life.
13. Consider Cain, Esau, Lot's wife, Balaam, King Saul, Judas Iscariot, Felix, King Agrippa, and many others in the Bible who turned away from God.
14. God says in Genesis 6:3, "My spirit shall not always strive with man." There comes a time when God says, "Enough," and the sinner's name is blotted out. Once it is blotted out, it cannot be put back in.
15. In an excellent message on the unpardonable sin, J. Vernon McGee said, "I believe there comes a moment when a man steps over an invisible line and no longer does the Holy Spirit speak to him."
16. I think Dr. McGee was right. And I believe that when a stubborn sinner steps over that line, his name is blotted out of the book of life.
17. Years ago, evangelist Ron Comfort preached here and he sold a bunch of preaching CDs. In one of his messages he talks about driving in a car with a pastor friend, and as they drove past a big pile of bricks and rubble, the pastor said to brother Comfort, "I knew the man who lived in that house."
18. This preacher said he gave the man the Gospel, but the man would not repent of his wicked ways -- fornication, drugs, rock music, etc.
19. One night this man and his girlfriend were in bed smoking marijuana when their sheets caught on fire. They were so high from the marijuana that they could not escape the fire.
20. The whole house burned to the ground and both of them died in the fire.
21. The Bible says, "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy" (Proverbs 29:1).
22. Soon the Lord will return for His saints. We call this the rapture. After the rapture, this wicked world will go into seven years of tribulation, and the antichrist will take control.
23. God will pour out His wrath upon this sin-loving world, but rather than repent, sinners will blaspheme God (Rev. 9:20, 21; 16:8-11).
24. This is how it works -- first sinners will not believe; then eventually they cannot believe (II Thess. 2:10-12).

 

III. THERE IS NO MISTAKE WITH GOD'S BOOKKEEPING

1. Oftentimes in this world people make bookkeeping mistakes, but God never makes a mistake.
2. When God opens up the book of life, you can be sure every born again child of God will have his or her name there.
3. On the other hand, many worldly, unsaved church members will be upset when they discover that their names were blotted out of the book of life (cf. Matthew 7:21-23).
4. In this present age, God's throne is a throne of grace. Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
5. But for those who reject God's grace, the throne of grace will be a throne of judgment. Hebrews 9:27 says, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."

 

CONCLUSION:

          There is a time, I know not when,
          A place, I know not where,
          Which marks the destiny of men
          To heaven or despair.

 

          There is a line by us not seen,
          Which crosses every path;
          The hidden boundary between
          God s patience and His wrath.

 

          To cross that limit is to die,
          To die, as if by stealth,
          It may not pale the beaming eye,
          Nor quench the glowing health.

         

          The conscience may be still at ease,
          The spirit light and gay.
          That which is pleasing still may please
          And care be thrust away.

 

          But on that forehead God hath set
          Indelibly a mark,
          By man unseen, for man as yet
          Is blind and in the dark.

         

          And still the doomed man s path below
          May bloom like Eden bloomed.
          He did not, does not, will not know,
          Nor feel that he is doomed.

 

          He feels, he sees that all is well,
          His every fear is calmed.

          He lives, he dies, he wakes in hell,
          Not only doomed, but damned.

          Oh, where is that mysterious bourn,
          By which each path is crossed,
          Beyond which God Himself hath sworn
          That he who goes is lost?

 

          How long may man go on in sin,
          How long will God forbear?
          Where does hope end, and where begin
          The confines of despair?

 

          One answer from those skies is sent,
          "Ye who from God depart,
          While it is called today, repent,
          And harden not your heart." author unknown.