The last of the six foundations in Hebrews 6:2 is eternal judgment — the sober, biblical certainty that every human being will stand before God and give an account. At Grace Fellowship Church in Sarasota, we do not soften this. We also do not preach it without tears. It is a doctrine that makes the gospel make sense.
“It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” — Hebrews 9:27
The Bible speaks about judgment not as a metaphor, not as a motivational device, but as a fixed event in history. “God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained” (Acts 17:31). That Man is Jesus Christ. That day is coming. No one will miss it.
At the end of Revelation, John sees “a great white throne” and the dead standing before it, “and books were opened… and the dead were judged according to their works” (Revelation 20:11–12). The judgment is not arbitrary. It is righteous. God knows every thought, every word, every motive (Romans 2:16). Nothing has been forgotten.
This is one of the doctrines the modern church has been quietest about — which is strange, because Jesus talked about it constantly. The clearest passages about judgment in the New Testament come from the mouth of the Lord Himself (Matthew 25:31–46; Luke 16:19–31; John 5:22–29). We cannot soften it without softening Him.
For those who are found in Christ — covered by His blood, indwelt by His Spirit — judgment is not condemnation. It is homecoming. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Tears wiped. Joy full. A restored creation (Revelation 21:1–4).
Jesus described hell as conscious, eternal punishment — a place of “outer darkness” where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30). It is not annihilation. It is separation from the presence of God. It is real. And the cross exists precisely to save sinners from it.
The books are opened. Works are examined. But the ultimate question at the judgment is not, “Were you good enough?” No one has ever been good enough (Romans 3:23). The ultimate question is, “What did you do with Jesus Christ?”
Scripture is brutally clear on this. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). There are two categories of human beings. Not good and bad. Not sincere and insincere. In Christ, and not in Christ. And everything eternal hinges on which category you are in when death comes.
This is why the preaching of the cross is not an optional extra at Grace. It is the only refuge from the judgment to come.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” — Romans 8:1
Preaching judgment is out of fashion. A lot of churches have stopped doing it, because it costs them popularity. At Grace Fellowship Church in Sarasota, we will not stop, for three reasons.
First, because Jesus did. A preacher who loves Christ will eventually sound like Christ — and Christ was honest about hell. A Jesus edited for comfort is not the Jesus of the New Testament.
Second, because judgment makes the cross make sense. Why did the Father send the Son to die? Why did Jesus say, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me”? Because the judgment is real, and the cross is the only place the wrath was absorbed. Remove the judgment, and the cross becomes pointless sentimentality.
Third, because we love the people we preach to. The most loving thing we can do for a neighbor, a friend, a family member who does not know Christ is to tell them the truth — in tears if needed — and to point them to Jesus, who is “able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him” (Hebrews 7:25).
The cross is the reason a Christian does not dread that day. And the same cross that saves from judgment is the cross that is now forming the believer — putting off the old, putting on Christ — so that the life ahead of us matches the salvation behind us. A believer is being readied, not merely rescued.
— Sundays at 10:00 AM · 4350 17th Street, Sarasota, FL.