The Final Judgment - 55

How many of you have heard a sermon preached on the Great White Throne Judgment?

I see your hand. Maybe a third of us. Well, you're going to hear one this morning. Hebrews 9.27 says, It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment. The Bible makes it clear in many passages that there will be a single final day of judgment at the end of this age when Christ returns. The Bible talks about day of judgment, not days of judgment. There will be one final day of judgment, and it occurs simultaneously with the second coming of Jesus Christ. And in our passage this morning, Revelation 20, 11 through 15, John faithfully records the end of cosmic time and the end of world history. I'm so thankful that he was faithful to his instructions. He was told in Revelation chapter 1, listen to what he was told.

Write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after this. And had John not recorded the vision that God gave to him, we would know not near as much about the final day of judgment as we do. So thank you, John. God has been sovereignly working all things after the counsel of his own will, and now he's calling everyone, believer and unbeliever alike, into his courtroom. And as the books are opened, everyone is judged according with divine justice.

The division between the saints and the ungodly is irrevocable and final. The ones whose names are recorded in the Book of Life are forever with the Lord, but those who have spurned him and rejected him are cut off forever. What is the purpose of this final judgment? Well, it is to vindicate the justice of God, to vindicate the people of God, and to put an end to all the enemies of God. The difference between facing an angry God or a loving God on the day of judgment is the difference between rebelling against and rejecting Christ or repenting of sin and receiving Christ as Lord and Savior of one's life. The day of judgment is real. We will all meet there. Our eternal destiny will be declared there, and there will be no appeal and there will be no second chance.

What is described in Revelation 20, 11 through 15 is exactly what we will see and experience. Therefore, it behooves us to take this very, very seriously. There is nothing more important than to be prepared to face God on that day of final judgment. So as we proceed this morning, I want to consider with you this subject of the final judgment under six headings.

Let me give them to you, and then I'll repeat them so you don't have to get them all right now, but as we move through the message. Number one, the reality of final judgment, the reality of final judgment. Number two, the universal scope of final judgment. Number three, the basis of final judgment. Number four, the escape of final judgment. Number five, the ultimate victory of final judgment, and then the warning of final judgment.

Let's begin with the reality of final judgment. It begins at verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. John begins by describing the judgment seat, the throne of God. I saw a great white throne. The throne of God has played a prominent role in the book of the Revelation.

It's mentioned 14 out of the 22 chapters, and in those chapters that is mentioned, it's mentioned numerous times. So we are constantly being reminded of the sovereign rule and reign of God, the throne of God. And the reason is to show us that God is sovereignly in control of all the events of history, that everything that occurs is under His direction and is done by His authority, and that every person is accountable to God for his or her deeds.

A book was opened. And then it says, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. John is afforded a vision of final judgment, and we are beneficiaries because we have the record of God's Word. We're talking about the reality of final judgment. Acts 17 verse 31 says, God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained. John 5 22 says, for the Father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the Son. The Father is on the throne, but that judgment has been committed to the agency of Jesus. Paul says in 2 Timothy 4, 1, that Christ Jesus will judge the living and the dead at His appearing.

Daniel prophesied about this day, and its fulfillment is here in Revelation chapter 20. So we're talking about the reality of final judgment. There are scoffers who want to deny the reality of final judgment.

And the question is, why? Why do they scoff? Well, a few things they hate more than the idea of giving account to a sovereign God who has authority to judge them. But scoff all they want, no one can erase the reality of the final judgment. Consider with me number two, the universal scope of final judgment.

The universal scope of final judgment. John says in verse 12, and I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. All who have ever lived from Adam until the end of recorded history will stand before God. Small and great, no one absent, everyone present for that day of appointment. The universal scope, no one says, well, I won't be there, I'm not planning on being there. You may not have plans on being there, but you will be there, because God has ordained you will be there.

You will be there to give an account of your life. There's an interesting statement there at the end of verse 11. John begins by giving us a description of the throne of God.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it. And it says, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. We saw similar language earlier in our study in Revelation chapter 6, when the sixth seal was open, that was connected to the return of Christ. In Revelation 6 verse 12, John saw a cataclysmic disruption to the physical order.

There was a great earthquake that destroyed the islands and the mountains. He saw the stars falling from heaven. He said the sky vanished like a scroll. It is the upheaval that results from the absolute holiness and majesty of God, when his throne is brought into this fallen world order. The prophet spoke this way in Micah chapter 1 and verse 3, the mountains will melt underneath him and the valleys will split open like wax before the fire.

Why? Why is the creation falling away from the presence of the coming of God? Well, Micah tells us it was because of transgression and sin. It's because the created order is under the corruption and curse of sin. The cosmos is subject to futility.

That's why. What a time it will be. And the purpose for this description that is repeated in the book of Revelation, Revelation 6, and then again here, is that there will be no place to hide. No place to hide.

Listen. Revelation 6 verse 15, And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand? God is unavoidable in judgment. We've seen, number one, the reality of the final judgment. Number two, the scope, the universal scope of the final judgment. And again, the meaning here is that every human being, whoever has lived, will stand in the judgment, believer and unbeliever alike.

Notice what it says. The sea will give up the dead. Verse 13, Death and Hades will deliver up the dead who were in them. The bodies of those who died at sea, who people thought were lost, they are not lost to God.

Think with me about the unrivaled power and authority that's on display here. The sea in the book of Revelation is portrayed as a place of chaos. God rules sovereignly over all things, all places and all people. Death and Hades, the final enemy to God's people, is subject to Him who was and is and who has come. The universal scope of the final judgment. All humanity will stand before the judgment, throne of God.

John emphasizes that there are no distinctions. Small and great stand together before God. One commentator writes, it will be the largest gathering of human beings in all of history. Not one descendant of Adam and Eve will be missing. This will be God's final word on the personal, immortal destiny of every soul who has ever lived. The reality of the final judgment, the universal scope of the final judgment.

Number three, the basis for the final judgment. John says again there in verse 12, And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books.

Verse 13 goes on to say, The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. The basis of final judgment.

Books were opened. The dead were judged according to, and in verse 12, according to their works by the things which were written in the books. And it's repeated there again in that latter half of verse 13. Every person must face the thrice holy majestic God in the final judgment. And what will be the basis of that final judgment? We are judged by our works. We will be judged by our deeds. It says a book is opened, pointing out that there is a record of every deed, every thought, every word, together with every sinful omission. We speak so often about sins of commission, but there are the sins of omission. Augustine says what is being described here is the perfect divine memory that infallibly records all deeds, all words, all things, all motives. And that thought is very unsettling to us.

Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 13 says, There is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. Think with me about the accumulation of a man or a woman's sins over a lifetime. Let's just say that a person commits three sins a day.

That's being very generous, right? Three sins a day, three sins times 365, times, let's say, 70 years. What is the accumulative record of sin? It's in the tens of thousands of sins. Paul says in Romans chapter 3 and verse 19 that because of the sheer justice of the verdict that will be rendered in that day, every mouth will be stopped and the whole world held accountable to God.

Why? Why do we have this warning from John's vision? So that men might believe and repent, flee the wrath to come, flee to Jesus Christ as God's only remedy and refuge in this day of judgment that is soon to be upon us. And when we realize the basis of this judgment, we realize that all of us stand justly condemned before God for our record of sins.

That's the basis of the final judgment. Consider with me number four, the escape from the final judgment. Again, it says there in verse 12, And I saw the dead small and great standing before God, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. The book of life is referred to six times in the book of the Revelation.

Chapter 3 in verse 5, chapter 13 in verse 8, chapter 17 in verse 8, twice here in chapter 12, verse 12 and 15, and then again in chapter 21 in verse 27. And this book contains not deeds but names. Names. Because God knows those who are His. This book contains the names of all the elect of all the ages. Daniel chapter 12 in verse 1 says that God will save everyone whose name is written in the book. And this book, the Bible tells us, was composed in final form in eternity past. It is the names of all the elect of God. Everyone who ever lived, who ever believed, who ever trusted in Jesus Christ, their names are recorded in this book. You mean, if you're here this morning and you know yourself to be a child of God, your name is in that book. When was your name put in that book? Before the foundations of the world. Your name before you had a name was recorded in the Lamb's book of life. Well, how did He know my name before our name was given to me? Who are we talking about here? We're talking about God, right?

He's not going to stumble over that one. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, Paul says, God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. John uses this very language in Revelation 17, 8, speaking of the book of life.

He says, the names were written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. The full name of this book is given in Revelation 13 and verse 8. It is the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. It's the author of salvation's book.

It belongs to him. He's the one who has secured the position of anybody whose name is in that book. And to say that this book is the book of the Lamb is to say that the names recorded there are those who belong to Jesus, who were given to Him by the Father and called to Him through the gospel.

That's who we're talking about. Is your name in the book of life? Well, I've not seen the book of life.

Neither have I. But is your name in the book of life? You say, well, how can I know? The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children.

So that book of life is part of the secret counsel of God. You're not going to see your name, but there's an answer to the question, is your name written in the book of life? How can you know? Are you believing as you're sitting here this morning? Are you believing? Are you trusting? Are you living for the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you trusting Him as your only hope of eternal salvation? And you know the answer to that question between you and God.

It's evidence in how you've been living your life. And if you are believing, if you are living, if you are trusting in Him, your name is written in the Lamb's book of life. The book is the record of those who were saved by means of Christ's atoning death. Paul said, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. All of our sins were laid on Him. All of our sins were paid in full by the blood of Jesus. God's wrath against our sin was satisfied by Jesus, who died in our place and satisfied the just wrath of Almighty God. That is why Romans 8.1 can say, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

No condemnation. Instead of being judged and condemned according to our deeds, believers are justified, declared righteous by the deeds of Jesus Christ. The deeds of Jesus Christ, His perfect life, His vicarious death in the place of sinners. His righteousness is imputed to us through faith. Philip Hughes writes, forgiven and reconciled, they stand before the judge, justified, not in themselves, but in Jesus Christ the righteous. He is their propitiation for their sins, and He is their advocate before the Father.

Question. We're talking about the escape of final judgment. What is the role of the book containing all the deeds, thoughts, actions, and motives of those whose names are in the Lamb's Book of Life?

Because that book contains thoughts, deeds of everyone, believer and unbeliever alike. Will our sins, will the sins of the elect of God, will the sins of the redeemed, will they be rehearsed on this day of final judgment? Some think so.

Some say yes. And because some say yes, they fear this day of final judgment. They are not looking for the second coming of Jesus Christ, because when Jesus comes again, there will be the final judgment. And who of us wants to be shamed by our sin record even after we have come to Christ, displayed for all to hear and all to see? Matthew 12, verse 36, Jesus said, But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 2 Corinthians 5, 10, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Back to my question. Will our sins, even though we've been forgiven, be rehearsed on the day of final judgment? Let me give you my answer to the question and let me support my answer. My answer is no, absolutely not.

And let me tell you why. Isaiah, verse 38, verse 17 says, the prophet says, You have cast all my sins behind your back. Why is God, why this imagery, why this metaphor? God has cast our sins behind his back so that he's not reminded of them, not to be brought up. Psalm 103, verse 12, As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Micah, chapter 7, verse 19, You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. One of the great New Covenant blessings, Hebrews 8, verse 12, God says, For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more. I will remember no more. That ought to bring a hallelujah out of the people of God. Our sins will be remembered no more. You won't hear your sins recorded and for all to hear.

So what is the place? What is the point of our deeds? Well, this record of our works will validate or invalidate our profession of faith. There will be the record of our deeds, our works.

Did they support the profession that we had or did it invalidate the profession we had? Did our deeds reflect the presence of the Spirit of God? Will our deeds, will our works demonstrate that we did indeed surrender to Jesus Christ, bow to His Lordship, seek to live for Him in this world?

And our record that's recorded of all of our deeds, actions, thoughts, will reveal, will validate or invalidate that reality. Now I don't want to mix up faith and works, but there is a relationship between faith and works. Faith alone saves, period, exclamation point. But saving faith is never alone.

Saving faith will be supported by good works. We only have a few verses here to describe this final day of judgment. Jesus spoke of it many times, and I think what He said in Matthew chapter 25 brings some clarification. Let me turn to Matthew chapter 25 if you would join me there because it's a number of verses. One of the things I want you to see here that I've repeated previously this morning is the proximity, the closeness between the second coming of Jesus and the final judgment.

They're not separated by years, not separated by a thousand years, they are seen together. And listen to the words of Jesus that supports that beginning at verse 31 of Matthew 25. Jesus said, When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats, and he will set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. In the final judgment, there will be a great separation. The goats will be separated from the sheep. The wheat will be separated from the tares.

It goes on to say, verse 34, Then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me.

I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you, or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.

Then he will say to those on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. Thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you did not take me in. Naked, and you did not clothe me.

Sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then they also will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them, saying, Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And there will go away into, and these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

Well, what's all this business about visiting and caring for? Those are works, those are deeds, you see. And the righteous, the sheep, will have the validation of a life that supports, that they indeed had divine life, and they lived that life out in this world. And imposters, and those with empty professions, and those who made no profession, will have no works to point to, no evidence to say, well, what about this, what about that?

No. So there is a place for that book of records and deeds. Well, we have considered the reality of the final judgment, the universal scope of the final judgment, the basis of the final judgment, the escape of the final judgment, number five, the ultimate victory in the final judgment. The ultimate victory in the final judgment, and what do I mean by that? Well, again, verse 13 says, The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them, and they were judged each according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Death, the last enemy to be destroyed. Notice, then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. Theologians have written about this, they refer to it as the death of death. And you say, what are they talking about?

This is what they're talking about. Death, thrown into the lake of fire, the last enemy destroyed. No longer an enemy of the people of God. And not just death, and I don't know how to explain this to you, it just simply says, then Death and Hades, or hell, were cast into the lake of fire. I don't know how hell and Hades are cast into the lake of fire, but that's what the Bible says, that is, no longer a threat cast into the lake of fire, the ultimate victory in the final judgment. Consider with me, finally, the warning, the warning of the final judgment.

Verse 15 says, And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. There's warning here, warning about a final judgment that is as certain as anything you can point to. It's a warning to the proud, a warning to the proud who have lived their life in independence of God, lived their life autonomously, with no thought toward God. I'm not going to bow the knee, I'm not going to submit to, I'm not going to receive, I'm not going to live for anybody but me.

Oh, okay, persist in that. You will bow the knee. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every knee will bow, yours included, Mr.

Proud Man. What about the self-righteous man? What about the man who says, well, you know, I think God grades on a curve. I think God is, he's a God of love, he's not going to send anybody to hell. I've tried to live a good life, I've tried to be good to my neighbor, I haven't committed the big sins and I think I'm okay. What about your sins? What about your sins? Well, I mean, what about your sins? You will pay for your sins or somebody else will pay for your sins. And if Jesus Christ isn't the one who paid for your sins, you will pay for your sins. It's folly. I hear people say, well, as I look around, take inventory of my neighborhood, I'm living better than most people.

Yeah, I know I don't go to church but church is full of hypocrites. Let's give the person that. Let's say, you know what, in terms of relativity, relatively you are better than many. But let's just say for sake of argument that there's this huge chasm that's separating you from safety.

Huge chasm. And let's say, let's say you can jump 30 feet. What if the chasm is 40 feet? Does it matter that your neighbor can only jump 20 feet or 10 feet? You can jump 30 feet. You're much better than your neighbor.

But to get on safe ground, you got to jump 40 or 50 feet. You're going to join your neighbor in the bottom in hell thinking that you're better than your neighbor. You see the deception of the natural mind. My brother Gary, who's with the Lord, died about seven years ago of brain cancer. I stopped and visited him on a Sunday night and had a talk with he and his wife about their need of Christ.

They were both lost. And I thought, you know what, I'm going to lay a foundation here and see where we can go. And I thought, this won't be hard to convince him that he's a sinner. Oh, how dare you suggest I'm a sinner? He raised up and riled up and raised his voice. And I said, well, the Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Does that not include you? Well, he had a category for sinners and he wasn't in that category, despite the fact that the Bible says all have sinned. And I thought, what is going on here? Well, the devil who blinds men's eyes, who deceives men, he was thinking he was doing he was pretty good. Well, God had mercy on Gary.

He called me the next day. He says, thank you for coming and talking to Pam and I. He says, we bowed and prayed in our living room and asked Christ to receive us after you left.

And Gary lived a life that evidence that he truly was a child of God, for which I'm thankful. The warning of final judgment. You see, the preaching of the cross is what? It's foolishness to those who are perishing.

But to those who are being saved, it is the power of God. Now, people stumble all over that verse. Christians stumble over the second part of the verse. Unbelievers stumble over the first part of the verse. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. They don't see that.

You and I see it. But to those who are being saved, being saved? I thought I was saved. I thought I was saved. What's this business about being saved? That sounds like something that's still going on. Oh, yeah, that's exactly what that means. What does that mean? My salvation is still unsettled.

It's still up in the air. I don't know whether when I die, whether I'm going to be saved or not. Some people misuse that verse, and they don't have any assurance because they don't understand what's being said there. To those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, those who are being sanctified, those who are being changed from one degree of glory to the next, it's the power of God. You're not going to make any progress in sanctification.

You're not going to make any progress in degree of glory from one glory to the next apart from the power of God. That's what it's saying. When you go into some of the great cathedrals in Europe, it's very likely that you will see over the main door a circular carving in Latin, and it is called the Tim Patum, and it depicts the Last Judgment. Christ is enthroned in the center. On His right are the joyful redeemed, and on His left are the dreadful condemned. And the idea was that when people entered the doors of that great cathedral every Sunday, they were reminded and brought face to face with the awful reality of the final judgment, that there are but two destinies, two destinies and only two, heaven or hell. And our destiny is determined by our response to the gospel that is preached, the proclamation of God's judgment on sin and God's mercy to sinners who believe on Jesus Christ, their substitute. You know, we're living in a day of gospel illiteracy. People are absolutely, totally ignorant of the gospel.

It's hard to find a starting place of agreement to be able to engage people and help people. You ask Jesus Christ, who is He? Well, I think He's the Son of God. I think He's a prophet.

I think He's a good teacher or whatever. Well, if you're going to establish the fact that He's the Son of God, well, why did He die? Why did He die?

Such a horrible, cruel death. Did He do something wrong? Well, He must have.

Oh, really? Well, His enemy said, I find no fault in Him. The man who had the authority to free Him and not execute Him said, I find no fault in Him. So why did He die? Oh, they'll scratch their head.

They have no clue to that answer. Well, why did He die? He died in the place of sinners. And if that's what it took to rescue hell-deserving sinners, how great is a man's condition outside of Christ? There's no hope for you.

Correct? Our hope is found in nothing but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away and it was found no place for them. And I saw the dead small and great standing before God and books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them and they were judged each according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death and anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. That sounds serious to me.

That sounds no turning back, no hope. There's a God of mercy. There's a God who delights to show mercy to sinners. Let us prepare for the day of judgment by trusting in Christ alone for the forgiveness of our sins and demonstrating the genuineness of that faith by living for Him and remaining faithful to Him until He comes or until He calls us home. Let us pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for its instruction. We thank You for its warning.

We thank You for answering the question that curious minds want to know. What will the end be like? Where is this world heading? Your Word is clear. It testifies to it.

Nobody in this room should be wondering how this world is going to come to an end. We've heard from You by Your divine authority. Cause Your Word to bear fruit in our lives. Glorify Yourself, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.