So, here in this eleventh verse. As I mentioned, the throne central It is The throne is referred to nearly 50 times in the book of Revelation. And that makes a point all by itself. and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. This is the faith of God.
At some point Everyone gets to see the face of God, not in this life, but after this life. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Ricky is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Rick is currently teaching through the book of Revelation. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio.
specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Revelation chapter 20 with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. We can't see all of that here. That's why there's this thing called faith. By faith, we understand the world's by faith, we, you know, God is big on that.
And he's saying, I know, it's really hard to trust me, but you've got to do it. And we say, yes, Lord. And we try, we throw ourselves into that, and he appreciates it. He takes it very seriously. because the alternative is everywhere, and those are the wicked ones.
He says here, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. inexpressible conscious torment. Revelation This same chapter in verse 15, and anyone not found written in the book of life was cast. into the lake of fire. That's where the Antichrist and false prophet are, the first inhabitants of hell.
Then comes Lucifer and his fallen angels, and the lost souls.
Now about these lost souls. Our responsibility is to preach Christ as we have been told to preach, and to never ever try to make it mean other than what we know it means. which is we tempted to do sometimes. Because you don't want to think about certain people being in hell.
Well, if God decides in his Great mercy and wisdom. To save people. His way, well, let me be careful with this. Let me I'll put it this way. When you get to heaven, you might find people you didn't think were going to be there.
That's what I'm saying. Our responsibility is not To dumb down scripture. What happens when you come to it, go to a church that has dumbed down the scripture? Is it not nauseating? Is it not for those who love the Lord and His Word?
Do you not say, what is happening here? I thought this was the house of God. This is a community center. with a little god on the side like parsley or something. It's the whole word of God.
And we leave it with him. And if someone says yes, but is there not mercy with God? Yes, there is. But the details of his mercy belong to him. except for where he has made it clear.
So it says here. that where the beast and the false prophet are The only humans that end up in hell who did not stand before the great white throne judgment. And again, all of these things can with God happen, poof, like that, but John is having it revealed to him, it is being unfolded before him. That doesn't mean it's okay, next event coming up. This is much broader.
This is spiritual. can't lose sight of the spiritual nature of all these things. And that does not. alleviate it of its severity, And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. We have a problem with that.
We recoil at that. You mean forever? You mean there's no purgatory?
Well, in the imagination of some there is, but in reality the Bible never teaches that, teaches quite the opposite. A very nasty thing is to give people these false promises. that will put them in a permanent hell. Why not just preach what the Bible says? It's better.
anyway, is an endless consequence And Jesus, when he preached on this in Mark chapter 9. He repeated himself three times. In that very short paragraph in that sermon. Their worm does not die. and their fire is not quenched.
Repeated three times. That means don't ignore this. Don't Redact. What I am saying Line up with it. Satan goes to hell, but He's not king in hell, he's tormented there.
To make him the king of hell would be to reward him, and that's not going to happen. And you know, how do you feel when you see Gangsters get elected and reward it. You say is there no justice? God said, yes, justice is delayed, but there is justice and it's coming. In 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. Huh. Great.
That throne. Great and glorious, unmatched. That's the idea, nothing like it. Jesus said this. The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, and there he is.
The central theme of Revelation is the absolute sovereignty of God. With love. always with love. God can't help himself in that sense because God is love. There's always going to be.
Towards us. Love, the opportunity. But the consequence is love lost. God is not going to love those who are damned. When that day comes, that'll be schizophrenic.
I love you, but I'm going to damn you forever. A lot of Christians can't handle that. Because they have this Ev this visceral feeling. Of God, just you know, He's just always love. There's a few listen, when Christ was on the earth, He was gentle and loving more than anybody.
But here He's sitting on the great white throne, and this judgment is final, and He's not playing around, and there's no appeal. During the age of enlightenment, enlightenment, When false Christianity under the popes darkened the world, and the world finally began to come out of it. They chased away the ideas of hell as best they could. They tried to replace it with philosophy. And Science.
Learning. This was to overrule. Religion. and the fear of hell. And it just created as many problems, and many of them which we have today.
So here in this eleventh verse, As I mentioned, the throne central It is The throne is referred to nearly 50 times in the book of Revelation. And that makes a point all by itself. And him who sat on it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. This is the face of God. At some point Everyone gets to see the face of God, not in this life, but after this life.
This Curse. uh is uh of of Satan will end And the universe that is cursed right now Would be Disintegrated. I'm not gonna Well we got time. And every time I do that I end up running out of time.
So I'm just going to reference. Uh 2 Peter chapter 3.
Well, let's just read it. Verses 10 through 13. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise. and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth And the works that are in In it.
will be burned up. Therefore, Since these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be? in holy conduct. and godliness, looking for the hastening The coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved with fire And the elements were Will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, according to his promise, look for.
New heavens? And at New Earth? in which righteousness dwells, Peter, where'd you get that from? Of course, walking with the Lord, literally walking with the Lord. And it was continued back to verse 11, and there was found no place for them.
That's a chilling thought. There are no occupancies in heaven for those who are against Christ. They thought death would bring relief. Christ's people. They can laugh themselves into hell.
They just can't laugh themselves out of hell. Part of our message to them. Because they don't take God's word seriously. How would they ever take it seriously if we weren't here? Christians are not here to help people go to hell.
We're to help people not to go to hell. In verse, and we can't lose sight of that. We can lose sight. of the combination of things. And one of those combinations is people have free will.
And while you can't lead a horse to water and make him drink. You can salt his oats. You can get them thirsty. And one thing that gets people thirsty for truth is the presentation of Truth. With knowledge.
knowing the scripture, understanding enough of it to be able to. recite it to someone else. Verse 12, and I saw the dead, the small, the great, standing before God. The books were open, 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. Everyone from peasant to president Amongst the unbelievers will stand before this white throne. It is the greatest judgment known to man and the worst. And another book was opened, he says. which is the book of life.
God's keeping records. He brings out a book of what could have been. for these.
Now the scriptural Links to this Daniel Chapter 7, verse 10. Daniel chapter 12. The first four verses have to do with these end times of that twelfth chapter. Luke 10 verse 20 Where Christ mentions the book of life, and Paul mentions it in Philippians 4:3, and John does in Revelation 3:5. The Book of Life records the names of the redeemed, not the lost.
But evidently, there are other records in there because they're being brought up in the face of these people. All those who have followed Christ on the earth are in this book of life. You can get yourself blotted out. I'll quote a few verses, well, maybe just one. But 2 Timothy 1, verse 12, Paul says, For this reason I also suffer these things.
Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know. whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep, What I have committed to him until that day. I'm reading that verse. To tell you the Bible preaches something called, we call it. Blessed assurance.
It comes from God and it is a blessing. John talks about it in 1 John 5, verse 13. I have written these things to you that you may know you have eternal life. God wants you to be sure in your salvation. Not, oh, I wonder, I'm living my Christian life with all these question marks around me.
Well, if the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin... then maybe I should live like I believe that. At least pursue that line of thought And so Paul says, I'm persuaded he's able to. Keep what I've committed. And there are a lot of goofy doctrines by some nice people out there.
that disagree with this. And of course I hopefully Well, I disagree with them. I hope you do too, because I like when people agree with me. Anyway. One thing about being a Christian, especially a pastor, you have to get to a place on certain topics where you don't care if people agree or not, you know this is God's truth.
Else, how can you share the gospel with somebody? I think he's our savior. No, it's like he's our savior. And if you don't like it, fine, that's you. You can go to hell.
I'm not going with you. And the dead were judged according to their works. The context is judgment. of the loss. And this implies there are levels of judgment.
That doesn't mean hell is somehow not hell now. But it does mean someone like a Joseph Stalin will get a heavier dose Than some of the other people. like the people he killed. By the things which are written in the books, plural. Things, not names.
Every idle word. of a person without the blood of Christ, will be held against them. and all their deeds. their inward thoughts, their outward behaviors. Matthew twelve, thirty-six.
So sinners can either ask God Four Pardon? For forgiveness. or you can demand a fair trial. and get justice. As you're sent off to hell.
I don't want. To stand before God. and receive justice. I would not have a chance, and neither would any of you. But I would stand before God and plead the blood of Christ, the mercy on the character of God.
Because he has made that available. That's My plan.
So coming back to this. They are judged by what they did and what they did. And what they also did not do, Jesus said, They said, well, when did we see you? Naked and not give you clothes, or hungry, and not feed you. And when did we see you thirsty and not and Jesus said, When you didn't do it to the least of these, you didn't do it to me.
It's a sin of omission. You omitted help, you held back. Verse thirteen 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 one according to his works. Phases.
of judgment And phrases that encompass death in this thirteenth verse. the soul of the life lost at sea Is irrelevant.
Well, no, pardon me, it's not irrelevant. The flesh is irrelevant.
So the soul that's lost at sea. The body is irrelevant, it's the soul that matters to God.
So when one-eyed Jack dropped dead in Death Valley. And the buzzards picked his bones clean. God is not interested in that body. It's the soul of one-eyed jack. That God is after.
And so when it says the sea gave up the dead, And those who are in it, you're talking about the souls who stand before that great white throne. And they were judged each one according to his works, as I mentioned, degrees of punishment. and still no less hell, Verse 14: Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Well, he personifies these things, and they're going to be gone. No more death, no more graves, 1 Corinthians 15. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death, and this is the moment that it takes place. God will eradicate From creation, he even the possibility of evil. or sin and sorrow, John 5, Jesus said, Do not Be amazed at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice.
And come forth. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life. and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. Christ is saying these things and people are like, ah, you know, he's... He doesn't mean it.
Or it can't mean what he's saying. But in that language is everything. to make a decision and choose which side you're going to be on. He says here in verse 14, John, as he's looking at these things being revealed to him, this is the second death. It's called the second death because the first death was their body.
When one-eyed Jack dropped dead in Death Valley and the buzzards picked his bones clean, that was the first death. What happened to his soul?
Well, if it doesn't go to heaven, that's the second death. And that's what is being talked about here: eternal separation from joy. and the possibility of joy. And remember, these are those who refuse God's touch. and brought anarchy And sustained and supported and advocated chaos in his creation.
and were unabashed about the whole thing. And if they were admitted into heaven, there would be anarchy and chaos and death and trouble and thievery in heaven. But God's not going to allow that. The righteous have already been rewarded at this time. Revelation 19:8, speaking of the marriage supper of the Lamb, that they were the righteous arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright.
For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. They have we at that point will be beyond all of this. This has to do with those who've never tasted death. Verse 15. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Well, the Book of Life is the register of those saved as mentioned. It only contains the name. As far as names go, of the saved. Revelation seventeen eight Looking back at that verse, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. In that section of Scripture, he's talking about those who loved that Antichrist.
who worshiped him, who got his mark, who gleefully enforced his policies on good people. They are the ones that don't have their names written in the book of life.
Now, scoffers don't want this to be true.
So they mock with nervous ridicule and uneasy anger. But it is not going to be enough to rescue them, and they think it is. Of course, the world scoffs at this. They scoff at everything that is called good. As we're looking at them.
with their protests and their marches. They have no problems. with Child molesters being free in your community.
Something's very evil about that. That's beyond stupid. That's just evil and dark. And yet, they could be a very otherwise pleasant person. They could be the barista in the coffee shop that you like to see every morning.
Yet, they are willing to advocate. for Satan. And you bring Jesus up to them and they shut down. Isaiah sixty six, verse twenty four And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against me, for their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.
And that is the prophet's language. to a people who will listen. God is very serious about the judgment to come. And the generation we live in we should easily be able to s to s to spot. The depravity That is Just Totally loose and certain.
whole communities that keep voting into power the people who allow these things to go Unchecked. Multitudes assume Jesus is wrong. when he repeatedly warned them about the hell. That is to come. For those who are against him.
they are arrogant enough to suppose that they will be better off without God. They live that way now. Or they'll say, no, I need God, but I'm going to make my God. I'm going to shape him the way I want. I'm not going to receive the revelation from God, but I will receive a revelation from my ancestors.
From folklore. Or preference. But I will not receive From the God who has left so many evidences, you'd be insane to reject them. Again, Israel alone. If you say, well, I wonder if my Bible's true.
I've been loving it all these years, but sometimes I have doubts. Just look out the window at Israel. How did that get there? How is that happening? Why are the Jews the target of the planet?
And as far back as we can count the nations, Israel. is the whooping boy. Just like God said. And it's just one place. There are many others, but that's just one big one.
Cast into the lake of fire, conscious torment. Death will give no relief. to the wicked. This metaphorical image of the lake of fire. Permeates scripture enough to say, well, let's think about this a little bit more.
Here's what's not metaphorical. Ephesians 5:6, let no one deceive you with empty words, because deceivers are everywhere. For because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Pastor, I'd love to have a study on Revelation. Really?
You really are you up for that? Because it's about judgment upon evil. And you should say, yes, I want to study on Revelation or any other book that the Holy Spirit should be so inclined to lead you to. That's what Christians do. Because we have this hunger and thirst for righteousness.
See, I'm going over time, and it's because I read that verse, that passage, I'm almost done. And she said, woof. I want my sins blotted out. Not my soul. And King David in his psalm, after God forgave him for a series of Horrid sins.
He said, Hide your face from my sins and blot. Out All my iniquities, every single one of them. And God did. That's why David factors so much into the end times prophecy of the millennial age and his kingdom in the book of. Ezekiel, the last four chapters of Ezekiel are d dedicated to the restoration of Israel and his temple and the throne that David will be a part of.
Remember Satan started out on Unlost. As did Judas Iscariot. He started out unlost. Both got themselves blotted out. One was in heaven.
and got himself out. By siding against Jesus. One betrayed him. In heaven In the spiritual realm, And the other betrayed him on earth in the physical realm.
So we close with this verse to make the point. He who overcomes Revelation 3.5 shall be clothed with white garments. We read about those linen garments earlier. And I will not blot out his name from the book of life. Mm.
but I will confess his name before my Father. and before his angels.
Okay. Um This has been Cross Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston. This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand. Just visit us online at crossreference radio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings.
While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube. There's also an interviews tab where you can learn more about Pastor Rick's heart for ministry.
Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Hello.
