Judgement Day, Part 1

One author has said this about Revelation 20 to trial unlike any other trial No debate about guilt or innocence There will be a prosecutor, but no defense attorney. An accuser, but no advocate. A swift presentation of convicting evidence, but no rebuttal. A testimony with no cross-examination. A judge who is unsympathetic and no jury. There will be a sentence, but no appeal. A punishment with no parole. In a jail with no escape. That's the text of Revelation 20. That's the event called the great white thr judgment of God.

And somewhere. Outside the heavens and the earth, as we know it today, there exist a thr. A great white throne in which this judgment will take place. But Satan has been very convincing over the years. To deceive man into thinking that there will not come this day. And yet, one day. It's going to happen just like the Bible says.

The dead will be raised, and they will stand before the Almighty Judge of the world. And he will pass a sentence on them, and it will be final. Let me read it to you: Revelation 20, verses 11 to 15.

I saw a great white throne, and him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. The death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds.

And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake. A fire. There are four things I'm going to want to cover with you. Number one is the context for judgment.

Number two is the call to judgment. Number three is the criteria for judgment. Number four is the consequences of judgment. John sets the scene for us. He says, I saw a great white thr, and all the dead are before it. They are in a universe, or as a result of this, the universe has become un. It is an amazing scene. The event is so great and so powerful that the entire universe is gone. It is dissolved. It's no longer in exist. In fact, it took two chapters, Genesis 1 and 2, to describe to us the creation of the world.

It takes us. One verse to describe the uncre of the world. The God of creation becomes a God of destruction. When fire came down from heaven and destroyed Gog and Magog, as we saw in our last time together. That fire now turns into the blazing glory of Almighty God, and as a result of his blazing glory, the earth and the universe are incinerated. They go out of existence, and John sees nothing but a great white throne. One who sat upon it, and all the dead waiting to be judged. It's hard for us to fathom.

It's hard for us to understand this. What we see outside, we see the earth. We look up into the heavens, we see the stars. We see the skies. This is our universe. It's gone. Everything is like it was before Genesis 1, verse number. Paul over in Romans chapter 2 said this in verse number 5. We'll look at verse number 4 first.

Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience and knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. who will render to every man according to his deeds to those who by perseverance and doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality eternal life but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey in right wrath.

And ind. Paul, as Daniel, as a psalmist, speaks of that very day, that very day in which sinners are recompensed. That very day in which man stands before the throne of God and is judged by God Himself. Now, listen very carefully. John says, And I saw a great white throne, and him who sat. Upon it. This is very important. Who is sitting on the throne? This helps us understand. For certain the identity of Jesus Christ our Lord Throughout Revelation, God is sitting on a throne. We already read Revelation chapter 4.

Where John was ushered up into heaven, and he saw one sitting on the throne, and it says like a Jasper stone and Sardius in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance, and around the throne were twenty four thrones, and upon the thrones I saw twenty four elders sitting clothed in white garments and golden crowns. their heads. Over in chapter 5, verse number 13 it says, And every created thing which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things in them I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

Be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. The Bible is clear. The one who sits on the throne is God Himself. In fact, over in John chapter 8, verse number 50, Jesus Christ himself said these words. I do not seek my glory. There is one who seeks and judges. Who is that? That's his father who's in heaven. There is one who seeks, and there is one who judges. The fact being is that it's God who sits on the throne. Revelation 3, verse number 21, says this about the throne of God. It says, He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne.

As I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. So Christ is saying. That if you're an overcomer, you're going to sit down with me on my throne as I have sat down with my father on his thr. The point being is that when Jesus Christ sits on the throne, He sits in sovereignty. When God sits on the throne, He sits in sovereignty. When God sits on the throne in judgment, Jesus Christ Himself sits on the throne. In judgment, for John 10:3 says that I and the Father are one. That 's important.

Why? It proves that Jesus Christ. Is God over in Revelation 22? When you look at the new heaven and the new earth, look what it says: Revelation 22, verse number 1.

And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God. And of the Lamb. And then it says down in verse number three: And there shall no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it.

Remember, Jesus Christ is called the Lamb of God. It is his apocalyptic name. And so there's a distinction. Between the Lamb of God and God, and yet God and the Lamb of God are one in the same, because Jesus Christ and the Father Are one. Christ him sat on the throne in the millennial kingdom. We know in 2 Corinthians:, at the beam of judgment, when all believers stand before God, that Jesus Christ. Is on the throne over in John chapter 5, verse number 22. It reads as follows: John 5, 22. For not even the father judges anyone, but he has given all judgment to the son Over in verse number 26.

For just as the Father has life in him, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself, and he gave him authority. To execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. Listen, who knows man better than the Son of Man? Jesus Christ him. He knows man. He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. He knows everything that you go through. He becomes the perfect judge. All that to say is that Jesus Christ is God. So important. Why? Because all the cults. Mess up in this area. They don't believe that Jesus is God.

They believe He's somebody else. But the text affirms, once again, that Jesus is God. Revelation, or excuse me, John 5, verses 28 and 29. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life. And those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of damnation, Jesus Christ. Is God, and Jesus Christ is the one who executes judgment up man. Now, listen, the text says that John sa a great white throne in the midst of nothingness.

He saw God on this thr that is so significant, that is so pure, and so bright, and so great. The text says, From whose presence ear and heaven fled. Away. That's amazing. From whose presence heaven and earth fled away. From the very presence of the one who was on the throne. During the kingdom, we just discussed this the last few weeks together. During the millennial reign of Christ. We talked about the rec of the world. After all, we saw where the sky itself had rolled up. We saw where every island fled away, where there were no more hills upon the earth.

We told you that we believe that the earth is going to go back to the way it was before the flood. And so God reformed the earth. Christ restructured the earth to bring it back to the way it was, but it was still cursed. There was still sin in the earth. There was still sin during the millennial reign of Christ. So, in Revelation 21:1, it says, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven, and the first ear passed.

Away. John is looking at un. John sees what no man has ever seen. John sees the way it was before Genesis:. That's what he sees. He sees the un of the world, of the universe. Because it all fled away. It all passed away. The text says And no place was found for them. It wasn't that the universe fled away and went someplace else. It went to some other universe and went to some other location. No, there was no place found for it. It's gone. It's out of existence. Text says there was a sudden termination of the universe.

It was gone just that quick. It says it fled. away. Same Greek word used in Matthew 2, 35, where it says, Heaven and ear will p away, but my words shall not. Pass away. Isn that good? It's all going to go away. But God's word, it lasts forever. It will never go away. It is the eternal, living, abiding word of God. It never passes away, it will never go out of existence. It will never cease to be relevant. It will always be the exact thing that you'll always need to have. It's the Word of God, it's true.

But the heavens and the earth, they'll pass away. They'll go out of existence. The universe is gone. The earth is gone. There's nothing left except a great white throne and all these dead people. And John sees them. He sees them all standing before the throne of God. So, who are these dead people? Are these resurrected Christians? Nope. These are the unsaved dead. This is the second resurrection.

There's no saved people here. The church has been glorified already. The Old Testament saints, saved at the coming of Christ, they're glorified. The martyrs during the tribulation, they've already been raised. We saw that in Revel 20, verse number 4. So they've already been raised. They're already glorified. These are all unsaved people. These are unbelievers. That's why it's called the resurrection of damnation. We read about it in John chapter 5, verse number 24. There are two resurrections, the resurrection unto life and the resurrection unto damnation.

One is the first resurrection that happens before the millennial kingdom. The other is the second resurrection that happens after the millennial kingdom.

The first resurrection is for those who are blessed and holy. We read about that in Revelation 20, verse number 6. The second resurrection is for those who are damned forever.

The physical or the physical aspect of this resurrection. The first resurrection is a bodily resurrection that prepares your body for eternal life.

The second resurrection is a bodily resurrection. That prepares you for eternal punishment. Everybody, listen, lives again. Everybody's raised from the dead to live either with God or without God. Nobody just dies and goes to the ground. Whoever dies will be raised again, every last one of them. The first resurrection.

Remember Christ, 1 Corinthians 15, he's the first fruits of the first resurrection. The church, 1 Thessalonians 4, 16 and 17. Is part of the first resurrection, the martyr tribulational saints, according to Revel 20, verse number 4, Old Testament saints, according to Daniel 12, verses 1 and 2.

But the second resurrection is one single event. That happens in Revelation 20, verse number 13. And look what it says. He says, I saw the dead, the great. And the small te says I saw them all stand. Will the sinner please write? For God is going to pronounce judgment. This is the day in which Matthew 7 records, where it says, Many on that day will say to me, But Lord. Did we not prophesy in your name? Cast out demons in your name, do many marvelous deeds in your name? And God will simply say, Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

Because man will be judged according to his deeds. He will be judged according to his work. His works will be measured against the standard. The standard is God's standard, the glory of God, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The point being is if you don't plead guilty today and fall upon the mercy of God For his grace and for his salvation, you will be guilty on this day, and there will be no mercy. For you, you will die in your sins, you will be separated forever from God H.

That's the context for judgment. Then comes the call. Says these words, verse number thirteen, and the sea gave it the dead. Which were in it, and death and Hades gave it the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds. Hades. Hades is a word. Used ten times in the New Testament. It's the place of the dead. The ungodly go there. In the Old Testament, it's called She, which is 67 times. In the Old Testament, it described the general place of the dead.

Hades and She are not permanent places. They are temporary places. They are a place of torment, and we'll look at this next time together.

They are a place of torment. They are a place of anguish. They are a place of terror. They are a place of pain. They are like the eternal hell, but they are not the eternal hell. Hades is not hell. She is not hell. It is a place of the wicked de who one day will go to hell, the lake of fire. And the difference being between Hades and the lake of fire, and we've said it to you before, that in Hades, the soul of the wicked dead suffers tremendously. In hell, that soul is united together with a resurrected body, and both body and soul are tormented forever and ever.

In hell, in the lake of fire. That's the difference. That Hades is thrown into the lake of fire. All the ungodly are called before the judge. Since they have died, they have been tormented to this very day. And the sea gives up its dead because the Bible says there is no more sea.

So before there is no more sea, the sea has to give up its dead. Also, Hades and Death, every grave gives up its de. Hades is a state of being. It's a place where the unrighteous soul. Suffers. It's in contrast to Paradise, which is Abraham's bosom, where the godly who died went. Hades is the headquarters of wickedness and ev. There's no more sea to keep them. There's no more graves to hold them. There's no more Hades to imprison them because they are all gone. So now they are resurrected. They have a body that associates with their soul.

And John says, I saw them standing. Before the throng. Can you imagine the scene? Can you imagine what must be going through their minds? That brief, very brief relief from their torment. Just for that one moment, they are out of Hades, they are out of that place of anguish, and then all of a sudden, to have the torment worse. Than it was before. That's where the ungodly are going. Is it any wonder? That Paul said, know the terror of the Lord, we persuade. When was the last time you persuaded another man to come to Christ?

When was the last time you begged another man to come to Christ? The future is not what you want. You want to be with the Lord Jesus. You don't want to be without Him. May God use this text to compel us. To move us and tell people that the righteous judge has passed his sentence upon an unrighteous man. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for tonight and why we did not get near as far as we had hoped. The truth stand forever. And what we have read this evening is the future. Of the ungodly. Maybe we have family members that are not saved.

Father, we thank you that because of the grace and mercy of God, We can plead guilty today. Yes, Lord, I am a sinner. Yes, Lord, I deserve damnation. Yes, Lord, I am unworthy of you. And yet, in the grace and mercy and love of Almighty God, you reach down and encompass that sinner, bring him to you, clothe him in righteousness, and make him a child of yours. What great j we can experience. Thank you, Lord, for that. And pray that no one will leave this place this evening. Without knowing for certain that they will not be at the great white thr judgment of God.

Thank you, Lord, for the truth of your word. In Jesus' name.