Okay, let’s take our Bibles and go to Revelation chapter 20 and verse 11, Revelation 20 and verse 11. If you’re joining us this morning, welcome. We’re in a series, Things to Come, and we are one sermon away from the finish. We will wrap this up next Sunday morning when we look at the new heaven and the new earth, but in the meantime, we’re coming to look at what is called the great white throne judgment. This is a sobering message. It’s not easy for me to preach, and I’m asking for God to give me a spirit that matches the subject matter, but we have kind of looked at the signs that lead up to the end-times. We’ve looked at the rapture of the church. We’ve looked at the judgment seat of Christ, the tribulation period, the rise of the antichrist. We have looked at God’s favor toward Israel, which will be manifest in the future. We have looked at the millennial kingdom and now we’re coming to look at the great white throne, a message I’ve called the court of no appeals.
You’ve heard of the Court of Appeals. This is a court of no appeals. There’s a judge but no jury, and there’s a sentence but no appeal. This is a sobering text of God’s word, and I pray that we’ll do it, sanctifying work in our life. Let’s read it together. Revelation 20, verse 11. “Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven 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 are written in the books. 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. 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.
RL Middleton, in his book, Accents of Life, tells of a new family that moved into a farming community. They weren’t church-going folks. They weren’t a Christian family, by confession, and so they worked on their farm night and day. They worked on their crops on the Lord’s day, and to them, Sunday was just like any other day of the week. After a little bit of time went by, a Christian family that lived nearby decided to invite the father and the family to attend their church, but the farmer, the father was quick to say, “Hey, I don’t do church and I don’t do Jesus. I wanted you to be aware of this. While I do not honor the Lord’s day, I want you to know that my crops will be as good as yours come the fall.” Well, the Christian heard that, disappointed at the rejection to his invitation to come to church, but nevertheless trying to be as wise as a dove, and gentle as a dove and wise as a serpent, he paused and then replied this. “That may be true, your crops may end up being as good as mine, but I would remind you that God doesn’t settle his accounts in October.”
That the point of that story is this. The moral and message of that story is this, that judgment delayed is not judgment denied. God’s patience with sinners, God’s kindness to the unsaved must never be taken or misinterpreted as God’s indifference towards sin, for sure as the sun will rise, there will dawn a day when God judges this world, and he will judge those who have spurned his love in Christ. He will judge those who have abused his patience during the age of the church, and he will judge those who’ve rejected Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The day will eventually come when God presents the bill due on man’s debt of sin. The Bible’s clear about that. There is a coming day of judgment, when man apart from Christ will stand before him with whom they must give an account. That’s the testimony of Hebrews four, verse 13, and along with that there comes a warning in Hebrews 10, verse 31, that it is a fearful, dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. With peals of thunder, the Bible voices this truth, that God will judge the wicked in righteousness and according to his truth. That’s the testimony of Psalm 96, verse 13, and Acts 17, verse 31. There is a day coming when God will judge this world.
God may not settle his bills in October, but he will settle his bills, so let’s come and look at the final judgment, a judgment described as the great white throne judgment. Now, let me put the text in its context. The second coming has happened, the millennial reign has ended, and the new heaven and the new earth is about to be inaugurated. We’ll look at that next Sunday morning, but sandwiched between the end of human history on this present planet and the world to come without end, we have a final judgment. If you know your Bible, there are a series of judgments. There’s not one general judgment. We looked at the judgment seat of Christ, where the believer will stand before Christ and give an account of the things done in the body, and rewards will be meted out accordingly. At the end of the tribulation, we saw the judgment of the sheep and the goats. Gentile and Jewish survivors of the tribulation will be judged, and here we have the great white throne judgment of the wicked dead, who will be raised at the end of the millennial reign of Christ as we await the new heaven and the new earth.
That’s only three of several judgments that you’ll find in God’s word. As we look at this text, we conclude that this is a serious and sobering, maybe some of the most tragic lines in all of scripture. It is the single most frightening passage in all of the Bible. Now, with that said, someone may say to me this morning, before we get going, “Well, Pastor, are you trying to scare people into heaven?” Well, I’ll say this. I’d rather scare people into heaven than lull them into hell. When you go back to the judgment of the flood, Hebrews 11 tells us that Noah was moved by fear to the saving of his household. To be motivated by fear of God is not a bad thing, and coming judgment. In fact, the Bible tells us, “Flee the wrath to come.” You cannot have heaven without hell, and hell is as good a motive to go to heaven as any. Someone might say, “Pastor, God is too good and loving to allow anyone to go to hell.” Well, I have a question. Which God are you talking about? The God of your imagination or the God of the Bible? Because, the God of the Bible is presented here in Revelation 20, verses 11 to 15, as judging the wicked dead and casting them into the lake of fire which burns forever and forever.
I agree with CS Lewis. There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this doctrine of hell, if it lay in my power, but it has the full support of scripture and especially our Lord’s own teaching. It has always been held by Christendom and has the supportive reason. let’s come and look at the text there, several things, the setting, the sovereign, the summons, the standard, the sentence. We’ll try and move through this as a clip. I want to get this done in one sermon. Let’s look at the setting. Verse 11, “Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.” This is the ultimate courtroom drama, and it seems that its setting is somewhere in space. It’s not on the earth, it’s not in the stellar heavens as we see them or know them in their present form, because the earth and the heaven flee away in some unknown, undesignated place in space. Earth and heaven are said to flee from the face of him who sits on the great white throne.
Most commentators take this to be a reference to that moment when God uncreates that which he created. This will be second Peter, 310 to 13. “This will take place as God destroys this present earth and heaven, and remakes it into a new earth and a new heaven.” If you go to Revelation 21, 24, and Revelation 22, two, this new earth and this new heaven, God will repopulate and reinhabit, but what we’re dealing with here is that moment in second Peter, 310 to 13, when everything is burned up and God creates a new heaven and a new earth, and as that’s happening, he raises the wicked dead who died apart from Jesus, who are in Hades awaiting their final judgment. Now, here’s the point. at the appearance of God, the righteous judge, the earth and sky flee. Why? Why do they tuck tail and run? Because in its present form, this world and this universe is contaminated by sin and condemned for sin, and it must vanish out of existence in the presence of a thrice holy God who appears in judgment. Just as the darkness flees the rising of the sun, so a world cursed by sin and Satan flees from the blazing presence of God.
There’s no place to hide from God’s judgment. Remember when Adam and Eve sinned, they went and hid in the garden? There’s no place to hide. In fact, you have an element of this, don’t you, back in Revelation six, verses 15 to 17, where you have an element of the unfolding judgment of God during the tribulation period, as God judges the earth dwellers who oppose him, and we read, the kings of the earth and the great men and 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 the 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?” There will be no fugitives from God’s justice. You can run but you can’t hide. That’s the point.
Bruce Milne in his book on heaven and hell says this, “In the august overwhelming presence of the living God in his majesty, all else collapses into nothingness. The old order, the universe as we know it, the world in all its life forms, from the teeming galaxies, the infinitesimal particles, all flee away before him who sits on the throne.” Walter Kaiser tells of the funeral of Louis XIV. Louis XIV had requested upon his death that a service be held at the cathedral of Notre Dame, and all was to be darkened inside that cathedral except one lit candle that would sit in front of his casket. When the court preacher, Massillon, got up to give the funeral oration, he walked over to the casket and he blew out the candle, and he began his message with these words, “Only God is great.”
There’s going to come a moment when God will blow out the candle of human history, for only God is great and the heaven and the earth will flee from him. What a frightening, sobering moment. I’m a lover of Winston Churchill, but I was reading one day a statement that he made where he fell in my eyes. One day, Winston Churchill was talking about his death and meeting his maker. He said this, “I’m prepared to meet my maker. Whether my maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.” Such silly talk, such silly talk. Heaven and earth will flee away in the presence of the one who sits on the throne. That’s the setting.
What about the sovereign? Who is the one sitting on the throne? We’re not told. There’s nothing definitive about our text, although we’re told that the dead small and great will stand before God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Well, if you look at the wider teaching of the New Testament, I think it’s a safe bet to identify the one who sits on the throne as none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. I think there are several texts in God’s word that would reinforce that. Over in John five, in verses 22 to 30, we read of the fact that the father has given into the hands of the son all judgment, for the father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the son, that all should honor the son just as they honor the father. One other text among many would be Acts 17, where we read about a day when God will judge, and here’s what we read in Acts 17 and verse 21. Sorry, verse 31. “Because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained.” Now, who’s the man he has ordained? Well, the text is going to tell us. “He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead,” so the man is someone that God raised from the dead, namely our Lord Jesus Christ.
In fact, one other verse maybe, second Timothy four, verse one, where we’re told that Jesus, when he comes, will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and the appearing of his kingdom. Now, let’s just pause and talk about the sovereign for a moment. The sovereign is the Lord Jesus Christ, king of kings and lord of lords, Revelation 19. We need to update our thinking and theology on Jesus. He came in humility the first time. He clothed his glory in human flesh, and had the world known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. The Lord Jesus allowed himself to be judged by man, as in Pilate’s Hall, but the Jesus, meek and mild, of the gospels no longer exists in that sense. He’s the Jesus, fierce and wild, in the book of Revelation. As the coming judge, Jesus spoke more on hell than he did on heaven. You and I need to be aware of that. He came as the Savior the first time. He’s coming back as the judge of those who have rejected his salvation.
At his first coming, John three, 16 to 18, tells us what? He came into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved, but at his second, coming from our text, we see that he’s coming to judge those who have neglected and rejected so great a salvation. On a future day, the Redeemer, who is so willing to save man, will be the judge of man so willing to reject him, and that’s sobering, and we need to be aware of that. The book of Revelation is not politically correct. It’s not a sentimental presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s not Jesus, meek and mild. He is the Redeemer but he’s also the judge. He is the suffering servant but he is also the warrior king. He is the Lamb of God but he’s also the Lion of Judah. The Book of Revelation will not allow you to create the Lord Jesus Christ in your own image, and it refuses to let you tame him.
Let me think this through for a moment with you. My daughter, Angela, some years ago gave me a wonderful excerpt from a young woman who attended the master’s college during her time, it was a girlfriend, and this friend says this. “Too often I go to God as the eternal giver and not the consuming fire.” Granted, most people prefer to approach a God that forgives over a God that damns. Makes sense, but I don’t want to fall into that. I don’t want to fall into the habit of treating God like a reversible jacket. Have you got a reversible jacket at home? It’s black on the outside, and you can turn it inside out and it becomes gray. She says, “I don’t want to treat God like a reversible jacket,” so here’s what she means by that. Some days you wear the red side because it matches your outfit. Other days you turn it outside in because you want everybody to see the nifty striped pattern.
God is everything he says he is, all the time. Listen to that statement. God is everything he says he is, all the time. He’s a loving, merciful, gracious, at the same time he’s holy, and he will judge sin. God is all that he said he is, all the time, and she goes on to say this. “I want to remember everything about him, his strength, his jealousy, his mercy, his compassion, his sufficiency, his glory, his power, every time I approach him. I don’t want to pray to God the softy when I’m feeling sheepish. I want to pray to the God of the Bible who despises sin but loves his son, and his son said, ‘Let her sins fall upon me.’ I want to accept his forgiveness while feeling the weight of his wrath drop off my shoulders like a thousand bricks. If I cannot accept his anger, I cannot appreciate his mercy.”
It’s a good statement. My friend, he is Redeemer and judge, and if you’re going to appreciate the Redeemer, you’ve got to accept the judge, and you’ve got to flee from that judgment and find mercy in what Jesus did on your behalf. Now, before we leave this thought of the sovereign, let me just look at the throne upon which this one sits and how it’s described. It’s called the great white throne. Now, some things that are not to be missed. It’s great, which speaks of solemnity. Heaven and earth have fled and only God is great. Think about it. Great is the occasion upon which this throne appears, the judgment of the wicked dead from across history. The throne is greater than any human throne because it’s the king of kings and the lord of lords who sits on it, and Christ who sits on it is described as the great God and Savior, and it’s the great and the small of history that stand before him, and sinners who stand before him have rejected so great a salvation, which makes them punishable, where they are cast into the lake of fire.
Everything about it is great and solemn and awe-inspiring. It’s great, speaks of solemnity. It’s white, which speaks of sanctity. This is a throne of absolute holiness. The one who sits on it is holy, holy, holy. Isaiah six, verse three, “There will be no miscarriage of justice.” You can’t buy your way out of this judgment. There’ll be no bribery of the judge. The judge of all the earth will do right. In fact, if you go back to Revelation one, verse 14, the Lord Jesus is described as having eyes as a flame of fire, eyes of flaming fire, which is a symbol of his ability to see and see all, and see through all. Hebrews four, 13, “Right will stand before God, open and naked with him whom we have to do, no hiding, no obfuscating, no whitewashing.” I like what Erwin Lutzer says. I’d say I don’t like it. Just, it’s a good statement. “No hidden facts, no extenuating circumstances, just vivid truth and searing justice.”
That’s what will happen. It’s great, which speaks of solemnity. It’s white, which speaks of sanctity, and it’s a throne, which speaks of sovereignty. 50 times in the book of Revelation we’re told about the throne, a throne. I think there’s a theme. I think John wants us to get something about the revelation of Jesus Christ. In fact, the book begins with the throne and it ends with the throne. Chapter four, verse one, chapter 22, verse three, and that throne speaks of God’s absolute rule, absolute authority, absolute sovereignty. In the words of one of the songs of my friend Keith, friends Keith and Kristyn Getty, there is a higher throne. You know what? That would’ve been a word of encouragement to the persecuted church of Asia Minor. Let’s not forget that the book of Revelation is as pastoral as it is prophetical, and it’s written to churches who were being persecuted under Domitian. There were isolated incidences of martyrdom and there was constant pressure from the surrounding culture, and they’re being reminded there is a throne, and one who sits on it, and those who judge you, he will judge, because sometimes kings and governments act with a sense of impunity, but they won’t get away with what they’re trying to get away with.
Remember that when you watch a miscarriage of justice or the justice system fails us, or the government picks winners and losers. Hugh Latimer was wheeled before King Henry one day to preach a message, and he did, and he did it in such a manner that the king was offended. He was told in no uncertain manner to come back the following week with an apology and a new message, and so Hugh Latimer, the bishop, come back the following week and he stood before King Henry VIII and he said this, in Hampton Court, England. “Hugh Latimer, dost thou know before him thou art this day to speak, to the high and mighty monarch, the king’s most excellent majesty, who can take away thy life if thou offendest? Therefore, take heed that thou speakest not a word that would displease, but then, consider well, Hugh, dost thou not know from whence thou camest, upon whose message thou art sent, even by the great and mighty God who is all present and beholdeth all thy ways and is able to cast thy soul into hell? Therefore, take care that thou deliver thy message faithfully.”
You know what he did? He preached the same message he preached the week before. Why? Because he knew there was a higher throne, and he was to fear him who can kill the body and soul in hell. May we all fear him who can kill the body and soul in hell, but who has lovingly provided for us in Jesus Christ. By the way, one little footnote here before we move on to the summons. Take a close look at the setting and the sovereign. You’ll notice that there’s a judge. There’s one who sits on the throne and he judges man according to their works as the books are open, but you’ll notice this, there’s no jury, and when sentence is passed, there’s no appeal. This is a different kind of courtroom. As Warren Wiersbe says, “There will be a judge but no jury, a prosecution but no defense, a sentence but no appeal.” That’s terrifying.
This is a final judgment and the judgment is final. There will be no second chances my friend. Behold, now is the day of salvation. The door of opportunity is open before you, not closed. There’ll be no post-mortem evangelism. You know, Lord Hailsham who was the Lord Chancellor in England died in 2002, and here’s what he said. “When I die and stand in judgment, I will plead guilty and cast myself on the mercy of the court.” There is no mercy in the court. Mercy is for now, judgment is for then, and it’s sobering.
We’ve looked at the setting, we’ve looked at the sovereign. I want us now to look at the summon. The summons, the summons to the great white throne will be of the unsaved dead, those already in Hades or hell. Look at verse 12. “I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were open. Another book was open, the Book of Life, and the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books, and 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.” If you remember our study in the book, in the doctrine of The Millennial Kingdom, there is a first resurrection and there is a second resurrection. There are those who do not taste a second death, and then those who taste a second death, and what we’re dealing with here is the unbelieving dead who died during history apart from Christ. They were buried in the sea, they were buried under the soil. They became a prisoner to death and they’ve been held up in Hades, which is another word for hell, which is where they’re at right now, where their souls are kept until the day of final judgment.
There’s going to come a moment when the sea will give up their body and hell will give up their souls, and they will stand before God in a resurrected state to be judged. See, there’s a resurrection on the life and there’s a resurrection on the condemnation. Daniel 12, verses one and two, and John five, verse 24 and 29, point. “The Bible does not teach annihilation. It does teach moral accountability before God, and the possibility of conscious eternal punishment following death to those who died apart from Christ.” As appointed on the man, once to die, then the judgment. Not annihilation, not non-existence, not reincarnation. Judgment comes at the end of a Christless life.
You can’t have freedom without responsibility, and you can’t live as you please without sitting down to a banquet of consequences. As Paul Powell says, you cannot have liquor without a hangover. You cannot have an affair without guilt, and you cannot have pleasure without conscience, and you cannot have heaven without hell. You’ll notice, it’s the small and the great. It’s a term that’s used five times in the book of Revelation to speak of all classes and all ranks of men and women. We’ve got the setting somewhere in space. We’ve got the sovereign Jesus Christ sitting on a great white throne, and you’ve got the summons, where the unbelieving dead will be raised, souls out of hell, bodies from out of the sea or under the soil, and they will stand to be judged before a holy God, all ranks. Death’s the great equalizer, isn’t it? Judgment’s the great equalizer. Men and women will be there, kings and paupers will be there, policemen and criminals will be there, white supremacists and BLM activists will be there, debutants and delinquents will be there. Famous people and infamous people will be there. The intellectuals will be there and the dimwitted will be there. The moral and the immoral will be there. All ranks of people, making up one group, the spiritually dead, whose condemnation is already apparent and whose sentence will be final.
In fact, as you think about this one group, the unbelieving dead, and the two extremes, the small and the great, there are all kinds of categories of people that will be there. I started thinking about this. Some people will run into hell, some people will strut into hell. Some people will slow walk into hell, some people will trip into hell, and some people will just flat out fall into hell. What do I mean? I’ll tell you who will be there among the small and the great. The dying and dirty sinner will run into hell. That’s the person who’s got no fear of God in their eyes, who mock the gospel and laugh at evangelists down at Huntington Beach. They’ve got no conscience, no fear of God. They love their sin, they love pleasure more than God, and they will go running into the flames of the lake of fire. The dying and dirty sinner will run into hell.
The self-righteous will be there, and they will strut their way into hell. See, they’re the people who don’t believe that God will judge them, because they’re good, they’re better than most. They’ve loved their neighbor. They’ve done unto others as they would have done to them, and they count that and they believe if God’s going to weigh their deeds, there’s going to be enough on one side of the scale to have God be pleased with them, and the Bible warns against that. The Bible would remind us that the gospel is not just for bad people, it’s for good people, because none are good. We all fall short of God’s glory. Our righteousness is as a filthy rag. It’s not by works of righteousness which we do, but by his mercy he saves us. The down and dirty sinner will run into hell. The self-righteous will strut into hell, and the procrastinator will slow walk themselves into hell. See, that’s the person that has a conscience. That’s a person that knows they’re in moral arrears to God and they’ve fallen short of his glory and they deserve his wrath, and they know they need to be saved and they are determined to be saved, and they have planned it in their mind, someday they will be saved, and they play Russian roulette with their souls.
Do you know what happens? The day that they’re going to be saved never comes, because that day is always tomorrow. See, God says today, and the devil whispers in your other ear, “Tomorrow, tomorrow.” The unsaved church member will trip into hell. They’re not expecting to go to hell at all. They make a profession of faith, but you know what? Behind the shop window, there’s not much there. There’s not really a desire after God. There’s not a consistent walk of obedience. There’s not fruit, meat unto repentance, and they’re trusting the fact that their name is on a church roll, but it may not be written down in the Book of Life, and I’ll tell you this. The unreached will be there, and they’ll fall into hell. Those who have never heard the gospel will be there. Why? Because Roman one tells us, God has shown enough in conscience and in creation that he exists, and he’s not far from any man if they’ll seek him, but here’s the issue. General revelation is enough to condemn a man, but it’s not enough to save a man, and so those who are unreached will fall into hell because they know enough to know that God exists and they ought to seek to be right with him. Although, that’s a challenge to us, isn’t it? To take the gospel to the four corners of the earth.
The setting, the sovereign, the summons. Quickly, the standard. Those summoned before God stand before the bar of divine justice as confirmed and condemned sinners, and remember, Christians will not be here. We will have appeared before the judgment seat of Christ, not to have our sins judged but our service judged, because you see, thank God we’ll never come in to judgment. That’s the promise of John five, 24, that as we trust Christ, we pass from death onto life and we will not come in to judgment. Romans eight, verse one. Therefore, to those who are in Christ, there’s therefore now no condemnation, but the unbelieving dead will be there. Those who lived during the church age or through the tribulation period, who heard the gospel, rejected the gospel, whatever the case might be, and their condemnation will be spelt out and locked in through evidence presented at the great white throne, and that evidence will come through a series of books. “I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God.” That’s the summons, and here’s the standard. “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 written in the books.”
If you go into the background, biblically, you’ll find that many monarchs kept records, especially the Persian kings and kings of the Orient. Don’t you have that in Esther six, verse one, where the king can’t sleep and they read out the book of records, and then he finds out that Mordecai had helped him, and there was a deed that had not been repaired? Well, God’s got his own set of books. Heaven has its own bookkeeping. Maybe there’s recording angels. I don’t know, or maybe it’s just locked up in the omniscience of God, but evidence will be brought forth that will be ample and condemning, so much so that Romans three, verse 19, anticipates a moment like this before God, at the judgment throne of God, where every mouth will be stopped. You won’t plead your innocence, you can’t plead for mercy. Every mouth will be stopped. You’ll just have to take your medicine because you’ve earned it, and throughout your life, my friend, you have spurned the love of God and you have mocked his preachers and you have refused his gospel, and your mouth will be stopped. There’ll be a judge, no jury. There’ll be a prosecution, no defense, and there will be a sentence and no appeal.
What are these books? Well, we can’t be sure. We just know that all of our deeds and all of our words and all of our thoughts will be brought back to condemn. Some writers believe you might have a book of conscience. That would be Romans two, verse 15, where the law of God is written on the heart of man and in his conscience, and you and I innately know right from wrong. We know that murder is wrong. We know that lying is wrong. We know that adultery is wrong. We know that blaspheming is wrong, but you know what? When conscience scolds you, you just turn the volume down and you sin against your conscience, and that sin will condemn you someday. There’s the Book of Secrets. Luke eight, verse 17, and Romans two, verse 16, where the secrets of the heart will be revealed. How scary is that? There’s the Book of Works, Matthew 16, 27, where every man’s works will be judged. We’re told that here in verse 12. Then, you’ve got the Book of Words, Matthew 12, 36 to 37, where every idle word will be judged and a verdict will be rendered.
There’ll be no glossing over the facts. The hidden things will be revealed and the record will be read, and the condemnation will be just and swift. There’ll be no whitewashing of the record. I like the story of a family that decided to gift their father with a book about the family’s history as a birthday present, and so they commissioned a professional biographer to do the work, carefully warning him of the family’s black sheep problem, but, and they weren’t sure what to do. The black sheep of the family was Uncle George, who had been executed on the electric chair for murder, but the biographer put their fears at rest and said, “Look, I can handle that situation. There’ll be no embarrassment. I’ll merely say that Uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution. He was attached to his position with the strongest of ties and his death came as a great shock.”
You won’t get to whitewash the details of your life in these books, which are written in the indelible ink of God’s omniscience, and just attribute. By the way, along with these books, there’s another book. See, you’re going to be judged out of these books. Conscience, Secrets, Words, Works, but the other factor that will condemn you is that you won’t be found in a book. It’s called the Book of Life. It’s mentioned several times in the book of Revelation. It’s also called the Lamb’s Book of Life, in chapter 21, verse 27. What is the Book of Life? Well, it’s the registry of those who belong to Jesus. It’s the registry of those redeemed and elect. It’s the registry of the citizens of heaven. You go to Philippians three, verse 20 to 21, the believers in Philippi are calls citizens of heaven, and in chapter four, verse three, their names are written down in the Book of Life.
My friend, this morning, do you belong to Jesus? Is your name written down in the Book of Life? Have you signed the dotted line, become a follower of his, so that you might find your name written down in the Book of Life? By the way, time’s going to beat us this morning, but I do want to squeeze this in just from a pastoral point of view. If you’re a Christian, you need to rejoice this morning, not in your health, not in your wealth, not in the state of your family, not in the makeup of your circumstances, not in how many friends you have. You need to rejoice that your name is written in heaven. Isn’t that Jesus’ words? In Luke 10, verse 20, his disciples come back from a day of ministry and they cast out demons and they heal the sick, and Jesus says this, “Hey, rejoice that your name is written in heaven.” Why? Because success will come and go, but salvation in Christ abides. Life may rob us of many things, but it cannot steal away our souls from Christ. Things may not go our way, but God is for us. Then, who can be against us? We may be excluded from some circles, but we’re included in the circle that counts, the presence of God, and the company of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
My friend, listen to me this morning. If you possess Christ and Christ possesses you, which means you possess eternal life, there’s no greater possession, and it should put a smile on your face. It should put a joy in your heart and a spring in your step, and you should be willing to share the joy of it with everyone around you. Dale Ralph Davis says, “Having assurance of your place in glory is much greater than enjoying stellar success in ministry. That’s the matter that matters.” In fact, I don’t have time to develop this, but in my research I was reading an article by John Piper about the last email he received from Tim Keller. We know John Piper, Bethlehem Baptist in Minnesota, and then we know of the ministry of Tim Keller from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Tim Keller died at 72, pancreatic cancer. He had a stellar ministry. He left a legacy, but he told John Piper in the last email he sent him that he was reveling in Luke 10, 20, that his name was written down in heaven. That’s where his focus was, because that’s the matter that matters. Not your success, not your footprint in ministry, not how well you’re known or how effective you seem. I’ll tell you, the matter that matters is your name written in heaven. If it is, rejoice.
Let’s move on to the sentence, the sentence. We watched the court, we’ve observed the judge, we’ve identified the accused, the evidence has been weighed, and now the guilty are to be sentenced, and they’ll be sentenced, as you notice, according to their works, by the things which were written in the books, which would infer, by the way, there will be degrees of punishment. I don’t know if that’s something that’s new to your thinking, but their judgment will be commensurate to their works, and while everybody’s punishment will be severe, it will not be the same. The Lord Jesus taught degrees of punishment. In Matthew 11, 20 to 24, and in Luke 12, 47 to 48 … Let me go to Matthew 11:20 quickly so you get the gist of what I’m saying.
Jesus has been ministering in some of the cities of Galilee and he chastises them. Here they have enjoyed the presence of the incarnate God. Here they have seen manifestation of his glory and power in miracles, but they have rejected Christ, and Jesus says this. “Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida, for if the mighty works were done to you that had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would’ve repented long ago, but I say to you, it will be more … ” Notice these words, “More tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you, and you, Capernaum, who were exalted in heaven, will be brought down to Hades, for if the mighty works were done in you that have been done in Sodom … ” Think about that, Sodom. Sodom and Gomorrah. We think that’s the poster child for sin and debauchery and evil that deserves the wrath of God, but no, “It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you, Capernaum.” Wow.
It deserves more explanation, but for some people in hell, it will be more tolerable than for other people in hell. It will be severe, but it won’t be the same, which will remind me even this morning, sir, if you’re an unbeliever and not a follower of Jesus Christ, everything you do counts for eternity, and will meet you at the judgment of the great white throne. You know what’s scary about this thought? That the measurement is, the greater the light, the greater the punishment. The greater the light, the greater the punishment. Richard DeHaan, the great radio Bible teacher, said this. “The headhunter who has never heard of Jesus, his hell will appear as heaven in comparison with the person who listens to the gospel and hardens his heart against it and does not believe.” Wow, but the sentence will be passed, and Death, and hell or Hades, the place where the unresurrected dead are kept until they’re resurrected for the great white throne, they’ll be cast into a lake of fire.
Is that a literal fire? Possibly. God is able to give the unbeliever a body that can exist and feel pain in the midst of fire. What about the three friends of Daniel who were cast into the fire but weren’t consumed? Isn’t it possible that the fire is literal? Yeah, and yet I realize, when you compare that image or that picture with hell being utter darkness, are these images, are these pictures? Maybe hell, this picture of fire is simply a metaphor, but if it’s a metaphor, if it’s a picture, believe me, the picture’s horrible, and the suffering is terrible. You know what? It will constitute what is called here the second death, when men will be separated from God forever. First death is the separation of the soul from the body. The second death is the separation of the soul and the body, now resurrected and judged, from God forever. There’ll be locked behind walls of fire and bars of brimstone. There’ll be no doors of escape. There’ll be no windows of hope. Hell is divine in its origin. God created it. Hell is eternal in its duration, for men will be tormented night and day along with the devil, the false prophet, and the antichrist. Revelation two, 20:10, hell is just in nature because God is just, and he will do what’s right, and men will be judged according to their works, and hell will be painful in character.
Jesus, in Luke 16:23, talks about a man in Hades who was tormented. Jesus sees the image of sorrow and regret and anguish and says that people in hell will gnash their teeth. A few years back, I was at a class at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. The class was on Jonathan Edwards, and part of the reading was his resolutions, and while I was there, I got deathly sick. I ended up with some kind of stomach flu, which had me writhing in pain, sweating, night and day, vomiting endlessly, and tormented by that sense of nausea, which is horrible, isn’t it? When’s it coming? The sooner the better, and then you get temporary relief, and then it reloads and it’s back, for 24 hours I sweated. At the end of the week, I gave the lady who cleaned the room 150 bucks, no joke, because the mess that lady had to clean up was horrendous.
The sweat broke and I come out of it, and in the middle of it, I remembered resolution 10 of Jonathan Edwards, where he says, in resolution 10, “When I am sick, I will meditate on the pains of hell.” What was the point? He says, when you’re sick, when you’re in pain, when you’re in anguish, when you’re in sorrow physically, you need to meditate on pain that never ends, on anguish that never ceases, and thank God, when you come out the other side of sickness or sickness turns into death and you die in Christ and go to heaven, well, you know what? That’s better than hell. When I am sick, I will meditate on the pain of hell, my friend. When you experience pain, whatever form it is, and it lasts, you need to meditate on the sufferings that await the damned and the lost and those apart from Jesus Christ.
I close where I started. Judgment is coming. You may be lulled into a false sense of security like that farmer, “My crops will be as good as yours.” Well, that may be so for now, but remember, God doesn’t settle his accounts in October. My friend, God will settle his account, and you know what? If he does, it’s because you have rejected Jesus the Redeemer and have given him no choice but to be your judge. I plead with you to flee from the wrath to come, and I plead with you to trust the one who was judged for you, and who on the cross experienced the wrath of God against sin and sinners for you. He was wounded for your transgressions, and he was bruised because of your iniquities. Run to the storm shelter of the cross of Calvary, and hide from the wrath to come.
Father, we thank you for our time in the word this morning, heavy, sobering, but it is the whole counsel of God, and so we have sought to preach it with the commensurate emotion and solemnity it deserves. Lord, help us adhere it this morning, not to just rush out of here and get into the galley-wagging over lunch about the mundane things of life. Help us to meditate upon the fact that our names are written in the Book of Life and rejoice greatly. Help us to think about those we have a sense are not saved and are heading towards the precipice of eternal judgment. We pray that we would call them back and call them to repentance. Lord, help us to rejoice in eternal life and help us to reach those who have not yet experienced it. Lord, help us to live in the fear of God. Help us to be mindful that every action counts, either in terms of reward at the judgment seat of Christ or judgment and punishment at the great white throne. Help us to realize that this is the preface to an eternal story, and we need to be awake to that reality. We ask and pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.