Amen. In Daniel 7, we're going
to read verse 9 and verse 10, and then we'll take up our contemplation
of the seven general facts and see if we can move towards the
concept of the coming of Christ as the New Testament uses that
terminology. In Daniel 7, verse 9, I beheld
till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit,
whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like
pure wool. His throne was like the fiery
flame and his will as burning fire. And a fiery stream issued
and came forth from before him. Thousands, thousands ministered
unto him and 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. The judgment
was set and the books were opened. Thus is the reading of God's
word. Verses nine and ten correspond with every place in the scripture
where God declares that men will answer to God in judgment. Whether
you read in the Old Testament that God will come and his reward
will be with him and he will judge every man according as
his works shall be as is rendered in Isaiah 40 as well as in Isaiah
chapter 61 as well. And then again in the book of
Ecclesiastes we touched on this a couple of weeks ago in the
last chapter of Ecclesiastes 12 13 and 14 God will bring every
Secret thing into judgment whether it be good or whether it be evil
There was a general tendency on the part of the Old Testament
to believe that God would finally rectify all Rebellion against
him at a day of judgment. This is a general universal theme
on the part of Christians and Bible believers that God will
judge humanity. Disregard for this final state
of judgment would bring into question your understanding of
God and your understanding of the cross work of Christ. So
the idea that God would judge men actually speaks to the nature
and character of God, as we've been talking about for a while,
And it also speaks to the accountable nature of man's actions as being
created in God's image and therefore bearing a moral culpability,
an ethical responsibility for his or her actions before God.
God would not be just to judge humanity for anything that they
do if there was not an underlying relationship between God and
them as their creator who has a right to expect that mankind
would do what God says. God would not be right to judge
humanity if humanity did not capacitate or bear within the
faculty of their being a moral and ethical compass by which
they intuitively know that there is a right and wrongness to their
behavior. God would not be able to judge
humanity justly and fairly if God didn't insert into the DNA
of humanity a Framework of right and wrong We would call the law
of God on his conscience and on his heart by which his actions
then would be culpable of accountability if God did not have a relationship
with humanity on some fundamental level by which as Lord over humanity,
he has a right to bring them into judgment over their actions,
then we could conceive that there is no such thing or that it's
ludicrous or absurd to believe in a final judgment day. Theologically,
we would call this an a priori assumption, that it's a foregone
conclusion. Prior meaning something that
we hold prior to something else an opera or I assumption is it's
a foregone conclusion That God will judge man So we read in
Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27 a basic Text that we all should know
it is given unto men once to what and after this the what
that's a basic opera or I assumption on the part of the Jewish believer
of a critical part of the eschaton the final activity the one of
the final acts of the last activities of God will be to bring mankind
into a state of accountability before God and I think the passages
in Daniel chapter 9 chapter 7 verses 9 and 10 underscore that it's
what I love about our English Bible is that largely there's
enough clarity in And and and understanding simplicity of the
English language to grasp the significance of Its revelation
again going back to Daniel 7. I want you to mark with me verse
9 and 10 again And if you have a Bible with commentaries in
it you might see in verse 10 or under verse 10 Matthew 25
31 and 32 and legitimate corollary and you might also see Revelation
chapter 20 verses 11 through 15 a legitimate corollary in
other words your Old Testament in your New Testament correspond
perfectly in this sense that the things that are said in the
Old Testament are also repeated in the New Testament maybe in
a different way but having the same underlying objective and
in some senses bringing greater clarity to the Old Testament
prophecy so Is this, is not this language fairly similar in the
New Testament? I beheld till the thrones were
cast down. In the Hebrew, literally it's
the idea of the thrones being established. It's a little bit
opaque for you to take the idea of thrones being cast down because
it might connote to you that the thrones were being destroyed
or demolished. But really what it means is that
God was setting thrones, plural, in their place Preparing for
a judgment God was setting thrones in their place Preparing for
a judgment and then it describes the one who sits on the central
throne Among all the thrones and he is called the ancient
of days You guys know that's a New Testament language, right?
But the concept of the throne is New Testament language as
well as the ancient of days. Is that true? All right, so the
Ancient of Days would describe both the Father and the Son in
their eternality and in their infinite wisdom by the anthropomorphism
that is inherent in the picture here. The Ancient of Days really
is an oxymoronic statement. It really refers to his eternality.
From of old, the one that's from of old did sit. That means he
rules. He reigns now, he's seated in
a status or status of being ready to judge the ancient of days. Whose garment was white as snow,
the hair of his head was like pure wool and his throne was
like a fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire. So the second
line, that speaks to him being as white as snow, his garment
as white as snow is also affirmed in the New Testament, is it not?
Not only on the Mount of Transfiguration in terms of the second person
of the blessed triune Godhead, who was revealed to Peter, James,
and John as being as white, even whiter than Fuller's soap, his
glory, his splendor manifested when God opened the heavens and
affirmed his sonship. but also Revelation chapter one.
You guys remember Revelation chapter one, what we call that
initiatory vision, that first vision, that inaugural vision
of the four major visions of the book of Revelation. John
turned to see the voice that spake with him. And when he turned
and saw, what he saw was one like the ancient of days, whose
hair was like wool, and he had a garment down to his feet. And
the description of that person was Like the description of Daniel
chapter 7 verse 9 only in Daniel 7 verse 9. We are describing
the father in Revelation chapter 2 we're describing the son and
That brings us to bear on the question of which one is the
ancient of days? Well, it's the father and then
it's the father in the son and both of them now are occupying
thrones and authority over men. So in Daniel's vision chapter
9 here you have exclusively the father on his throne with other
thrones set and he describes the father as being pure as white
as snow in his garment and his hair like the pure wool and his
throne was like the fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire.
Of course as soon as you see that imagery of his thrown like
a fiery flame and his wills as burning fire, we are contemplating
now Ezekiel's vision, are we not? Ezekiel chapter 1, Ezekiel
chapter 10, Ezekiel chapter 8, Ezekiel chapter 11, affirmed
by the Hebrew writer, is that not so? When the Hebrew writer
says what? Our God is a what? Consuming
fire. So when you read your Bible,
even scantily, you discover that the imagery here is that of fire
and the fire here signifies the purity of God's nature, the holiness
of God's nature as the one qualified to exact perfect judgment as
he renders sentence upon men for their deeds. Verse 10 then
describes for us how that pure judgment a fiery flame streams
and issues forth and it came forth from before him and as
a consequence of this fiery stream issuing from the ancient of days
who said it seated on his throne thousands and thousands ministered
unto him now you have to be very careful about this language because
this is describing a Those who are pro-God, whose disposition
is that of worshiping God. Thousands and thousands are ministering
to God. The language is actually describing
the worship of the angels and the worship of the saints. Indistinguishably,
on the last day, there will be two categories of beings that
will actually be in the presence of the throne of God, and that
is the holy angels and God's people. Those are the only ones
that are going to be in this position of worshiping God. And
just as a caveat here, this worship of God that they are exercising
and manifesting and demonstrating is a consequence of their being
enamored by the splendor of God's glory. So I want you to think
about that as we continue to develop this in preparation to
move forward. Why are they ministering to God? Language which we've
already investigated is Levitical language and describes what people
who have been called to be in the presence of God do. We minister
to God in the sense that we give him glory and we render the proper
praise due to him because of the revelation of his glory to
us. We have been privileged as the
priest of God, the people of God who are the people of God
in the role of priesthood to draw near to God and to behold
His glory. And as we behold His glory, we
acknowledge Him for who He is in all His splendor and in all
His beauty. This is what it means to minister
unto God, to declare His glory. Strange, strange concept I know
for us fallen creatures. But the angels would say, your
pastor's right. The angels would say, listen
to your pastor, your pastor's right. Because all they do, the
angels, is cry holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. What a glorious
being he is. So magnificent, so effulgent,
so wonderful, so splendid, that they continually are amazed at
him for all eternity because of the brilliance and brightness
and marvelousness of his being. And so I think we talked about
this a little bit last week. If not, I think I might've talked
about this with my men. The remedy for you and me to
overcome the lackadaisical sort of ineptness that drapes us around
contemplating God is for God to manifest his glory to us.
The reason why we are so casual and so dull and so lifeless and
our thoughts about God is because we don't behold him effectually
enough. God has to reveal himself to
us. And it's only in the revelation of God do we properly and promptly
respond to God accordingly. Don't we need revelations of
God then? And I'm simply saying that every believer who is privileged
to have what Paul prayed about, the spirit of revelation in the
knowledge of Christ We'll have this experience that these who
are called the thousands of thousands ministry unto Him will have.
We will minister to God. We will bow before Him. We will
praise Him. We will adore Him. We will worship
Him. We will awe at God. We will marvel
at God. We will wonder at God. We will
be filled with contemplations of God. We will be enamored by
God. We will be overcome by God. You
guys follow what I'm saying? If God gets a hold of you, you'll
be overcome by God. You'll be overcome. Now this
next line, this next clause, and 10,000 times 10,000 stood
before him. Do you see that? Now this is
describing those who now have to give an account to him. And
the last line says the judgment was set and the what was open?
Plural. Now we are in Revelation chapter
20, aren't we? verses 11 through 15. You guys follow the logic? All right, so we are establishing
our fifth general point under the seven general facts about
the resurrection or return of Christ. First, there's a resurrection
of both the just and the unjust. Secondly, there is a radical
transformation of the believer called glorification. Do we work
that through carefully enough over the last two weeks? Did
you guys get it? That the second almost simultaneous, but we can
say second major event to transpire in the return of Christ upon
the resurrection of all men. But first and foremost, God's
people is a radical transformation of all of God's people to bring
them into a permanent state of qualification to coexist with
God that without this glorification, you and I could not bear to be
in God's presence. Am I making some sense? It wouldn't
happen. So categorically, if we buy into
the notion of the events in order, a resurrection of the just and
the unjust, a transformation or glorification of all believers,
and then the subsequent glorification leading to that destruction that
Revelation chapter 19 speaks about, that destruction of the
evil one and this world system leading to that, The believer
can be comforted that whatever major harrowing events Are to
transpire Because God has now come in the person of Christ
himself As we read in first Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 15 through 17
and the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, the dead in Christ
shall rise. We who remain shall be caught
up to be with the Lord in the air. That event will be a revelation
to the whole world. It will not be a secret rapture. As Christ himself says in Matthew
chapter 24, He says, you don't have to worry about folks saying
low crisis here and low crisis there for when the son of man
comes, it's gonna be like lightning shining across the sky. Everybody
gonna know. My California brethren have a
problem because we don't know nothing about lightning like
my Southern brethren know. My Southern brethren know when
lightning and thunder strikes, nobody misses it. because the
power of it is so magnificent and so alarming and so overwhelming
and so all enthralling that we can feel the power of God in
it. And the lightning, the illuminating effect of lightning when God
does it is greater than anything you and I can do with light bulbs
and fluorescents and anything else. It's a massive revelation. Now take that metaphor and think
about what that's going to be like when a world of darkness
is apprehended suddenly and quickly with that kind of revelation.
Right, so that's the alarming argument that Christ is giving
that when he comes, it won't be slow, it's gonna be quick.
And when he comes, it won't be secret, it's gonna be known everywhere.
And when he comes, he's coming with great power and great glory. There's an amazing contemplation
that our world, which is stable now, Almost sleep when it comes
to God engaged in massive forms of darkness Will be abruptly
awakened out of the stupor of sin and made to Contemplate God
in Christ just as the Christians said they would So it's gonna
be a very alarming day for the believer It was truly and authentically
born-again He will be simultaneously with the coming of Christ and
the resurrection fit, prepared, qualified to participate in that
great manifestation so that he or she does not have to worry
about whether or not they will be ashamed at that time. The
believer will be fit for it. Our job prior to his coming is
to simply make our calling and election sure. But the things
that will transpire when he will come in terms of God's people,
we don't have to worry about somehow us being out of place
or out of kilter or unqualified or unprepared. He will prepare
his people at that moment. That's part of the reward. It's
why we do the diligence of loving him and serving him down here
now while we are on this earth. I wanna look at a few more things
under the idea of the judgment of all men as we are contemplating
in verse five, point number five. That's what we dealt with, judgment
of all men. That's where we were last time,
right? We were dealing with the judgment of all men. And that's
why I dealt with the seats being established. And the idea is,
is that you and I will participate in the judgment. First Corinthians
chapter six, verse two and three. Let's just deal with a few verses
that actually, while they make us uncomfortable, are nevertheless
true from God's side of the equation. And I reiterate, as I have thought
about it significantly, I am so very thankful that the second
major event that transpires is the glorification of God's elect,
bringing all of his people into a status of being qualified to
participate with Christ's return on the larger scope of the things
he must manage when he returns. So in 1 Corinthians 6 verse 2,
Do you know do you not know that the saints shall judge the what?
The Saints and I like the way Paul is using the term Saints
because he's now again retaining that Old Testament terminology
of the Saints of the Saints in the Old Testament the term Saints
was not largely used for the believers who were living on
earth and practicing their in Jehovah God while looking for
Jesus Christ the term Saints really was largely used for those
who had died in Christ and going on to be with glory to be part
of God's army to return in the New Testament the term Saint
is a common term across the board that applies to all of God's
elect having been chosen in Christ and That's what it means to be
a saint. Having been born again, that's
what it means to be sanctified. Having become part of the purpose
of the kingdom of God, that's what it means to be sanctified.
So all believers are saints. You guys got that? Every Christian
is a saint. But when we use that term saint,
it also is a term of privilege, not only mediatorially, but prophetically. Mediatorially, we have the privilege
of standing in the gap for lost sinners, for a fledgling church,
for those who are sick and afflicted. We have the mediatorial work
of wanting to see God's will done of which he works through
our prayers to do it. But we are called saints in that
we are declared to be God's own precious people that he will
bring together with him so that when he unfurls His final eschaton,
the saints will be part of the final eschaton. And this is why
Paul is using the language. Do you not know that the saints
shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged
by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Verse two,
it really does call our attention to, again, the concept that you
and I are starting to now work through and massage right now
in our church around relationship and the idea of accountability.
How many of you guys have been awakened to the importance of
what I've been talking about with regards to relationship
and how that relationship is always rooted in what? Accountability. So I'm gonna say it again so
you can get this, that the idea of a relationship is never to
be viewed as an individual having a one-sided obligation. The idea of relationship always
underscores the state of a thing relating to another thing. The
idea of a relationship always underscores that the state of
a thing. That's what the little stem ship
means. Now we use the word ship in terms
of scholarship and stewardship and all kinds of other ships.
That stem ship is the idea of status of being. the status of
being. And so when we talk about relationship,
we are saying that the status of being between the two is that
they relate. They have a what? Relationship,
right? And when they get engaged, we
call it a what? Courtship. It's the state of
the relationship. They're courting now, taking
it to the next level, preparing for the matrimony that leads
to the marriage. And so when we talk about relationships,
we are talking about a whole litany of complex relationships
that fall under the category of accountability. So when Paul
says in verse three, do you not know that we shall judge angels?
How much more the things that pertain to this life and how
much he said in verse two, are you not worthy to judge? Are
you unworthy rather to judge the smallest matters? No, you're
not that we shall judge angels. How much more things that pertain
to this life This calls my attention to my responsibility before God
to become everything that God wants me to be if in fact he
has designated me to judge men and angels. Now, this is gonna get into the
nuances of the two sides of the judgment, the judgment of the
ungodly and the judgment of the elect, God's people. And what
God has left you and me for down here to do is to demonstrate
our relationship to him on a level of accountability. So that in
the day of judgment, God will be able to call upon our life
as a witness to the ungodly world that he was righteous. Are you
guys following me? That your life counts that the
material that God is gonna use to assist in him overcoming the
unbelief of a wicked world who despises his gospel is the commitment
of the saint to God. And how comprehensive is that
liability or accountability factor in relationship to God? It matters
on every level of relationship. Every human being that has a
conscience is susceptible to being exposed to one of God's
relationships. Am I making some sense? Every
human being that has a conscience, a child. I was just playing with
my beautiful, glorious, magnificent granddaughter today, just before
I came. Julia, just precious. Y'all know what I'm talking about?
The most beautiful woman in the world. just looking at it made
me happy. I'm accountable to God for influencing
her. Then my other granddaughter,
who was a little bit more jealous, charity, just magnificent. I'm accountable to God to influence
her for Christ's sake. And then their rambunctious brothers.
I got a picture of both of them up on my wall. They look like
they both in prison. They look, they look like thugs,
like they took mug shots. I'm accountable as a grandfather
who is a believer in Christ to influence their conscience and
heart with the gospel. I'm accountable. I can't live
a raggedy life in their presence and expect that God is going
to use the material of my life to bear record to them, good
or bad. I told you guys this and one
of the most profound Indicatives that can be employed in the life
of a Christian One of the most profound indicatives is the word
witness You are my witnesses Can you imagine that God Has
rested his reputation his people. God has rested his reputation
on his people. God knows he's in the courtroom
of the conscience of men and they're making God unfair, they're
blaming God for all kind of stuff that's going on in the world
and God's not kind, God's not good, God's not holy. He knows
he's in the courtroom of humanity and he's gonna call to the stand
on that last day his elect Every believer in Christ is going to
be called to the stand, child and an old person, to bear record
by their life that God is true and every man's a liar. Are you
guys following me so far? That's the judgment. But our
lives are going to have to be in correspondence with that accountability
factor to which God has called us. We have to think in those
terms. Now think about this as we get ready to move forward.
What if every person with whom you come in contact with, the
Holy Ghost would just suspend your mind for about a minute
and a half, kind of in suspended animation. The sequential events
of time don't move. Everything stops for about a
minute and a half. And the Holy Ghost tells you,
now, Jess, this person right here, you're going to have to
judge him on the last day. And if that person does not bow
the knee to Christ, receive the Lord Jesus as his only hope for
glory, you're going to facilitate in sending him to hell. So Jess, you're going to have
to come with it, brother. You got the bare record to my
gospel. You're going to have to love that sinner enough to
tell them the truth because I'm going to open the door for you
to do it. But I don't, I don't want you to neglect this opportunity
that I'm opening up to you to tell him about Christ so that
on that day I can call you to the witness stand and say, now
you remember when that knucklehead Jesse was hollered at you? You
remember what he said? You remember how he lived? This
is my witness to you. It's just like that. Are you
guys following that? It's just like that. This is
why we gotta make our calling in election sure. And so I wanna
move you on to another verse in relationship to the judgment
of the elect with God, with Christ rather, because Christ is the
one mediator who will judge all men according to Acts chapter
17, 31. But go with me in your Bible to the book of Judges.
I'm sorry, not Judges, Jude 1 verse 14. And notice what it says there
around the same language, Jude 1. I'm going to try to make sure we
have enough time for Q&A. I'm trusting that you will be
active as you're listening. If you have questions, capture
those questions. Capture them. Capture them. Get
your questions answered. Don't assume that you'll remember
your question tomorrow. Get your questions answered.
Whenever you and I are working through biblical truth, whenever
we're working through biblical truth, breaking up the follow
ground of difficult doctrinal terms and concepts, and we have
to do it by way of an exegetical expository development like we're
doing now, there ought to abound in your mind, there ought to
abound in your mind a number of questions. Unless you are
brilliant, and can take these propositions and these assertions
and my suggestions and connect them while I'm going. Some of
you may, but I doubt if you can do it all. You ought to have
healthy questions. What about, what about, what
about, what about, what about this? What about that? What about
that? You want to be able to work those through because you
want to be able to give an answer to every man that asketh you
the hope of the calling that is in you with meekness and fear. Notice what Jude says. in verse
14. Are you there? And Enoch, also
the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the
Lord comes with, what? 10,000 of his saints. Is that
Daniel language? That's exactly right. Now listen
to verse 15. He's coming with his saints to
do what? Execute judgment. Do you see it? He's coming with
his saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all
that are ungodly among them of all of their ungodly, what? Deeds,
which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches,
which ungodly sinners have spoken against who? Whoa. Verse 15 affirms
everything that I've been saying to you, doesn't it? That Christ
is coming and part of his counsel of judgment will be his elect.
And the non-elect will have to give an answer as to how they
responded to him. And the believer will be a part
of that. Do you see that? This is not angels. The saints
here are not angels. Angels do not judge men. Only
human beings. The man shed man's blood. By
man shall his blood be shed. A man has to judge a man. And
it's men that will judge men. Although we will have the prerogative
of judging angels too. So then watch this. The execution
of the execution of the judgment upon all is designed to convince
all of them that their life amounted to ungodly this and rebellion
against God. You guys see that there's going
to be a day of convincing them. The idea is actually making it
manifest that what we were saying down here was true as is going
to be in that day. What we say to be in today is
this. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Is
that what we say? Right. And then we also say there's
not a just man upon the earth that does good and sin is not.
And then we say the wages of sin is what? And we say that
death is eternal damnation. And then we go on to say, now
the only way to escape that damnation is through Christ. That Christ
is the only way out of the wrath of God that hangs upon your head.
Is that what we say? Right. So what we let men know
is there is a judgment that they are guilty and that the only
remedy is Jesus Christ. Now they have to reckon with
that all the days of their life. I'll be preaching a funeral tomorrow.
Got to do it again. Right? Got to do it again. Got
to let hell bound sinners know we're all under the wrath of
God. You're headed to hell. Christ is the only way out. Right? Or else I'm not preaching the
gospel. And God's saints have been saying these things since
the beginning of time. It's going to come to bear on
the last day when God reckons or calls all men into the inquisition
and they will have to give an account to him. So that's the
final verse around our fifth point. the judgment of all men. So we have underscored a resurrection
of the just and the unjust, a radical transformation or glorification
of all believers upon the return of Christ, a destruction of the
evil one and this world system. I just want to show you, we looked
at 2 Thessalonians 2, 7 and 8 around that, but I want you to see Revelation
chapter 19 verse 11 through 21. Go to Revelation chapter 19.
I just want you to mark that Uh, the events that appear to
be a general order in the scripture is the return of Christ, the
gathering together of his elect, the qualifying them to participate
in the judgment in whatever general and specific sense we might be
able to articulate that. And then finally his coming will
be an awful time for the ungodly. And I want you to Mark how this
language works. This is amazing. I'm in revelation
chapter 19 verse 11. reading through 21 because Revelation
chapter 19 verse 1 through 10 will be addressed in point number
7 so now watch verse 11 and following and I saw heaven open and behold
a white horse and he that sat upon it was called faithful and
true and in righteousness he doth what we're back to judgment
aren't we and then make what now who are we describing here
who is the person in this text Jesus Christ Watch verse 12 his
eyes were a flame of fire Are we once again returning to his
character as God? Possessing the same attributes
as his father the purity of infinite wisdom the ability to see through
all things as they are Precisely and exactly without distortion
the flame of fire meaning that he sees it for what it is This
is why David said I think in Psalm 139 both the day and the
night are alike unto you For God, light and day has no variation,
no distinction. Just as clear as the light is,
so is the darkness with God. That's how perspicuous God's
judgment is. That's how critical and insightful
his ability to see down to the smallest particle that he created
for what it really is. His eyes were a flame of fire,
on his head were many what? I love it. On his head were many
crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew, but he himself
And he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, and his name
is called the what? And I love this final revelation
of his name, of which was spoken back in Revelation chapter 2,
that he had a name no man knew. This is the name, I believe it
is, the Word of God. And what I mean by that is that
when John uses the term the Word of God, John is going back to
the Johannine paradigm of Christ being the Word of God. In the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. The same was
in the beginning with God, right? And there wasn't nothing made
that the Word did not make. So Christ is the logos of God.
But what that means is that Christ is God's counsel, his wisdom,
his purpose, his decree personified. that the second person of the
triune Godhead is the manifestation of the invisible God, both in
terms of his attributes and characteristics, but also in terms of him fulfilling
the father's will. That when Christ fulfills his
father's will, he is the word fulfilling it. Are you guys following
what I'm saying? Right. And so here again, we
are experiencing in this prophecy the warrior king imagery of the
Lord Jesus riding on his white horse that is in perfect righteousness,
no splot or a blemish. That's the imagery of the idea
of white. Christ is coming as a warrior
king to render judgment upon a rebel world. And that's God's
word, is it not? That's God's word. Verse 14,
and the armies which were in heaven followed him upon what? Clothed in what? White and clean,
who are these? The saints. Be sure of it. You got a horse in glory. Yeah,
you do. We're speaking again, anthropomorphically,
we're speaking acrostically, we're speaking in chronological
terminology, right? First century, largely the means
by which war was executed was by the machines of men, but largely
it was empowered by what? Horses. The horse is a metaphor
for the instrument of war, both in the Psalms and in the book
of Job, right? And even in the minor prophets, they mainly,
they plainly talked about the horse being prepared for battle. That's the imagery. And so there's
a time when the people of God will transition out of the mode
of peace and mediation that takes place now in this world. I like
where I am in our thoughts right now. I like where I am. And I'm
looking forward to making this plane as we see why David was
rejected from building the temple. Those of you who have been with
me long enough know the typology between David and Solomon, that
they both play Christ types, right? The distinction between
David and Solomon is that Solomon was allowed to build the temple,
David wasn't, because Solomon was not a man of war. David was a man of war. God says
I do not want my temple built with bloody hands because my
temple is a temple of what peace You guys follow the argument.
However, the material for the temple could not be purchased
apart from war So the cross is one of the greatest battles God
executed To acquire the material to build his church Are you guys
following me? So there's a side of Jesus called
the man of war. There's also Jesus is called
the prince of peace, but he's going to return to the man of
war motif in order to set things straight before he brings in
eternal peace. That's chapter 20 and 21 chapter
20 and 21 gives us that beautific vision with the temple being
established and glorified and the saints and all that being
gathered together in God's presence only after war. The war motif
is chapter 19 and chapter 20. Is that true? Right, so now watch
the language, how it unfolds. Verse 15 says this, and out of
his mouth goes a sharp sword. Is that the first time this image
is used? Of course not. It's in chapter 2, chapter 1
as well, is it not? Sure, that's what John saw out
of his mouth when a sharp sword. It's the same language that's
used in Isaiah chapter 11. Concerning one of the attributes
of Messiah out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it He
should what smite the nations and he shall rule them with a
rod of iron again. That's not new language, is it?
It's used in Revelation chapter 12 and in Psalm 2 where David
who is a type of Christ sits on his father's throne to execute
wrath and judgment against his enemies so now you see David
being drug all the way to the book of Revelation and Because
he is the protological jesus and jesus is the eschatological
david, right? God's beloved now is the warrior
king who's going to exercise the rod upon humanity because
of their rejection of his authority Finally god christ will put down
all foes And out of his mouth goes a sharp two-edged sword
with it that he that with it He should smite the nations and
he shall rule them with the rod of iron and tread the wine press
of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God. Do you see that?
Again, the imagery now is conflated. We are now combining imagery.
It's a war imagery with the wine press. But the wine press has
always been adjacent to the war imagery, has it not? The grapes
of wrath. You guys got that. That's the
imagery. That the grapes are symbolic
of the nations. Trodden under the foot our feet
our hoofs if you will of the righteous King warrior Jesus
Christ as he triumphantly destroys all the nations that oppose him
you guys see that terminology, don't you? right the wrath of
God Almighty so who is going to execute God's wrath Christ
and He hath the vesture and on his thigh a name written Notice
what it says King of Kings and what in big bold letters in our
King James Bible In order to emphasize that this is the final
battle What Christ himself will put an end to the final rebellion? This is a final battle I watch
how it closes that I want to make sure this closes with you
this imagery and again, we're dealing with Acronyms his historical Time
pieces imagery imagery that is rooted in Old Testament terminology
that is incongruent with today's vernacular in today's contemporary
Cultural setting I saw an angel standing in the Sun and he cried
with a loud voice saying to all the fowl that fly in the midst
of the heaven Come and gather yourselves together unto the
supper of the what? All right Verse 17 is giving
a triumphant expression of a battle that has yet to actually be accomplished.
But if the angel is calling the carrion, if he's calling the
vultures, if he's calling the ego, what is he implying prophetically? That Christ is going to subdue
all his foes, that there's going to be flesh everywhere on the
mountains and in the land and in the sea, plenty for the carrion
birds, the birds of prey to eat. Isn't that the way David talked?
When he confronted the giant, he says, your flesh and the flesh
of your army will be on the sides of the hill for the birds of
the air to eat. Remember that language? No, you
don't. Let me go on. He was just talking. Verse 18,
that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains
and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses. and of them
that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond,
both small and great. Verse 18 describes the condition
and the cultural sort of echelons of our world. It's talking about
rulers, it's talking about the flesh of kings, and the flesh
of captains, right? Talking about political rulers,
now military rulers. Flesh of kings, flesh of captains,
and the flesh of mighty men. Noble men, powerful men. This
might even refer to those who are economically powerful. And
the flesh of horses, that is their war machines. And them
that sit on them, that is their generals and warriors. And the
flesh of all, now it's universal. Both free and bond, small and
great, indicating everyone outside of Christ is in the army of the
devil. Is that what it's indicating?
Because this is one final battle against all who stand against
the gospel. Small and great. Kings and captains,
mighty men, the warrior horse. And I saw the beast and the kings
of the earth and their armies gather together to make war against
him. Again, notice how the war is
against him personally. to make war against him that
sat on the horse and against his army. Now it's against his
people. We are his army. And the beast
was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles
before him with which he deceived them that it received the mark
of the beast and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast
alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant
were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse,
which sword proceeded out of his mouth and all the fowls were
filled with their flesh. Do you see it? This is total
consummate destruction of his foes described by a sword proceeding
out of his mouth. And we would suggest that that
sword is his word of proclamation. that the power of Christ's words
will destroy his foes, as 2 Thessalonians 1 says, when he returns in flaming
fire, taking vengeance on all those that know not God and that
do not obey the gospel, and that he will destroy Satan and him
who comes after his power with the brightness of his coming
and by the power of his mouth. There's a sense in which Christ's
words going forth out of his mouth with power will bring that
destruction. Now, saints, what we are describing
here in chapter 19 is that period of final destruction and the
setting forth of all of his foes. Chapter 20 goes into verses one
through 11 of what we have dealt with when we first opened our
series, the controversial nature of what is called the what? The
millennium. And then it moves into verse
11 of chapter 20, where it says in verse 11, I'm sorry, look
with me at verse, I'll start at verse seven of chapter 20.
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed
out of his prison and he shall go out to deceive the nations,
which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog to
gather them together to battle the number of whom is as the
sand of the sea. You see verse eight in your text.
Right, so I don't have time to deal with this, but the assumption
that we are dealing with a strict chronological order will be a
problem with you if you are serious about eschatology. What I believe
the author is doing in chapter 20 verses one through 10 is giving
us a description of what really takes place in chapter 19. Don't
be thrown back by that. That's the nature of revelation.
Often revelation gives you events and then it sums it up in terminology
that underscores the basis of the events. Like the Genesis
account. Genesis chapter one is prophetic. Genesis chapter two is fulfillment. It's not a recapitulation. One
is declaring, the other one is now functioning what was declared. So you gotta be very careful
with that. In any event, what we do is we find ourselves looking
at now the destruction of what is called Gog and Magog, because
they finally rise up against God, verse nine. And they went
up on the breadth of the earth and come past the camp of the
saints about and the beloved city and fire came down from
God out of heaven and did what devour them. And the devil that
deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where
the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day
and night forever. The description that I have for
you right now is the destruction of all God's foes on the earth,
demons and men. Now, what we are about to look
at in verse 11 is what is called the final judgment. So here's
what's going on. When Christ comes, there will
be that raging battle against his foes. How long? We don't
know. But what it will be is a destruction
of the rebellion of mankind against the sovereign Lord. And then
all men will have to stand before him in that final judgment. And that's what's being described
in verse 11. And I saw a great white throne
and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven
did what? Right. And there was no, there
was found no place for them. And again, verse 11 does what
apocalyptic language does. It actually disjoints you and
me from a linear concrete process of thinking. Be very careful.
When you are dealing with apocalyptic language, whether it's in the
book of Daniel, in the book of Ezekiel, in the book of Revelation,
sometimes the language is very concrete and earthly. It makes
a lot of sense because we can understand the three-dimensional
nature of the event. And then it dislodges itself
from rational reference points that you and I are used to. And
now all of a sudden we're asking questions like, well, if there's
a judgment, but the heavens and the earth have fled away, where
is everyone standing? That's the nature of revelation.
Are you guys hearing me? That's the nature of revelation.
So the nature of revelation is to give you these macro images,
these macro pictures of events that we actually now can duplicate
this in movies. How many of you guys watched
Perception? How many of you guys saw Perception? What's that boy's
name? Who was in it? Yeah, DiCaprio, right? And he
was in this movie where his mind was able to play these images
of parts of the land being turned upside down and coming upside
down on his head. And he thought he was being overcome
by the ocean. And for him, he was being dislodged
from rational thinking based upon concrete consciousness,
like you and I are today. It's kind of like when you and
I go into our dream stage. And in our dream states, there
are these weird patterns and, and actions. And you wonder how
this is. So I'm old enough now to know
how to control my dreams. Yes, I am. I'm just going to
help you. How to tell you how this works
for me. I don't know about you. Uh, when I'm in my dreams and
I'm doing stuff like getting thrown out of airplanes by my
enemy, let me help you. I'll just start flying and land. You ain't gonna kill me. Not
in my dream, you not. No, I'm just, I'm helping you
understand now. What will, I used to have a hard time with my enemies,
you know, coming after me and being able to kill me, but it's
my movie. So you don't ever kill me. You
only get close to killing me. I'll snatch the gun out of your
head real quick. I'm able to move like lightning
fast across the street and look at you from the top of the hill.
And again, if I'm being thrown over a cliff, I just take wings
and fly. I'm going to make the story in
happily for me. I'm being facetious, but I'm
helping you understand how to manage these incongruent images
in the book of revelation. by not expecting them to hold
a linear, concrete, rational expectation, like as if we are
dealing with real facts, we're dealing with imagery. You guys
got that? And in that sense, as I said last week and the week
before, when you and I are dealing with in-time activities, we have
to be very humble and very careful that we're only dealing in generalities.
We're dealing in generalities. We get to defend the word of
God where people make assertions or assumptions that are not logically
and rationally seen in the scriptures. But as we are dealing with end
time events, we are dealing in generalities because, as we're
getting ready to move to our next point, when Christ comes,
the scriptures call it the last day. On the last day when Christ
shall come, on the last day. In that day, in the last day,
If in fact the terminology is the last day, we have moved it
to an eternal dimension. We're not dealing with things
on a 24 hour cycle anymore. Things change radically in terms
of the clock when Christ comes. Are you guys following what I'm
saying? So the notion that you and I are trying to find concrete
for people to stand on and trying to determine the length of period
of times of events, all of that goes out the window when Christ
comes. Because when Christ comes, time will be no more. Events
will continue to transpire, but they will be in an eternal dimension.
I hope that helps, because it's important to be able to think
along those lines. Let me see, what else can I do?
In point number six, the way that I underscore point number
six is this way, that the unfolding of the judgment of all men, according
to point number five, will, well, yeah, let me see if I can do
it like this. Right, according to point number
five, the unfolding of the judgment of all men will include both
what takes place in Revelation 20, 20 verses 11 through 15,
where the ungodly are being judged, and then there will take place,
or simultaneously, or prior to, subsequent to, there will take
place, point number six, a reward of works good or bad, saved and
unsaved. Do you see that in point number
six? A reward of works, good or bad, saved and unsaved. And
I'm being, I'm qualifying my terminology there when I say
this, that in Revelation chapter 20, verses 11 through 15, the
believer is not apparently in this judgment. Notice the way
the language unfolds. And I saw a great white throne
and him that sat on it from whose face the earth And the heavens
had fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw
the dead small and great stand before God. Do you see that?
That terminology is not describing God's elect. That's describing
the unbeliever. The unbeliever is described as
the dead because they were spiritually dead. and then they were brought
back to life having been physically dead, never ever being born again,
and they're standing before God. Again, you have the oxymoronic
language, don't you? I see the dead standing. Well, how are they standing if
they're dead? Well, they're standing before God because they're dead
spiritually. That would indicate that the
people that are here in this judgment are not God's elect.
Where would God's elect be? thrones in the judgment with
Christ am I making some sense right so you would have to insert
other biblical language as we've already done in this regard I
saw a great right thrown him that sat on it from whose face
everything fled in order to not cooperate with mankind in order
that they might stand before God naked and the books were
open there's Daniel chapter 7 again isn't it and the books were open
and other books were open and which is the book of life, and
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books according to their what? So you see the judgment
of the ungodly is a judgment according to their what? Right,
and we have inserted in chapter, in verse 12, two books. One book
was open, which is called the book of life, and then the dead
were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
plural, according to their works. So there are two books. One is
a book of works, by which, or a book of assessment by which
the words of the unbeliever will be judged. The other is called
the book of life, which John talks about back in chapter 12,
or 13 rather, called the Lamb's book of life. And he describes
that back down in verse 15. Notice verse 13, and the sea
gave up the dead that were in it. Death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. And they were what? Judged every
man according to their what? So now look at verse 13 carefully
with me. You notice how it says in the sea gave up the dead Do
you see that do you see why I say be careful about a linear concrete
imagery? Because back at verse 11 everything
is gone now back at verse 15. We got the sea giving up the
dead You hear me be very careful when you're dealing with revelation
He's giving you imagery, but it's disjointed Your perception
now has to be able to contain the disjointed imagery. All right,
you have to be able to do that. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it. And death and hell, what is death and hell?
Hades gave up the dead which were in them. And they were judged
every man according to their works. This here is almost an
exegetical or an explanation of verse 12. The sea gave up
the dead that were in it. The grave gave up the dead that
were in it. And they were all judged every
man according to their works. What we know clearly, according
to verse 12 and 13, men will be judged according to their
what? The dead, the unsaved will be judged according to their
works. Verse 14, and death and hell were cast into the lake
of fire. This is the second death. So
now John describes to us that death, which is the wages of
what? Sin. will no longer exist because
it will be thrown into Hades as well. And Hades itself, the
place of the dead, will no longer exist because it will be thrown
into the lake of fire itself too. So for those of you who
are not clear on your categories, be careful to make a distinction
in your mind between the hell that holds the physical bodies
of human beings and the souls of the ungodly in Hades and Gehenna,
which is corresponding to the lake of fire in the latter part
of chapter 20. You guys see the distinction?
It's very important for you to make a distinction between Hades
and Gehenna. Sometimes you won't see it in
your English Bibles. In your English Bibles, all you will
see is the word hell. But Luke 16 gives us a distinction
between merely having the body go into the ground and the soul
of the rich man crying out in torment because he's actually
in torment so in that Hades condition of Luke 16 the Ungodly are in
a state of conscious awareness that they're gonna have to face
God in the final judgment You guys see the distinction? So
Hades is holding the unbeliever in a conscious state of torment
where he's aware that he died without Christ that he neglected
to live according to the glory of God and he's awaiting what's
taking place here the arraignment and judgment on the last day.
Are you guys following me so far? I'll give you a few minutes
to raise questions here in a second. And if you're not following,
get the CD, because this will be good for you to just wrestle
with. Because we naturally, in a kind of vortex, allow ideas
to kind of slide and merge together. And when you do that, you fail
to keep those distinctions, and then you'll start saying things
theologically that you won't be able to prove. Hades is not
the lake of fire. The hell that scripture normally
talks about when it talks about men perishing in hell prior to
the judgment cannot be the lake of fire because the lake of fire
is the consequence of judgment. So again, in the New Testament,
the Greek term Hades corresponds to the Old Testament, Hebrew
word Hades or Hades. But the word Gehenna, which Christ
himself used several times, speaks to the lake of fire, which Revelation
chapter 20 calls the second death. That's a distinct final consignment
of all those who did not receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their
Lord and Savior in time. And we read in verse 14 again,
and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is
the what kind of death? Right. And whosoever was not
found written in the book of life was what? Right. And so we call this a compendium.
In verse 15, we have a closing statement that fundamentally
argues this. No one will enter into heaven
whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life. And
everyone Who is not written in the Lamb's book of life will
be cast into the lake of fire. So really what you have described
here is actually the destiny of the non-citizens of the kingdom. You guys got that? What you have
here is the destiny of the non-citizens of the kingdom of God. This is
how our study precipitated or initiated itself. We started
off by talking about what? The kingdom of God, didn't we?
That's where we are now. Because God is very serious about
his kingdom. So what you and I have had described
tonight a bit was the final demise of all those who opposed God's
kingdom. And the language, the imagery
of a book of life, is always the charter or the register of
those who are citizens of a particular kingdom. Like your name should
be down at the courthouse in Oakland if you were born in Oakland
or the courthouse of Hayward or San Leandro or wherever you
were born, your name should be on a register in that city so
that we can all go and know that you are a citizen of this city
and of this state and of this country. Am I making some sense?
So that every believer has his name written in the lamb's book
of life because they are citizens of that kingdom Citizens And
the way john is just simply closing it out is this way The only reason
you end up in hell Is because you never became a citizen of
heaven Does that make some sense It's harsh, but it's simple and
this is why we press men and women to enter into the kingdom
Enter into the kingdom All right, I think I got one more point
couple more points here See if I can just talk about these briefly.
I do want to answer a few questions before we close I like the contemplation
that's going to come up. I'll be able to Talk about this
just briefly because we're dealing with rewards on our first sunday
class One of my brothers emailed me here recently and said Pastor
now, you know what's coming up on this next first sunday You
know what's coming up, don't you? You know what I said to
him? No, I don't know what's coming up on this next first
Sunday. What? He said, boy, the Super Bowl,
the Super Bowl, the Super Bowl. That's what he said. He said,
you're going to have class. I said, boy, I have class every
Super Bowl. Why wouldn't I have class just
because it's the Super Bowl? I got about 10 people going,
amen, amen. The rest saying, oh, I ain't
going to be in class on Superbowl Sunday. And he was struggling
because he's holding a Superbowl party, right? Bless his heart.
And the saints always invite me to Superbowl parties. And
I love it, but I'm not missing church for Superbowl. And I'm
not missing the gathering of the saints for anybody's Superbowl.
I love when the devil sets up his holidays on God's holidays. I love when he sets up his holidays
on God's holy days because I love to let the saints know I'm not
wasting one second determining whether I'm going to worship
God or worship the devil. It's already been just an all
prior assumption upon the day God saved me by his grace and
brought me into the kingdom. Sunday is the Lord. I mean, it's
not even a struggle for me. And even sometimes there were
some of my most coveted teams were in the Superbowl. Oh man,
that's going to be a good game. But it doesn't begin to contend
with the notion of whether I'm going to worship God or not.
Do you hear what I'm saying? Worship God? I'm going to worship
God. I'm not going to hell with my
Super Bowl team. So let me talk briefly about
this, about five minutes. I will take a few questions and
close. Point number six, a reward of works, good or bad, saved
or unsaved. We can disregard the unsaved
in this category. Let me expose you to just a few
concepts around that. First Corinthians chapter three.
1 Corinthians 3. Let's read 1 Corinthians 3. It's going to be around verses
8 through 16. I'm just going to make a brief comment on it.
And then 2 Corinthians 5 on this. In 1 Corinthians 3, this is where
most legitimate and honorable Bible-believing pastors wrestle
with and succumb to the fact that believers, in some sense,
must be given must be given to an account before God around
the area of their works. They don't always agree how this
works itself out, but I'm very, very confident that over the
next three or four months, as we gradually unpack all of the
language surrounding the rewards of believers, we will be able
to put it in order. It will be undeniable though,
when you read these verses that in fact, Someone if not all of
us will have to answer for our works Mark what it says in verse
I'm gonna start at verse 9 for we are laborers together with
God you are God's husbandry You are God's building the Apostle
Paul uses two metaphors in the first in the first in the third
chapter of 1st Corinthians two metaphors one a cultivated field
God's a husband and then a building Both of those metaphors get inflated,
conflated. They become confluent in a moment.
And it's really pointing to the temple of God. And then he says
in verse 10, according to the grace of God, which is given
unto me as a wise master builder, and that Greek term there is
architecton. It means he was an architect.
God gave the apostle Paul the blueprints for how to establish
a legitimate gospel church. Have laid the foundation and
other men build their own But let every man take heed how he
builds their own and verse 10 now becomes a warning to the
church at Corinth Contextually to all churches generally and
to every believer specifically That you and I did not lay the
foundation the Apostles laid the foundation of the gospel
and that foundation was Christ and and that upon the foundation
of the person and work of Jesus Christ, every believer now is
a participant in the building of the temple. The temple is
the building, the edifice that sits on the foundation. And that
is the subsequent work that comes when you and I are born again
after having the gospel preached to us and we believe it, and
then we join the Lord Jesus in the building of the church. Am
I making some sense? because every believer has been
called to participate in the building of the church. This
analogy is carried up again in Ephesians chapter two, where
it talks about the body or the building, the temple of God in
an organic fashion, growing into a holy temple of the Lord, a
habitation of God through the spirit. And what that means is
God has called you and me to participate in the growing of
the church in the calling of lost sinners into the body of
Christ until every stone has been placed in the temple until
the last stone is placed. The first stone was Christ. He's
the cornerstone. He's the foundation stone. The
foundation stones are also the apostles and prophets. And upon
their teaching, do we build the church? Are you guys following
me? We do not build the church upon man's doctrine or human
experience, but rather the word of God. which is summed up in
the doctrine of the apostles and Jesus Christ and the apostles,
or rather the prophets. So from Genesis to Revelation,
our authority is the word of God upon which we affirm the
foundation of the gospel and then build upon it as we share
that gospel with men and women, those who believe are stones
brought in. Am I making some sense? Now here's where the challenge
comes in for the ministers specifically and for the church in general.
to be more fully developed in the future. For other foundation
can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if
any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones,
wood, hay, and stubble. So do you see what Paul did?
He gave us a category of two with three items in each category.
On one side of the ledger, gold, silver, and precious stone. On
the other side of the ledger, wood, hay, and stubble. This
is a Hebrew doublet, couplet. And one side has to do with material
that is of a qualitative nature, also of a durable nature. On the other side of the ledger
is material that is of a poor quality and easily combustible. So the imagery is of that, of
the character and nature of the work of the minister. Does he
use precious material? does he use shabby material in
his service to the kingdom of God does the minister of the
gospel does do those who call themselves workers in the kingdom
purchase shabby material for the building process of the church
and splatter it over with the facade of some type of glittery
substance that makes it look good but in fact has no quality
at all. Are you guys hearing me? Or does
he or she pour their life into the purchasing of materials that
actually cost them something when it comes to assisting God
in the building of his church? Do you guys see the imagery?
I'm gonna say it one more time. On two sides of the ledger are
the quality of all of our works, indicating what level of sacrifice
and commitment we have engaged in for the purchasing of the
material that we use for the building of the kingdom. If I
don't really care about my relationship with God, this goes back to what?
Accountability, which goes back to what? Relationship. Are you
guys following me? See, if I don't really care about
God, I'll hoodwink God and go down and get some press wood
that's real cheap and some spray paint or some fool's gold or
all of the superficial stuff that man makes today to give
an appearance of it being substantive. If I don't really care about
God, I'm not going to put that much into my service for God. And when it's all said and done,
God's gonna actually measure and test the quality of my work. Are you guys hearing me? If I
don't believe that the kingdom of God is worth me selling all
that I have and purchasing gold and silver and precious stone
to adorn the kingdom of God by my good works, then I'm going
to shortchange God because that's the way I view my relationship
with him. He's not worth me spending my
money or my time or my attitude or my efforts or my motive or
my desires or my passions on resources that will build his
church with material that will bring him glory upon looking
at it. And will endure the fire upon
passing through it. Are you guys hearing me? This
has everything to do with my attitude towards God. This has everything to do with
my attitude towards God. Everything to do with my attitude
towards God. Will I give the Lord that for
which I did not labor? Will I expect shabby, shoddy
work to pass the fire of God's inscrutable Judgment That's really
what Paul is talking about. Are you guys following me? You
guys see the imagery, right? So so so so Paul is letting the
preacher know if you think you're gonna paste together a few ideas
and hook wing people with your humanism and your self-centeredness
and your Tricanery and your ability to mesmerize people with words
and and you're not gonna labor in the truth. I that's more precious
than gold and silver. If you're not going to pour your
heart into the word of God and give yourself over to the truth
of God so that the truth of God can be the material upon which
you build the glory of God in Christ upon the hearts of men
and women, then you are going to face a rude awakening on the
last day. Preacher, because God is not
building track homes. God's not building track homes.
In fact, God's not building duplicate homes. God's building one home,
one habitation of God through the spirit, and God supplies
everything necessary for us to do the best job we possibly can. He gives us all of the resources
in the kingdom. The commonwealth is filled with the material necessary
to build at the highest quality we possibly can. So that not
only does it honor God for his house to be gilded with pure
gold, gilded with pure silver, gilded with precious stones.
See, that's Revelation chapter 21. We're not there yet. And
I saw the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, having
the glory of God. And I saw the holy Jerusalem
coming down from heaven, adorned as a bride, having the glory
of God. And the splendor of that holy
city Jerusalem was exactly what Paul is talking about now, right?
Precious stones, gold and silver, eternal qualities. Because that's the only thing
that's going to stand after the judgment. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Now this goes back to a statement that I made a couple
of weeks ago. And I'll close here. in our rewards class. And here's what I said. I said,
now you can tell people what you do for Christ will last. You guys remember that? It's
an old song. What we do for Christ will last. And I told you, be careful. Be
careful. You better be careful to make
sure that what you do is what he does through you. Because
if it's not what he does through you, it won't last. It won't last if it's not Christ
working in you. If Christ is not working in you
to qualify the character of your labors so that they pass the
fire of God's judgment, they'll be burned up. Now you guys following
what I'm saying? Listen carefully to me. The works
of men can never ever be viewed as gold, silver, and precious
stone. Unless those works are combined
with the work of God and his divine nature Qualifying the
works of men so that they bear that kind of quality before God
Are you guys hearing me? I'm gonna say it again. Just
in case you didn't get it What's gonna burn up on the last day
are the efforts and the designs and the machinations and the
methodologies and the techniques and the motives of men for Jesus
but not by Jesus How come? Because all of our
works are filthy rags. All of our works by themselves
are dung. All of our works by ourself can
never amount to precious gold and silver and precious stones. Gold, silver and precious stones.
Only because we are still and yet sinners and selfish and come
short of any kind of purity apart from the grace of God. Hear me
carefully. Whoever it is that will have
their works assessed on the last day, and God calls it gold, silver,
and precious stones, will be the consequence of a combined
union between that man and Christ. Christ working in him the will
and to do of his good pleasure. Christ working in him, performing
in him and with him that which he cannot do by himself. It requires
the divine nature to produce a work that's accepted by the
divine nature. It requires God to help us in
anything that we do for it to be accepted. Am I making some
sense? That would mean that those who are laboring in the kingdom
must labor in the kingdom, walking close enough with God to ask
God to get rid of everything that's not like God in their
work so that it's not burnt up on the last day. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? So see, I'm asking God to burn
it up now. Burn it up now. If my efforts and my labors and
my motive is purely carnal and not inspired by God, not strengthened
by his spirit, not directed by his word, not framed by his truth
so that the net result is God working through me to actually
affect the souls of men, I want God to burn it up now. Cause
he's sure enough going to burn it up then. Is that true? I'm almost done here. Let's listen to the text and
we'll close out. He says in verse 13, every man's work shall be
made manifest for the day shall declare it. And I'm very, I'm
very certain that the day here is the last day. And I'm very
certain that of that, because there is a way in which the new
Testament talks about manifestation. And we'll get to that next week.
that right now where you and I are, we are not in the manifestation. We're not in the epiphany. Yeah,
the epiphany. We are presently in the mystery.
You guys follow the logic? We're in the mystery. We're in
the mystery phase of things appearing one way, but in fact, maybe something
else. We're in the phase where we're
mixed the wheat and the tares, the sheep and the goat. We're
in that phase where things are hidden and Christ will have the
privilege of unveiling the reality of things on that day. That will
be the manifestation. In that day, there will be a
revelation of Christ, a manifestation of us, and a glorification of
God through us if our works make it through. You guys got that?
Revelation of apocalypses, which we'll talk about next week. Epiphany
a manifestation of who we really are is what Paul is plainly saying
in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 is every one of us will be made
manifest and Then our works will be made manifest Which means
you and I don't have the prerogative of putting an assessment on our
works now In other words don't waste your
time trying to assess your works and assess your motive, assess your motive and ask God
to shape your motive. Cause you and I won't be able
to assess our works accurately until that day. You guys follow
the logic. And if, and if we're always examining
our motive, as Paul said, examine yourself to make sure you're
in the faith of a truth. If we're examining our motives,
We will do well We will do well to make sure we're we're being
honest with the Lord When our attitude is funky tell him the
truth Don't play games accountability. That's what I'm talking about
Accountability cuz see God God's not playing games with us the
Holy Ghost is given to us that we might walk in the light and
There's enough biblical truth available to us so that we can
be honest with God and not play games Am I making some sense? So now, if our works down here
smell like doo-doo, just get busy cleaning that up now, because
it ain't going to happen. If you know your attitude is
funky, if you know your attitude is messed up, if you know that
you're manipulative and deceitful and not right, just get right
now. That's all. That's what the font is all about.
That's what the blood is all about. That's what the cross
is all about. That's what the great high priest
and mediator is all about right now clean up every day And then
when you go to work go to work with the right attitude And leave
the judgment to god as paul said am I making some sense? And by
the way while you are suspending judgment on yourself Suspend
judgment on everybody else too And let him have the glory of
determining see that day is gonna be a that's gonna be a wonderful
day of revelation Some folks you don't like are gonna have
way better works than you And some folks that don't like you
you're gonna have way better works than them see but that's
all God's business And yet the language is clear there's some
who won't have any works at all, you know what the text said For
the day shall declare because it shall be revealed by fire
and the fire shall try every man's work what sword it is next
verse final verse Listen to what it says. Verse 14. If any man's work abide, which
he had built thereupon, he shall receive what? I'm looking forward
to unpacking that more fully. The language is clear, isn't
it? Don't you think that language is clear? It's clear. There is a reward, a repayment,
a recompense for those labors. I'm looking forward to talking
about why that's so. Verse 15, and if any man's work
shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be
saved, yet so as by fire. See it? So Paul has received
this revelation to give to us about an aspect of the final
eschaton wherein we will be called to account for our labors. We can't rip first Corinthians
three out of the text. We just gotta work with it. Alright,
let's close in prayer. Father, thank you for this time.
Thank you for the saints that have come out as we go our way,
give us traveling mercies, prepare us to worship you on Sunday.
We pray you are a good god. Yes, you are. You're good all
by yourself. and you are worthy of praise
and we thank you for calling us out of darkness into your
marvelous light. Help your servants, Lord, all
over the world. Help us to do what you have called
us to do. Help us to get it right. Help
us to do it right. Work in us that which we cannot
accomplish for ourselves and work through us and with us that
which you are calling us to do. So that with your strength and
your power and your grace and the supply of the spirit and
everything necessary for godliness, we might produce that which is
well pleasing in your sight. For in that you said our father,
your father would be glorified. Grace us to do just that we pray
in Jesus name, amen.