Mother's Day is not one of those
that I think is unworthy to be mentioned. I appreciate and I
thank the Lord for mothers. I'm glad my mom's here. And for
you mothers, I tell you Happy Mother's Day. Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Revelation. We've gone through this book
once. We've done what I called a review,
which I think probably ended up being more extensive than
the first time we went through. And for that, I'm thankful. I'm here today as a frail creature,
and that's not, I'm not trying to sound Anything other than honest. One that knows something of my
need of mercy. One that knows something about
my helplessness to do anything to help myself. And one who knows just a little
bit about loathing that which I can see. in me that
is inconsistent, much less those things that I
am so ignorantly unaware of. Revelation 20, continuing on
as we just take these scriptures verse by verse, verse 11, John
said, And I saw a great white throne, and Him that 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, stand before God. And the books were opened, and
another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every man,
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. Our Father. We come before you this morning. As needy people. People that. Absolutely. have nothing to lay claim to
or to lay hold upon that we've done in ourselves to merit any
righteousness or any standing of justification before You. Lord, we know something of the
soberness of this day. Help us. Teach us. Call out your people. Comfort
those that you've everlastingly loved. Show us of Christ. In these things
we ask for His name. Amen. Well, based upon this scripture right
here, There's going to come a time
when everything's going to be settled before God. It's going to be settled before God. Everything is going to be settled
in absolute righteousness. It's going to be settled forever. When men stand before God Almighty,
there is not going to be any plea bargaining. There is not
going to be any attention given to things that men thought or
believed were so concerning God's righteousness is going to be
the way that God says it is. John said, I saw a great white
throne. I discerned it. I gave attention to it. I knew
the seriousness of it. I saw it. Probably going to have court
tomorrow. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday over in Fairmont. They'll have it over in Franklin. I know they have court there.
I've been in the courtroom a time or two. I know they're going to have
it this next week here in Fairmont. But you know what? It doesn't
really matter to me. You know why? I don't plan to
be there. I haven't been summoned. I have no idea who's on the docket. I don't know the cases that's
going to be tried. I have no knowledge whatsoever. I don't know whose name, I don't
know. I don't know anything about anything. But I do know this. This one right here. Everybody's going to be there.
I saw a great, great in size and great in authority. That's what it means. That the
first word, the first meaning of that word great is in size. My goodness, everybody that's ever lived is
going to be there. White because of the holiness and the purity
and the righteousness of Him who judges. And it is a throne,
a great white throne, because the King who rules over all the
other little puny kings that this world has had, Solomon, David, all these kings
that God raised up Those guys are little K Kings. This is a capital K King. This is the King of Kings. This is the capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital D of all the little L, O, R, Ds. This is a great white throne. And John said in him that sat
on it, from whose face the earth and
the heaven fled away. What that means is this, if all
of this stuff, this world, the heavens, Milky Way, that's a beautiful
That's a beautiful thing. I've seen that. I remember as
a kid, I used to see the Milky Way a lot. I thought, man, what
a majestic looking thing up there. And all these stars. Grand Canyon. All of these mighty
things. Mess and stuff. It just fades into nothing. compared to him, it just fled
away. Everything that a man thought
he was, everything that he attained, everything that he thought was
worthy to be grasped hold of, nothing. The care of this world, And I'm telling you, I've heard
on TV the other day that most retirement plans, you're probably
down about 50%. It's going to get lower than that. Daniel 4.35, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed, regarded, There's nothing. Man in himself, man in what he's
accomplished, man in what he thinks his esteem ought to be. Nothing. There was found no place
for them. No place of hiding and no place
of justification. You won't bring Anything to this
judgment, great white thrones and him that sat on whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place
for them. You won't have to worry about
bringing anything that will be brought up or you think you'll
use to justify yourself. You won't bring anything with
you. There will be no place found for them. The earth and the heaven
fled away. Nothing. Nothing. You won't bring
anything. Why? Because all that's necessary,
the Judge is going to bring up. The Judge, Him that sat on the
throne. The Lord Jesus Christ. He came into this world first
time in humility. He humbled himself. Made himself
of no reputation. Gave himself over to the ridicule
of men. Gave his beard to those that
mocked him. His back to the smiters. He laid down his life. to those
Roman soldiers and they took the nails and they put them in
his hands and they put them through his feet. They hung him and they
spit on him and they laughed at him and they ridiculed him,
ridiculed his message, ridiculed him, ridiculed his servants. And now, they're all going to
stand there. Here he is in power and majesty
and holiness and righteousness. And there ain't going to be no laughing
anymore. There ain't going to be no spitting anymore. There
ain't going to be no ridicule anymore. And our men are going
to stand there. They're going to stand before
the judge. I said a while ago, who's going
to be there? Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit of
God in 2 Corinthians 5, 10 says, For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the
things... I'm going to leave out the words
that are in italics. The word done and his, here's
how it reads with the italicized words. that everyone may receive
the things done in his body according to that which he hath done."
Here's how it is without the words in italics which were added
for. That everyone may receive the
things in body according to that he hath done, whether good or
bad. Everybody going to stand there? In body. It's going to be a resurrection. That's what we dealt with last
Wednesday. Resurrection. Everybody's body is going to
come out. The body in which a man or woman was buried is the body
that they're coming out of the grave in. They're coming out
of that body. Changed body. Changed in a way
that the Spirit of God is not revealed. It's going to be changed,
but it's going to be that body. Resurrection, as I say, is not
a new creation, it's a resurrection. It comes out. John 5, 28, Marvel,
not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are
in the graves, every body that died is buried. That body that they died in,
that we witnessed, that we saw in a casket, we know. We know. We've been at some funerals
and we know that that body right there is going in the ground.
And I know that that's the body they died in. The bodies that are in the grave
shall hear His voice and shall come forth. They that have done
good under the resurrection of life, they that have done evil
under the resurrection of damnation. John said back in Revelation
20, verse 12, I saw the dead. Spiritually dead. That's what
it is. Spiritually dead. Because I'm
telling you, everybody in Christ is going to be standing alive. In Christ. They're going to be
standing in their representative. Everybody else that died apart
from Christ is going to be standing before God Almighty in themselves,
by themselves. Now you think about this. Everybody
that's going to stand before God Almighty is going to stand
one of two ways. They're going to stand by themselves
or they're going to be standing in Christ. Those that stand in themselves
are the dead. I saw the dead. You're not going to refer to
one of God's elect, redeemed, regenerated, glorified in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ standing there dead. I saw the
dead, small and great. Small and great. That word small, little in rank. And great, there are two things,
great in number and great in rebellion. There they are, small
and great, small in dignity. And I think I can go out on a
limb here just a little bit. Great in trouble. It's over. It's all over. They stand there without a substitute. They thought all this time, they
thought Somehow they didn't need Him. Eternity didn't matter. Judgment didn't matter. Christ
didn't matter. And they stand there with an
empty bag of whole self-righteous excuses attempting to justify
themselves before Him that sits on that throne whose eyes are
pure. They don't even behold iniquity
in any other way but judgment. I can't even enter into the seriousness
of it. I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God. Oh, I understand. I understand. Many will say to
me in that day, the Lord said, Lord, Lord, We prophesied in
your name and we were preachers. Well, if we weren't preachers,
we've done many mighty works in your name. He'll say, I never knew you.
I never knew you in mercy. I never knew you in grace. I
never knew you. Now here's the dead. And here's the seriousness of
what's about to happen. John said, and the books were
opened. The books. Here's all the evidence.
Here's all the evidence right here. Every ounce of evidence
that's going to be brought up on this day of judgment is going
to be brought up right here. The books were opened. I thought
about the books. I mean, I think I think of one
way, I think like this, I think of a book like this. But I can
tell you this, I turn with you to Matthew 9. I want to read
something to you. The book, first of all, of God's.
Omniscience, the book, Matthew 9. Matthew 9, verse 1, And he entered into a ship, and
passed over, and came into his own city. And, behold, they brought
to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing
their faith, said unto the sick of palsy, Son, be of good cheer.
Thy sins be forgiven thee. And behold, certain of the scribes
said within themselves." Now think of this. They didn't say
a word outwardly. They didn't utter one phrase
outwardly. They said within themselves,
this man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts,
said, Wherefore, think ye evil in your hearts." They never uttered one outward
word. They sat there to themselves
probably thinking. So he says. He is a blasphemer. The Lord said that thought will
come up again. The books were opened. I remember that oh how many times
as a man apart from Christ. And here is the sad part. How
many times in my old nature have I thought that? And but for the
grace of God that would have put away that guilt. But for
the blood of Christ that would have put away that disobedient,
that arrogant, that stupid thought. What a foolish man I am to think
disrespectfully of Him who is the King of kings and the Lord
of lords. How many times have I forgotten
what I thought, but if I be not found in Christ, I'm telling
you this, He never forgot it. Matthew 12, 36. I'm going to
back up what I just said with this Scripture. I say unto you
that every idle word that man shall speak in his heart or in
his mouth, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."
Every barren, useless word. Oh, God, for Christ's sake, have
mercy on me. Because I tell you what, there's
been a barrel full of them. Barrel plus come out of my mouth. How about the book of man's rejection
of the Gospel? Matthew 10. Turn over to Matthew
10. We're going to turn to a couple of verses today. That's alright. Matthew 10, verse 14, 15. The Lord had told His disciples,
go into all the world and preach the gospel. Those that believe, baptize them. Matthew 10, 14, Whosoever shall
not receive you, nor hear your words, when you depart out of
that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily
I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. Turn over
to Mark 6. Mark 6.11. I'll talk about this
dust. Shake off the dust. Mark 6.11. Whosoever shall not receive you
nor hear you when you depart thence, shake off the dust under
your feet for a testimony for evidence against them. Verily I say unto you, it shall
be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment
than for that city." In that day, every man according
to the Word of the Master, and you write this one down. You
write this down. You write this down. that was on the shoes of those
that preached the gospel to you. The dust that was shaken off
is going to rise up in the day of judgment and say, I was there. I was there. We were clinging to the shoes
of the preachers that were there. We heard it and they rejected it. The dust
will rise up as evidence on the day of judgment. The book of procrastination,
Acts 24. Oh, listen, today is the day
of salvation. I'm telling you, John Newton said in that great
hymn Tis the point I long to know. Oft it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I His or am I not? If I am His, why am I thus? Why
this dull and lifeless frame? Surely, can they be worse who
have never called upon or laid claim to His name? He ended that song by saying
this, Lord, if I've not believed you for today, have mercy on
me. Some may say, well, yeah, but
I was converted back. I was converted. I know I was.
I made a profession of faith. I walked down the aisle when
I was, you know... Listen, I've told you before,
that's water under the bridge. That's water under the bridge. Yeah, but I was 9, I was 11,
I was 14. I went down. I know, I know today is the day
of salvation. This is all you've got. This
is all you've got. I've had people ask me, you know,
I was, I think I was converted. You know, do you think I was
converted? I said, what difference does it make? What difference does it make?
Yeah, but I think that on, you know, on July the 11th, 430 in
the afternoon, I'm kind of, You believe Christ right now.
That's all I want to know. Right now. Are you trusting?
Have you laid hold by faith upon Him? Forget it. Yesterday's gone. Yesterday's gone. I'm telling you, if you're looking
to something that happened yesterday or last week or 5, 20, 30, 40
years ago, I'm telling you something, you're grasping hold of something
that ain't there. How sincere were you? I don't know. I don't
know how sincere I was yesterday. You know what I've got? Right now, this is all I've got.
This is all I've got. I've just taken the last breath
I just took by the grace of God. Am I trusting Him right now?
Procrastination, Acts 24, verse 24. Paul has come in and he's
preaching to Felix and Felix's wife. Felix Lord willing, we're
going to study this next couple of weeks, but I'm going to I'm
going to preach on. I think I've entitled it the
peril of procrastination. But anyway, listen to this. Paul
came in first 24 chapter 24 and after certain days when Felix
came with his wife, Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for
Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he
reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come. Felix trembled
and answered, go thy way for this
time. When I have a convenient season,
I'll call for thee. And you know, I read ahead a
little bit and there's no record that Felix ever called for Paul
concerning Paul preaching to him again. Oh, he wanted to talk
to Paul about a few other things that didn't matter, and this,
that, and the other, but there was never another season. God
never gave him one. He never had another time to
hear. I'm talking to me. I'm talking
to me right now. If you want to listen in, you
go ahead and listen in. This may be the last time I ever hear
the gospel. This may be it for me. It made me really I'm serious. I've got up. My uncle I was telling
you about. Adam had a massive stroke. They
put him in the hospital and. Tried to try to do some things
for him. They doctor just told. The family
the other day. Just put him in a nursing home. That's all I know to do with
him. He just ain't nothing there. He just. Glenn, you tell me about somebody,
man's wife, he's sitting there, sitting there, they were just
sitting there, they were sitting there together. And he called her and
she just didn't answer. It's in the paper. I'm sure many
of you knew her. I can't think of her name right.
She just died. Procrastination. The books were
open. The book of God's omniscience.
The book of rejection. Oh, but how about this one? The
book of God's law. Oh, my. Here's the book of God's law. Here is God's demand. Here's God's demand for righteousness. And don't even try to start going
there and say, well, I've done the best I can. Whosoever, James
20.10, shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point is
guilty of all of it. You know what gets me? Let me
tell you what gets me about me. It's these little things that
I see in me. It's little things that I see
in me that somebody else would look at and think, it's not that
big a deal. It was just a little, it was
just a slight distortion. of the way it was. It was just a minor infraction
on my part. I went through the grocery store
the other day. I was buying some eggs. Eggs. They were 99 cents a pound. Ninety-nine cents a pound. No,
a dozen. A dozen. Ninety-nine cents a
dozen. I don't know if a dozen weighs
a pound or not. That doesn't matter. Ninety-nine cents a dozen. She rang them through, and I
was looking at it, and it popped up. Eighty-nine cents. She rang the next one through.
I got three. Eighty-nine cents. And I thought, hmm, I saved 30
cents here. I stood there for a second. Bug me. Bug me. And I said, ma'am, I said, you may think this is
silly. Those eggs were 99 cents, I think. And she said, I'm just,
whatever it scans is what it is. I said, okay, thank you.
So help me, I'm telling you, you think 30 cents, what difference
would it make? Well, it bugged me. I'll tell you what gets me. Little things somebody may think
don't matter. Little Evan. The book of God's
law. But here's the worst thing about
it. It's these little things that I don't even think about
that I justify myself over. Oh, well, everybody else does
it. I used to ask my mama. I used to ask my mama, can I
do so-and-so and so-and-so? Nope. Can't do that. My cousins
are doing it. Red River used to run through,
runs right through Central Louisiana. And Mama would say, well, if
they're going to go and jump off the Red River Bridge, are
you going to go too? What difference does it make?
To a believer, it makes all the difference in the world. The
books were opened. And the Scripture says back in
Revelation 20, verse 12 and All the dead, latter part of
verse 12, were judged out of those things which were written
in the books according to their works. I don't want to be judged. I
don't want to be judged according to my works. Not mine. I don't. I got another couple of pages.
I'm going to go ahead and finish this message. I started to stop,
but as I did last time, Lord willing, I'll just make the second
one shorter because I want to finish this one. They were judged out of the books
according to their works. Every man's going to be weighed
in the balance and without a substitute. without Him who is accepted by
God, without standing in the Lord Jesus Christ, the One that
Almighty God has said concerning Him, This is My beloved Son in
whom I am well pleased. Well pleased. I can tell you
this, in me, in myself, I can tell you this, in myself, apart
from Christ as being found in Adam, God Almighty is not well
pleased with me. I'll tell you what He did. He took what I am by nature and
He made Christ to be what I am by nature in one mighty act. of almighty judgment. The Lamb, who in the mind, will,
and purpose of almighty God was slain before the foundation of
the world in time, He who is God Himself, the Word, made flesh,
dwelt among us, and He obeyed God perfectly. There was not
one thought, one outward act, not one word of infraction with
Him. Every eye was dotted and every
tee was crossed concerning God's law. And God Almighty, who loved
His people with an everlasting love, who chose His people in
the substitute, in the surety, in the Lamb, everything He did,
God accepted. God imputed His obedience to
His people. God looked upon them as holy
and without blame. They're at the judgment too.
We must all stand before the judgment. But I'm telling you,
they're standing in a substitute. They're standing in Him Who is
the judge? They're seated in the judge. Oh, my. Lord, thank You. Thank You that I'm where I am.
Thank You that, Lord, You saw fit to have mercy on this sinner. For Christ's sake, they've shown
mercy to me. I'm sitting here watching the
justice of Almighty God being spewed out. The dead, small and
great, stand before God. And the books were opened. And
there's another book, it says, the book of life. I want you
to notice. And it doesn't say anything about
those being judged. It was there. The book of life
was there and all that was ever chosen in Him was there. Oh, in their hearts, they're
thinking to themselves, worthy is the Lamb. You redeemed us. Lord, I never realized The marvel,
the wonder, the grace, the compassion, the mercy, the kindness, the
love in the judge. Everybody else
is being weighed in the balance. Everybody else is found wanting. And there is the book of life. No judgment. No judgment justified. Justified. Justified before God
Almighty by the righteousness that was imputed to them. That's
the only reason they stand there. Justified before God. Why? Because there wasn't an ounce
of difference between them and those standing by themselves
but for the grace of God. That's the only difference. Same
lump. Same lump of clay. That's it. John said, In confirmation of
verse 12, the sea gave up the dead which were in it. Death
and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they
were judged, every man according to their works. The sea, type of all the world. Death,
that separation Between man and God, death, that's death. That's
spiritual death. And hell, the temporary place
of torment until the great white throne judgment. Hell right now
is holding right now. Hell is holding right now the
departed souls of all that died without Christ. Now we know that's
so. The scripture, just The story
of the rich man and Lazarus, Lazarus died and went to the
bosom of Abraham, went into the presence of Almighty God and
the rich man died and he lifted up his eyes in hell, in torment. Hell is a temporary place because
I can tell you this right now, in just a few minutes, verse
14, as I wrap this message up, death and hell is going to be
cast into the lake of fire. Everything that's temporal right
now, death right now, spiritual death is holding, has got captive
men apart from Christ, those not viewed in the substitute.
Death, spiritually dead, it's got them. But death and hell,
that's what Scripture says, will cast into the lake of fire. Death,
that last enemy of the saints, that first state, that they were
in being found in Adam. And hell, that place right now
that's holding all the departed souls of men without Christ, cast into the lake of fire, second
death. And whosoever, verse 15, was
not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake
of fire, the book of life. That book of God's electing grace,
it was not written in time. This book was not written in
time. There's no recording angel that writes down men's name when
they accept Jesus. That statement is a figment of
men's imagination. You know how I can prove it?
It's not in Scripture. Show me that in the Word of God
where it says that. That doesn't say that. I tell
you when the book of life was written. Turn back a few pages to Revelation
17, verse 8, and you'll find out exactly when it was written.
Revelation 17, 8. The beast that thou sawest was
and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go
into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth
shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life
from the foundation of the world. when they behold the beast that
was and is not and yet is." God's book of life, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world. That's when the book of life
was written. Man's eternal destiny is not
going to be determined His eternal destiny of life, let me say it
like this, is not going to be based upon His works, my works,
because I'm telling you the Scripture says that every man that stands
before God dead is going to be judged according to their works.
Do you know wherein lies my hope? His works, His obedience, His
righteousness. That's all my hope. David said,
He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things,
ensured. And this is all my salvation.
This is all my hope. Man will say, well, I believed.
the devil's belief. I joined the church, but has Almighty God revealed
to you His eternal union with Him to you? I was baptized. Baptism didn't
die for me. Christ died for me. Christ is
my life. is the day of salvation. Now
listen to me. If Almighty God, by His Spirit
and by His grace, has revealed unto you, you're lost and you're
without Christ. I'm going to give you some advice
based on the Word of God. Come unto Me. Come unto Him,
not me. Coming to Him, all you that are weak and heavy laden,
I'll give you rest. You come to Christ and come to
Christ for mercy. And He said, I will in no wise
cast you out. Now, I'm not asking anybody to
come down to the front because here again, somebody made that
up. I don't know who made it up.
You come to Christ right now where you're sitting. You cry
unto Him from your heart. If you cry unto Him from your
heart, I'll tell you why you cried. He's just giving you a
new heart because I'm telling you, if you don't, it's because
He's done nothing for you. It's this invitation system where
people, you know, they want people to walk down the aisles and put
some numbers up on the board. I'm going to tell you something.
What difference does it make if your name is written on a
board up here if your name is not written in heaven? I'm telling
you right now, you come to Him and He will in no wise cast you
out. If you come to Him, confess Him
in baptism. Don't be ashamed of Him. I'm
telling you this thing is almost over. It's almost over. Time is soon to be no more. This is serious. May God have
mercy on our souls for Christ's sake. Amen.