I just pledge you to help us
this morning. Pray for the sick, Fred and June. Pray for our loved
ones. Pray for the lost. Save each
one in Christ's name. Amen. Such a blessing just to be able
to read the Word of God. Revelation chapter 20. Let's just pick up where we left off
a moment ago. John saw, saw with understanding,
saw with surety, the great white throne and him that sat Upon
that throne, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One before whom the earth
and heaven fled away. Scripture says, No place was
found to hide any of the facts. That's what it means. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 13 says,
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight
But all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with
whom we have to do." Man by nature doesn't believe that. He doesn't
believe that. He just doesn't. If he believed
that, Bob, he'd cast himself upon God's mercy. So now, everything Everything
prior from Revelation 1, 1 right up to this point has been
brought up to this day. Great white throne judgment. All claims of how a man shall
stand before God. All claims of false religion,
all claims how man is justified before God are going to be settled
this day. God is going to settle it. Now, the most obvious question,
one that we hinted at this morning, well, not hinted, I didn't hint,
I just made a statement, is this, who is going to be there? Who
is going to be at the great white throne judgment? Well, as we
read this morning, 2 Corinthians 5.10, Paul says we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the
things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. This is proper. This is fit. Every man, every woman, every
attitude, every time a man ever tried to justify in his mind,
I don't need Christ, I don't have time to worship Christ,
I'm too busy, I've got stuff to do, you know, we're going
to settle it. And today, all things as to a
man's true character is going to be made public, every bit
of it. Not going to be any disguises,
not going to be any deceptions before the omniscient judge. This is the tribunal. That is the seat upon which the
judge of the quick and the dead rests. It is going to be a day
of judgment. Everyone is going to receive
his due. What is due? Everything that
was done in his body. good and bad. And this judgment
begins, and John says in verse 12, ìAnd I saw the dead, small
and great, stand before God.î The God that man by nature despises,
the God that man by nature has no time for, all The dead, that
word dead there so that you will understand exactly who is being
spoken of in this particular part of Scripture. That word
dead is a word that means, well, two things. Number one, it does
mean physical death because of the penalty of sin. It also means
the actual spiritual condition of the unregenerate. That word,
dead, right there. I saw the dead. In Ephesians
2, verse 1, here is the same word. And you hath He quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. It means the actual spiritual
condition of all without Christ. Ephesians 2, verse 5, even when
we were dead in sins, hath He quickened us together with Christ
by grace ye are saved." Dead. It means spiritually dead. So the dead here that stands
before Almighty God are those that have died in unbelief. They are the spiritually dead. John says, I saw the dead small
and great. Now, you remember back a few
weeks ago, we looked at that little phrase. Two groups of
people were spoken of as being small and great. This small and
great is not the small and great of Revelation 19, verse 5. If you want to just make a note,
we won't go back for the sake of time and read it. But that
small and great in Revelation 19, verse 5 means the tried and
the mighty. Small. That word small in Revelation
19, verse 5 means the tried, the tested, the proven, the believers. Small and great. Small and great. Tried and mighty. Small and great. But the small and great here
means the little in rank, but great in number. John says, I
saw the dead, little in rank and great in number, stand before
God. Stand to be made to stand. They weren't there by choice,
I'll tell you that. They were summoned. And when
Almighty God summons, a man's there. They're put there by divine
appointment. Paul says we must all appear. They stand before, the Scripture
says, they stand before God. They stand in the eye of the
one they have rejected, the one they deny. the one they've despised. They stand before God. I think
man by nature, he hears the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
gospel of free grace, and he says in his heart, and give him
time, if God doesn't do something for him, he'll say it outwardly,
I despise that message. I hate that God that you're putting
forth. That's not the God that I serve.
I don't doubt that. But I'm telling you, This is
the God before whom all men are going to stand. I saw the dead. And John says, and the books
were opened. In Daniel 7, verse 10, it says,
A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. Thousand
thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand
stood before him, and the judgment was set, and the books were opened."
The books. Now, the wording here gives us
some great insight into the strict and impartial character of the
judge. Now, obviously, the Lord Himself
does not need a book as we think of as a book. to keep a record,
but here this wording is such for our understanding. The books
were open. What books is he talking about? Well, I realize in understanding
this as being spiritual language, I realize spiritual language,
but for our understanding, the We realize the book of God's
omniscience is going to be opened. The Scripture says that every
idle word that men shall speak, every useless, every barren,
every disrespectful, every irreverent word, they shall give account
of, the Scripture says, when? In the day of judgment. Every
idle word. Matthew chapter 12 and verse
37, for by thy words shalt thou be justified, by thy words shalt
thou be condemned. There are so many of these Scriptures
that I'm bringing out right now. I know I've dealt with them in
the past, and I'm tempted to go ahead and deal with every
one of them now, and if I do, we won't get through this message.
But suffice it to say that by a man's words, he's justified,
or let me say it like this, out of the abundance of a man's heart.
His mouth speaks. How does a believer speak? He
speaks with respect. Out of the mouth of an unregenerate,
his heart is exposed. The book of man's rejection of
the gospel is going to be opened. Turn with me to Matthew 10. Matthew
chapter 10. Now, I'm going to set forth. I heard Brother Scott say this.
He said, I'm not an explainer, I'm a proclaimer. This is what
the Scripture says. Is there going to be a judgment?
Yes, there's going to be a judgment. Who's going to be there? Everybody's
going to be there. What's going to happen? The books,
the revelations. Let me say it like this. The
exposures shall be opened. God's going to open it all up.
The book of man's rejection of the gospel, Matthew 10, verse
14, the Lord says, And 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. The book of the law. going to be opened. And every
infraction of that holy law is going to be brought up for all
those that died without Christ. James 2.10, "...for whosoever
shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of all, you that believe." How thankful we are that the
Lord Jesus Christ has kept the law of God for us. perfectly, and that His righteousness
is imputed, charged to. What is my standing before Almighty
God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His righteousness, His blood
that covers my guilt? A man stands before God without
Christ. That man will answer for every
word he's ever spoken. For the believer, every idle
word that the believer ever spoke in his mouth, Christ paid for. Put that guilt away. Every infraction
of the law, who paid that? Christ paid it. Who honored Almighty
God? Christ honored Almighty God. He is our righteousness. But John said, I saw the dead,
small in rank and great in number, stand before God. And the books
were opened. Almighty God revealed all that
was there. These books were like a door
that is opened up. Everything was exposed. Everything
was made manifest. And John said in verse 12, and
another book was opened, which is the book of life. Another
book. You remember months and months
and months ago, we have looked at this word, another. This word,
another, means One of the same sort. When I first read that,
and I knew that it was talking about months ago, we looked at
it and it says, and another angel, one of the same sort. That word
here is the same word. Another of the same sort. And
when I first read that, I thought, now how can that be? The books
of man's rejection against Almighty God in the books of the law,
all the book, the disclosures were all made. We read the word
book, the disclosures. So we'll understand that. The
disclosures were opened. And it says here in another book,
one of the same sort. And when I first read that, I
thought, now this is talking about the book of life. Well,
the first thing that I realized is that The first thing that
you do is take God's Word against your understanding first. And
if it doesn't seem to fit you first, then realize you don't
understand it. I don't understand it. But that
Word right there is of the same sort. How is it that it is of
the same sort? Well, it is of the same sort
in that it is the evidence of judgment. God Almighty opened
up the book of God's omniscience He opened up the book of the
law. He opened up the book of life. This book, the book of
life, was opened up for the purpose of revealing whether or not a
person's name was found written there. Look at verse 15. We'll
deal with this a little bit in a moment. Whosoever was not found
written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So
the books are opened, and another book is opened. And here are
the books of disclosure. The books of man's rebellion,
the book of the law, and every man was judged in his body according
to those books. And another book was opened.
And if a man's name was not found written in the book of life,
that man was cast into the lake of fire. The book of life. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself. John 14, verse 6 says, Jesus
saith unto them, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me." This is the book of life, Christ Himself. This book that is written before
the foundation of the world, written, chosen, selected in
Him before the foundation of the world, I have heard for years.
I was sitting in false religion, and I would hear people say,
there's a recording angel, and every time someone gives their
heart to Jesus, there's a recording angel that writes their names
in the Book of Life. That's a lie. That's a lie. Show me that in
the Scriptures, where there's a recording angel that writes
a person's name in the Book of Life when they accept. That's
not true. Don't believe that. When was the Book of Life written?
Before the foundation of the world. Almighty God settled this.
before the foundation of the world. The book, the book of
God's remembrance, a book of remembering, calling to mindfulness,
the book of life. You remember the thief on the
cross when he said to the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord? You know,
that's the wording of a believer. That's the language of a believer.
He means it from his heart. Lord, You're the Lord. Nothing else is the Lord. You're
the Lord. You're God. Nothing else is God. No one else
is God. You're God. Man worships his
God. I tell you, if you want to know
what a man worships, what does he do? That's the God he worships. That's his God right there. Lord,
remember me when You come into Your kingdom. And the scripture
says, and the dead were judged out of those things which were
written in the books according to their works. The distinguishing
or the determining factor of a man's condemnation according
to this scripture, the thing that makes it manifest. is his
own works. They were judged out of the books. A believer's got some works.
Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Here's a believer's works. Good works. Good works. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse
3, remembering without ceasing your work of faith. and labor of love and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father."
There's a believer's works. There's good works. Work of faith. Labor of love. These that stand
before Almighty God are going to be judged out of the books,
those things which were written in the books according to their
works. Notice that terminology? Their
works. The record is there. The facts are going to be made
manifest, and it is God the Judge who sets forth the judgment. Matthew chapter 7. Turn with
me there. Matthew 7. Dealing with a very,
very important and misunderstood topic. The great white throne. Matthew chapter 7, verse 19. Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit. What is good fruit? It's God's
fruit. It is God that worketh in you
to will and to do of His good purpose. Who gave a man faith? God gave him faith. Faith is
from above. Who teaches a man the love of
Christ? It's God by His Spirit. The patience of hope. It is God
that worketh in you. But the Scripture says, every
tree that bringeth forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into
the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye
shall know them. How do you know what a man believes? Listen to him. Listen to what
he says out of the abundance of his heart. Not every one that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.
You know, man by nature, standing there and says, look, I go to
church. I'm faithful. I give. Let me tell you something. A
believer worships God. A believer is faithful to the
gospel. A believer gives. A believer
is faithful with his time. He's faithful with his money.
I heard Brother Henry said one time, a man told him, he said,
I can't afford to give. Wait a minute. You may not be
able to give as much as someone else, but you give. A believer
gives. Someone that tells me, I just
can't give. I say, there's something grossly
wrong here. Grossly wrong. I'll back this up. The spiritual barometer of a
man's maturity, the spiritual maturity of a man is governed
by his giving, the spiritual barometer. Now, I may not be
able to give as much as you, but I can give. You give of time,
you give of love, you give of money, but you give. A man that
tells me he can't give, I say, there's something wrong. There's
something wrong. Not everyone that says unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he
that doeth the will of my Father, which is heaven, many will say
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name? And in thy name cast out devils? Thy name done many wonderful
works. Then I will profess unto you,
I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." It is Almighty God, the Judge Himself who sets forth
judgment. Lord, haven't we done many wonderful
works?" That phrase, wonderful works, there it means powerful
works. Have we not done many powerful
works? That is to say, works that produce
life itself. Have we not done that? Haven't
we given our heart to You? Haven't we done this? And the
Lord says, Ye that work, or you that produce or perform iniquity,
wickedness, or the violation of law, I never knew you. 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, made manifest, 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 his works." Now, this verse is not in addition
to the verse before adding anything. It is a verse of confirmation. of what was said before. And
the sea. I do not doubt. There is no doubt
in my mind that there are many that have died at sea. The battles
that were fought and the ships that have gone down, and I don't
doubt for one minute that men and women have gone down. I think
about the Titanic. I think about how many ships,
Brother Scott, went down in the Second World War. How many do
you think went down in the sea? So I don't doubt. the truthfulness
of the sea itself. But more than this, the sea of
this troubled and sinful world, all of it. You know the scripture
that we've looked at, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that's
cast into the sea and all the fish were drawn in. It means
all inclusively. And the sea gave up the dead,
yielded up. I don't want to get ahead of
myself because I want to deal with this in a moment, but how
is it that someone could go and they're in the sea or they're
in the earth and they go away and their body goes back to the
dust? Did Almighty God speak this world
into existence out of nothing? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Do you think when God says, Come
forth, do you think that every element, every atom that was
ever assigned to that body, do you think it's going to come
back together and stand before God? I thought so. It says, The sea gave up the
dead that were in it. The spiritually dead that were
in it. And death, the Scripture says, And death and hell were delivered
up. Death and hell, I'm sorry, delivered up the dead that were
in them. Death gave up and hell gave up. Now, death is generally defined,
and we understand this term. It is defined as the separation
of the soul from the body. Now, when someone dies, You're
looking at them. They're talking back. You look
in their eyes and their eyes are looking back at you. If you've
ever looked at someone who had died before their eyes were closed,
you look in their eyes and they're not looking back. You look at
them and it's just death. There's nothing that looks like
death. I mean, all of a sudden, you look and it's just That's
different. That's just not the same. That
death, it's defined, as this is the definition of death, separation
of the soul from the body, as we know of as physical death. Now, in spiritual language, it
is a departure from this world to another. That's what spiritually
speaking, death. I'm talking about physical death
now. That word is spoken of as a departure. Paul said in 2 Timothy 4, 6,
"...for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure
is at hand." The time of my leaving for a believer. They will depart
this world. They will leave this world and
immediately, the Scripture says, they will be with the Lord. To
be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. So
whether it's physical or spiritual death, that is the effect of
sin. Why does a man, why does a woman
die? It is the effects of sin. Alright? Death. Now, hell. What is hell? It says here that
death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them. Hell is referred to as a place
of divine punishment after death. Turn over to Luke 16. Luke chapter
16. Death. Now, the reason I want
to make an issue of explaining what is hell, what is death,
what is hell, because the Scripture says in a moment that death and
hell were thrown into the lake of fire. Someone would say, well,
what? Hell and the lake of fire was
the same thing. Well, obviously it's not. Because
hell was thrown into the lake of fire. Why did it say that? Well, let's just look at this
for a moment. Hell is referred to, it is, the
Scripture bears it out, it is a place of divine punishment
after death. Luke 16, verse 19. There was a certain rich man
which was clothed in purple and fine linen, fared sumptuously
every day, and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was
laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the
crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs
came and licked his sores. It came to pass that the beggar
died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich
man also died and was buried, and in hell He lifted up his
eyes, being in torments, to see if Abraham afar off, and Lazarus
in his bosom. And he cried, and he said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am
tormented in this flame." Now, that's without a doubt probably
one of, if not the most instructive passages of Scripture on the
place of hell. This man was tormented in hell. I know somewhat of hell. I know that obviously there are
different degrees of hell. I do not read, we've read it
before, but the Scripture that we just read a moment ago out
of Matthew, it says that Chorazin and Bethsaida The Lord was talking
to them, and He said, if the mighty works done here had been
done in Sodom, that city would have remained until this day.
But He said it's going to be more tolerable for them. I looked
up the word more tolerable. You know what it means? More
tolerable. That's exactly what it means. It's going to be more
tolerable for them. Hell, there will be a place of
torment. There will be a place of remembrance.
You will remember. I'm telling you, Every man, every
woman that ever said, it's a dangerous thing to sit under the sound
of the gospel and to reject it, to reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is a dangerous thing. A man sits, a woman sits and
hears the gospel of God's free grace and walks out and says,
I will not have that man to rule over me. I'm telling you, you
will never forget the message that you heard or the messages
that you heard. Walk out in arrogance and rebellion
and disbelief, you will remember. You'll remember. That's what
the Lord told him. He said, remember. You had in
this life, you had everything you wanted. Lazarus, he didn't. Now you're in torments and Lazarus
is here. This place of separation and
suffering is reserved for those who have died in rejection of
the Savior. Psalm 9, verse 17 says, "...the
wicked shall be turned into hell in all the nations that forget
God." Hell is a place of suffering before final judgment in the
fact of what I just quoted a moment ago back in Revelation 20, verse
14, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, this is
the second death. So this is what hell is. It is a place of departed spirits
when a man or a woman dies. Their body is placed in the ground. They are buried. Physically,
we bury them. Their soul is not gone. It is in a place, if they die
without Christ, It is in a place called hell, Hades. There's three
words for hell. Here again, for the sake of time,
I won't, but there's three words for hell. Hades, Gehenna, which
is the lake of fire, and there's another word, Tartarus. And that
word Tartarus only referred to one time in the Scripture when
those angels that rebelled against The Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself,
and God cast them out and placed them in chains of darkness in
hell, in chains of darkness to be reserved there for the day
of judgment. One time in the whole Scriptures,
Tartarus is what that is. When we think of it as hell,
it is talking about the word Hades, which is a place of suffering
between death, physical death, and the judgment, because there
is coming a time when that place is going to be cast into the
lake of fire. So, the eternality of this place, hell, obviously,
is never going to cease, though hell is going to be cast in to
the lake of fire. Mark 9.43 says, ìIf thy right
hand offend thee, cut it off, For it is better for thee to
enter into life maimed, having two hands, to go to hell, into
the fire that shall never be quenched." So, hell is a place
where departed spirits that died without Christ go to. They are in torment. They do
know where they are. That rich man was speaking. He had an understanding. He had
a whole lot better understanding there than he did in this life. But let me ask you this before
we leave this verse. Let me ask you this question
concerning hell. Doesn't the Scripture say that
Christ's soul was not left in hell? Turn to Psalm 1610. Turn to Psalms chapter 16 and
verse 10. I will be real honest with you.
I struggled with this passage. And I pray that the Lord has
given me some understanding in it. I have asked Him. I am not
trying to sound overly religious. I am just trying to sound honest
with you. There are times that I will come across a passage
of Scripture, and I just don't know. And I ask. You know, you've got a lot of
books in there on commentaries, but you know, there's nothing
like asking the Lord. Lord, would You teach me something
here? Would You give me some understanding? that the Lord
has given me some understanding on this particular passage of
Scripture. Psalm 16, verse 10, For thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine
Holy One to see corruption. Now, I looked up that word hell. That word hell there means Hades.
This is in Hebrew. The rich man that died and went
to hell, that was the Greek word, but they are the same word. It
means Hades. It means the place of departed
spirits in torment that died without Christ. Now, hell being
that place of punishment after physical death is a sure truth. That is absolutely so. But our Savior, our Substitute,
did not have to. It's the wording here, because
I've heard for years, I've heard, you know, the Lord went to hell
and He ministered. I even read that when He went
and preached to those that were in prison. And here again, I'll
deal with that, Lord willing, another time. But it's not saying
what many I've heard have said. Because I look the words up.
And I know what the words mean. Our Savior, our substitute, did
not have to leave this world physically to know the sorrows
of sin that He bore for His people. This rich man died, and the moment
he died, brother Scott, he knew then the pain, the suffering,
the torment, the agony. He knew it then. As long as he
was in this world, he thought, He's fine. Everything's good. Everything's okay. I've got plenty
of stuff. I've got a little cash, you know,
and I'm just eating. I just have no time for God. But the moment he left this world,
immediately, he knew the sorrows. Father Abraham, Would you have
Lazarus come back and dip his finger in some water and just
touch my tongue? I am tormented in this flame."
The hell that our Savior bore, and I'm not saying that in a
disrespectful way. A man leaves this world without
Christ and he knows something of sorrow and torment. The Scripture
says, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell." Now, I know
what we think of as the word, leave, like I left it, set it
over there, Pat, and I just left it over there. That's not what
this word means. This word, leave, means to forsake,
to relinquish over, to abandon. The first time that word leave,
this word leave right here, thou wilt not leave my soul. The first time this word is used
in the Scripture is Genesis 2.24. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they
shall be one flesh. Christ's soul, His very being
as a man, born In this world, a body that was prepared for
him, that which was made an offering for sin, was not left. This is the wording of Psalm
1610. Thou wilt not relinquish over,
or permit, or surrender. I was telling Carl a while ago,
here is the insinuation. standing, say, with him, and
there's a group of men that come over and say, we want Marvin.
Give him over to us. If he says, I'm not going to
relinquish him over. I'm not going to give him to
you. I'm not going to turn him over. That's the word leave here. That's what that word leave means. Thou wilt not leave. But this word also has a second
definition. It means also To abandon, now
listen to this, it means also to abandon completely but not
permanently. Our Lord and all His people in
Him suffered the forsaking of the Father when our Lord cried,
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me." Truly, the Lord
God forsook him because Christ said he did. Because he was made
sin. But here, this scripture says,
thou wilt not leave or relinquish over my soul to hell. In what sense Did our Lord suffer? He did not suffer. That rich
man died in rebellion against God. And he knew immediately
the suffering. He knew something of the penalty
of the sin that he was. He knew immediately. He knew
the torment. He knew it. We are in this life. We don't know it. But that man
died. As soon as a man dies and he
is in hell, he knows something. It wasn't that the Lord Jesus
Christ had to go to hell, that place of suffering, after his
death. Luke 23, 42 and 43, he said unto
Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.
And Jesus said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you will
be with me in paradise." Where did the Lord go when He died?
He went to be with His Father. He went heaven itself. The very place of heaven itself. That's where He went. When our
Lord suffered the pain and agony of hell itself, He suffered that,
first of all, in the garden. A man leaves without Christ,
then he knows it. Christ knew it before he left
this world. The Scripture says in Luke 22,
verse 44, "...and being in agony." That word, being there, means
growing in intensity. Being. It doesn't mean he was
just there. It grew. in intensity. Being in agony, he prayed more
earnestly and sweat as it were great drops of blood falling
down to the ground. Our blessed Savior knew in this
life the sorrows of what He bore, of what His people in themselves
was due. He knew it. A man without Christ,
he dies and he goes to hell, then he knows it. Christ knew
it before He died. He suffered in that garden. He suffered at the cross. The
sorrows. Psalm 18.5, it says, the sorrows,
the cords of hell compassed me about. The snares, the trap of
death prevented me or came before me. He knew it before He ever
died. He knew the sorrows. He didn't
have to be turned over into the place of the damned. And when
he had suffered the just due of sin at his death for his people
and had experienced the sufferings of hell itself in his life and
in his death at Calvary, he said, it was finished. What else did
he have to do? Nothing. I read one man said,
well, he had to go to hell itself to experience what His people
would have suffered had they died without Him. He knew that
before. He knew it before. He said, it's
finished. It's over. It's over. It's over. And it was. Verse 14, And death and hell
were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Scripture says that last enemy
that shall be destroyed, because now the saints possess an immortal
body that cannot die, death. And hell, the region of departed
saints of the lost, that intermediate between deceased and the lake
of fire, was cast out violently into the lake of fire, death,
death. Death was cast into the lake
of fire. Now, there will come a time in
the judgment when death itself, I'm talking about physical death,
the way that you and I and all of us understand we've seen people
die. Something happens to the body
and they die. And they're dead. That death is going to be cast
into the lake of fire. There's not going to be a death
like that anymore. And hell, the place of lost souls
before the judgment, is also cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second death. Now, what do you mean the second
death? And I know I need to stop. It's time. This is the second
death. It means the second in order. We understand, as I just explained,
somewhat. We can't explain the depth of
death, but we know this. We know when a person is laying
in a casket, we say, they're dead. That's death. I can see
the effects of it. Death. But this second death,
something that is different to what we perceive as an end of
life, This second death is a death in which the wicked will linger
in a state called death, but it never terminates. This is
a second death. This is another order. This is
another type of death. Second death. Death as we know
it, and hell, A place reserved for departed spirits that have
left this world without the Lord Jesus Christ was cast into the
lake of fire. This is a second order of death. And whosoever, let's just finish
this last verse, and whosoever was not found written in the
book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. Whosoever, that's
an all-inclusive word, whosoever. Whosoever believeth, whosoever
comes, whosoever. Whosoever was not found written
in the book of life, that book written before the foundation
of the world, that book which is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
the Word of God, the book, the book of life. all who were not
justified freely by His grace, justified by faith, justified
by His blood, justified by their works, and justified by their
words. Whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." That
wicked soul, when Almighty God comes, when the trump of God
sounds and the dead shall rise, all men are going to stand and
give account of what they did in their body. The wicked soul
in hell is going to be united with his body and violently cast
out. Now this is the difference. I
kept looking at that scripture and it says, and death and hell
were cast into the lake of fire. What is the difference in hell
and the lake of fire? Obviously, there's a difference
because hell is cast into it. Someone will say, well, it's
the same thing. Well, if it's the same thing, then why was
one cast into the other? Here's the difference. Hell is
the place in this life before the judgment of the departed
spirits of the lost. This rich man, you know that
his body died. In the judgment, God's going
to call all men and they're going to stand before Almighty God
and are going to give account of the deeds that they've done
in their bodies. A believer will stand before
Almighty God in Christ. Changed a new body. Paul says we're not all going
to sleep, but we're all going to be changed. Paul even gives,
and for the sake of time, I'll just tell you this. Read 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, starting at about verse 25 on to the end. Let me just give you the analogy.
Paul is talking about this new body that we're going to have.
I'll tell you what, this is just too important for me to rush
through this. We've got a couple extra minutes. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, look
at verse 35. Some man, 1 Corinthians 15, 35,
but some man will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? Turn over and look at verse 41
of 1 Corinthians 15. Paul says, There is one glory
of the Son, another glory of the moon, another glory of the
stars, for one star differeth from another star in glory. So
also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption."
Meaning this body that we are planted with. We're going to
die. Unless the Lord returns, Brother
Scott, we're going to die. And we're going to be put in
the ground and that body is going to go to dust. Now, you know
that. We'll be sown in corruption. But it's going to be raised in
incorruption. Paul earlier in the Scriptures
here in 1 Corinthians 15 gives the analogy of the planting of
a tree. You put a seed, put an acre in
the ground. And I can tell you, in about
100 years, you're going to have down in south Louisiana, they've
got some of the most majestic oak trees I've ever seen. Big
old limbs that just almost hang down to the ground, just stick
out there forever. You know, just gorgeous trees. Do you know,
Jim, that everything that was in that tree was in that acorn?
Every bit of it. Not one thing in that tree that
wasn't in that acorn. Now, Paul does not give an explanation
of how this is going to be, but I will tell you this. Everything
that is in the body is so ordered by Almighty God that when He
raises you, you will be raised incorruptible in Christ. when the Lord Jesus Christ came
and stood before the woman at the tomb. She thought He was
a gardener at first, and He spoke to her, and she looked at Him,
and she knew Him. She knew who He was. His apostles saw Him
later, and they knew He was in His glorified body. Can I explain
that? Absolutely not. Not even going
to try to. But the Scripture says, verse
43, It is sown in dishonor. It's raised in glory. It's sown
in weakness. It's raised in power. It's sown
in a natural body. It's raised in a spiritual body.
He said there's a natural body and then a spiritual body. And
so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul.
The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Now, when all men are
raised, God's people are going to have a changed body. They're going to have a new body.
Raised incorruptible. Hell is a place of the departed
spirits separate from the body. And when Almighty God raised,
His people will be raised incorruptible. But there is a raising of the
dead, those without Christ. And they're going to stand before
Almighty God, and they're going to stand before Almighty God
in a body. Matthew 10.28 says this, And
fear not them that can kill the body, and are not able to kill
the soul, but rather fear Him which is able to destroy, that
is, eternally punish, is what that means, both the soul and
the body in hell, in Gehenna. Let me tell you, we're going
to stand before Almighty God in a body. Those without Christ
will stand before God in a body. And that second death cast into
the lake of fire, they are going to stand before Almighty God
and here is going to be a new order of death. Not a death where
this body, the trauma to this body, finally this body succumbs
to it and it dies. That in itself is the mercy of
God to me. Even a man in rebellion against
God. That murderer that they killed
the other day, dropped a couple of 500-pound bombs on him, you
know, that he killed all those people. I'm telling you, it was
the mercy of God that he just died. He didn't suffer. But there's
a second death. And it's not a death that we
know of. It is another order, a second death. And this death,
there is no end to it. The body is in trauma. The body
is in torment. What's the difference in hell
and the lake of fire? Hell is a departed spirit. That
body is going to be united with that soul and cast into the lake
of fire. And then the lake of fire, they're
going to be tormented day and night in the lake of fire in
their body. We will be with the Lord in our
bodies. New bodies, the lake of fire,
eternal torment with soul and body united. That believer will
possess a new body, a changed body. That's what Paul said in
1 Corinthians 15, verse 51. I'll show you a mystery. I can't explain it. But he says,
we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Job said
this, Job 19.26, and though after my skin, that word skin there
means after my nakedness, worms destroy this body. That's what
he's talking about. Worms will destroy this body.
Yet in my flesh, that word flesh there means in my freshness,
in my changed body. He said, shall I see God? I'm
going to see the Lord. in my new body, a body that is
not going to die. Death and hell, death, that is
the way that men know of dying now, is going to be cast into
the lake of fire. There is not going to be any
more death like that. Why? Well, God's people are never
going to die. And I will tell you this, those that died without
Christ, they are not going to die either. That death is going
to be cast into the lake of fire. The place of departed spirits
where that soul and that body is separated, that's going to
be cast into the lake of fire too. That lake of fire, Gehenna,
is going to be a place of torment of soul and body united. Don't fear Him that can kill
the body, but you fear Him that can destroy, torment, judge the
soul and the body in Gehenna in the lake of fire. Well, I
hope this has been a help to you. It has been to me. The great
white throne judgment. What's going to happen? Who's
going to be there? Everybody. What's going to happen? The books are going to be opened.
What will happen then? Men are going to be judged out
of those books. Every man that is not found in
the book of life, God's going to put in the lake of fire. But
every man, every woman, whose name was found in the book of
life, written before the foundation of the world, shall hear this,
well done, well done. Thy good and faithful servant,
enter in to that which was prepared for you before the foundation
of the world.