Well thank you James for leading
in prayer this morning. I do apologize. I got stuck in
traffic and these things do happen and we believe they're in the
Lord's purposes as well. I could certainly echo the prayers
that were put up this morning and as we gather we want the
Lord above all to be with us once more and it's a joy to come. And I do bring the greetings
of the church, Baldock Baptist Church, to you here this morning. And we're mindful of those away. But also lovely to see visitors
here as well today. So I would like to read from
Matthew chapter 11 and verse 16. Just a few verses and we'll
have a very brief word of prayer. before I'll give you the text
that we'll be looking at this morning with the Lord's help. Matthew chapter 11 and verse
16. But where unto shall I liken
this generation? It is like unto children sitting
in the markets and calling unto their fellows and saying, we
have piped unto you, and ye have not danced. We have mourned unto
you, and ye have not lamented. Here Jesus obviously using a
picture of children playing in the street, weddings and funerals. For John came neither eating
nor drinking, and they say, he hath a devil. The son of man
came eating and drinking, and they say, behold, a man gluttonous
and a wine-bibber, friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom
is justified of her children. Then began he to upbraid the
cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they
repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you,
it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of
judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, thou shalt be brought down to hell, or if
the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in
Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto
you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment than for thee. Let us briefly pray. Our loving
and most holy and eternal Heavenly Father, we thank Thee now that
we can come this morning around the Holy Scriptures and Lord
we thank Thee for all that has been done in our service already.
We believe in the presence of our risen Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Head of the Church, the Good Shepherd, And we look
to Thee, precious Saviour, once more. We read these warnings
from Thine own lips and we pray that we may take them to heart. Have mercy on us, Lord, and guide
our thoughts this morning. May the words of our mouth and
the meditations of our heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O
Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen. I'd like to turn this morning
to Revelation chapter 20. And text this morning is taken
from verses 11 and 12. And I'm sure this chapter and
passage is very familiar to many of us here. And we're thinking
this morning of the great day. Revelation chapter 20 and verse
11. 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. Well we notice here at
the beginning of verse 11 John on the Isle of Patmos exiled
of course for the faith. He says I saw. What did he see? He saw the great
day that was coming. The great day. Now there is a
day of judgment. Children it's not easy is it
for us to think about these things. A terrible day when God will
pour out his wrath upon the nations of the earth. And we cannot escape
the reality of that day. It is here in the word of God. And John he had a vision of that
day And it was so instructive, not only to him, but it was also
fearful, awesome, dreadful. And it made him no doubt tremble
as he wrote these words, as he considered that vision that he
had. He says, I saw. In Revelation 6 we read, for
the great day of his wrath has come and who shall be able to
stand. Now we don't like to think, do
we, about the day of wrath that is coming. In Romans 2 we read
of the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of
God. that there is coming that day
and it's not up to us preachers to ignore it. It's not right
for us to even as ordinary Christians not consider it. To say well
yes I remember in the old days they used to preach about the
Day of Judgment but it's not relevant today. We don't need
to think about it friends. The Word of God has not changed. It warns us and all the warnings
in scripture you remember are warnings of a loving saviour. One who seeks to bring souls
to salvation and faith in himself. And so this morning I'd like
us to think of this great day. And I saw he says. This is the day of course that
the world doesn't want to think about. You won't hear anything
in the election manifestos about the day of wrath. You won't hear
about judgment for sin. You won't hear about turning
in repentance to God and seeking his mercy. This is the day the
world hopes will never come but there must come this day. In the last year, there have
been 680 killings in this country. 200,000 sexual offences, five
times more than 10 years ago. 900,000 domestic abuse cases. And that leaves aside all of
the robberies and the burglaries and the fraud and the blasphemy. There must come a day of judgment. The day is coming, we read in
the Word of God. The Lord says vengeance is mine. I will repay. It's not for us
is it as Christians to try to wreak vengeance upon others. No we must walk humbly before
the Lord. We're pilgrims in this world.
But that day must come. In Isaiah 33 we read, the sinners
in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness have surprised the
hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with
the devouring fire? Who among us will dwell with
everlasting burnings? What a graphic picture of that
coming day. Well, we think of Banyan, don't
we, in his book Pilgrim's Progress. And you remember how Evangelist
was handed the scroll and in it was written, flee from the
wrath to come. We don't think about the wrath,
do we? What it is. That day is coming. Have we seen that day coming? John says, I saw it. He saw the
setting up of that throne of judgement and he saw those people
that were gathered around that throne. He saw that day. But have we recognised that that
day is coming? Well secondly, we notice here
that there is also a great throne and I saw a great white throne. We read of the throne of the
Lord. If you turn back to some chapter
9 or Psalm 9 and verse 7. But the Lord shall endure forever. He hath prepared his throne for
judgment. The Lord and he shall judge the
world. in righteousness. He shall minister
judgment to the people in uprightness. So we think that this is not
just an ordinary throne. This is a throne where God sits
and will deliver the final judgment upon mankind. That is why it
is a white throne. It speaks to us of his holiness. of His unbending justice, that
there will not be one sin that will be allowed to pass His notice,
that will not go unpunished. In Revelation, earlier on, you
can see another throne and that has a rainbow around it. That's a throne of His grace.
But here, when we come here, there is no grace. No one will
be let off. Every sin must be dealt with
on this throne. If we think back to the late
Queen's funeral, there was one hymn we sang. If you joined in
that service, and it's a lovely hymn, so be it Lord. Thy throne
shall never, like earth's proud empires, pass away. Thy kingdom
stands and grows forever till all thy creatures own thy sway. You see, there's a higher throne
than Prince or King Charles, as he is now, isn't it? As his
throne is. Much higher throne than all of
the empires of the world. and this throne will not pass
away. I saw, John says, a great white
throne and there is one, he says, that sat on it. Oh friends, do we recognise the
greatness of our God, the holiness? In him is light, and in him is
no darkness at all. Every soul has to appear before
this throne. We read, because he hath appointed
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained. Who is that man? It is Christ
Jesus. And so we know that that is who
is sitting on this throne, one that sat upon it, the Lord Jesus
Christ. In Romans 2 we read, God shall
judge the secrets of men's hearts by Jesus Christ. And so this
is a throne of judgment. All judgment has been given to
the Son and He will judge the world in righteousness. And it shows us here this throne,
the one that sat on it. And it shows us something of
the glory of that person from whose face heaven and earth flee
away. What an awesome picture of our
Lord Jesus. Heaven and earth, this world
in which we live, all of the planetary systems will bow before
him. They cannot bear to be as it
were, face to face with Him. He is the Almighty. He is King
of kings and Lord of lords. That's what it says there in
the previous chapter in verse 16. He hath on His vesture and
on His thigh a name written. And there's no escape from His
piercing, blazing, consuming justice. from whose face heaven and earth fled away. Think of those people who mocked
him, who rejected him, who spat upon him, who rebelled
against him, who exhibited hatred against him, who denied him and
blasphemed him. They will all be brought before
this throne. It is a great throne of judgement. But then in verse 12 we notice
thirdly there is a great summons before this throne for all the
dead. You see the power of God. People
mock the Lord. Sometimes when they leave in their will, I want my
ashes to be sent up into space, they say. I want my ashes to
be scattered in the sea. And in a sense, it's a rebellious
spirit which says, I can't be resurrected. There's no such
thing as judgment. There's no way that the Lord
can deal with me. for my sin. But it says, I saw
the dead, small and great, and him that sat on it. Sorry, and
stand before God. And so this is a picture, isn't
it, of the power of God. He will bring us all to account. Even death, which is the separation
of soul and body, and the soul returning to God who gave it,
the body being laid in the dust of the earth. Even death cannot
rescue you from this day of judgement. Notice what it says, small and
great. This was the wonderful thing
about the early Christians. Such was their love for one another
that if you go to Rome in the catacombs you can go down and
you can see where the early Christians had to hide and where they were
ultimately many of them buried. And you would find graves There
were people who had walked Caesar's palace, were laid, and next door
to them, just the most ordinary of Christian. You see, what mattered,
they were united to Christ. The fact that they had different
stations in life, one was small or insignificant, the other was
important, had no relevance to them, They were united to Christ. They were sheltering under his
blood and then in death we find them united. But here we have
a picture of all the nations of the earth. All the great ones. Those with the super yachts and
those who are poor and despised stand before God. You see this
is the summons. You remember Hezekiah received
a summons and it was set thine house in
order for thou shalt die and not live. But this summons we
all will receive ultimately not only the summons to death but
this summons to this throne the small and great The souls of those that are saved
and those that are unsaved will be brought before this throne. John saw them stand. I wonder,
maybe he saw friendly people, kindly people,
generous people. but ultimately those who turn
their back upon the Lord stand before this throne unsaved, unrepentant. We may have friends in this world, we want to be good neighbours,
but ultimately we need to be faithful Christians. And we need to think and walk
and live in the light of this great day. all will stand before
this throne. And we see here it will not just be those that
are saved, those that are unsaved. The books were opened and another book was opened. which is the Book of Life. And this book that was opened
or the books that were opened contain the deeds and the names. In a sense we all are in the
Book of Life this morning because we have life. Every creature
that has life is in God's Book of Life. But all must stand dead and living. One day before this throne, some
of the young people, some of our children have used this app
called Be Real. And what happens is you get a
text or a message come through, notification saying, you've got
to take a picture of what you're doing now. And the idea is that you show
the reality of your life to your friends. But I wonder how many
people have received that message, young people, but they were doing
something they wouldn't want their families to see or their
friends. They say, well, I can't do it
now, I'll do it later. A summons, you see. But we will
all receive this summons. This is the great summons of
God. But then fourthly we can notice
here in verse 12 we can read into it a great silence. All those who were standing before
the throne saw the books opened and every work written in those
books Now if we knew that somebody
was going to come here this morning and open up a book in which was
written every detail of what we had done, I don't think you'd
be sitting there looking so comfortable, would you? I wouldn't be. Knowing that they could at any
moment read that book. Now there is a picture given
to us in Romans 3 of this very moment. In Romans 3 verse 19
it says that the knowledge of God of all the sins of mankind
will stop every mouth and all the world will become
guilty before God. Romans 3 verse 19. God will bring,
you see, every work into judgment, every secret thing, whether it
be good or evil. There'll be no concealment, no
falsehood, no evasion. Everyone must give account and
be judged. according to the works in the book. Jesus said this,
for there is nothing hid, he said in Mark 4, which shall not
be manifested, revealed, brought to light. Neither was anything
kept secret but that it should come abroad. That's a terrifying
thought, isn't it? What have we done, friends? Do
we recognise this great day, this summons, this silence? The Lord knows what we have done. His eye watches over the sons
of men. He knows everything that there
is to know about you and I. For thou art not a God that hath
pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with
thee. You see, God's memory, that's
the picture we're given here, His memory is perfect. And all will have to feel the
guilt of their sin unless they're in Christ. And this is what we
notice here. We haven't time to open this
up too much this morning but it says there is another book
that was opened. This is strange, isn't it? Here
are all of the books, we say, being presented and opened. The books were opened. A general
term encompassing, you would assume, the whole library of
mankind's deeds. Your deeds and my deeds. But
then there is another book was opened, and this book has a name. The Book of Life. You see in the first book are
all the sins, all the deeds, all the works are recorded. Things
that we did in childhood, things that we've forgotten about that
we did in our youth, things that we did in our teenage years or
middle age years or old age. All things are written there.
But there is another book that was opened. Children, this book
is the book of life. What does it mean? A book of
life. It has the names in this book
of all those who are saved. One old preacher said, these
names are written in the blood of Jesus. And what he meant was
that Jesus had died for these souls. And those that were written
in that book, they were forgiven. They were
saved. Wonderful. You notice what it says at the
end of verse 13 there. According to their works. Now it doesn't mean to say that
we have to do works to be saved. What it's talking about here
is that salvation changes people. When we come to faith in Christ
we're not left in our sins but Christ changes us. We become
new creatures. from the inside out and therefore
we want to live a life according to the glory of God. Now we're
not doing that in order to be saved. Works cannot produce any
salvation and this is proof of it. Their works brought them
judgement and so will our works. But we do want to walk worthy
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith without works, James says,
is debt, being alone. In John 6, listen to what Jesus
taught about works. Then said they unto him, What
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, This is the work of God. that ye might believe
on him whom he has sent.' It's faith in Jesus Christ that saves
us. It's faith in Jesus Christ in
his finished work that adds our name, if we might put it like
that, into the Book of Life. Of course, faith itself is a
gift of God. And it was from eternity that
this book was written, the Book of Life. But is your name in that book? Have you prayed, Lord, save me? I'm such a sinner. I tremble
at the thought of this day that is coming. Save me. May my name be found in that
book. May Jesus have died for me, for
my sins. May all my sins, which are many,
be blotted out. there is a great summons and
a great silence. But lastly this morning we see
the great strictness, we might say, of God's justice. At the end of verse 12, the dead
were judged out of those things. which were written in the books
according to their works. In Hebrews 2 we read that every
transgression and disobedience under the old covenant received
a just recompense of reward. There was a system of justice
you see, reciprocal justice, an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth. You remember how Belshazzar was
weighed in the balances. His good works did not outweigh
his evil works and therefore justice was due. Well of course
none of us have got any good works by nature but we rely upon
the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. If we're clothed in his righteousness
on that great day then there will be no sin found in us. Because if we're trusting in
what He has done, His perfect obedience becomes ours. And our
sins become His. And that's why the cross of Calvary
is so moving, isn't it, to think about? That there were my sins
nailed on that cross. while one sin brought judgment into the world,
brought death, the curse, into the world. And one death, the
death of Jesus Christ, removes that curse for his people. But the justice of God is strict. and perfect and not one sin will
go unjudged. This is why Jesus said,
It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day
of judgment than for thee. woe to Chorazin, woe to Bethsaida,
woe to Capernaum. These were the cities that had
seen the mighty works, had heard the teachings and preaching of
Christ and they had disregarded him, trampled him underfoot and
counted his teachings as an unworthy thing. They had turned their
back upon the Lord. and because they turn their back
upon the Lord then the Day of Judgment would be even worse
for such awful sin as not turning to God's grace. Have we considered
the grace of God in Jesus Christ truly, fully Have we had our
eyes open to see the wonder of that grace to our soul that despite
our sins being many he can take them all away as we come in repentance
and faith to him. I remember hearing of a little
girl once she couldn't sleep and her dad went in to see her.
What's the matter my dear. Well, Dad, I just can't sleep
because I heard about somebody the other day, a young lad run
over by a steamroller and killed. He said, oh, my dear, I know
what a terrible accident. But he said to her, you know, it's not the worst way to die. She said, Dad, what do you mean?
It's awful. What happened to that little
boy? I can't get it out of my mind. And he said, no, the most
important thing is that you die in Christ and not die in your
sins. The most terrible way to die
would be to die in your sin. What about you this morning,
friends? This is a solemn subject. We think of Christ often teaching
on the torments of hell. And he spoke no doubt with compassion,
perhaps even with tears in his eyes, as he illustrated that
picture of hell with the rich man crying out in torments. Son, remember you had the good
things in life and you never turned to the Lord, you never
thanked the Lord, you never called upon the Lord, you never turned
in repentance to him. Christ, you see, spoke of the
intensity of the heat, the unsatisfied thirst, the misery, the pain
of hell. the eternal separation from God,
the frustration, the anger, the remorse of an eternity without Christ. I saw, John said, a great white throne and one
that sat on it. Have we really taken to heart
what the Scriptures teach. Paul reasoned with Felix of righteousness
and temperance and judgment to come. And Felix trembled. But he said, you go away, Paul,
for this time. When I have a more convenient
season I'll call for you. That day never came, did it?
He was removed from post. One day, you see, the tares will
be burned. The earth will be cleansed. How shall we escape, we read
in Hebrews? How shall we escape? Escape! Flee! How shall we escape? if we neglect so great salvation. Jesus came and humbled himself
and went to the cross for us. He says, go out into the highways
and the byways and compel them to come in. Compel them for that day is coming. We mustn't put it off from our
thoughts But we must say, Lord, prepare me for that day. Make
me right with God. Get down on your knees this afternoon. Call out to the Lord. Seek his
pardoning love. Turn from your sins. Say, Lord,
I want to live in the light of that day, the day John saw. I want to live with that picture
of the great white throne And I want to be found with Christ
with my name written in the book of life. May the Lord bless us
with such blessings by his grace. Amen. Let's sing our final hymn this
morning from Gadsby's, hymn number 938. 938. When thou, my
righteous judge, shalt come to take thy ransomed people home,
shall I among them stand? Shall such a worthless worm as
I, who sometimes I'm afraid to die, be found at thy right hand? hymn 938, tune 714. afraid to die, be found at thy
right hand. I love to meet among them now
before thy grave. the vilest of them all. But can I bear the piercing thought,
what if my name should be left out, where none of them shall
go? Prevent, prevent it by thy grace,
be thou, my Lord, my hiding-place. In this dark, sacred day, thy
pardoning voice hath To still my unbelieving faith,
Nor let me fall, I pray. Let me among thy saints be found,
whene'er the archangels' trump shall sound, to see thy smiling
face, then let this A God I see, while paths resounding mansions
ring, Wish I'd sought offering grace. O Lord, we have thought of thine
own word this morning concerning that great day. We need thy help. Do by thy Holy Spirit seal these
things to our heart that we may truly consider our ways and seek
thy salvation. through Jesus Christ. We thank
Thee for the freeness of that grace, that without money and
without price we can come and buy, as it were, from the Saviour
himself, that wondrous salvation, that we can receive it freely,
not through the merits of our own works, but through the riches
of his grace. Lord, we pray, increase our faith
in him, draw us in love to him, to walk worthy through all the
days of life's journey, and that we may have our eye fixed upon
that glorious throne for all eternity. Now may the grace of
our Lord Jesus, the love of God our Heavenly Father, and the
help of the Holy Spirit be with you all, both now and ever. Amen.