Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles as I preach this message, I'm going to be reading
and preaching from the book of Revelation, the last book of
the Bible, John's Revelation, the revelation of Christ to John,
the apostle John, in chapter 20. I'm going to be talking about
the Lamb's Book of Life. You've heard that term, the Book
of Life, the Lamb's Book of Life. Let's read these scriptures.
in verse 11. It speaks of the great white
throne judgment. Verse 11 of Revelation 20, where
John writes, and I saw a great white throne. Now this was a
vision that he was given by Christ while he was in exile on the
Isle of Patmos. He said, I saw a great white
throne. The color white, obviously, is
a symbol of purity. This is all symbolic language,
but it sets forth a reality. When I say it's symbolic or spiritual,
I'm not saying that it's unreal. It may not be literal, but there'll
be a great white throne. This is the purity of God's justice
and rule. And him that sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. This is how
glorious, how righteous, Christ is, and there was found no place
for them, that is, for the earth and the heaven, it fled away,
talking about how even creation is not worthy. And verse 12 says,
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. Now that book of life there,
I believe, now some may disagree with me, but I believe that is
the same as what we call the Lamb's book of life. And it says,
and the dead were judged out of those things which were written
in the books according to their works. Now I want you to notice
something here. And this is very significant.
He makes a distinction here in verse 12. Now read it again,
he says, and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before
God, and the books, now that's plural, books, there are many
books, they were opened. Then he goes to another book,
and that's another of a different kind. Another book, singular,
was opened, which is the book of life. So you have many books
over here by which the dead are judged, And then you have the
book of life, the singular book of life. And it says, and the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books, plural, according to their works. Now, who are
the dead there? My friend, the dead there refers to all who
died in their sins without Christ. They're spiritually and about
to be eternally dead as a punishment for their sins. In verse 13 it
says, 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. Now there's a lot of people who
think, well, now this is another judgment other than the final
judgment. But this is where all of God's
people will be judged by their works and the rewards will be
meted out, dealt out according to your works. That is not what
this is teaching. It says in verse 14, and death
and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
The death that he's talking about that's given to the dead here
is the second death. And what is the second death?
Well, the first death that he's talking about here is our physical
death. But the second death is eternal death and damnation,
which is given to all who are judged out of the books, plural,
according to their works. And it says in verse 15, and
whosoever was not found written in the book, singular, of life
was cast into the lake of fire. In other words, if your name
was written in the book, singular, the book of life, which is the
Lamb's book of life, you won't be cast into the lake of fire.
If your name is written in the book, singular, the book of life,
you won't be judged out of the books according to your works. You see, I don't want God to
judge me according to my works. Somebody might look at me, and
they say, what problem do you have? What's going on? I'll tell
you what problem I have. It's a little three-letter word. S-I-N. Sin. I'm a sinner. You say, well,
aren't you trying to fight sin and trying to be good? Yes. But
that's not going to save me. And that doesn't solve the problem
of sin. You understand what I'm saying?
The only thing that's going to save me is the grace of God by
the blood of Jesus Christ. His righteousness alone imputed
to me. And that's why I want my name
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I don't want to be judged
by my works. I want to be judged as I stand
in Christ. Now this Book of Life has been
referred to in various passages over in Revelation 3 where he's
talking to the church at Sardis. He talks about in verse 5, look
at Revelation 3 and verse 5, he talks about those who overcome. What he's talking about in each
of these churches and the ones where there were problems He was talking about perseverance
in the faith, continuing to look to Christ and follow Him and
not follow the world, not follow men, not stray away from the
gospel. And the overcoming here means
to continue to follow Christ. He's our victory. You know, He
told His disciples, Christ did. He said, be of good cheer. He said, for in the world you
have tribulation. But be of good cheer, for I have
overcome the world. And so our overcoming, our victory,
is as we look to Christ and rest in Him. And so in Revelation
3, 5, he says, he that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in
white raiment. Now the white raiment is the
righteousness of Christ imputed to his people, laid to their
charge, accounted to them. In other words, they don't stand
before God in their own works, in their own robe of works, which
Isaiah said in Isaiah 64, 6 is filthy rags. They stand before
God in the righteousness of Christ. And those who overcome give evidence
that they are righteous not by their works, but in Christ. And so he says, they shall be
clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name
out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before
my Father and before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Now that issue
of blotting out has been really worked over by some false preachers
in the issues of who's in the book of life, who's
not in the book of life, and things like that. How we stand
in the book of life and all that. And they'll always go back to
Exodus chapter 32. I believe it's verse 32 specifically. Where Moses, because of his love
for the Hebrew children, and in their rebellion, he interceded
for them. and he prayed for them. And,
of course, Moses there is a type of Christ. That's why Christ
intercedes and prays for His people, God's elect, given to
Him before the foundation of the world. And who are they?
They're sinners. They're rebellious people by
nature. and we have to be born again and be brought into the
kingdom of God by faith in Christ, and Christ intercedes for us.
Well, Moses interceded for the Hebrew children and their rebellion,
and he made this statement in Exodus 32, 32. He said, if you
won't forgive them, then blot my name out of thy book, out
of the book of life. And so people have looked at
that verse, and then they look at this verse five of chapter
three, you know, that I will not blot his name out. I will
not erase his name out. And they think, well, if you
don't do right, if you don't do well enough, God's gonna erase
your name out of the book of life. Your name's there, but
he's gonna erase you out. That's not what that is saying
at all. It's not what it's teaching. And I'll show you that, look
at Revelation 13. But before I read this, now listen,
I'll never forget this. I heard a preacher on television,
a very popular preacher, and he was talking about the Lamb's
Book of Life. And who's in the Lamb's Book
of Life? All right, we'll see that in just a moment. And he
said this, and I'm gonna give you his exact words. He said,
we can surmise that when you are born, God writes your name
in the Lamb's book of life. But when you grow and commit
the first sin, God erases your name out of the book of life.
But later on, if you accept Jesus as your personal savior, he writes
your name back in. Now my friend, that is not scriptural. And that is really a cleverly
disguised system of work salvation. whose names are written in the
Lamb's Book of Life. Well, if you'll look at Revelation
chapter 13, he's talking about the dragon, which is Satan, and
the beast that serve him, false religion, false governments,
all of that. And he's talking about how the
whole world will follow after the Satan, the red dragon, and
follow after false religion, the great harlot. They will follow
after ungodly governments. And in verse seven, he says,
it was given unto him, this beast, to make war with the saints and
to overcome them. And the power was given him all
kindreds and tongues and nations. And what he's talking about here
is how it will seem that they will have victory, the evil opponents. Christ in the church will have
victory and It will seem that they have victory. They don't
really they're not really going to be victorious, but for a time
It's it's almost like they've won For a time and they and they
get lifted up in their pride because they think they've won
they haven't won. Oh No Consider their end, you
know David in the Psalms, you know when he He was hurting and
being persecuted. He got down in the dumps and
he said, why do my enemies prosper? Why do the heathen prosper? And
here I am, God's anointed king, a man after God's own heart,
a believer, a righteous person, righteous in Christ. And I'm
suffering. And why do the heathen prosper?
And the answer was this, consider their end. Consider how it's
all gonna end up in the end. That's the key. Well, in Revelation
13, eight, it says, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship
him. That is all who are tied to the
earth is what that means. You know, even believers are
on the earth who've not died and gone to be with the Lord
are on the earth now. We dwell here, but we're not tied to this
earth. This earth is not our home. But all that dwell upon
the earth, this is their home. This is their goal. This is their
life. They'll worship him. They'll
worship the beast. And then it says, whose names,
this is Revelation 13, eight, whose names are not written in
the book of life of the Lamb slain, now listen to this, from
the foundation of the world. Now, the Lamb was not, it was
God's purpose all along before this world was created, that
Christ the Lamb be slain for the sins of his people. But he
wasn't actually slain in time before the foundation of the
world. That happened a little over 2,000 years ago on Calvary. He established in time, in history,
the ground of the salvation of the people of God. That white
raiment that God's people have always been clothed in, Christ
worked it out in time on the cross by his obedience unto death
when he satisfied the justice of God for the sins of his people
charged to him. And he satisfied that justice
and he brought forth everlasting righteousness whereby God could
justify the ungodly. How do you know he did that?
How do you know he was victorious? He raised him from the dead.
Righteousness, sin demands death. Righteousness demands life. And
so if we stand in Christ, washed in His blood, clothed in His
righteousness, evidenced by our being brought to faith in Christ
and repentance of dead works, we can know that our names were
written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of
the world. Even before we were born, from
the foundation of the world, means before the world was ever
created. God wrote the names of his people,
that's his elect, his chosen people, in the Lamb's Book of
Life, and he did it on a just ground. It was the Lamb slain
in the purpose of God. Over in Revelation 5, where it's
talking about the seven seals, a book sealed with seven seals,
Look at verse one of Revelation 5, listen to this. And this tells
you something about the land. Now the book that we're gonna
be talking about here is the book of God's sovereign, eternal
purpose. Which is all fulfilled and established
and worked out in the glorious person and finished work of Christ.
So this book here is not the Lamb's book of life. That's another
book. That's the book of God's elect, God's chosen people, given
to Christ before the foundation of the world, based upon the
fact that he would come in time and do his great work on the
cross, the Lamb slain. But listen to this, this book
here, verse one of Revelation five. It says, and I saw in the
right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within
and on the backside sealed with seven seals. It means sealed
by God perfectly. And this is the book of God's
sovereign purpose in all of time in history. He said, and I saw
a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, verse two, who
is worthy to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof?
And he said in verse three, no man in heaven nor in earth, neither
under the earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
There was no man. no mere human being who was worthy.
John says in verse four, And I wept much, because no man was
found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
In verse five he says, And one of the elders said unto me, Weep
not. Now listen to it. Behold, the
Lion of the tribe of Judah The root of David hath prevailed
to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. Now,
who's that talking about? The lion of the tribe of Judah.
That takes you all the way back to Genesis 49, where Jacob, laying
on his deathbed, was blessing his son. And when it came to
Judah, he said, Judah, thou art a lion's whelp. In other words,
here's this prophecy in its infancy. And remember he said, the scepter
shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come, peace. And that's
Christ. That was a prophecy of Christ
in the very beginning, in its infancy. And he's the lion of
the tribe of Judah. He's the root of David. And he
prevailed to open the book. Well, now how did he prevail?
Well, look at verse six of Revelation five. And I beheld, and lo, in
the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and those are
ministers of Christ, stood a lamb as it had been slain, having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God
sent forth unto all the earth. That's talking about the perfection
of judgment, the perfection of power, the perfection of knowledge,
the perfection of life that is in Christ, 777. And it says here that he was
slain, the lamb slain. Look down at verse nine. They
sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and
to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue and people
and nation. God's elect all over the world.
God has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation
for whom Christ died. And they sing the song, worthy
is the lamb that was slain. Now go back to Revelation 20. That's what this is talking about.
When you stand before God at judgment, if you stand there
without Christ, without being washed in His blood and clothed
in His righteousness, His righteousness imputed, the righteousness of
God revealed in the gospel. If you stand before God without
Christ, you will be judged out of the books, plural, and you
will be judged according to your works, and you'll be found wanting. You remember the story of King
Belshazzar in the book of Daniel? How he went and got the, you
know, his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, had destroyed Jerusalem and destroyed
the temple of Solomon. And he stole the vessels, the
cups and the dishes. that were used, set apart, used
for the service of God in the temple. And he brought them to
Babylon. Well, Belshazzar was having a
drunken party for his lords, his nobles. And he told his servants
specifically to go in and get those particular vessels so that
they could drink their wine out of those vessels. nor as they
would abuse them for unholy purposes. Those things were set apart by
God for holy purposes in the worship of God. And they symbolized
things that symbolized the grace of God in Christ. But Belshazzar
was going to use them for unholy purposes. And that night when
they were having their party, God sent in a vision a hand,
a finger, that wrote on the wall, and he wrote these words, and
nobody in Belshazzar's court could translate them, so they
went and got Daniel, and he looked at them, he said, here's what
it's saying, he says, Belshazzar, thou art weighed in the balances,
and found wanting, or lacking. You know these people who look
at the judgment as if God's gonna weigh this with that, my good
works with my bad works. Let me tell you what the answer
to that is. You're weighed in the balance
and you're found lacking. The only way that things are
gonna equal out, balance out, and not be lacking, is for me
to be found in Christ. Because he is the standard of
judgment. I quote this verse all the time,
and I quoted it last week in a message on the execution of
judgment. Well, it's the same that God
is, Acts 17, 31, God has appointed a day in the which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained
in that he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath
raised him from the dead. That's Christ. You know, in the
book of Matthew chapter 7, verses 21 through 23, you have Christ
saying that not everyone who just says, Lord, Lord, is going
to enter in the kingdom of heaven, but he that does my will. Well,
what is God's will? It's to believe on the Son. Believe
on Him whom God hath sent. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what he's talking about there. Because he'd been talking
about the straight and narrow way, as opposed to the broad
way that leads to destruction. Well, what is the straight and
narrow way? It's the way of Christ. It's
the way of God's grace. It's the way of the cross. It's
the way of the blood. It's the way of righteousness
accomplished by Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. And so he tells them, he says,
do the will of my father. He says, some will come and they'll
say, Lord, Lord, haven't we preached in your name? Haven't we cast
out demons? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? And he'll say to them, depart from me. Ye that work
iniquity, I never knew you. And that no there doesn't mean
he wasn't aware of them. Listen, Christ is omniscient.
He knows everything. He knows our hearts. But what
it means when he says, I never knew you, I never knew you in
divine love. I never knew you in divine election.
I never knew you in redemption. I never had that intimate relationship
that Christ has with his church, his people. But he said, you
that work iniquity. What was their problem? Preachers
will tell you, well, they weren't sincere enough. You don't know
that, and that doesn't say that, and the context will not back
that up. What was their problem? They were pleading what they
thought God had enabled them to do as their entrance into
glory, as their righteousness. You see, I'm preaching in Christ's
name right now. They said, well, haven't we preached
in your name? I'm preaching in His name. I'm not preaching in
my name. I don't want you to look to me. I don't want you
to exalt me. I want you to look to Christ
and come to Him. I'm preaching for God's glory. But my preaching
is not my righteousness before God. Christ is. If I could cast out demons, that
won't make me righteous before God. If I do many wonderful works,
that will not make me righteous. Listen, if I'm expecting those
things to be my earning way into heaven, or to recommend me unto
God, there'll be iniquity because they won't measure up. The only
way I can measure up is to be found written in the Lamb's book
of life, the Lamb that was slain. In other words, I can only appear
before God and be accepted if I'm washed in the blood of Christ.
If I'm clothed in His righteousness alone, evidenced by my faith
in Him and my repenting of everything else, See, all my religious works
and efforts that I used to think so highly of and used to think
were at least gaining me rewards in heaven, I repent of that.
You need to repent. Over there in Acts 17, 31, which
I quote Solomon, that God has appointed a day in which he will
judge the world in righteousness. Back in verse 30, he says, God
has commanded all men everywhere to repent. What are you thinking?
When you think about judgment, I've heard people say, well,
I'm not perfect, but I'm better than a lot of those people that
go to church. Well, you may be better than a lot of those people
that go to church, but neither they nor you can gain entrance
into heaven's glory based upon your efforts and your works or
even your sincerity. The only way into the entrance
into heaven's glory is the imputed righteousness of Christ, the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. I hope you'll join
us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2-3. Thank you again for listening
today, and may the Lord be with you.