Now open your Bibles with me
back to Revelation chapter 20. Somebody asked me if I have prepared
my Easter message and I said yes, I have. But I'll have an
Easter message next Sunday and the Sunday after that and the
Sunday after that and the Sunday after that. Just keep on coming
back. It's going to be an Easter message every Sunday. And the
reason is, I say that, I'm not just trying to be facetious,
I'm trying to let you know that we preach Christ and Him crucified
and risen every Sunday, not just one Sunday a year. And I know
people get into that mode and they expect certain things, but
we preach the gospel. We're here to lift up Christ,
who has already been lifted up on the cross, who has already
been lifted up from the grave. We serve a risen Savior. And
today, what I'm gonna talk to you about, I started this a couple
of Sundays ago concerning this subject. Now what I'm gonna talk
about is this, the role of works at the judgment. The role of
works at judgment. Well, you might say, well, what
does that have to do with the resurrection of Christ? Well,
you know, the scripture tells us that because Christ is risen,
that he's coming back again. We call that the second coming
of Christ. And there's a lot of speculation,
there's a lot of fiction, there's a lot of debate over what that's
going to involve, when it's coming. The scripture tells us plainly
nobody knows when. I can tell you right now, anybody
who tells you they know the date, stay away from them. They don't
know what they're talking about. The scripture says that that's
just not known. We know he's coming again. We're
to live in expectation of his second coming. He's risen, he's
coming again. He told his disciples that. And
there's a lot of curiosity, especially you look at the book of Revelation.
Most people think about Revelation as being future things. Well,
there are future things. In fact, what I'm gonna talk
to you about has to do with the future, the great white throne
judgment. It has not happened yet. But
the book of Revelation is also about current things too. The
problem that people have with Revelation is they try to interpret
it by watching the evening news or reading the newspaper, and
you can't do that. It has to be interpreted with
other scripture to understand it. But I'm not going into all
that this morning. I know maybe as Randy read, you
might have some curiosities about things that were said here. that
I'm not going to go into today. I have preached verse by verse
through Revelation. I believe you probably have the
tapes. I don't know, Jim, if you don't or not. But I've been
thinking about this. I've been thinking after I finish
studying the book of Galatians in our 10 o'clock Bible study,
I've been thinking about maybe going through Revelation verse
by verse then. So we'll think about that and
pray about it. But I'm not here to answer your
curiosities. What I want to do is to focus
your attention on the last verses of Revelation 20. concerning
the judgment, where it talks about a great white throne. That's the great white throne
judgment. You may have heard the term the
bima judgment. It comes from the Greek word. It's the judgment of all. And
that's what I want to talk to you a little bit about concerning
this thing of the role of works at judgment. So this is really
part two of this series, but anytime I do a series, I try
to make each message stand on its own because I know some of
you haven't heard the first one and you may not hear the third
one or whatever. So it stands on its own. But
let me say this. When I was young and growing
up in religion, I was told by a Sunday school teacher one time
that when I come to the judgment that it's going to be like God
putting up a movie screen. Have you ever heard of this?
And he's going to replay my whole life. And I'll tell you what,
now that scared me to death. I don't know about you, but I
don't think any of y'all would want your whole life. Your thoughts
are going to be flashed up on that screen, everything you did
in secret, even things you kept from mom and dad. Things you
keep from your husband or your wife, it's all going to be flashed
up on that screen. And then you're going to be judged.
There used to be a little pamphlet called, This Was Your Life. I
don't know if you ever saw that. And it was about a guy who went
through that. He got up to judgment and there's his life. And he
just stood there embarrassed and ashamed. But here's the point. There's nothing like that in
the Bible. That's a fiction. That's a religious fiction concocted
by legalists to scare people, as we used to say, to scare the
hell out of you. Now, that's what it's for, trying
to do that, especially children. I remember years ago, there was
a popular movie going around called The Burning Hell. And
it was like a horror movie. They'd show that in church services,
and then they'd try to get people down the aisle, especially children.
Well, who wouldn't come? You know, I want to go through
that, you know. But my friend, that's not in the scripture.
That's not the way of the gospel. You know, all that does is promote
self-righteous legalism. That's all it does. And they
walk the aisle and they get baptized and then they talk about that
the rest of their lives if anybody asks them, are you a Christian
or are you saved? Well, back then. That's not scriptural. The fact is, For God's people,
for true believers, God says this. Now in talking about our
works at the judgment, our lives, appearing before God, look at
verse 11. I saw a great white throne. That
white throne symbolizes the purity, the righteousness of it. This
is not a corrupt court. This is not a sinful judge. This is not one who's under a
bribe. This is a pure, righteous judge
who judges according to truth. And he calls them as he sees
them, and everything is open and aboveboard to him. Not only
does he know what I do and don't do, he knows my heart. He knows
the motives. He knows the intents of the heart,
the scripture says. Hebrews chapter four, read that
sometime. The word of God's quick and powerful, sharper than any
two-edged sword, cuts asunder. I mean, it goes to the very marrow.
And this great white throne represents the sovereignty of the judge. Whatever this judge says is so. This is the last word. This is
the true Supreme Court. There's no higher court, no appeals.
And this great white throne represents a victorious judge. One who is
victorious in all things. He's not a failure. And of course you know who this
judge is. It's Jesus Christ, the Lord of
glory, who by his obedience unto death on the cross, his establishment
of righteousness signified by his resurrection, that he has
the earned right to judge all people. Read it in John chapter
five. I preached on that last time.
How the father hath committed all judgment to the son. Why?
Because he earned that right as God man. That's who he is.
Who is Jesus Christ? He's God in human flesh. And
he's victorious. He saved his people. He didn't
come and try to save his people. He didn't save you if you'll
let him. If that's the truth, you won't let him and I won't
let him. He's the sovereign judge of the whole world. And so he
says, 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. Now that's talking about the
sinful creation, the fallen creation. When Christ arose from the dead,
he walked with his disciples for a number of days, and then
before he ascended unto the Father, he said, behold, he that ascendeth,
he'll come in the like manner in the clouds. What is he coming
back to do? He's coming back to subdue his
enemies and to gather his church. Who is his church? Well, the
Bible calls them the elect. People don't like that term today.
That's what the scripture tells it. What it says, they're the
elect. The scripture calls them the
redeemed of the Lord. He bought them. Acts chapter
20 talks about how he bought his church with his precious
blood. That's the price of our redemption. You see, the price of our redemption
is not our faith, our confession, are turning over, the price of
redemption is the blood of Christ. The result of that redemption
is what? We believe. We confess. We follow. That's the result. People have that backwards, by
the way. And so he ascended and he said, I'm gonna return to
subdue the enemies, to gather the church. Who is the church?
They're the elect, they're the redeemed. They're literally the
word church in the Greek means called out ones. They're called
out of the world by the preaching of the gospel and the power of
the Holy Spirit. That's what happens. That's called
the new birth. You must be born again or you
cannot see or enter the kingdom of heaven. And then he said,
when he comes back, there comes this great white throne judgment. And what he's talking about here
when he talks about the face of the earth and the heaven,
this is the eradication of all sin and all hints and contamination
and taint of sin. The apostle Peter describes it
in 2 Peter chapter 3. He talks about this world burning
up. The heavens and the earth are
going to burn up. He's going to purge it away. That's why
I tell people I'm a strong believer in global warming. The world's
going to burn up. And it's going to be replaced
with a new heavens and a new earth. And to be frank with you,
there's a lot we don't know about that. We know some because the
scripture teaches it, but speculation is not going to do us any good.
Here's what I'm concerned with about myself and about you is
this. Whenever all this happens, I want to know, am I okay? When I stand before God at judgment,
am I going to pass the test? I talked about this last time.
What is the standard of God at judgment? What is the standard
that I am required to meet at this great white throne judgment?
Now, we could go to a lot of scripture to see that, but the
one that I always constantly refer to is Acts 17 31. If you
don't want to read that, write that down and sometime read it.
The book of Acts chapter 17 and verse 31. And here's what it says, it says
God, it actually starts out because God, hath appointed a day in
the which he will judge the world in righteousness. Now that's your standard right
there, the word righteousness. Do you know much about that word
righteousness? If you don't, you ought to set
your mind and your heart to studying that in the scripture. Because
I'm gonna tell you something, it's everything. You say, well,
I believe the gospel. Well, in Romans chapter one,
verses 16 and 17, the apostle Paul wrote that the gospel, the
good news, which is the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believes, is the revelation of the righteousness of God.
What is that? Because that righteousness of
God is what he's talking about in Acts 17, 31. God has appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world. That includes me,
that includes you. And he's gonna judge the world
in righteousness. Well, I know something about
righteousness, don't you? Back in the 70s, they used to
go around talking about everybody. He's a righteous dude. Is that
what it means? That means he was cool. Whatever
that means. Righteousness. Now, is there
a standard, a measure, by which I can understand? Now, it would
be, listen now, it would be good to know this before you get to
the Great White Throne Judgment. I hope you'd agree with that.
You say, well, I don't believe in the Great White Throne Judgment.
Well, that's not gonna erase it, because you don't believe
it. But it would be good for me to
know what the standard is. What is the measure? Somebody said, well, I'm gonna
do the best I can do to be the best person I can be. I'm gonna
be the best husband, the best father, the best worker. That's
all good things now. But does that make you righteous
before God? Well, doesn't the scripture say
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God? That means
you don't measure up. The women say, I'm going to try
to be the best person, the best mother, the best wife that I
can be. And you should. And if you're
not doing that now, shame on you. But does that make you righteous
before God? How many times do you hear me
talk about Matthew 7? Here they stood before Christ
at this judgment in Matthew 7, 21 through 23. Lord, haven't
we preached in your name? What am I doing right now? I'm
preaching in his name. Lord, haven't we cast out demons? I've never done that, but somebody
has. Lord, haven't we done many wonderful
works Did that make them righteous before God? What did Christ say?
Depart from me ye that work iniquity. Now that word iniquity is an
interesting word for sin. It means you don't measure up,
inequity. Equity, you know, equals out. Iniquity means it doesn't
equal out. It doesn't measure up. You preached
in his name. Does that make you righteous?
No, doesn't measure up. You've cast out demons, does
that make you righteous? No, it doesn't measure up. You've
done many wonderful works. Is there anything wrong with
preaching in his name? Absolutely not. But does that
make me righteous? And the answer's no. Go back
to Acts 17, 31. God hath appointed a day in the
which he will judge the world in righteousness by what standard?
By that man whom he hath ordained. That means there's a man that
God has ordained, appointed, chosen to be the measure of righteousness. Who is that man? God hath appointed a man. He is appointed a day in which
he will judge the world and righteous by that man whom he hath ordained,
not who we've ordained or chosen, but whom he hath ordained, in
that he hath given assurance unto all men. You may not believe
it, but it's coming. In that he hath what? Raised
him from the dead. Who is that? That's Jesus Christ.
So the question can come simply this way. How good must I be
to pass the test of this great white throne judge? I must be
as good as Jesus Christ. I told a fellow that one time
we were eating lunch and he almost dropped his fork and he said,
good night, nobody can do that. And I looked at him and I said,
that's right. That's why salvation is by grace. A gift, and not by works. You see the difference? Just
before Acts 17, 31, when Paul, he was preaching that on Mars
Hill in Athens, Greece. And just before that, in the
verse prior, in verse 30, he says, God has commanded all men
everywhere to repent. Why? Because he's appointed a
day in which he will judge the world unrighteous. You see, that's
where repentance comes in. You know what most people think
of repentance today? They think of it as feeling sorry
for your sin. That's not repentance. Now, should
you feel sorry for your sin? Should I feel sorry? Yes, a whole
lot more than we do. But that's not repentance. Repentance
is a God-given, Holy Spirit-wrought change of mind and heart concerning
the very issue that I'm talking to you about. What makes you
righteous before God? You say, well, I walked an aisle.
I confessed Jesus. I got baptized. Is that what
makes you righteous? No. You know what Paul said in Philippians
chapter three in his prayer? He said, oh, that I may know
him, Christ, and be found in him, Christ, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law. but that which is through
the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God, which
is by faith in Him. We receive Him as our righteousness. You see, it's not my faith that
makes me righteous. It's Christ. My faith is in Him. That's the difference. And so
this judgment, look at verse 12. He says, I saw the dead,
small and great, Now the dead there refers to the spiritually
dead. That's who he's talking about. Here they've already been resurrected
out of the grave and they're standing before Christ at the
great white throne judgment and they're still called dead. Who are the spiritually dead?
Unbelievers. That's the spiritually dead.
We're all born spiritually dead, the scripture says. We fell in
Adam. There's none righteous, no not one. There's none that
doeth good. Now he's talking about in the sight of God. He's
not talking about us as we compare to each other. As you compare
to other people, you may be a good person as you compare to other
people. in the eyes of men. And that's
right, and that's fine. But that's not God's standard.
You understand that? That's not how God sees things.
God is holy. Remember the prophet Isaiah,
I don't know if you remember this or not, but back in Isaiah
six, when he finally saw the holiness of God, you remember
what he said? He said, I'm undone. That means cut off. I'm a man
of unclean lips. I'm a sinner. And it's impossible
for sinners to make themselves righteous and holy before God. A sinner can never cleanse himself
of sin. You can get religion, you can
turn over a new leaf, you can ceremonially wash yourself to
your skin's raw, but you'll never wash away the sin that's in the
heart, in the flesh. You say, well, I'm trying to
be a moral person. Well, that's OK, and you should
be. But that's not going to wash
away your sins. How can a sinner be saved? That's the issue. But here they
are standing before Christ at the great white throne and they're
still dead. Who's he talking about? He's
talking about those who die in unbelief and who are resurrected
to what John called the resurrection of damnation. They're the dead. And he says both small and great.
They may have been great people in this life. They may have been
kings, governors, rich, influential people. but they're still dead,
standing before the Lord of glory. The resurrected Christ. They may have been very small,
insignificant people. Somebody that nobody even knew
their name or took notice of, but here they are. Standing before
God, Christ the judge, without righteousness. And it says here,
look at verse 12. It says, the books were opened.
Now notice the word books there is plural. This language is symbolic, folks. You do understand that. It's
not literal books, but what is indicated here is this. This is God's record in his sovereign,
infinite mind of the account of all their sins. Now it's not gonna be flashed
up on a movie screen. But it's there. God says, I remember your sins. And there's books because there's
so many. And these books were opened.
But now look back at verse 12, it says, and another book was
opened. One book. Don't let that slip
by you now. Here's the books. But then there's
another book. And what is this other book?
Look at it. Which is of life, the book of life. One book of
life. What is that book of life? The book of life is a term used
in scripture, it appears about seven times in the New Testament.
I certainly won't go into all of that. But over in the book
of Revelation 13, I think it's verse eight, it is said to be
the Lamb's book of life. Who's the Lamb? That's Christ,
the Lamb of God. The sacrifice, the sinless sacrifice. who was made sin, to whom God
imputed, charged, accounted all the debt, all the sin of his
people, and for whom he died, slaughtered on the cross. And
then was buried and raised again the third day because why? Because
he in his obedience unto death established the only righteousness
whereby God could be just and still save a wretch like me. You see, God must be just. God
forgives sin, he's a loving God, but not at the expense of his
justice. How do you know that? Christ
died on the cross. God is a righteous judge. Yes, he's a loving, merciful
father to his people, only as they stand represented in, substituted
by Jesus Christ, who paid their debt in full. That's what it's
all about. This is the Lamb's Book of Life.
And the names of those who are in the Lamb's Book of Life, Revelation
13, eight tells us, were written there before the foundation of
the world. Now look at verse 12 again. He
says the dead were judged out of those things which were written
in the what? Books, plural. In other words,
here's people standing before Christ at the judgment without
Christ, without a mediator, without a substitute, without a Savior. You know what they're standing
there on the basis of? Their works! They're dead, spiritually. And
they're judged on the basis of their works, and it just doesn't
measure up. They're found wanting, lacking. But what about their best? We'll
go back to Matthew 7. Lord, haven't we preached in
your name? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? Will that measure up? Somebody says, that's gotta count
for something. I've had people tell me that,
well, I'm just trying to live a good life and I joined the
church, that's gotta count for something. And I'm telling you,
it counts for nothing as far as righteousness is concerned. It will not make you righteous.
Think about the Apostle Paul. You know, he described in Philippians
chapter 3 when he said, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. I was a
Pharisee. I was circumcised the eighth
day. I was of the tribe of Benjamin. It's touching the law. But he
said, but when I saw the holiness of God in the light of Jesus
Christ, I counted all but dumb that I may win Christ. Look at verse 13. The sea gave
up the dead which were in it. The death and hell delivered
the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according
to his works. Oh, the terror of the Lord to
stand before him and be judged according to our works. That's
a horrible thought. Our God is a consuming fire. If I stand before God and I'm
measured judged according to my works, they better measure
up to Jesus Christ. My love for you, for my family,
it better be pure, unsinful, uncontaminated love. My obedience,
it better be without sin. You see the impossibility of
salvation by our works. And verse 14 says, and death
and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
The second death is eternal death. So you died physically, but that's
not the end for those who are judged according to their works
by the resurrected Christ, the judge of all. There's the second
death, that's the final death, that's eternal death. The lake
of fire is a symbol, meaning the wrath of God against sin.
We talk about it. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. That's
the second death. You know why it's called wage?
Because that's what you earn. The only thing we can earn from
God is eternal death. We can't earn salvation. It's
by grace. A free gift that we don't earn
and don't deserve. But look at verse 15. And whosoever
was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the
lake of fire." In other words, they died eternally under the
wrath of God. Now, here's the thing. Is my
name written in the Book of Life? Is my name written in the Lamb's
Book of Life? Well, you know, the Bible's clear
about that. If your name's written in the
Book of Life, That means God chose you, that means Christ
died for you, and you will be called by the Holy Spirit under
the preaching of the gospel to faith in Christ. You stand in
Christ. God does not charge you with
your sin, he charged them to Christ. God charges you with
righteousness, which is not your own by your works, it's one that
Christ produced for his people. My righteousness is not in myself,
it's in Christ. Somebody said, one time they
said, well God's gonna show the movie of your life, not to condemn
you, but just to make you ashamed. The scripture says, whosoever
believeth in him shall not be ashamed. Because you see, if
I come before God at judgment and plead my works, I got a lot
to be ashamed about. I've gotta be honest with you.
And you do too if you're honest. But if I come before God and
plead Christ, His righteousness, His blood, I don't have anything
to be ashamed of. He said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye Him. That's why Paul
said, I glory in the cross. What Christ did. But is my name
written in the book of life? Well, the Bible's clear. Whose
names are written in the Lamb's book of life? I tell you who,
those who have spiritual eternal life from the Lamb. Do you believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you rest in Him for all salvation? Do you rest in Him, hope in Him,
have assurance in Him for all righteousness, for all forgiveness,
for all eternal life, for all glory? The scripture says in
1 John 4, 17, that we who are sinners in ourself can have boldness
in the day of judgment. if we stand in Christ, if we
stand washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness.
Now, don't you sit there and wonder if your name's written
in the book of life. Don't you do that at all. You
come to Christ. Listen. You realize what the
Bible says about all that. We're sinners and we have no
hope of salvation. We have no hope of forgiveness.
We have no hope of righteousness. We have no hope of passing the
test of this judgment except Jesus Christ and him crucified
and risen. And I'm gonna tell you, those
who believe that, their names were written in the Lamb's Book
of Life before the foundation of the world. What an amazing thought, isn't
it? All right.