you and I are going to meet face-to-face at the judgment bar of God Almighty. I want to talk to you this morning about that great white throne judgment. You'll find my text in Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20, 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. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

In that great day, when God judges all men, we will be judged of God upon the grounds of strict, exact justice, and we will everyone receive exactly forever. that which is our due on the basis of strict justice. Now while the word of God constantly warns the wicked of the terror and judgment of that great day, nowhere in holy scripture is the day of judgment spoken of with regard to believers as a time of dread and fear to terrify but rather it is spoken of as a day set before believers full of hope and expectation, anticipation of joy and great glory.

Let me give you one example. We won't turn there and read it, but you'll recall having in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul writes to speak to those who accused him of being a false prophet, a false teacher, one who was a self-appointed preacher.

And so Paul writes to them, and he says, it doesn't mean a thing to me that you judge me. He says, that doesn't mean a thing to me. He said, I don't even judge myself. And then he begins to speak about things he'd experienced and God had done for him. He says, but that, that doesn't justify me either. He said, however, I'm going to meet you at the bar of God, and that's all right. I'm going to meet you at the bar of God. Everything will be set in order. Everything will be going to be set straight.

So that in the New Testament, whenever believers speak of the Day of Judgment, whenever it is spoken of in reference to believers, it is not something to be dreaded, but rather something in which to be delighted. Now, I want you to understand that if you believe on the Son of God, if you are washed in his blood, robed in his righteousness, accepted in him, then, Lindsay Campbell, you have nothing ever to dread from God. no more than Michael and Michelle would have from you.

Well, that don't make good sense. That doesn't make good sense. Not only does it make good sense, that's what the book teaches. Now, as we look at this matter of the great white throne judgment, let me call your attention to five things. Some of them I will mention just briefly because we have gone over them recently.

First, we have set before us in scripture a gospel revelation, and this is it. The Lord Jesus Christ, who died as our substitute, is sure enough coming again. Now, I thought about all the various texts I might point you to to refer to this, but I want this morning for us to look at the oldest reference to it. The oldest reference to Christ's second coming. It's back in the book of Job, chapter 19. Turn back there if you will. Job is the oldest book in the Bible. It was probably written by a man who lived in the days of Abraham or before. This man, Job, was God's faithful servant. And this is what Job said when his accusers spoke against him.

In Job 19, verse 25, he said, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. What a word of faith. The Lord Jesus hadn't even come the first time yet. But Job said, He's my Redeemer. He's my Redeemer, and I know that He's alive because He is life. And I know that in the last day, when everything is finished, when all the purpose of God has been fulfilled, Jesus Christ, my God, my Redeemer, will stand on this earth, and I'll see him with these eyes. Wow! That is a remarkable statement, made by this man who didn't have any of the scriptures to give him any knowledge. All he had was the word of mouth testimony been passed down since the days of Adam.

Job says, I know he's coming. He came once in weakness. He's coming again in power. He came once in humiliation. He's coming again in glory. He came once to be despised. He's coming again to be exalted and admired. He came once to suffer and die. He's coming again to conquer, where he shall reign forever, where once he was despised. The Lord Jesus Christ says, I will come again. The apostle said the Lord himself shall descend from heaven. The Lord shall be revealed from heaven. Behold, he cometh and every eye shall see him.

Now that's a fact that can be known only upon one authority. And that's the revelation of God in the gospel. That's all. So how can you account for that? God revealed it. How can you believe that? God revealed it. What evidence do you have of that? God revealed it. But I need something besides that.

Then go to hell. That's where you're headed. That's exactly right. Oh, but you can't say that, folks. I'm telling you, you'll either bow to God's revelation, or you'll perish in hell forever. That's exactly right. Now, here's the second thing. We have a general resurrection set before us in Scripture. Look in verse 13 of our text, Revelation 20 and verse 13. 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. Hold your hands here in Revelation 20 and turn back to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. Our Lord Jesus is speaking in verse 28.

I specifically use the term a general resurrection because most people these days have been taught to believe that this thing of Christ's second coming is going to be divided up into different stages and different things for this group, different things for that.

The scriptures never teach any such thing. Here in John chapter 5, verse 28, marvel not at this. That is, don't marvel when I tell you I'll speak the word of dead sinners who live spiritually. for the hour is coming in the which," look at it now, the hour, not plural but singular, the hour is coming, "...in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. And in that singular hour," at that singular time, "...they shall all come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Now I offer no argument, no proof for what I'm preaching. I'm simply declaring to you the plain facts revealed in Holy Scripture. Those who rebel against them, mock them, despise them, and ignore them, do so to their own eternal ruin.

But I assure you, the Son of God is coming again, and when he comes, everybody's going to see him. Not only that, your conscience tells you you must as well. God so written it on your heart with the finger of God in creation that you can't deny it. First, all who have died in faith shall be raised up from the grave. The dead in Christ shall rise first, the apostle says. All will be raised, but the saints of God will have a distinct priority in the resurrection. The dead in Christ will rise first.

I've often heard preachers say, I don't want to die. I want to live till Jesus comes. I'll be here in the rapture. Well, two things wrong with that. The book doesn't say anything about that kind of rapture. And the other thing is the dead in Christ are going to rise first. They have the distinct priority, only a brief, momentary priority, but a distinct priority, so that our Lord wisely and graciously prevents any glorying in anything that you and I do or experience in this world. All the Old Testament saints, every one of them, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Mother Eve, and Father Adam, every one of them, are going to rise up first. All the martyrs who have been slain for the testimony of our Lord Jesus, all who sleep in Jesus will rise up and then immediately the living shall be translated.

Paul said we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. He said, well, preacher, this is going to take a while. No, we're talking about God now. We're not talking about science fiction. We're not talking about something that men get together and figure out.

God Almighty, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, Christ will come in his glory. As he comes, the dead will rise, and all the living will be translated and meet the Lord in the air. As he descends in the brilliance of his glorious second advent, we will go out to meet him. and we will return with him, and with all the saints who have gone before, as he burns up the earth, destroys the wicked, and makes all things new. Oh, what a day that will be indeed. And then, and then, there's going to be a great day of reckoning. After the Son of God has gathered all the ransomed bodies of his elect from the earth, After he has destroyed this present world with the brightness of his coming, all the wicked shall be raised up as well.

But for you who believe not, there is no music in the resurrection, just terror and dread and judgment. Your body and soul, now united in rebellion against God, will be united in horror. If you die without Christ, you listen to this preacher. If you die without Christ, you die without hope, and eternal damnation will be your portion.

Your resurrection is called in our scriptures, the resurrection of damnation. Immediately after the resurrection, we must all be judged by our God. according to the record of our works, as it is revealed here in Revelation chapter 20. Look at the text again. It is appointed unto me and wants to die, but after this the judgment. Verse 12, I saw the dead, small and great, big shots and little shots, stand before God, everybody, and the books were opened. And I believe I'd underline this next one, maybe as many times as you've got space for. And another book. Oh, thank God for that other book. Another book was opened, which is the book of life.

And the dead were judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every man, according to their works.

The judge is Christ himself, the God-man. A preacher, I thought we were going to be Christ-judged believers at the Bema judgment, and then God's going to judge everybody else. God is Christ. Christ is God. And that one to whom all judgment has been committed is Jesus Christ. The Father judgeth no man. The Savior said so, didn't he? But has committed all judgment to the Son.

God has put everything in his Son, and Jesus Christ, the Son, whom we, by our wicked wills and wicked hands, have crucified yonder at Calvary two thousand years ago, will be the judge before whom we must stand. that one whose gospel we have despised, whose blood we've trampled underfoot, whose covenant we have mocked, that one against whom we have sinned in grace and against whom we have sinned in justice, that one whose law we've despised and whose gospel we've despised, will be our judge. And then the books. The basis of judgment are the books.

Our Lord opens the books and folks standing in front of him will scream and holler and wail like little babies, terrified, and cry to the rocks. Come and follow us! Hide us from the face of the Lamb. Don't let him see us. But he's got the books open.

Oh, what shocks of hell will seize your heart then? Every crime, every sin, everything in you that nobody's ever known but you and God, immediately will be opened before your eyes and before your conscience. Everything. You say, I don't understand that. I don't even pretend to. I just know it's so. I'm told that when a person has what folks call a near-death experience, your whole life flashes before you. Everything flashes before you. Well, this is not going to be a flash. It's going to be permanently fixed in your conscience.

Now, when we speak of God using books, I realize that God Almighty is the omniscient God. He doesn't need a book. to help him remember your sins. But these books are representative and figurative, and they tell us plainly that the judgment of God in that great day will be a judgment based upon the court record, upon court justice, according to the record of your crimes. And everybody will get exactly what the book of justice demands he gets. But the opening of these books, every offense is seen, and Daniel saw that. He said, judgment was set and the books were opened.

What books? Well, there are many set forth in the scriptures, the book of God's omniscience in Malachi 3, the book of God's remembrance. He not only knows everything, he remembers everything. the book of God's creation by which God took his finger and wrote on your heart his law that you cannot escape from, gave you a God consciousness that you cannot deny. I know psychologists and psychiatrists and atheists and infidels and political scientists and all the other folks in this age in which when they're trying their best to push God out of the picture altogether, so when a fellow has religious thoughts because he's raised in religion, he's this because he was raised that way, he's that because he was raised that way, or he had some traumatic incident happen in his life that made him come to have some religious experience. Let me tell you something. God Almighty took his finger and wrote his name and his law on your heart.

And that's the reason when you are scared to death, you're scared to death. That's the reason when you're terrified, not of drawing your last breath, but of awakening in eternity, God said it's going to happen and you can't escape it. Just try it. I don't care what you drink, I don't care what you take, you're not going to escape it. God has written the book of providence and the book of his law. He's written the book of the gospel, and by all these, he says, you shall be judged. And then he's written that other book I've been referring to, conscience.

I visited over at Eastern State Hospital a good bit Friday, and I've observed, though I know very little about it, I've observed a lot of mental illness over the years being a pastor, and I've never yet met anyone who's had mental anxiety, who will not acknowledge that the most tormenting thing in the world is conscience. That's the problem. Doctors keep trying to play with your head to get rid of your conscience. This is what men and women will suffer in the fires of God's wrath forever. A keenly awakened, damning conscience.

But blessed be God, there's another book. There are some against whom no crimes No sins, no offenses are found, not even in the book of God's omniscience and the book of God's remembrance. Turn to Jeremiah 50 and verse 20. These are men and women whose names are found written in the book of life by God himself before the world began.

And this is what God says there, Jeremiah 50 verse 20. in those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for. Oh, glory! And there shall be none. How do you like that? And the sins of Judah, and they shall not be, for I will pardon them. Whom I reserve. It's what God says. He opens the books. Here stands Ron Wood. Come on in. No sin. No iniquity. How come? Because God says, I, even I am he that brought it out, thy transgressions. Can you get hold of that? When God blots them out, they go. They go.

This book of life contains the record of our election from eternity. It contains all the stipulations of the covenant agreed upon by our covenant surety, and it contains all the fulfillment of the covenant by that surety. It contains a record of complete satisfaction made by blood atonement, a record of eternal life promised by God himself on the grounds of justice satisfied and righteousness brought in. The question is raised, will God judge his elect for their sins and failures committed after they were saved?

Oscar was telling me about some gay who here recently wrote an article. He said, now God, when Christ died for us, he died for all of our sins up until we were saved. Now we ought to take care of those afterwards. Well, you're in a peck of trouble. You're in a peck of trouble.

The Lord Jesus died for and put away all the sins of his people, past, present, and future. The only reason such a question is ever raised is because there are many who try to retain the threat and fear of the Roman doctrine of purgatory. And by threatening you with some fearful punishment in the last day, they hope to hold over God's saints the whip and terror of the law to get you to do what they think you wouldn't do otherwise. But there is absolutely no sense in which you who trust the Lord Jesus Christ shall ever be made to pay for your sins.

Listen to me now for this one great reason. God says they don't exist. That's good enough for me. But what about what I do? God says they don't exist. But what about my thought? God says they don't exist. But what about sin? God says they don't exist.

I blotted them out. I blotted them out. And here's a glorious reward. Look at Revelation 22 verse 11. Those who are found according to the record of God to be perfectly righteous. You heard me right. Those who are found, according to the record of God, being judged according to their works, being perfectly righteous, will inherit eternal life and everlasting glory with Christ, because they've done good, nothing but good, perfect good, without any spot of sin, without any wrinkle of infirmity. and they being free from all transgression, now walk into glory upon the grounds of strict justice. That's how, Mark Henson, you'll enter into glory, on the grounds of strict justice.

Look at verse 11 of Revelation 22. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He which is filthy, let him be filthy still. Won't be any changes made. He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy still. Who are these righteous ones, perfectly righteous? Why, none by nature. None of you. Not from the front to the back. None of you. That beautiful little granddaughter of ours, not even her. Not even her. All yours. None of us.

For whom then is righteous? Those who are chosen of God, washed in the blood of Christ, renewed by his Spirit, given his righteousness and his righteous nature. And now they stand before God on the grounds of justice, having been made perfectly righteous.

But then lastly, our text speaks of a great, graceless retribution. all who are found guilty of any sin. Because you see, up in Washington they talk about big ones and little ones, and we do, too. We've been psychologically manipulated to think that way. But all sin, Rex, is infinitely evil before the infinite God. All sin.

You see, your problem with God is not that you commit adultery. or that you cheat on test. That's not the problem with you and God. The reason you behave as you do as a sinner is because at heart you hate God, and your heart will not bow to Him. And if God finds sin on you, then you will be cast forever into the lake of fire.

One by one, the Lord Jesus called you before And you'll stand right there. And he'll say, depart, you cursed, I never knew you. And he'll call his angels and he'll say, bind them, hand and foot, and cast them into outer darkness. And as you're cast forever into outer darkness, under the wrath of Almighty God, trembling, terrified, horrified, cursing God with every breath, your conscience will say, Amen!

God is right, and nobody will pity you. God will show forth his glory in the saving of his elect, and he will show forth the glory of his justice in the damning of every rebel, and you will acknowledge that it's right. And I bid you, for Christ's sake, for your soul's sake, flee away to the Son of God. Find mercy in him or you will forever bear his wrath in hell.