Now what I'm going to do for
the next hour is challenge your thinking. It's going to require
that you pay some attention to this portion of scripture as
well as our original text Luke 16. The title of our message
today is they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them.
That's the last few verses of Luke 16. They have Moses and
the prophets let them hear them. The underlying thought is our
subtitle, the sufficiency of scripture, the sufficiency of
scripture. And I guess what I would have
to say about that is that the remarkable statement made by
our Lord Jesus Christ in that parable was to underscore the
fact that the Bibles that you have in your hand is the testimony
of God and it is the highest level of authority that you will
ever have. The Bibles that you have in your
hand, insofar as God is concerned, is all that you need to know
God. The Bible that you have in your
hand, Jesus said, in John's Gospel, chapter 5, will judge us on the
last day. In John's Gospel, chapter 5,
verse 45, he's speaking to his own culture. And what he said
was, do not think that I have come to accuse you. And we can
get into that type of ad hominem argument that the preacher is
the one you're fighting with. But Jesus says, don't argue with
me. Argue with Moses, the book you say you believe. That's the
book that's going to judge you in the last day. And I would
say to us who are Christians, don't argue with the Bible, not
only Moses and the prophets, but Christ and the apostles.
That's the book that's going to judge you or justify you on
the last day. We have the scriptures and they
are sufficient both to save and to damn us. that Bible you have
in your car, that Bible you lay on your floor, that Bible you
have on your shelf as an icon, a relic, that Bible that you
infrequently read because you just have no taste for it. That's
God's Word to you. God will be dealing with you
on the last day. He won't be dealing with you through me.
He'll be dealing with you in terms of His Word. What did you
do with His Word? And that's the essence of that
statement given to us by Abraham to the rich men. However, as
I... was compelled to deal with the
underlying assumption that's given to us in the parable of
the rich man and Lazarus. And as you and I know, Lazarus
is in the bosom of Abraham and the rich man is in hell. there
are some underlying assumptions that we can draw, and that is
we have already gone through the process. If a person is in
hell, eternal fire, it's suffering the torment of which Luke 16
describes, we've already gone through some very important transitional
points, one of which is judgment day. the assumption that a person
is in hell must with that assume that he has already died and
faced the judgment for it is appointed unto men once to die
Hebrews 9 27 you know you're gonna die right you can argue
about judgment day all you want to but here let me let you know
something 100% of everybody in the world dies so you might argue
about what happens after death but this you can be sure of you're
gonna die we're gonna bury you in And when you die, you will
have to face the judgment according to that very book that says this
is all that's needed for you to know what God says. You have
to face that judgment. And so what I want to do today
is share with you the depiction of the judgment seat scenario
by addressing Revelation chapter 20 in a cursory fashion. I said it's going to challenge
you because the book of Revelation is apocalyptic. It has a lot
of symbolism and terminology that for a thinking person requires
certain qualifications to understand. But I'm going to do the best
I can with the help of the spirit to grasp the essential elements
of Revelation 20 so that you will have impressed upon your
conscious today a vivid picture of what stands in front of you
and me ultimately when we have to meet our judge. Now, I took Revelation chapter
20 to give you what is called a wide lens and big picture scenario
of what is to be ultimately a personal experience on everyone's part. In Revelation chapter 20 we start
in verse 1 and make our way all the way through verse 15 and
you can follow me in your outline as we address point number one
as we look at what leads up to the general and public judgment
of all men. Point number one in your outline
the binding and loosening the success of the gospel and the
deception of the masses as depicted by Revelation chapter 21, chapter
20 rather, verses one through three. Notice the language. John
says, I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the keys
of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid
hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and
Satan and bound him a thousand years. And he cast him into the
bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that
he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years
should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little
season. Revelation chapter 20 opens up
describing the nature of the binding of the most nemesis foe
of all of the human race and that is Satan. It describes an
angel that descends from heaven having the key of the bottomless
pit. And will you mark a great chain
in his hand? If you look at the language carefully,
you can see that what takes place is the devil or Satan being apprehended
by a powerful angel, apprehended, bound, chained, cast into a pit
and sealed. That language for every one of
God's people is a language that should redound in our joy and
shouting. Because the devil, that is Satan,
this old dragon called the serpent, is the means by which the whole
human race has been deceived into sin and rebellion against
God. Now watch this. And there's only
one person that can stop the devil from deceiving the masses,
and that's God himself. Now the language before you is
hyperbolic and it carries within it a number of connotations that
are important to grasp. We are not merely watching a
motion picture or a cartoon. So the symbolism is instructive. The angel that comes down, the
angel that comes down is said to come down from heaven. Now
that's terminology that's used frequently in the book of heaven,
where God is acting in his sovereignty to apprehend or seize an event
that's taking place in the world. When God acts, he comes down
from heaven into the realm of this world and stops or hinders
or changes events. Here it says the angel came down. And again, I would remind you
that you will find that in several places of the book of the revelation,
the angel comes down. But this angel, ladies and gentlemen,
must be asked who it is. What angel has the power to actually
seize the greatest foe of men and angels? It cannot be a common
angel. It cannot be a common angel for
legions of common angels have been taken by this very foe himself. He has hordes of demons who were
angels at one time who had fallen into rebellion with him against
sovereign God. What angel then would you and
I even contemplate having the capacity and power in themselves
to seize him? When we think about Michael,
the archangel in Revelation chapter 12, which is a bookend to our
text, we are thinking about a foe who fought with the devil. when
he fought with the devil he had a whole host of angels with him
and then we see the net effect of the devil being cast out of
heaven as a result of that wage warfare in the celestial realm
but this angel gets a hold of the devil binds him with a great
chain he has a key to the bottomless pit I would assert to you that
this angel is Jesus Christ himself. He is the Lord of glory. He is
the angel of Jehovah in the Old Testament. He is God's direct
revelation and mediator. He is the savior of his people. And while we are using symbolic
language, yes, it is symbolic. It's designed for you to think
it through. There is only one person in the universe that can
destroy the words of the devil. And his name is Christ. He's
the angel of the Lord now he uses means but before we get
there I want to assert this interpretation that what we see in Revelation
chapter 20 verse 1 is not describing merely the antagonism and warfare
and conflict between two great foes what is describing is really
the successful work of our sovereign Savior Jesus Christ on Calvary's
tree 2,000 years ago that whether or not you know it, that when
Christ died on Calvary's tree, not only did He liberate us from
the bondage of sin and the curse of the law, and thus provide
for us a righteousness by which we stand before God, forever
accepted in the Beloved, but His death on Calvary's tree cast
Satan down from glory. Cast him down and destroyed his
capacity to not only deceive the masses But to render them
subject to the eternal curse of that very deception You recall
what Jesus said in John chapter 12 verse 31 watch this if I be
lifted up if the Son of man be lifted up I'll draw all men unto
me But if I be lifted up it is because watch this now now is
the judgment of this world Now is the prince of this world cast
out and now if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me John
chapter 12 verse 30 and 31 tells us this that when Christ hung
on Calvary Street Of which we rejoiced in two weeks ago on
Friday, didn't we? God judged the universe he judged
mankind and he judged the devil and The crucifixion of Christ
was the condemnation of our adversary, the devil. He was judged. He
was judged. And he was cast out, having no
capacity to influence anyone of God's people, whether in the
heavenly realm or in the physical realm. More than that, we are
told in 1 John 3, verse 7, that the Son of God was manifested
Manifested we know this watch this to destroy The works of
the devil the works of the devil now, it's one thing to destroy
the devil himself But it's another thing to destroy his works the
manifestation of the Son of God came in the full bean on Calvary
Street That's what John said in 1st John chapter 5 and this
is he who came fully by water and by blood and not by water
only, but by water and blood. In other words, Christ was manifested
to be sovereign God, the incarnate sovereign God, by his death,
burial, and resurrection from the dead. And by his death, burial,
and resurrection from the dead, he was able to seize control
of the one whom, according to Isaiah, had deceived the whole
world. That's the language that's given
to us in verse 2. And he laid hold on the dragon,
that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him
a thousand years, casting him into a pit in order that he should,
look at verse 3, the last clause, that he should deceive the nations,
what? No more. So we have in verse
4, 3 rather, a purpose clause for which Christ binds the devil. He is bound in order to not deceive
the nations anymore. In theology or in grammar, this
is called a limiting clause. It's not an absolute clause.
He was bound for this purpose to no longer have the ability
to deceive the nations. Now watch this, ladies and gentlemen.
I don't know if you know this, but if it wasn't for the successful
work of Christ on Calvary Street, you would not believe the gospel.
In fact, there'd be no gospel to believe. If Christ didn't
die on Calvary Street, you'd still be deluded by the devil,
thinking that you are the product of an amoeba, a protozoa, and
the process of evolution, and that your great-great-grandparents
are monkeys. You would still be believing
that. if it wasn't for the revelation of the glory of God in the person
of Christ through the scriptures opening your eyes to who you
really are. Created in the image of God and
in the likeness of God with rationality, intellect, and the ability to
communicate with God on a propositional level completely different than
the animals. having within your framework
the components of a moral, ethical, spiritual compass by which your
actions merit either the approval or judgment of God, of which
the animals do not have. Am I making some sense to you?
And that sneaky, surreptitious serpent came into the world through
a creature and deceived our first parents under the notion that
snakes and dogs and cats are equal to human beings. That's
why she bought into the notion of talking with a snake. like
people do today, talking to your dogs and talking to your cats
and talking to your birds because you have been deceived in thinking
that your animals are equal to you. Are you guys hearing me?
The deception of the devil is hallmarked by the foolishness
of what we believe until God reveals his glory to us in the
person of Christ and shows us the only reason I believe the
truth today because of what Christ did 2,000 years ago. Now he's
bound not by a chain, but a great chain. Do you see the language?
I love the Word of God. Every word of God is pure. Tried
in the furnace of fire seven times, we've got to pay attention
to every word. He's bound by a great chain. All the other
demons that are bound by chains are bound by chains. This one
is bound by a, watch it, great chain. And what it depicts is
a great Savior binding him with a great chain because he's a
great foe. Are you hearing me? Not only
did our Lord by this analogous depiction show how he handled
the devil by his death on Calvary to bind him. You know what it
means to bind something? It means to get control of it.
Get control of it, so that while it still has existence, it can
no longer exercise its will and prerogative. It's limited. It's
limited, and this is precisely what Christ did by his death,
burial, and resurrection. He limited the capacity of the
devil to wreak havoc on the masses of humanity as he did prior to
the coming of Christ so that for 2,000 years now, God has
been able to save a people from every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue and bring them back to their right mind. by limiting
the devil. Now I want you to see the construction
in verse 3 and 4 once again because here is a one of those nuances
that God uses to demonstrate how superb he is in the salvation
of his people through Jesus Christ. Notice what the text said in
verse 2. He laid hold on the dragon. Do you see that? That's
one verb. Not only did he lay hold on him,
but he bound him. Do you see that latter part?
He laid hold on the dragon, which is called the devil, and did
what? Bound him. And then he cast him into a bottomless
pit. Do you see the picture? That's
called handling something. You get a hold of it, you put
a chain on it, you bind it, and you throw it into the pit. Our
Greek verb there, ebbalo, means to throw down with fury and force. I don't want you to get the picture
that somehow when the Lord got a hold to that tail, that somehow
he gave the master a fight. No, he took the chain and went,
whoom, and threw him into the pit. Did you get that? Took the
devil and went, whoom, threw him into the pit. He's sovereign
God. We are exercising the artistic
form of apocalyptic language to enjoy God rejoicing over the
destruction and the binding of our foes. He took him and threw
him into the pit, threw him into the pit and bound him there,
bound him there, bound him there, where he has been bound for 2000
years, might I add. See, we already have considered
several times what this thing about church is all about. And
I heard one of our elders-to-be this morning teaching, Brother
Chuck, about the analogy of Uroclodom and the ship in the midst of
the storm in Acts chapter 28 or so. It's a great, great, chapter
27, great picture of the church going through the storms of life
and the need for us to cleave to Christ, even though everything
breaks up. Great, great, great, great, great
picture. Same thing that's going on here. Imagery to help us understand
through picture form the challenges you will have, but the victory
also that we have in Jesus. The church of the living God
is the institution now for the last 2,000 years who has had
the authority and crown rights of God Almighty to act in the
behalf of Jesus Christ down here. So we read in Matthew chapter
16 verses 18 and 19, whatsoever you bind on earth will have already
been bound in heaven. and whatsoever you loose on earth
will have already been what? Loose in heaven. I'm here to
submit to you that the power and authority given to the church
to bind and loose has everything to do with what Christ has already
accomplished on Calvary Street 2,000 years ago in binding the
devil and loosening his people from the grip of the enemy and
his ability to deceive them. By the time you and I preach
the gospel and see men and women set free, we affirm by it the
binding of the devil which was accomplished by Christ 2,000
years ago, all we're doing is echoing what heaven already did.
Let me say that again so that this can come home before we
move on. God didn't give us the power to run around being exorcists.
I know that some of you think you're bad enough to handle demons.
But I would encourage you to do something else with your life
than play with demons. I know some of you think you
have the power to decree things and make things happen. But I
must remind you that you haven't had the power to decree that
your mind be renewed and walk in a right way with God seven
days a week yet. And I must remind you that you
haven't had the power to decree that your husband or your wife
or your children get saved and quit acting a fool. I don't know
why you think you can decree other people's lives and you
can't decree your own life. Am I making some sense? But we
call this religion. It's a fraud. It's a scam. The
power of God's elect resides in Christ and in his word. The power of God's elect resides
in Christ and in his word. And where you and I have victory,
we only have victory in Christ. And so what you're seeing in
Revelation 20 as it's dealing with leading towards Judgment
Day is a message to the church that the battle has already been
won, you are victors in Christ, and therefore go forth and do
what God called you to do. The binding and the loosening.
The binding and the loosening. The binding and the loosening
has everything to do with the success of the gospel, and God
hindering the masses from being deceived by the devil again.
But if you'll notice these four verbs, he laid hold on the dragon,
he bound him, he cast him into a bottomless pit, he shut him
up and he what? Sealed him. It reminds us of
what the devil tried to do through the rulers of the church with
our Lord Jesus Christ when he walked this earth 2,000 years
ago. They constantly tried to get a hold of Christ. They constantly
try to shut him up. They constantly tried to bind
him. And you remember when he willingly gave himself to the
masses of the people? Not because they had power, but
because he laid down his life freely and volitionally. Remember
what he said? No man takes my life from me.
I lay it down and I take it again. When our master allowed the rulers
who were controlled by the devil to bind him and shut him up,
the condemnation, and even kill him and put him in a tomb, He
also allowed them to do what? Seal the tomb. See what I'm saying? We have this great picture of
the battle of our foe against the savior of our souls and the
battle of our foe is just depicting his own damnation by what he
did to our master. After three days our Lord rose
from the grave and he moved that stone out of the way as if there
was no seal there at all because he is the sovereign savior of
the world. But the devil is still bound by a seal, saints, until
all of God's people come to know Christ as Savior. That's the
first point in your outline. The binding and loosening, the
success of the gospel. This is the depiction of the
ministry that's been going on for 2,000 years. Point number
two in your outline. A reigning with Christ by suffering
for Him. That's not new language, is it?
Look at verses 4 through 6. And I saw thrones and they that
sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and I saw the
souls of them that were beheaded for the word of Jesus and for
the word of God which had not worshipped the beast neither
the image nor received his mark upon their foreheads or in their
hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a Thousand years
that's verses four and five What does that depict it depicts?
life of faith on the part of God's people, but it does not
depict a life of faith void of trouble and persecution. In fact,
verses 4 and 5 teach us all that we read through the Gospels and
the New Testament, that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
you are going to suffer for him. that if you preach the gospel
to the nations, you are going to find yourself having to go
through trouble for him. That the faithful witness of
the church in the world is also met with the constant persecution
of those who hate the truth. So remember what Paul said in
Romans chapter 8, if we suffer with him, we shall also what?
Reign together with him. He told Timothy that. You can
be sure of this, Timothy, those who suffer with Jesus Christ
will also reign with Jesus Christ. Now saints, we reign now. We reign now in Christ by the
gospel. We reign now with Christ in heavenly
places, being seated together with him. We rule right now with
Christ over this universe. Am I telling the truth? We rule
over the universe. Now, pastor, how do we rule?
We rule through the word of God. We rule by the gospel. We rule
by the truth. I want you to mark this now.
The church is the manifest expression of the kingdom of God. The church
is the manifest expression of the kingdom of God on earth.
What does that mean? Well, in a kingdom, there is
a king and that king has dignitaries that rule with him. Guess who
they are? Every believer in Christ. I'm
a king in Christ. I rule with Christ. I'm seated
with Christ. I have authority with Christ
and you do too. Isn't this what he told his disciples
in Luke chapter 22? He says, I give unto you a kingdom
so that you will be seated on 12 thrones ruling the children
of Israel right along with me. And by the way, if you will turn
in your Bible to Revelation 3, I want you to see this here.
What I'm trying to get you to see is, as we work our way through
this language, what it's describing is the favorable position of
God's people in this world. Now, I know that you don't always
feel like you rule. But as Mr. Luther puts it, feelings
come and feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. Nothing
but the Word of God is really worth believing. So which one
range your feelings are the true? Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Now listen to what it says in Revelation chapter 3 verse 21
This is Jesus speaking to the church of the Laodiceans that
last lazy church that depicts where you and I are watch this
now to him That what overcoming that's Johannan language for
believing the gospel to him that believeth the gospel will I grant
that to sit with me in my throne, even as I also, what, overcame
and as sat down with my father in his throne. Do you see that
promise? Do you see that promise? Now watch this. He's speaking
to the church that is on the path of apostasy. And he says,
if you deny me, I'm going to deny you. That's what the Bible
says. But if you trust me and believe me, you will rule with
me. The people of God rule by faith. The people of God rule by the
Word of God. The people of God rule in Christ. We rule now and we rule when
we are killed by our adversaries. Do you know that the only thing
the devil can do by killing you is advance you into your inheritance? Do you know that? Now hear me
now. Please hear me now. This is essential
to the cause of faith. Why men and women are afraid
to speak the truth to others about Christ and this glorious
gospel is that they fail to realize that suffering cannot do anything
but advance them into the promises of God. If you and I, as I said
it to us on Friday night, listen, if you and I really had our minds
right about suffering, we would say bring it on. because we would
know that suffering would increase our glory and advance our stage
towards it. Now, I'm not trying to be morbid
or anything. I am trying to help you to understand that when you
come to Christ, your mind has to be changed. It has to be renewed. And in order for us to walk in
the authority where God has given us, we have to know what God's
word says about that. And what we are reading in Revelation
chapter 20, go back there now, because I want to make our way
down to our text. a description of a faithful church for 2,000
years who has been obedient to the gospel But has suffered just
as Jesus said it would See in verses 4 and 5 you have no room
for a prosperity gospel in verses 4 and 5 you don't have room for
this this Triumphalism that results in you living like material and
physical Kings on this earth. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
That's a bastardization of the gospel You and I are kings, you
and I rule, we reign, we are a royal priesthood, we are a
holy nation. But watch this now, it does not
mean that we possess all of the material wealth and authority
of this life, no more than did Jesus, who was the God of the
universe. It is important and imperative
that God's people know how to live with the tension of what
we are in Christ and what we will be. what we are in Christ
and what we will be so that we don't seek to appropriate to
ourselves things that are not meant for now. See, a lot of
people want to live a high, exalted life in the material realm. Am
I making some sense? But the Scriptures are very clear.
To get that crown of glory, you've got to go through a life of suffering. You've got to bear a cross. Are
you willing to bear your cross? Are you willing to suffer for
Christ's sake? Are you willing to be rejected
and scorned and maligned and misunderstood and misinterpreted
for the truth of Christ? That's what God is calling for.
That's what he's calling for. So the text tells us a reigning
with Christ and a suffering with him point number three in your
outline This is critical the dead judged and not the living
the dead judged and not the living I'm jumping past verses 5 through
9 and 10 going to verse 11 verse 11 says 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. Do you see that? I saw a great
white throne, John says. Now we all who read our Bibles
carefully, we understand that a throne is set for judgment. We realize that this is the great
white throne of God in Christ, whereby he will judge the masses
of the world. Are you following me? Now, I
want to help you understand what has been complicated in theology
with regards to what is called eschatology and what will happen
in the end times. This great white throne that
you see in Revelation 2011 is the judgment seat of Christ. I know some folks make a distinction
between the judgment seat of God and the Bema seat of Christ,
but you have absolutely no Bible for those distinctions. Let me
help you. God said it himself, that he
hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world, watch
this, by that man whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus Christ. He hath given all judgment unto
the Son. The Son is the one who stands
to judge human beings. We know this because in the old
command of Genesis 9, you know what the Bible says? When Moses,
not Moses, but Noah was given the privilege of repopulating
the earth after God destroyed it with a flood. Here's what
God told Noah. He says, if a man shed man's blood, it will be
by man that his blood is shed. Do you know what that means?
God fixed it. That it would be a man who would
judge humanity. And that man is Jesus Christ. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So, when you think of a judgment seat of Christ and a judgment
seat of God, just take both of those judgment seats and bring
them together. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
It's important for you to understand that Christ is the one who is
doing the judging. Now, again in Revelation chapter
20, The language is so tight and terse that the writer assumes
that you know the Bible well enough to fill in some of the
gaps. Let me help you for a moment. Look at verse 11 carefully. And
I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose
face the earth and the heaven did what? Fled away. Now, tell
me what do you see? What's taking place here? In
your mind, you are imagining the rushing in one direction
or the other, the whole universe, aren't you? A throne is set and
the universe scatters so that there is nothing between God
and you. Do you see the picture? A throne
is set. The Bible calls that judgment
day. I'm about to articulate that. And once that throne is
set, the whole universe scatters. Now, if you know your Bible carefully,
what you know is there are a number of events that are inherent in
that statement that must take place. First and foremost, Christ
will return on a cloud. in his father's glory. And when
he returns, the Bible says the sun shall be darkened, the moon
will not give its light, and the stars shall begin to fall
from heaven, right? All that's depicting is time will be no
more. For the sun and the moon and
the stars are our what? Time keepers. We have moved into
eternity. You understand the symbolism?
So now the darkness goes away, the seasons go away. We are in
that realm called eternity because the moon and the stars and the
moon, the sun and the stars serve no more as timekeepers. God's
here now. The Bible also says in Psalm
102 that the heavens will wax old like a garment and as a vesture
you shall change them. God uses the metaphor of an old
garment wearing out and taking that vesture off throwing it
away and putting on a new vestment You know what? That's called
the new heavens and the new earth But the Bible also says in Isaiah
34 and in Revelation chapter 6 that the heavens will roll
up like a scroll you know the Old Testament scriptures were
written on papyri and other forms and they were scrolled and And
when you open the scroll, you were able to read the contents
in it. When this world comes to an end, it will roll up like
a scroll. It will roll up like a scroll,
come to an end. The last word will be read in
terms of human events and the world will cease to be. Now I'm
using emblems and pictures to help you understand that your
Bible speaks in symbolism. and where we are right now is
very important to understand. Prior to the rolling up of the
scroll, prior to the changing of the vestment, prior to the
sun, moon and stars falling from the sky or collapsing, prior
to the earth fleeing, the universe fleeing, we had a world, we had
a galaxy, we had a universe filled with universes, endless universes
in which mankind could hide from God. Prior to what we read here
in verse 11, the very universe, which was designed by God to
bring him glory and reflect his infinite attributes. See, when
you look out into the heavens, like these silly scientists who
don't believe God do, and they see the vastness, the vastness
of the unending expanse of the galaxies that we are discovering
every day. And then they turn around and
look at Earth and views it as a pin drop in the big mass of
pin cushions called this universe. And then they look at puny man
on the inside of this puny globe and then they begin to say, man
cannot matter if in fact the universe is that large. Who are
we? Where your premise is flawed,
knucklehead. It's not about man. It's about
God. It's about the glory of God.
It's about the character of God. It's about God's universe reflecting
the greatness of God. And it's about God giving you
the privilege to look through these massive telescopes and
go, look at God. Look at God. But you see, we
lost our mind at the fall, see? We thought it was all about us.
We thought it was all about us. This is why I love believing
scientists. I love believing scientists.
I love believing mathematicians. I love believing biologists.
I love believers who take the laws that God has given us and
use them for the right thing to testify to the glory of God. Because that's Romans 1. The
universe testifies to his power in eternal God. Everything screams,
God made me. But stupid man wants to say,
well, I don't see how God exists. Am I making some sense? The other
problem is this. Follow me now. In this massive
universe, since the day God created, He created the earth, the heavens
and the earth in six days. On the sixth day, He created
man. He gave him to rule over this world, right? If he would
have used this world right, he would have seen God's glory.
But because he wanted to be God, he stole God's glory. He ate
up the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and he failed.
From that day to this day, you know what we've been doing? Hiding
from God. And do you know where we hide?
We hide in the very world that God gave us to have communion
and fellowship with Him. We hide behind the trees. We
hide behind the trees of technology. We hide behind the trees of sociology. We hide behind the trees of all
of the man-made inventions that we have. We hide behind the trees
of family. We hide behind the trees of work.
We hide behind the trees of all kinds of narcissistic, morbid
passions that we hide. We hide behind the trees. But on the Day of Judgment, there
won't be a tree to hide behind. Are you hearing me? On this day,
Job said in Job 34 verse 22 there the work the workers of iniquity
have no place to hide There the workers of iniquity have no place
to hide see today you can hide but on that day watch this There
won't be anybody but you and God verse 12 And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before who? God. Do you see it? Nothing in the way, nothing to
hide, no barriers, no obstacles, nothing for which they can cover
themselves. Naked before God. That's what
our text teaches. And I want you to understand
the intent of what John is painting here. This is critical. Point
number three in our outline, the dead judged and not the what? Living. The people that are in
this particular context, in this particular state, are the men
and women who lived and died without Christ. I want you to
hear me now. In the Bible, when it talks about
the dead, it is not merely talking about the physical dead. There
are three deaths which the human race has and will experience. The first death is spiritual.
Spiritual. We died in Adam when Adam ate
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, him and he,
and all of his posterity coming to the world spiritually dead. Spiritually blind. Spiritually
bankrupt. Spiritually separated from God.
Am I telling the truth? It's called spiritually dead.
You're separated from God. You don't know God. You might
have an awareness of him, a consciousness of him, but you don't know him
in a saving relational sense until God raises you from the
dead. The dead that are standing here
are the very dead of which Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke when
he was saying to the disciples and those that were following
him, follow me. And one of the brothers said,
Lord, I will, but let me go first, bury my dead. And you know what
he said? Let the dead bury the dead. Now, obviously we are dealing
with two categories of dead now, aren't we? Because the physical
dead can't bury the physical dead. It's the spiritual dead
that buried the physical dead. So we are dead spiritually and
then we die physically. That is the second death, death,
the separation of the spirit from the body. And then there's
a third death of which our text says, and it's called the second
death, that is eternal destruction. Now, here's what the language
is depicting. It's depicting the men and women
of this world who lived and died without Christ, without a Savior,
standing before God to have to answer for their life. They are standing before God.
This is the dead who are standing before God. Now, they were physically
dead, they were spiritually dead, and they were either in the graves
or they were spiritually dead when Christ came again on the
clouds of glory. The bible tells us that jesus
says in john chapter 5 in verse 28 the hour is coming When all
that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the son of
god Jesus said the hour is coming and he was referring to that
final and singular judgment where all Did you hear me are in the
graves? that are in the grave. So let
me say this as a caveat before I move on. There are no two and
three physical resurrections. There's no resurrection of the
just at one time and then a resurrection of the unjust at another time.
John 5 28 says at the time of this call everybody shall be
raised from the dead. Watch this. There will be a resurrection,
a bodily resurrection of all human beings and some to the
resurrection of the just and That's one side. And others to
the resurrection of damnation. That's the other side. Are you
with me? So this is how it would go. If we were to piece all the
Bible puzzle pieces together, according to Revelation 20, when
Christ comes again, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not
shine, the stars will give away, the heavens will roll up like
a scroll, men and women will have no place to hide, and that
great shout of everybody's body rising up to be reunited with
his soul. If you are in hell and the torment
of this, Rich man Lazarus, you will be raised in your body to
face God You and I who have believed the gospel and died physically
as the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 5 To be absent from the body
is to be what present with the Lord when I die. I go straight
to glory You have to cry for me. Now. My body will hit the
dust My body will hit the dust and it will wait for the resurrection
because God saved me lock stock and barrel So on that day, that
singular day, not two days, one day, when Jesus Christ will come,
he will beckon the whole universe to him and we will all be given
resurrected bodies. Then we will stand before him
according to Matthew's chapter 25, the nations. We will all
stand before him according to Matthew's 25, the nations. And
you know what our great shepherd will do? He will separate the
sheep from the goats. He will separate the righteous
from the wicked. He will separate the elect from
the non-elect. He will separate the true church
from the false church. And all those who believe the
gospel, trusted Christ, relied upon Christ and responded to
the gospel appropriately will be said to enter into the glory
which our father prepared for us before the world began. And
now we are left with the dead. who must now stand before the
judgment of God. Are you with me? Oh, there's
one other thing. If you look carefully in your
text, what you will recognize is that there's more than one
great throne. For verse four tells us that
there were thrones, plural, that were set. Do you see it? Let me help you then. This is
what I was saying earlier about the kingdom. This is why it's
so important for the church to be authentic and real about the
gospel. This is no play thing. Nothing
would be more horrible than for you to have heard the gospel,
played with God, and gone to hell at the doors of the church,
where the church is the access into the kingdom of God. It's
the only legitimate authorized institution to represent God
on planet Earth. I'm talking true churches now.
Watch this. According to Revelation chapter
4, those who believed the gospel and were persecuted and died
believing the gospel, they were exalted to reign with Christ
in heaven, right? They are seated on thrones in
glory. This is what Christ said in Revelation
3, 21, right? If you remain faithful, you will
be seated with me on thrones in glory, even as I am seated
in my Father's throne. Well, why would God give you
a mere throne if it wasn't designed to execute what? Judgment. See
what I'm getting at? Who needs a throne if you don't
get the rule over nothing? Now watch this, I want you to
get this. The Bible is very clear in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 that
the saints will judge men and angels. The saints will judge men and
angels. This is what makes living this life so critically important.
Don't play games with God. If God called you by his grace,
if he saved you by his spirit, if the gospel, the power of the
gospel has gotten hold of you, live for his glory and be ready
to suffer for him now because in the day of judgment, God's
gonna bring back the testimony of the obedient believer as a
grounds of justifying and vindicating his gospel and condemning the
unbelieving world who would not believe the gospel that you believe.
Now, you know the premise of my whole argument It's where
we're getting ready to go here in a few minutes. And that's
Luke chapter 16. So in our text, here's what's
described. I want you to see this. Watch it now. And I saw
verse 12, the dead small and great stand before God and the
books were open. Do you see that word book? It
has an S on the end. You know what that means? Plural
more than one book. And they were open. then another
book you know this was absent there it's yes it's a singular
book and it was open which is the book of life now watch this
and the dead were judged out of those things which were written
in the what which means which means the dead had nothing to
do with that other singular book are you hearing me they had everything
to do with the books that were open Now let me help you. This
is common theology understood by all conservative scholars. From the time of your birth to
the time of your death, heaven is recording your life. Because
God is a judge. From the time of your birth to
the time of your death, heaven is recording your life. This
is why Solomon said in Solomon's Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse
17, and then the last verse of chapter 12 He says all that men
might know God will judge both the righteous and the wicked
Watch this now and that he will bring every secret thing to light
So the books that are open are the book of conscience You know
what that means? See, God has a little tape recorder
that's running around in your skull. It's called a chip. And
it's filled with information. You might lose your mind. Alzheimer's
might get you. Dementia might get you. Drugs
might get you and all that stuff. But that little chip is holding
all the data. When you get the glory, that chip, or when you
get into the presence of God on Judgment Day, that chip is
going to be placed into the computer and read back all of your deeds. That's a book. That's the book
of conscience given to the Gentile nations according to Romans 2,
which says even though they do not have the law of God, they
have the law written in their mind so that their actions, moral,
immoral, ethical, unethical, are judged in their own conscience
because God wrote it on their conscience. So God will deliberate
with those who did not know God's law or have God's law based upon
the law in their conscience. Then those who did have God's
law, who are we describing? The Jews. Who has God's clear
testimony and revelation of his will in the Tanakh, the Old Testament. Remember what Father Abraham
just said? They have Moses and the prophets,
right? That law book will judge them on the last day. Then you
know what the other book that's open that will judge men and
women who were preceding or going beyond the Jewish state, that
Jewish age into the Gospel age, those other set of books, those
other set of books are called the Gospel. It's the Word of
God in total. From Genesis to Revelation, it's
the Gospel. That Gospel will judge men on
the last day. see understand while today the
gospel is being preached and men are being called to a Saving
knowledge of Christ and the bow the knee to him now on the last
day the gospel is going to condemn them See the gospel contains
the whole revelation of God John I'm sorry Romans chapter 2 verse
16 in the day when Jesus Christ will judge the secrets of men
by my gospel. Are you guys hearing me? In other
words, God's revelation of himself in the person and work of Christ
will be an added condemnation upon those who reject the gospel
because they will have refused the revelation of the only escape
from the world through Christ. These are the people who are
standing before God right now. They are standing before God.
The books are opened. And notice what the text says.
And the dead were judged out of those things that were written
in the books. What? According to their what? That's right. All through the
Old Testament and the New Testament. What does the Bible say? God
shall render unto every man according as his works shall be. Now this is the part of biblical
truth, listen to me, that the whole world despises. It is also the part of biblical
truth, are you listening to me, that even Christians tremble
at. We tremble at the prospect of
being exposed before God without a righteousness to stand on.
And you ought to, you ought to. This is the reason I described
this point as the dead, not the living standing before God. If you die outside of Christ,
you will have died a spiritually dead man. And the only thing
that you will have to recommend before God are your works. And
God will judge you according to your words, and we can let
you know what the judgment is right now. So you can you can
hurry up and resolve this. Are you ready? You're going to
be guilty. God's going to condemn you. You know what the Bible
says? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The
Bible tells us there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that
thinks right, acts right, or does right. Are you a none? Yes,
you are. The Bible is clear. There's not
a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. As
far as I'm concerned, God has already let me know what will
happen if I find myself standing before him in my own works. going to hell I'm going to hell
and you are too see the text while it is warning about the
unavoidable inevitable judgment day it's also setting us up for
the evangelical answer by telling us there is another book that
we must consider by telling us that there is another book that
We must consider see God is good. He's good to tell us the story
before we get there. So he's telling us the story
He's saying the whole human race. You're not gonna hide from God
the heavens in the air gonna kick you out Those of you who
died in the sea those of you who died in the grave those of
you who died in the backyard Those of you who died out on
the moon? Everything gonna kick you out Look at what the text
says verse 13. Are you there and the sea gave
up the dead which were in it and Even death and hell delivered
up the dead that were in them The whole universe will agree
with God on that day to bring eternity bound souls before God
Do you hear me? let me bring this to a close
on this point so we can wrap up our consideration of the smaller
lands and They were just according to their words and death and
hell were cast into the lake of fire This is called what?
the second death. Now watch how verse 15 puts it.
Now this is the most gracious, kind warning that God could ever
give your ears. Are you ready? And whosoever
was not found written in the book of life was cast into the
lake of fire. Do you see what God has done?
Turn with me to Luke 16 so I can wrap this up. Do you see what
God has done? God has shut you up after having
painted a vivid, vivid picture, a horrible, horrible picture
of your unavoidable fate so long as you continue to live in rebellion
against God. He shut you up to a judgment
that is sure to send you to hell and left this one sterling caveat
for you to consider. And that's a book. It's a book
of which if you contemplate and give yourself to it, you might
very well be able to escape the judgment that is sure to come.
We've just looked at a large picture, what is called the general
judgment of all men on a public scale. There's not one face in
Revelation chapter 20. There's not one name in Revelation
chapter 20. It doesn't even mention the distinction of nations, just
the general masses called the what? The dead. But now when
we narrow the lens down, you know what we come to? One man
of whom we know a whole lot about. And that one man might very well
be you. And your name would be the rich
man. Are you hearing me? The rich man. And so we read
now in Luke chapter 16 as we begin to wrap this up three or
four important things that I want you to contemplate concerning
this singular focus on an individual who finds himself after death
struggling with the reality of the testimony of scripture which
had warned him all his life long you need to be right with God
or you will perish. We're in Luke chapter 16 and
the points now that I want us to consider with regards to that
is a plea a plea for the gospel to go to his family through a
resurrected person look at verse 27 this is where we left off
last time then the rich man said I pray therefore father I pray
thee therefore father watch this ladies and gentlemen that you
would send him who is he talking about Lazarus to my father's
what house for I have five brethren that he may do what testify unto
them lest they also what come into this place of torment stop
right there you know what this rich man is doing after he died
living a life of open flaunting and rebellion against God he's
agreeing with God What is he agreeing with God about? He's
agreeing with God that we need to send somebody to tell men
and women about what happens when you die. He's agreeing with
God that we need to tell somebody that they need to do all they
can to avoid this place. But he's doing more than that.
He's agreeing with God that the individual that must go to them
must be one that has risen from the dead. See, he doesn't say
send the other Joe or send somebody living. He says send Lazarus. Now, if he's going to send Lazarus,
what must he do to Lazarus in order to send him? Raise him
from the dead. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? You notice now that the rich man who lived his life all
his days lavishly and wealthily, his pomp and his circumstances
was all about him. He went to church. He went to
church. Pastor, how do you know he went
to church? This man is spitting up more Bible than you will ever
learn. Inhale. Is he not expounding sound doctrine
with every word that he's speaking? Father Abraham Send Lazarus to
me first and cool my tongue with just a drop of water. And if
that can't be so, send him to my family's house and tell them
don't come to this. Go tell my family I lied to them
all those years that I went to church and pretended that I knew
something about God, but I didn't. And then I told them, too, that
stuff is a farce. Don't believe that stuff. When
you die, you just go into oblivion or into a state of annihilation.
Not so. Not so. This rich man is ready
now to preach the gospel, isn't he? And if he can't tell Lazarus
to preach the gospel. Well, Lazarus preached the gospel
to him. Every day he stepped over Lazarus
going to his big company. and all Lazarus asked for was
the crumbs off of his table. Are you hearing? Lazarus preached
to him. You know what Lazarus said as
he lay there? Because Lazarus was a believer, right? He said,
Mr. Rich Man, man, all I need is just a crumb, man. My belly's hurting. But if you
don't give me a crumb, that's OK. God's on my side. You know
who God is? He's my Ebenezer. Hidden by his
help, I've come. In fact, my name, Lazarus, actually
means in the Hebrew, God is my helper. So Mr. Rich Man, if you
don't help me, God's gonna help me. Are you hearing what I'm
saying? And this is true for every poor believer. We all got
problems, don't we? But our ultimate help comes from
God. And even though sometimes in
our humility and in our weakness, we are going to human beings
for help. When they forsake us, God will take us up. When they
deny us, God will keep us. When they leave us in the dust
of our depravity and weakness, if we should die, all we're gonna
do is be ushered into our comfort. Look at Lazarus right now. That brother, do you know he
didn't say a thing? He landed in Abraham's bosom,
which is a picture of being in the blissful favor of God's eternal
grace. And all the rich man is doing
is fixating himself on the man he rejected all his life. See,
what this teaches us is this. God lays at your doorstep in
mind. the gospel of the crucified Christ,
the lowly Savior, the afflicted one, the tormented one, the one
that was chastised, the one that was wounded, the one that was
smitten, the one you called a curse, the one you laughed at, mocked
and mourned, the Savior of the world. Now, for all eternity,
you got to remember the one whom you rejected. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? But what's remarkable as we close
out here is this. The rich man thought for sure,
I know that if God would do a miracle and raise a brother from the
dead and send him back all through the neighborhoods and tell all
my family members that the word of the Lord is right from Genesis
to Revelation, watch this, I know if God would do a miracle, my
brethren wouldn't end up in this place. But watch this, he was
wrong then and he's wrong now. Listen very carefully to me.
This is very important as we shut this down miracles Do not
save anyone They don't change your heart. They don't change
your mind. They might mesmerize you for
a minute They might cause you to be infatuated with the phenomena
of God for a minute Watch this now. Am I not telling the truth? there are signs and wonders that
people alleged to experience all over the world and Which
it might reform them for a few hours, you know shake them up.
So they go to church for five minutes They might even get a
life to Jesus and and sign on the dotted line and rush to get
baptized only a month or two or a year later to return to
the folly and Foolishness of their old life. Am I telling
the truth watch this because the power to change your life
is is not in a miracle that God does with men. The power to change
your life comes in the work of Christ dead on Calvary Street,
which must come through the preaching of the gospel. You need that
miracle to change your life. Are you hearing me? So you need
the power of the gospel. You need the power of the gospel
that testifies to one who not only rose from the dead, but
he rose from the dead as the sinner's substitute. See, we
know that Father Abraham is right in what he said because watch
this, Jesus raised another Lazarus from the dead and they didn't
believe him. In fact, they sought to kill
him. Am I making some sense? See, so the argument of raising
Lazarus from the dead ain't gonna do you no good. Oh, and this
is awful as we close because Jesus in the depiction of Lazarus
and the rich man And Abraham, who is the picture of glory,
our heavenly father, and Lazarus in the bosom of our father, a
picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, is plainly saying that the Jewish
nation will not believe the testimony of the resurrected Christ. Are
you hearing me? Why? Because he left the Jewish
nation the final and ultimate authority by which God speaks,
and that's his word. They had Moses and the prophets. That's God's word. Moses and
the prophets had long ago talked about Jesus Christ. Watch this
now. And Jesus Christ came to them
and they still rejected him. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. He was in the world. The world
was made by him and the world received him not. What did they
do with the Lord Jesus? They crucified him. What did
they do when he rose again from the dead? They denied that he
rose from the dead. They have the testimony of scriptures
and have had it for 2,000 years and still to this day the nation
of Israel rejects Jesus See how Christ was prophesying of their
impenetrable Hatred and animosity to the truth, but here's the
lesson for you and me. Here's the application. Are you
ready? You not only have Moses and the prophets You have Jesus
the Apostles. You not only have the Old Testament
Tanar, but you've got the New Testament writings. You've got
the book that tells us how this thing started and how this thing
ends. You don't need any other testimony
about God other than what you have in the book. Now watch this
and I'm done right here. If you don't believe this book,
There's nothing that's going to save you. Are you hearing
me? If you don't believe the testimony
of scripture, when the miracles start to coming from the false
prophet and the Antichrist and this demonic world system, when
that pit is loosed and Satan is loosed for a season and the
whole world is deceived by the mass technology and miracles
that he will perform, The men and women who reject the testimony
of scripture will be deceived yet and still and perish under
the wrath of God. Please understand what I'm saying.
All that you need to be saved is in that book that you have.
And that book testifies to Jesus Christ. That's the lesson I want
you and I to get today. If there's anything I can say
by way of application is this. Watch this now. God speaks through
his word. Listen earnestly to the gospel
and sound thorough preaching Believe christ and obey him and
understand that the word of god is able to build you up and give
you an inheritance Among those that are sanctified that the
word of god is able to cause you To be to receive the engrafted
word of god with meekness and able to save your soul that the
word of god is true that the Word of God is powerful, that
the Word of God is life-giving, and that we can only be saved
by the Word of God. Amen.