Reese, Joe: The Great White Throne ~ Rev 20

One day, God is going to put the final period on the final sentence, on the final paragraph, on the final page, and time as we know it is going to come to an end. Everything that man has schemed for and dreamed for and sold his soul for is going to turn to rust and dust and corruption and melt with a fervent heat. Someone has said, one day the battery of God's prophetic clock will be completely dead. Not enough power in that battery for one more second of time. But before that, before time is completely over, before the new heaven and the new earth are ushered in, there is one final event in time. If you have a Bible, you turn with me to Revelation chapter twenty, please. Revelation chapter twenty. It is called the Great White Throne Judgment. Now, we might as well get our theology straight before we get into this. The Great White Throne Judgment is not for everybody, but it is for those who reject the Lord Jesus. The scriptures are clear. There's therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. This is only for the Christ rejecters, only for the ones who will not receive the love of God or the Son of God and his payment for their sin. Uh, I heard a guy pray one time, and don't pray like this for me. Lord, when we come before thy great white throne, and don't pray that for me. I'm not planning on being there. Thus, I have a spectator's seat and see what is going on. But this throne, this judgment is for the Christ rejecters. Let me begin reading in Revelation chapter twenty and verse eleven. 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. We might ask ourselves this question, who is the judge? Who is the one that sits on this great white throne? Who is the one so awesome, so terrible, so mighty that, uh, that the sea and heaven and, uh, the earth, uh, fled away from them. Uh, who- who is it that is so awesome that no one wants to stand before? Let me submit to you an article written in a magazine called Youth Alive. It was printed actually in nineteen seventy one. It was called The End of Time. I submit to you this article. At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God's throne. Some of the groups were belligerent. Uh, how could God judge us? What would he know about suffering, snapped a joking brunette. She jerked back a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. We endured terror, beating, torture, and death. In another group, a black man lowered his collar. What about this, he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. Lynch for no crime but being black. We have suffocated in slave ships, been wrenched from loved ones, toiled till only death gave release. Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God, uh, for the evil and the suffering that he had permitted in this world. How lucky God was to live in heaven, where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping, no fear, no hunger, no hatred. Indeed, what did God know about what man had been forced to endure in this world? After all, God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said. So each group sent out a leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. There was a Jew, a black, an untouchable from India, an illegitimate, a person from Hiroshima, and one from a Siberian slave camp. In the center of the plane, uh, they made their case. It was rather simple. Before God would be qualified to be their judge, he must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on Earth as a man. But because he was God, they set certain safeguards to be sure he could not use his divine powers to help himself. Let him be born a Jew, one cried. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted so that no one will know who his real father is, said another. Let him champion a cause so just but so radical that it brings down upon him the hate, condemnation, and eliminating efforts of every major traditional and established religious authority. Let him try to describe what no man has ever seen, tasted, heard, or smelled. Let him try to communicate God to men. Let him be betrayed by his dearest friends. Let him be indicted on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury, and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him see what it is to be terribly alone and completely abandoned by every living thing. Let him be tortured, and let him die. Let him die the most humiliating death with common thieves. As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the great throng of people. When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered a word. No one moved, for suddenly all knew God had already served his sentence. Let me assure you, ladies and gentlemen, this evening, there is no one in the universe more qualified to sit on that throne than Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Bible is very, very clear. For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son. Jesus Christ will be the judge. Oh, not your opinion of yourself, uh, not your parents, not your children, not your best friend, not someone who will be prejudiced or biased, but Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He will sit on that throne and be the judge. Now, if I wasn't a believer, if I wasn't a Christian, if I wasn't planning on being a Christian, there are two days in the year that I would never go to church. Two days. Ironically, for many unbelievers, these are the only two days in the year they go to church. Christmas and Easter. You say, well, why wouldn't you go? Why wouldn't you go to church? Well, if I wasn't a believer and I wasn't planning on, uh, becoming a believer, if I wasn't interested in the gospel, I can tell you why I wouldn't go those two days. Those two days guarantee my judgment. Jesus Christ came into the world, and Jesus Christ died on a cross and three days later rose from the dead. You say, I don't understand that. Listen to this. God has a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, wherefore he has given assurance unto all men, and that he has raised him from the dead. Listen, you can't have court if the judge is dead, and God has raised the judge. And I'll tell you, he will sit on that great white throne. But now notice in our text, not only has God raised the judge, but God raises the defendant. Look at it again in verse thirteen. It says, and the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. Listen, you have an unbreakable appointment with the great white throne judgment, if you are not a believer. There's no place you can hide. Where are you going to hide from a God who's everywhere? Jeremiah records it like this, am I a God at hand and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? One man said, I'm gonna take a gun and blow my brains out and end it all. His friend said, if you had any brains to blow out, you'd know you can't end it all. Not even death. You can't even crawl in the grave and pull the ground in over you and escape this judgment, for it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment. You see, when this judge calls, you come. I mean, he's got all power. You can't hide, you can't run away. Oh, on earth you can get away with it. Many unsolved crimes on earth. They run away up in the Northwest Territories or down in the small islands of the Caribbean or in the Florida Everglades or somewhere, and they get away and they can't find them. But when this judge calls, I'm going to tell you, the Bible says you come because he's got all power. Well, not only does he have all power, look in verse twelve. the Bible is very clear, he knows everything. And we read this, the books are open. The books are open. God keeps impeccable records. Every word, every thought, every deed, every expression is written down. Matthew records it like this: Every idle word that man shall say, shall he, shall he give an account thereof in the day of judgment, for by your words are you justified, and by your words you are condemned. The Bible is very clear. This judge has the facts, the thoughts of the hearts. Uh, when no one else was there to hear you, God had it recorded by his servants in heaven. When you lusted, guess what the angel wrote down? Adultery. When you hated, when you wrinkled your brow and you gritted your teeth and you said, I hate you! Guess what's written on your record in glory, according to the scriptures. Murderer, murderer. When you cursed, when you swore, when you used the thrice holy name of the God of Israel, God Almighty, or his son in vain, and then you said, I didn't mean anything by it, and then you forgot about it. God didn't forget about it. It is written with a pen of fire and tables of lead, impeccable records are kept. Thou shalt not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain. The judge knows all. Uh, notice again in verse twelve, we, we read these words, uh, and, and it says, and the dead were judged at the end of that verse out of those things which were written in the book according to their works. According to their works. You say, well, that's good. There- there's going to be justice. You don't want justice. You want mercy. You want love. You want forgiveness. You want grace. People ask me, Brother Joe, how you doing? You know what I tell them? Better than I deserve. I don't want justice. I want mercy, and I want grace, and I want forgiveness. And here they are judged according to their works. Now, again, don't get your theology mixed up. Man is never saved by works, but he's judged by works. Man is saved by grace and through faith. Tonight you must take a step of faith. Tonight you must repent of your sins. Tonight you must give God the benefit of the doubt. Tonight you must say, God is right and I am wrong. Jesus is the only Savior, and I'm the only sinner, as though you were the only sinner on earth. And you must admit your sin. You must reach out by faith. You must appropriate the gospel message for you. Whosoever will may come, say, oh Lord, that's me, and by faith you must reach out and trust the Lord Jesus. The Bible is very clear, you don't have to sin a thousand times, a million times, a billion times, one sin will keep you out of heaven. For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all. Let me tell you tonight, folks, nothing that smells of sin will ever get into heaven. Nothing that has any appearance of sin will ever get into heaven. And this judge will judge according to works. The wise preacher in Ecclesiastes wrote these words, God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. This judge has all knowledge. He's got the facts. He judges according to their works. Now let's see who the judged are. The judge is none other than Jesus Christ himself. He's been raised from the dead. The defendants will be raised. The sea and the death give up the dead that are in them. And who are the judge? Let's look in verse twelve. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. The s- the dead, the dead and trespasses and sins. Some of them are physically dead. Those who are apart from the grace of God, those who've never embraced the love of God, those who wanted to do it their way. Let me tell you, God is a perfect gentleman. The Lord Jesus stood over that great city of Zion, and he wept. He wept. How many times I've sent the prophets to you. How I wanted to gather you like a hen gathers her chicks. And he said, I would, and you would not. God will hold you accountable for that. God pleads with you. God begs you. God implores you to be saved. But listen, if you don't want him, you don't have to have him. You can choose your choices, but you cannot choose your consequences. You see, for all Christ rejecters, there's the lake of fire. We read it in the text. And for those that don't want the Savior in time, God will make sure you don't have him for all of eternity. But who are the dead, the small and the great? Maybe we could put them like this, the down and outs are there, and the up and outs are there, because they're all out of the grace of God. They're all separated from the love of God. Uh, let's see if we can break this down into some categories for you. We'd say, who do you think is going to be there? I can tell you for sure the out and out sinner will be there. Th- th- this is the renegade, this is the proud, th- this is the critic, this is the atheist, this is the agnostic. This is the person who stands on his own two feet, uh, waves his fist in the face of God and said, if there is a God, you're not big enough to make me serve you. They'll be there. The out and out, the low down, the criminal, the immoral, the drunkard, the drug addict, the prostitute, the out and out sinner, they will be there. Can I tell you who will be rubbing shoulders with them? Not just the out and out sinner. Let me tell you, rubbing shoulders with them that day will be the self-righteous. These are the people who are depending on self. It could be your neighbor. He's the best guy on the street. He's the most honest businessman. Uh, he, he's the guy who volunteers at the hospital and, and works with children in the ball team, and I, he's just a great guy, but he's depending on his own righteousness to get him into heaven, his own good works to get him into heaven. His philosophy is this: if you just do the best you can, if you just try to be fair to all men, if you just try to be a, a kind person and a loving person and a giving person, surely God wouldn't send you to hell. Let me assure you that on the authority of the word of God, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but with his mercy will we be saved. There are about six billion people on Earth, I'm told. Let's suppose you line them up toe to heel and heel to toe. Someone has said that line would go from the Earth to the moon, back to the Earth, and circle the Earth twice. That's about how far the line would be. Let's suppose you took a gold cup and you put it in the hand of the first person and said, put all of your righteousness into this cup and pass it on. The Bible is very clear. When that cup got to the end of that line, there wouldn't be enough righteousness in that cup to save one child. Oh, not by works of righteousness. Our righteousnesses are like filthy rags before a loving and a holy and a righteous God. The self-righteous will be there. About a year and a half ago, I was in Ireland. I was preaching, taking a walk one day down on a local dock. Guy comes up, asks me what I'm doing. You're a visitor? I said, yes, I'm a visitor, preaching that little gospel hall right over there. He said, oh, I know you guys. I know your technique. He said, you try to scare people by telling them they're go- going to hell. You try to tell them that they need Jesus, you know? Oh, I know that technique, he said. That's what you're doing over there, right? That's what you're doing. I said, Mister, I didn't write the book, I just read it. You want that argument? You take it up with God, not with me. Either go home and tear these pages out of your Bible, or get on your knees and repent. God is not a man that he should lie. And this is real. You say you're trying to scare me? I wish I could. I wish I could scare you. I- I- I wish I could communicate to you that you don't have a prayer, not even a prayer will save you. That you need Christ, only Christ, and he is your only hope, or this will be a reality for you. So the out and out sinner, he'll be there. The self-righteous person, he'll be there. Let me tell you who will be standing shoulder to shoulder with them. I've called them the misled and the deceived. We read about them if you were in the Bible study this morning. These are the people who say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do this? And didn't we do that in your name? Oh, I tell you, folks, they will be there. Uh, the- the- these people who are acting in the flesh, who are playing religion, who are going through the motions, but who are not real Christians. Churches are full of them. People think that by going to church, let let me get to my next point, not only the misled, but the church member will be there. This is the person that believes because they're on the roster of the church, that their their name is in the Lamb's Book of Life. That is not true. That they believe because they have a baptismal certificate when they were a baby, and and somebody signed that as though they were the final authority, gives them entrance into heaven. That is not true. The church member will be there. This is the person that is depending on religion. This is the person that is depending on their denomination. This is the person, when you say to them, listen, are you saved? Are you a Christian? All they can say back to you is this, I am a, and they name their denomination. They will be there, right along with the out and out sinner, right along with the self-righteous. Who will be standing beside them? The apostate will be there. This is that pretender. This is the person who knows they're not a Christian, but who pretends to be a Christian. One day the apostates pull off the mask, you know. One day they say, I never was one of you anyhow, you know, but they will be there, the pretender, the false teacher, the false prophet, uh, the, the ones who are ungodly, who have not the Spirit of God. They're in our churches today. They're pretending to be. Watch for them. They are coming. Here's somebody else that'll be there. I call him the procrastinator will be there. This is the person that says, tomorrow I'm going to get saved. This is the person who says, you know, I'm going to go home and think about it tonight. Well, I'm going to tell you something, folks. It, it, it may be the babies, and you say, leave the babies alone. Don't tell the babies about Jesus, they can't understand. Then they get into their teens, and you say, now don't bother the teens with them. Now they got to have their parties and their sports and their schools, and they go from the teens to the tempestuous twenties. And now they're, now they're leaving home, and they're going off to university, and they're going out into the world, and they move into the tired thirties. And man, some of them are getting married, they're buying cars, and they're buying houses, and daddy's money has run out, and I want to tell you something, this is a hard life. They might even have to get a job, and they move into the fear- feverish forties, And the world's passing them by, and things didn't work out, and my degree wasn't good enough, and I don't have the right job, and my, my relationship to my wife, and I don't have time for Christ, not now. They move into the frantic fifties, and the sinking sixties, and the solemn seventies, and the aching eighties, and the nagging nineties, if they live that long. But guess what they've got good at? Saying no to God, saying no to Jesus. Not time, not time, not time. When will it ever be time for you? The procrastinator will be there. The Bible is very clear, because sentence against an evil work, uh, is, is execute, is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the son of men is in them to continue to do evil. You think you get away with it? You say, God didn't judge me when I was in my thirties, and I've gotten away with it for thirty years. Listen, God always pays his debts. The wages of sin is death, and God always pays his wages. You can wait and wait and wait until it's too long. The procrastinator will be there. Anything you do long enough, you get good at, even saying no to Jesus. Well, what is the judgment? The judge, well, it's the dead, the small, and the great. What is the judgment? Well, every trial has three parts. There's the evidence, and there's the defense, and there's the verdict. Well, in our case here, we've got the evidence. Notice, please, again, it says the books are opened. The evidence. This is your life. God will put it on the big screen. I mean, there it is, a, a, a smelly, ugly mountain of sin, and you know it. You've never dealt with it. You've never confessed it. Um, the, the record is open, and things you thought nobody knew, things you thought that nobody else heard, things you did that nobody else was there. God's got them all recorded, folks. And the books are open, and the evidence is there. And then there's the defense. We could say to you, what would you say? What will you say when you see that? Will you say, I, I never heard about the love of God? That's a lie, and you know it. I'm telling you about the love of God tonight. Listen, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. You believe that? That's for you. That, that if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll be saved. Y- y- you can't say I've never heard of it. Y- y- you say, well, um, I didn't think it was true. Well, listen, we're telling you tonight the message is from the Bible. It, it's from the word of God. We're not making it up. This is not fiction. This is not result of the imagination of man. This is the word of God. What will you say? Uh, you say, well, I didn't have enough. Listen, it takes a minute to be born, it takes a minute to die, it takes one minute to trust Christ. Do it right now. In your heart, fall on your face. In your heart, humble yourself. In your heart, admit you're the sinner. In your heart, receive Christ right now as your savior. You don't have to say a word, but in your heart, you must believe it. You must receive him. You must trust him. You say, well, it was my wife or my husband or my friends. Listen, they will all answer for themselves. I will suggest for you that what you will say in that day is guilty. That's all you'd be able to... Your defense will be no defense. Someone has written these words. When the great factory plants of our cities have turned out their last finished work, when our merchants have sold the last order and dismissed the last tired clerk. When our banks have raked in the last dollar and paid out the last dividend. When the judge of the earth says close for the night and asks for a balance. What then? When the choir has sung its last anthem and the preacher's made his last prayer. When the people have heard the last sermon and the sound has died out on the air. When the Bible lies closed on the pulpit and the pews are all empty of men. When each one stands facing the record and the books are open, what then? When the actor has played his last drama and the mimic has made his last fun. When the film has flashed its last picture and the billboards displayed their last run. When the crowd seeking pleasure have vanished and gone out into the darkness again. When the trumpet of ages is sounded and they stand up in judgment. What then? When the bugle call sinks into silence and the long marching columns stand still. When the captain repeats his last order and they've captured the last fort and hill. When the flag has been hauled from the masthead and from far field all men are called in, when those who've rejected the Savior are asked for a reason, what then? What is your reason? What is your excuse? What is your defense? You say, I didn't like the preacher. Folks, you got to get over that. I'd like for you to like me, but if you hate me, you better love. He is your only hope. What then? Guilty, guilty. That moves us to the last, not the evidence, not the defense, but the verdict. Let's read it in verse fifteen. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. This is what God says. This is not what I say. This is what God says. There is a place that's been prepared for the devil and his angels. If you choose to spend eternity in that place, don't you blame it on God. Don't you say to God, I didn't have time. You got time. Don't you say to God, I didn't understand. You moved by faith. Don't you say to God, I- I- I had a- you didn't have any reason. You are rejecting the Savior tonight if you don't trust him. You say, no, no, I'm just waiting. Let me tell you, the road from earth to hell is paved with good intentions. People are going to do that tomorrow. I'm going to go home, think about it. I'm going to go home, pray about it. I'm going to go home, but I am not going to trust Christ. As long as you don't trust him, listen to me, you are numbered with the transgressors. You are a Christ rejecter until you, by faith, embrace him, and you are the enemy of God. You've broken his laws. You have offended a holy God, and you're at war with God, and God's at war with you. He extends love to you and forgiveness to you. You want to choose to disregard that? You want to choose to reject that? That's your business, but this is your end. Right now. This is it. You're on your way to a devil's hell, or you're on your way to heaven tonight, right sitting there in that pew. The door to heaven is not in heaven. The door to hell is not in hell. The door is none other than Jesus Christ, and if you haven't walked through that door, you will not get to heaven. The verdict. What is the verdict? Not found written in the book of life. There's one thing you must do on earth before you expire, one thing. You must get your name in the Lamb's book of life, or you have no hope. You've got to get your name there, because I read if your name is not there, you're going to be thrown into the place prepared for the devil and his angels, the eternal Gehenna, the lake of fire. That it, listen, not for a day or a week or a month or a year or a decade or a century, not even for a millennium. Not one place of comfort. You see, if you want love, you can have it. If you want forgiveness, you can have it. If you want mercy, you can have it. But listen, you must have it now. Today is the day of salvation. Why would you put it off? This is not something you roll the dice on, folks. This is not something you gamble on. This is not something you say, I think my way, my religion, my philosophy. You had better bow your head and bow your heart to the Savior right now. Break that foolish pride that's been holding you back, and bow your knee before Jesus Christ tonight. Settle your case out of court tonight. Come to the Lamb of God tonight. I don't know how that scene is going to be. I'll suppose a scene for you. You've come. The evidence has been getting- given, and the verdict has been pronounced. I- I'm assuming that this thing is going to be very legal, very right. Let's suppose for a moment that the Lord Jesus says to one of those angelic servants, check the book of life and see if his name is there. So the angelic servant begins to go through the book of life, and the more he turns the pages, the more there's an anxiousness on his face. Finally, he gets to the end, he turns and he says, Master, his name does not appear. Jesus Christ, with tears streaming down his cheeks, says to that angelic creature, check it again, there can be no mistakes. He paused through the book of life, frantic, checking every name. Master, his name does not appear. Jesus Christ turns to you and he said, I sent my messengers to you. I sent my spirit to convict you. I sent literature to you. I sent your best friend to you. You know that I tried everything to reach you, and you would not. I loved you, I died for you, and you would not, you would not. Depart from me, ye worker of iniquity, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels on the authority of the word of God. I don't know how it's going to happen, but you will be taken to the opening of that abyss, and you will be cast in forever. And you could settle that right now, but you're too proud. You're too hard. You're too embarrassed. You're too something to humble yourself. Listen, folks, please, I beg you, uh, the mercies of God. Please. You, you, you want me to get on my knees right here? If I thought it'd do any good, I would. Why? Why do you reject his love? Why won't you trust Christ? I'll tell you, if you search your heart, you'll tell me this. Preacher, there's not one good reason. There's not one good reason to reject the love of God. There were two soldiers at the cross, you know. One said, this is truly a righteous man. And the other took a spear and pierced the side of the Lord Jesus. As he pulled that spear out of the side of the Lord Jesus, the scriptures are very clear, blood and water came out. I'm assuming blood on the, on the head of that spear. He holds that spear, and he walks away. And that blood drips off the head of that spear, and he trampled it under his feet. That's exactly what you're going to do when I close in prayer, unless you trust Christ. That close, but so far. You either accept him or you don't. You either will love him tonight and embrace him by faith, or you will be numbered with the Christ rejecters and cast into that lake of fire. I can hardly believe God lets us choose. I can hardly believe it, but he does. But he will hold you accountable tonight for what you choose. God help you to choose Christ. Let's pray. Our Father, it is with these thoughts we commend to you every heart, young and old. Praying that your spirit would not leave us alone, but work, work, work. Perhaps this evening someone's just been waiting. Now's the night. Tonight is the night. And they want to say yes, Lord, that's all they have to do is say yes, the Bible is right, God is right, Jesus is the only Savior, and I want him to be my Savior. Lord, there's no miracle prayer, just an attitude of a humble heart. Oh God, we're praying that tonight someone might be rescued from a devil's hell, might be saved to serve the best of masters, might have the Prince of Peace in their heart. They can go out of here tonight with peace, not with war, not with conflict, not with contention, strife. They can go out of here tonight with the Prince of Peace in their heart. Oh God, we're praying. And for any who might say no, I pray that tonight they would be haunted by these words. Whosoever's name is not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Oh God, do for us what we cannot do. Work with us. Uh, give, uh, encouragement tonight for those who may be, uh, wayward, uh, for any among us who may have thought back and thought, oh God, I've been saved from a devil's hell, but they're not living for the Lord. Oh, I pray, Father, tonight they might, in love and appreciation for all that the Master has done, they might repent of their sins and come back to fellowship with the Almighty and with the people of God. Father, we commend them to you in the name of the Lord.