I was glad when they said let us go into the House of the Lord.
And I love being here tonight. I love the fact that we just,
we're going to pray and study the word of God.
You know, that's what a church does.
It studies and loves the word of God.
It gathers together praise. Then we go about our business.
Let's stand and open with prayers.
Lord, better is one day in Your courts than 1000 elsewhere.
Your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.
Lord, You tell us that You are the way, the truth, and the
life, that there is no coming to the Father.
But by You. Lord, you tell us we must be
born again. You promised that Lord you would
rise on the third day, and you did.
And you promised that you'd come back and take us with you.
Lord, you'd call us. And so, Father, we gather
because of all these promises and because of how you've
changed our lives. You've rescued us, saved us and
washed us, cleansed us. Your mercy is new every morning.
Lord, great is your faithfulness.
And Father, we stand before you with open hearts and our hands
lifted up because we pray and thank you for our salvation.
And now, Lord, we give you this evening.
Lead us, teach us, convict us by your Holy Spirit, these things
we ask and pray now in Jesus holy name.
And everyone said Amen. Please take a seat and open your
Bible to Revelation chapter 20, which Lord willing, we'll finish
tonight. But before we finish chapter 20,
I want to give you a quick fly over.
I touched on it on a Sunday of the differing views that some
have on the teaching period known as the Millennium.
Remember we read 6 times. It's 1000 years, it's 1000
years, it's 1000 years. We Calvary Chapel believe in the
premillennial teaching of the Word of God.
There is a group of people, churches whose view on the
Millennium difference to that on the period 1000 year reign the
Kingdom of Christ here on earth and they are called
amillennials. Their view means a means
literally. There's no 1000 years, not going
to be 1000 years. Actually the thousand years is
purely symbolic. And so the millennial to an
amillennialist represents the Church age which we taught in
Revelation chapter 2 and 3, and the Church age continuing on
now. And Christ is ruling the earth
in this Kingdom through the Church.
It originated A millennialism with Augustine and a fellow
called Origin who taught that the Millennium period 1000 years
is to be interpreted spiritually has been fulfilled.
As I said in the Christian Church, which many churches
today, you can see why the massive focus is inward on the
church being where it all happens, that Satan was bound
during the earthly ministry of Jesus.
That's what they teach. Augustine denied that the
Millennium would follow the Second Advent or the second
coming of Christ, and that the church, as I said, is the
Kingdom spoken of bringing all the promises, and that there
would be no literal fulfilment of any of those promises to the
nation Israel. So that tells you what churches
who are a millennial also have nothing to do with Israel.
Israel. God's done with Israel.
But history clearly tells us that Satan was not ever nor is
bound now. We are not living in the
Millennium now. We are not experiencing all that
was promised during this period. If I go near a lion, you'll tear
my head off. If a child goes near a snake, a
snake will bite it and kill it. They say the Kingdom is right
now a millennials and that Jesus is ruling and reigning in the
church over his people. And if this now the world in
which we live is the Kingdom, that means that they're saying
that Satan is bound at this time.
You only have to read the news lately because if this our world
now and what's happening is a demonstration of Satan being
bound, then it's not a very good binding or it's a very long
chain. A millennialist believers say
that Satan was bound at the cross.
That's where all happened. No, Satan was not bound at the
cross. He was sentenced at the cross
but not does not serve time until Revelation chapter 20
during the true millennial Kingdom and he gets a sentence
of 1000 years. Because if Satan was bound at
the cross now, then why would Peter say to Ananias in Acts
chapter 5 verse 3, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to
lie to the Holy Spirit? Keep back part of the price of
the land for yourself. And Paul writes to the church in
Corinth and Two Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4, Satan, who is
the God of this world, little G has blinded the minds of those
who don't believe. Why does Peter go on also to say
one Peter 58 be sober, be vigilant.
Why? Because your adversary the devil
is chained up. No, he walks about like a
roaring lion, seeking whom me whom he may devour.
Paul went on also to say in One Thessalonians chapter 2 verse
18. Therefore we wanted to come to
you, even I Paul time and again, but Satan handed us.
Now the other side of millennial view is that of a post
millennial view. This is the belief that Jesus
won't return until after the 1000 years or the period.
Post millennial teaching says that the Kingdom of Christ will
be ushered in by the church through preaching, politics,
Christians getting into government, and getting people,
the right people, into power. You can see how that's why
churches sometimes go adrift sometimes in that area.
Post millennials teach that the world, much of the world will be
saved through the gospel making earth.
What's going to happen is the church will eventually make
earth primarily a Christian world and only then will Jesus
return to rule and reign once we've done our job, got everyone
saved. And they say post millennial
people, the teaching is that the 1000 years is not a literal 1000
years, but it's simply a long period of time.
Just how long it's going to take the church to do this, we're not
sure. But the church will overcome the
evil of the world and that we as believers, we will go Jesus,
look at what we've done, come back now, come back now.
And so they also teach that the world is going to get
progressively better until Jesus returns.
So that's a millennial post millennial.
So we believe in pre millennial teaching literal a literal 1000
years is a literal 1000 years. So let's look at our text.
We got up to chapter 10. Now we're in verse 11, sorry,
verse 11 tonight of chapter 20, John says, Then I saw a great
white throne, and him who 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. That means everybody standing
before God. And books were opened and
another book was opened. So we've got plural books.
And now a singular book opened, which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged according to their works by the
things which were written in the books.
The sea gave up all the dead who were in it.
Everyone who died in the sea, Death and Hades delivered up the
dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one
notice according to his works, then Death and Hades, the
abiding place at the moment. Now when someone dies and
they're unsaved, they go to their Hades, both those places
now no longer going to be needed.
So those two locations cast into the lake of fire.
And then it says this is the second death, spiritual,
eternal, not physical. And anyone not found written in
the look of life was cast into the lake of fire.
And that's the end. So the great white phone
judgement is really not a judgement as such, a courtroom
as such. It is judgement, I should say,
but it's not like a like, you know, when you go to the court
here and you stand before a judge, there's not a courtroom
as such where you have a prosecutor and a defence.
While we are on my client, he was not doing this.
The other one said, well, I would say that this person here
he is guilty of and there's this argy bargy and a judge in
between. No, the Great White Throne
judgement is actually you've been found guilty.
That's why you went and were resurrected through the 2nd
resurrection. You're guilty already.
So there's not like am I guilty or not?
It's not that it's the sentence, it's how long you're going to
get. It's what's going to fall upon
you for being guilty. It's called great, the great
White Throne judgement, because of the dignity of the judge
himself, who's the judge Jesus Christ.
And it's called great because of the greatness and unparalleled
solemnity of the occasion. This is a moment in time for
every individual who rejected Jesus Christ that they'll never
forget. It's called great because of the
vastness of the scene, for here is the dawn of eternity.
It's called great because of the eternal consequences involved.
There's no going back. It's called great because of the
great destinies. It will decide.
It's called great because there will be a judge but no jury.
It's called great because there will be a sentence but no
appeal, no karma, no reincarnation, not no Hinduism.
Come back a second time, have a crack, have a have another go.
John chapter 3 verse 18 tells us he who believes in him is not
condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already.
This is after John 3/16/17 Speaking of Jesus the Son of
God, he who does not believe. So your unbeliever is condemned
already. You're guilty already because he
has not believed. In the name of the only begotten
Son of God the judge is the Lord Jesus Christ.
As I said, John chapter 5 verse 22 For the Father judges no one,
but has committed all judgement to the Son.
So Jesus is the one who provided salvation.
John 316 For God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.
Jesus is the one who provided salvation.
He is the one in the Great White Throne judgement who will judge
those who have rejected His offer of salvation.
When Jesus came the first time, you remember so many cast a
judgement upon him. Caiaphas, you call yourself the
Son of God. Anas Herod Pilot, I wash my
hands crucifying the Sanhedrin. It's guilty and all the
religious leaders of Israel. Can you imagine at this time the
Great White Throne Judgement, Caiaphas, Anice, Herod, Pilot,
all standing not collectively but as individuals before the
one who they had cast judgement on before?
And he is still. Remember the Judge Jesus is
still wearing the marks of his crucifixion.
Remember, remember this, remember this, it says in verse
11 from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.
This refers to the destruction and dissolving of the universe
as we know it. And to Peter, Peter picks this
up chapter 3 verse 9. He says the Lord is not slack
concerning his promise. That is a coming back, as some
count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in
which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the
elements will melt with a fervent heat, both the earth.
So they spoke of the heavens and the earth and the works that in
it will be burned up. So why the earth and the heaven
must be destroyed and recreated? Because both have been polluted
by sin. The earth was the scene of sin
and rebellion, and it bore the stain of the judge's blood.
Jesus crucified on Calvary. The aerial heavens around us
cannot remain either since they were polluted by Satan.
Why he had the title Remember the Prince and power of the air.
So instead of cleaning or putrefying them, God will
dissolve them, recreate them. New heaven, new earth next
chapter. And it says and there was found
no place for them. Who?
The unsaved, because the unsaved will have no place to hide for
the final judgement. You can't go anywhere.
This is it, verse 12. And I saw the dead, small and
great, standing before God. So that's everybody.
And the books were open. We read that and the other book,
Book of Life. The dead were judged according
to the works, things written in those books.
The unsaved will stand as individuals before God, before
Jesus Christ. For an individual.
Judgement won't be in a group. I'll be collective.
Oh man, I'll be there with all my mates.
No, as an individual, As salvation is individual, you
must receive Christ yourself. Don't receive it as a group.
So judgement is individual. How long will this judgement
take? Don't know.
But imagine all the unsaved dead that have died and now are
resurrected. Every one of them will stand
before God, The books will be open and out will come all the
information, nothing left unturned, All the unsaved dead
will be resurrected to stand before the Lord.
Hades we read giving up the dead.
Remember in Luke's Gospel chapter 16 when the rich man and
Lazarus both died, Lazarus went where?
To Abraham's bosom, which was emptied out as Jesus, He Who
descended first, for who ascended first descended.
Let those free the final judgement.
Luke chapter 16, the rich man, he is resurrected.
He's part of this and it speaks of the sea.
Now you might think, well see well, how many people die at
sea? Well, there's a few shipwrecks
and things, but we forget. Go back to the book of Genesis
when only 8 souls were saved out of the entire world's
population. Just 8 and the great flood and
the rest of the entire world's population died in the global
flood. Each one of them.
As I said, this is the second resurrection and it's only for
non believers. This is not about whether you've
saved it or not. It's a sentencing.
You're guilty. They will have a resurrected
body. Bible tells us that not like
ours in One Corinthians 15, because our body is suited for
heaven, where we're going to go. But those involved in the second
resurrection will have a second a new a new body as well.
Not suited for heaven, but it will be a body suited for
eternal punishment because the Bible tells us over and over
again that they'll feel pain, anguish, sense darkness, loss,
isolation. They'll grind their teeth,
they'll gnash their tongues, all those things for eternity.
Back in verse 12, it stated that all the books were opened.
Then a book singular. So all the unsaved are to be
judged by what is written. I dealt with that in detail in
my blog the other day, How yes, all will be judged, but Hitler's
judgement compared to somebody else's judgement, somebody else,
there'll be measures of judgement.
In that way, all the unsaved are to be judged by what is written.
The Bible tells us, Jesus tells us every idle word will be
written down and goes before us, catalogued in perfect detail
every sinful word, thought or deed.
The question is, but what about the people who have never heard
the gospel? We've always been asked that
question, haven't we? How will they be judged?
The answer is God will judge them.
Jesus Christ will judge them just like everyone else.
As we read in the book of Romans chapter 1 and 2, every man,
woman and child over the age of reason that is coming to the
place where you have a conscience, you can decide as
well as the witness of God's creation testifies them.
So they have a conscience. As saying earlier on, Mick
Jagger has come out now he's not a believer.
He's come out and said I had to speak up on Twitter.
How can people celebrate the murder of a young man?
Conscience we have that each and everyone of us have right and
wrong. Psalm 19 verse one the heavens
declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork
the heavens. Psalm 96 verse 97 verse 6 the
heavens declare His righteousness and all the people
see his glory. Romans chapter one verse 18 Paul
goes into further detail. He says, For the wrath of God,
that is, the judgement of God is revealed, shown from heaven
against all ungodliness that is, not living right before God, and
unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness. Because what may be known of God
is revealed unto them, manifest to them, for God has shown it to
them. How?
For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes
are clearly seen being understood by the things that
are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are
without excuse, oh, but no excuse, because although they
knew God, unbelievers, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were
thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish
hearts were darkened. Now the Bible tells us that the
road to glory as we read in Pilgrims Progress, great book.
Read it once a year. It's a great book.
Matthew 713 Jesus said enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the
gate, broad is the way that leads to destruction.
Everyone's going down that path and there are many who will go
in by it because narrow is the gate.
Jesus said I am the way, difficult is the way.
Take up your cross and follow me.
You want to follow me, then you must deny yourself and take up
the cross. It's a it's a narrow difficult
way which leads to life and there are few who find it.
So the narrow Rd has been well marked.
Jesus said an evil and adulterous generation. 6 after a
sign, I'll give you a sign like Jonah was in that great wish 3
days and three nights the resurrection.
That's the sign. People say well if I saw a
miracle, if God did a miracle before me, then I believe.
Remember that was the going on in Luke 16.
Don't, don't. I got brothers.
You got to send someone back. And even if someone were to come
back from the dead, they wouldn't believe.
And there is the singular book, the Book of Life.
This book records the names of every saved person, every
citizen of heaven. Remember what Jesus said a bit
said about this book to his disciples.
He sent his disciples off for the first time.
They came back when man it was amazing.
We were casting out devils sick with being healed and people
came wanted to know more about repentance and getting right
with God man. Jesus said hey hey hey settle.
Don't rejoice over this that the spirits are subject to you, but
rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven as
this is the judgement of the unsaved.
No person in the second resurrection has their name in
this book, the book of life. And so the response to every
person appearing here will be name so and so.
Your name is not listed, simple as that.
This judgement is as I said, more of a sentencing of the
already proven guilty. Now some will say, and this is
the worst thing as a pastor, it's the worst verse.
As a pastor, some will say at that time many will say to me in
that day, Lord, Lord, have I not prophesied in your name, cast
out demons in your name, done many wonders in your name and
the judge will declare under them never knew you depart from
me. You who practise that means you
live a lawless life. So the second death is
spiritual. Where is the lake of fire?
Don't know. And some far off Galaxy
somewhere. Where will the Great White
Throne judgement be? This is the final judgement.
It is the final judgement. It's not on heaven and it's not
on the earth, and it's after the 1000 years, literal 1000 years
has passed. This judgement takes place.
It's the judgement of the dead. It's the judgement of the
unsaved. It is not a judgement as to
salvation, but a judgement as according to the evil works of
the unsaved and the measure of punishment that is going to be
laid out. Besides separation from God
forever, So in the light of Calvary, no lost Sinner can
condemn God for casting them into hell.
Why? For God has provided a way of
escape. You get to have your way kicking
and screaming and says in book of Romans, it's a sad scripture
too, that God gave them over. He said, OK, I've tried, I've
tried, I've tried as he did with Pharaoh.
Pharaoh I mean plague after plague after plague and they're
all targeted, specific plague. And each time Pharaoh's heart
hardened, God has provided a way of Skype and He's patiently
waiting for sinners to repent. The great White Throne judgement
is final. There is no more judgements
after that. And those will be cast into the
Lake of Fire forever.