Great God, I come before you by the
blood of thy dear son Jesus.
I ask for your spirit to attend the
preaching of your word.
I ask for you to manifest your pungent
presence among us and work in hearts tonight
and come and disturb folks.
Lead some poor sinner here this evening to
the very brink of eternity.
Lift the lid off that bottomless pit and
open their ears so they can hear the
screams and cries of the damned if they
are heading to hell.
Then let hellfire flash upon their soul as
a warning to repent and turn to you.
Open someone's eyes and let them see a
bleeding and dying Christ on Calvary, hanging there
with his arms outstretched and squirming there beneath
the awful weight of sin.
Awaken an alarm and save some sinner here
tonight, I pray in the strong name of
Jesus, Amen.
My Bible says that, and it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this
to judgment.
But there's a coming day, friends, when all
mankind will stand before the throne of God
and give an account of themselves at the
final judgment.
We see a vivid picture of this from
the book of Revelation as found in chapter
20, beginning in verse 11.
And I saw a great white throne and
him that sat on it, from whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away, and
there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God, and the books were opened,
and another book was opened, which is the
book of life.
And the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books according
to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which
were in it, and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them, and
they were judged every man according to their
works.
And death and hell were cast into the
lake of fire.
This is the second death, and whosoever was
not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire.
It's a great roll call of the ages
as every person who has ever lived is
summoned before that terrible great white throne.
That throne is so in its majesty that
heaven and earth flee from it.
Look at that judge who sits on that
throne.
See his holiness and authority.
Just looking at him fills you with dread.
Listen to the march of the feet as
they approach that throne.
Here they come.
Here come the dead.
Look at that mass of humanity as it
marches toward that throne.
Here come the dead from every civilization.
Here they come from every walk of life.
Here they come.
Look at them.
Here come the dead.
The small and the great are there.
The rich and the famous.
The somebodies and the nobodies.
Here come the dead.
They must all stand before that judge who
has eyes of fire.
His books are opened and lives are exposed.
Every mother's son will be examined beneath the
intense scrutiny of that judge.
Here come the dead.
Here come the Roman emperors.
There's Julius Caesar and Tiberius, Caligula and Nero
who fed Christians to the lions in the
Roman Colosseum.
Here come the world rulers.
There is Cleopatra, Napoleon and Alexander the Great.
Here come the pimps and pornographers who trafficked
in women.
There stands Hugh Hefner who ruined generations of
men with his perverted magazine Empire.
There stands mass murderers like Hitler and Stalin
and Saddam Hussein.
There are the great discoverers like Columbus and
Marco Polo.
Here come the famous Hollywood actresses and actors
who clutched their Oscars in life.
There stands Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe.
There stands the rock stars who ruined generations
of young people, influenced them to drugs and
Satan worship.
There's Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, the Beatles
and the Rolling Stones.
Here come the superstar singers.
Why, there's Elvis and Michael Jackson, Sinatra and
Crosby.
There stands the billionaires of each generation who
made money through God and life.
There stands the philosophers.
There is Plato and Aristotle, Buddha and Confucius.
There stands the atheists, Voltaire, Darwin and Karl
Marx.
Here come the drug dealers and beer barons
who ruined the lives of families.
There stands the captains of industry and the
heads of state.
American presidents are there and English kings, popes
and emperors.
There stands Pharaoh who stood against Moses.
There's Bloody Mary who butchered Christians.
There stands the great minds of all of
history, Einstein and Edison, Nietzsche and Freud.
Here come the dead represent the art world.
There is Matisse and Monet, Renoir and Picasso.
Here come the literary lions, Hemingway and Fitzgerald,
Flaubert and De Mausson.
There are the famous poets, Shakespeare and Poe,
Keats and Shelley.
Here's the great composers, Mozart and Beethoven, Bach
and Chopin.
The sports world, even a sports world is
represented here.
Why, there stands Muhammad Ali and Babe Ruth,
Arnold Palmer and Michael Jordan.
There they are, there they stand, the small
and the great, as they stand before God
and books are opened.
Each of their lives is exposed, revealed and
reviewed.
Books are opened, evidence is presented and cases
are reviewed.
Verdicts are handed out for there sits a
holy God and a broken law and the
sentencing of the law must be carried out
upon all guilty lawbreakers.
One by one they stand before that great
white throne as the judge of all the
earth does right.
Free will by no means clear the guilty
as they stand before God.
A red glow flashes behind them as that
lake of fire spits and sputters with terrible
destruction.
It's a heavenly courtroom scene complete with its
participants.
The great white throne symbolizes purity and the
holiness of God.
Christ Jesus is the judge seated on that
throne and if I may so speak the
angels are the bailiffs in charge of the
books.
Satan is the prosecutor, the accuser of the
brethren.
I hear a voice of authority as it
calls my name.
There I stand, trembling before that throne and
before that judge.
My sins accuse me.
My sins are stacked up and rise against
me like a black mountain before me.
There I stand by the dark shadow of
my sins.
I did in life sins of commission, sins
of omission, willful sins, presumptuous sins.
My mouth is stopped as my sins accuse
me.
The strictness and severity of God's unbending law
is held up against me as a holy
and righteous God drops his palm line on
me.
He measures me and I fail that test
for all of sin and come short of
the glory of God.
A guilty sentence hangs over my head like
the sword of Damocles ready to descend at
any moment.
My knees knock together like door knockers.
The blood drains out of my face and
my mind races back to a story I
heard as a young boy.
It's a story about a man traveling through
the city of St. Louis and it's a
Sunday and he is a Christian so he
parks his car at a downtown church and
goes inside to worship.
Once he's in there he realizes he is
the only white person in an all-black
church so he takes his seat on the
back row.
Up on the platform is the well-dressed
elderly pastor who's speaking on his subject for
that Sunday morning.
His subject is heaven.
He begins a sermon by saying, some folks
call heaven paradise, other folks call it Abraham's
bosom.
I like to think of heaven this way.
Here is Jesus just returned from his earthly
ministry.
He stands there at the pearly gates and
old Gabriel greets him.
Hello Jesus, sure is good to see you
Jesus.
We sure missed you up here Jesus.
Good to have you home Jesus.
But wait who's that with you?
Is that that thief from the cross?
Oh no sir we can't have no thieves
up here.
He's not welcome here.
Jesus replied, never you mind Gabriel, never you
mind.
And just then Jesus put his arm around
the thief and declared he's with me.
That's the story I'm thinking about is I
stand guilty before that great audience and before
that great white throne.
My sins condemn me.
I'm guilty as charged as I await the
sentencing of the law as the verdict is
about to be read.
I can see the red glow behind me
of that burning lake as it flashes hell
upon my soul.
But just then there's a disturbance in the
courtroom as my defense attorney, my advocate rises
to his feet.
He comes beside me and puts his arm
around me and in a loud voice he
declares let him in he's with me.
But then a shout of hallelujah rings out
in that courtroom as I enter into God's
presence forever and ever.
There stands my loved ones and friends to
greet me.
It's a reunion unlike any on earth.
Bless God for his mercy and his son
for his blood.
The hallelujah chorus stands up to sing and
the spirit and the bride say come and
let him that hear it say come and
let him that is a thirst come and
whosoever will let him take the water of
life freely.