Great God, desolation is all around us as
we struggle in a world gone mad.
The devil prowls our communities, ravishing our young
with drugs and alcohol, pornography and sex.
In absence of spiritual leaders, we experience your
absence among us as we have grieved your
spirit away by reckless, unabashed sin.
Grant us, great God, the grace to see
our crimes against thee in your broken law.
Shine the spotlight of your purity into our
hearts and bring us into conviction of sin.
Grant us the grace of repentance to turn
back to you in a day of evil.
I pray that you move in someone's heart
today, Lord, and I pray you disturb the
hardened sinner.
I pray that a sovereign God will single
someone out and come in their life with
divine power.
Salvation is of the Lord, your word declares.
Now, O Lord, bless the reading of your
holy word.
I pray these things in the strong name
of Jesus.
Amen.
In Hebrews 927 we read, And as it
is appointed unto man once to die, but
after this the judgment.
Listen, friend, you have a red letter day
in God's appointment book.
You will one day die in a peer
at a calming judgment.
The title of my message today, friends, is
the final judgment day.
We will focus our attention in the book
of Revelation and chapter 20.
In Revelation chapter 20 verses 11 through 15
we read, 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.
And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake
of fire.
And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake
of fire.
And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake
of fire.
And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake
of fire.
And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake
of fire.
And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake
of fire.
And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake
of fire.
Here we see God's majesty and man's accountability.
We see the holiness of God and the
sinfulness of man.
We see a broken law and the throne
of justice.
We see the stark reality of a heaven
and a hell.
That day a judgment has come.
It's a universal judgment, a judgment according to
works.
It is the last judgment.
As Moses trembled at the foot of Mount
Sinai when it was all together on a
smoke.
So this great white throne and the judge
who is sitting on it is so terrible
to behold that the very earth and heaven
flee from his presence.
He's going to try and convince me that
the arrogant atheists will shake his fist at
almighty God and that day the last judgment
will be so intimidating it will make knees
go to knocking.
It's tears will make blood drain out of
faces and its sentencing will create shrieks of
anguish and regret.
It's a heavenly courtroom scene.
John Wesley called it the grand size.
There stands the small and great.
There stands Caesar.
There stands Hitler.
There stands the serial killer and the pornographer.
There stands the adulterer and fornicator and murderer.
There stands kings and queens and presidents.
There stands the famous Hollywood actors and actresses,
the rock stars and the pop stars.
There stands the billionaires who spent their lives
making money their God.
There stands your next door neighbor that you
never witnessed to.
There stands a family member.
Everyone will be brought one at a time
before that throne and before that judge and
will have to give an account to him.
There's no hurry on that day for time
stands still.
Or sinners as sinners are brought one by
one before that judge.
The Greek word for judged is the word
chrono and it's rich in meaning.
It means to divide, to separate, to judge,
to pass sentence, to adjudge, to punishment, to
condemn, to be brought and called into judgment,
to go to law with, a court of
justice, one whose business and special gift is
to judge, tested or judged by the sun,
by the light, as spotless, pure, clear and
sincere.
So on that day every mother's son will
be arraigned and brought before that throne of
judgment.
It's white, which signifies purity and holiness.
Cases will be reviewed, evidence presented.
All will pass beneath the intense scrutiny of
that judge and shall not the judge of
all the earth do right?
We read about this righteous judge in Revelation
19.
And I saw heaven opened and behold a
white horse and he that sat upon him
was called faithful and true and in righteousness
he doth judge and make war.
His eyes were as a flame of fire
and on his head were many crowns and
out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword
that with it he should smite the nations
and he shall rule them with a rod
of iron and he treadeth the winepress of
the fierceness and wrath of almighty God and
he hath on his vesture and in his
thigh a name written King of Kings and
Lord of Lords.
Where the great white throne symbolizes purity and
holiness of God Christ Jesus is the judge
seated on that throne and if I may
so speak the angels are bailiffs in charge
of the books Satan is the prosecutor, the
accuser of the brethren There I stand, my
sins stacked up and rise like a mountain
against me I stand in the dark shadow
of my sins My mouth is stopped as
my sins accuse me The strictness of God's
unbending law is brought before me held up
against me like a plumb line If I
stand there in my own merits I will
fail that test For no man is perfect
for all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God The sentence of guilty
hangs over my head like the sword of
Damocles ready to descend at any moment Just
then there is a disturbance in the courtroom
and my defense attorney, my advocate, Jesus Christ
rises to his feet He comes beside me,
throws his arms around me and announces to
the court He must be acquitted because he's
with me, he's with me He is justified
by my own blood Look in the book
of life and you will find his name
written in there Then a shout of hallelujah
goes up in the courtroom and it echoes
through the chambers and Jesus takes his seat
on that throne again and he looks at
my case now with a different light in
the manner of a judge at a county
fair ready to hand out blue ribbons for
excellence He reviews the gold and silver and
precious stones of a life lived for him
and he begins to hand out crowns to
me which I lay at his nail-pierced
feet The angelic choir sings the hallelujah chorus
as I am given a heavenly escort into
paradise and eternal life I am reunited with
friends and family The heavenly portals close behind
me and all attention now goes back to
the courtroom to fall upon the next case
who is up before the judge and solemnity
hangs in the air The person standing there
is the unbeliever who has broken God's law
and has no alibi or defense He stands
there as the bailiffs read an unrelenting list
of transgressions For there is nothing hid that
shall not be manifested Neither was anything kept
secret but that it should come abroad Every
dirty, rotten sin he boasted about in life
will haunt him then All the adulteries and
fornications he bragged about in life now stand
in accusation against him All the lies mount
up as evidence undisputed All the times he
took God's name in vain and made the
name of Jesus a curse word or listed
to his shame Every filthy deed he committed
and every foul thought he entertained is revealed
The books are opened and his life story
is laid bare Evidence is in and the
case has been carefully reviewed and now it
is time for the sentencing of the law
to be carried out The angel searches the
book of life and without lifting his eyes
he shakes his head in the negative The
sinner is not found written in the book
of life The judge drops his gavel and
in a voice of rolling thunder cries Guilty!
Then the sentencing of the law is carried
out against him as he is condemned to
an eternity of suffering His cries pierce the
hush of the courtroom as the angels come
with shackles and chains and bind him hand
and foot and there is wailing and gnashing
of teeth and he is cast against his
will into a boiling lake of fire The
waves, the flames crash up and down as
he drops out of sight in those rolling
waves of flames and one is reminded of
the words of the prophet Isaiah But the
wicked are like the troubled sea when it
cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and
dirt There is no peace, saith my God,
to the wicked For verse 15 declares his
doom And whosoever was not found written in
the book of life was cast into the
lake of fire But one cannot read verse
15 of Revelation without thinking about verse 10
which states And the devil that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone where the beast and the false prophet
are and shall be tormented day and night
forever and ever God prepared a place of
punishment for the devil and his angels Wouldn't
you think that it would be an awful
consuming prison of hell Wouldn't you think it
would be so nightmarish no one in their
right mind would ever want to go there
Will you be there, friend, alongside the devil
suffering for your sins It was the devil
that deceived you lured you into sin He
gave you the taste of the pleasure of
sin for a season Now your time is
up Your destiny is sealed Your doom pronounced
The sentence carried out upon your guilty head
As I live, saith the Lord God I
have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked But that the wicked turn from his
way and live Turn ye, turn ye from
your evil ways For why will you die,
O house of Israel How is it with
you, friend Is your name written in the
book of life Or will you be consigned
to the fires of torments Will this be
your case Will you stand in the shoes
of the sinners in Zion Spoken of by
the prophet Isaiah Who trembled upon discovery that
they were in hell The sinners in Zion
are afraid Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites Who
among us shall dwell with the devouring fire
Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings
Repent before it's too late, friend Get an
interest in Christ Jesus If you've not trusted
in this blessed Savior Receive Him now before
it's too late Soon He will come in
judgment on this world When His anger shall
burn as an oven Then you shall meet
Him as your judge And this was manifested
the love of God toward us Because that
God sent His only begotten Son Into the
world that we might live through Him Jesus
came into the world doing good Healing the
sick, giving sight to the blind Raising the
dead and bringing joy to the weary Yet
what happened?
Men cried, away with Him And nailed Him
to a cross On Calvary, Jesus, the spotless
Son of God Was crucified, becoming a curse
for us God is holy and He hates
sin But every stroke of that Roman's hammer
Was an explanation point that God must punish
sin God must punish sin God must punish
sin Look at that man on the cross
See Him there with His arms outstretched Beckoning
you to come to Him and believe on
Him Look at that bloodstained Savior from sin
As He hangs there He squirms beneath the
terrible weight of my sins He is crucified
so I can live I know I am
a sinner And I need a substitute for
sin And so do you, friend, so do
you Jesus is the sin substitute He bore
my wretched sins on that bloody cross When
all was against Him His love flows out
to a world of guilty sinners There is
hope for a sinner in the blood of
the Lamb That bloody cross was a spectacle,
a scandal Jesus nailed on a cruel tree
Look at that man on the cross Look
at Him, He says, come now And let
us reason together Sayeth the Lord, though your
sins be as scarlet They shall be as
white as snow Though they be red like
crimson They shall be as wool The cross
is the place where wicked men Sought to
get rid of Him But by His death
it becomes the place Where a saving power
flows out to all Who come in repentance
Confessing they are sinners And own them as
their Savior and Lord Jesus said, come unto
Me All ye that labor and are heavy
laden And I will give you rest Is
God dealing with your soul, friend?
Do you see your danger of coming to
a judgment day To stand there with no
hope or help?
Do you sense your peril?
Do you feel your need of a Savior
from sin?
The gospel is for the hungry, the weary
and the thirsty Are you hungry for God?
Are you weary of your sins?
Are you thirsty for Christ?
Then come to Him and believe on Him
Come while there's time Seek ye the Lord
while He may be found Call ye upon
Him while He is near Let the wicked
forsake His way And the unrighteous man his
thoughts And let him return unto the Lord
And he will have mercy upon him And
to our God for He will abundantly pardon
Come, friend, and lay your sin-burden down
At His nail-pierced feet Jesus said, all
that the Father giveth Me Shall come to
Me And Him that cometh to Me I
will in no wise cast out Come to
Christ, friend, and surrender all you are To
all He is, for He is Lord He
is Lord