The Judgment of Unbelievers at the Resurrection Revelation 20:1-15 (ESV) August 26, 2018 Dr. Ritch Boerckel

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1 The Judgment of Unbelievers at the Resurrection Revelation 20:1-15 (ESV) August 26, 2018 Dr. Ritch Boerckel 1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. 4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. 7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in those books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. One of Peoria s most famous residents was an agnostic lecturer by the name of Robert Ingersoll. He gained much fame in the late 1800 s ridiculing religion in general and the reality of hell in particular. In one lecture, Ingersoll declared that he would conclusively prove that hell was a wild dream of some scheming theologians who invented it to terrify the credulous and keep them under control. As he was launching into his speech, a halfdrunken man in the audience arose up and he shouted out, Make it strong, Bob! There s

2 a lot of us fellows depending upon you. If you are wrong, we are all lost. Be sure you prove it clear and plain! This poor man understood the infinite cost of being wrong about the reality of hell. He was banking his very life on Robert Ingersoll and his teaching. No question poses a more significant consequence to life now and forever than this one. It is the question: Is there a real final judgment of God to fear? Is there a hell to avoid? Many trust their own reasoning or their emotions to guide them to an answer. They say things like, I don t believe God would send anyone to hell. By the way, He doesn t send people to hell. People send themselves there. Or more forcefully, many more today are saying, A God who creates an eternal hell for man is a cruel monster unworthy of worship! Part of Satan s strategy to destroy man and to rob God of glory is to convince us to trust in our own understandings about final judgment. Remember what he whispered to Eve at the very beginning, the dawn of human history, in the Garden. After she told him that God said to her, The day you eat of this tree in the middle of the Garden, you will die. That s what God said. And Satan coldly and plainly whispered back, You will not surely die. That s not true. You will not surely die. There is nothing to fear in this threat. It is empty. As a Christian, I place my trust in God s Word. That s who Christians are. And we place our trust in God s Word to reveal answers to questions that are eternal, that are spiritual, relating to God, relating to our soul. An impassable curtain separates this physical world that we can observe with our senses, from a spiritual world that is beyond our senses. We have no access to this world. If we are to know anything about the spiritual world, we must have God s revelation because we cannot perceive it with our natural abilities. Thankfully, God has given us a witness. He has given us a witness through His Son and He s given us a witness in His written Word. So God has left us with something solid, something firm upon which to base the answers to these questions that really are the most important questions of life; particularly to this question of final judgment. Trusting in man s philosophical arguments or resting upon emotional senses to answer a question regarding final judgment is like trusting in $10 reading glasses to look and observe cells that have been scraped off a person s skin in order to discern cancer. It would be silly wouldn t it, to use the instrument of reading glasses to observe whether cancer is found in that piece of flesh. We need something stronger. That instrument is unable to give us information that we need to know. We need a microscope to see at the cellular level. God has given us an instrument by which we can see the spiritual realm. And it s not the reading glasses of our own philosophical meanderings and thoughts. It s not the reading glasses of our emotions and how we feel that this question should be answered. Those instruments are worthless to peer into that realm. The instrument God gives us to see into that world of the Spirit is His Word. He doesn t want us to remain in the dark about this world. It s the most important aspect of life. And on the subject of final judgment, God

3 has not been silent. He has not left us without a perfect testimony to what is yet to come. His Son, Jesus says this John 12:48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. This is Jesus speaking about the last day and He says, You have My words. I came from heaven. I gave you words. You have them. And you ll be judged on the basis of whether you believe them or not, on that last day. It will be no defense to say to God on that future day when we give an account of our lives, But God I didn t know the Bible was written by You. If I had known that, I would have listened and I would have believed. In fact, I learned in college and I learned from the internet that Your Book was a book of fables and that it was silly to trust in Scripture. The truth that God presents and Jesus backs up is that God wrote a Book and He will hold us accountable for receiving it or rejecting it. And the mark of a Christian is that we listen to the voice of the Shepherd; we listen to God s voice through His Word. It s an essential central trait of every believer in Jesus. God gave His Son in love so that we need not perish on that last day. So He reveals this judgment that is terrifying and that will fall upon every one of us if we are left in our sins. But then He reveals His plan of salvation, His plan to provide a way for us to escape. We open up our Bible s today to Revelation 20 to learn more about what God reveals regarding this future day of judgment. If you re taking notes, there are a number of categories that we re going to follow regarding this final judgment. The first category is The Certainty of the Final Judgment John is on the Island of Patmos. Jesus gives him a vision, and this is part of the vision of the end times. Picture this as you read it. This is a visual image that John is giving us of that final Day of Judgment. John writes: 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in those books, according to what they had done. So you see this great picture. There s this Being, and we re going to discover Him to be Jesus, sitting on this great white throne. And there before Him is a great multitude. And some of those people standing before Him are really important people, at least in this world. And some of them are completely insignificant as far as this world would measure their life; both great and small. And they re all standing before the throne. And on one side are these books. And the books are opened. We re going to find out those books have a record of everything every one of those people, great and small, have ever thought, have ever done, have ever said. Those books are opened. But there s another

4 book. It s the Book of Life. But the dead are judged according to what s written in the books, the books that record everything related to each one of their lives. John s vision is very clear and very confident. There isn t any measure of uncertainty regarding what this day is and regarding John s vision. Keep in mind that Jesus personally gives John this vision of the future so that John would write it down for us to receive; so that we would know what s going to happen in the future. In Revelation chapter 1, we see John experiencing the vision for the first time and he says when he saw Jesus Revelation 1:17-19 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. He is alive! He s referencing His crucifixion and resurrection, the means or the instrument of our salvation. Hades is the place where those who are outside of Christ have died and whose souls are in torment. Jesus has the keys of Death and Hades. John s vision includes some things that have already taken place, some things that are presently taking place, but most of the book of Revelation is about the things that are yet to take place. And that s where we come to Revelation 20. But keep in mind that Jesus is giving him this vision. And again, because it s Jesus giving this vision, everything that Jesus reveals is absolutely certain because of who Jesus is. He is the first and the last. He is the one whose eyes are like blazing fire. Other Scriptures also reveal the certainty of this future day. Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, More certain than the appointment of every man having a day of death, is the certainty of future judgment. Romans 2:5-6 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: It s certain to be revealed. This is not just a mere likelihood or probability. It s an absolute certainty. And then Jesus words in Matthew 16 Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. The doctrine of hell, of future judgment, is not my opinion. I don t come here to share my opinions about spiritual matters. I hope I never do that, because you have good reason to doubt anything that is resting upon the foundation of my own opinion. It s not the opinion

5 of men who have gone before me. It s not the opinion of church councils. It s not the opinion of the Baptist denomination. The doctrine of hell is the clear teaching of Jesus and the clear revelation of God through His Word. I do not believe in hell because I want to. I believe in hell because Jesus, our loving, merciful Savior, says it is so. Man never creates reality. God is the one who created all things. That which is false does not become true because people believe in it. And that which is true does not become false because people reject it going to infinity of people may reject the doctrine of a future day of judgment. And it may be hard for us to stand up and say, No. This future day is real and is true. But people will be wrong if they call God a liar. And that s the faith that a believer always has in God and always has in His Word. We do not lean on our own understanding. We trust in the Lord with all our hearts. That s how we base our lives. Why do so many reject the clear testimony of God regarding the reality of final judgment? There are likely many reasons, but there are two that I think are very prominent. 1. Because God s sense of justice is so far above our own sense of justice. We can t even understand His righteousness because our righteousness is broken and it is corrupted. We want a god to think like us and act like us and to do what we would do if we were God, but He is not. He is holy, holy, holy! So we say, I need to fashion a god whose sense of justice matches my own, not a God whose sense of justice is far above. 2. I believe many reject the testimony of God regarding final judgment because sinful man longs to be free of accountability to God. In our sin, we want to follow our own desires. And removing the certainty of final judgment allows us to have our way and to live unimpeded in pursuing our own way. All we like sheep have gone astray. Each one of us has pursued his own way. Psalm 10:13 Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, You will not call to account? Those who reject Scripture and God s revelation of this future day say, No. I can t believe in a God who is going to call me to account. If I believed in that kind of God, I d have to change my life, and I m not going to do that. The next issue that we want to consider is not only the certainty of this future day. It is absolutely certain! It s vital that we respond in view of that certainty. The Sequence Leading to the Final Judgment Revelation 20:11-15 is in a context. 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. You might underline those three words, Then I saw. John uses these words all throughout chapters 19 and 20 to report a new event in the sequence of God s actions at

6 the very end of time. So we want to look back in our text and note the events that have taken place right before man s final day in court at the great white throne. We want to follow that little phrase that John uses to note a new event in God s chronology. That little phrase then I saw. And this will help us to have an understanding of what God is doing at the end of time. First, in Revelation chapters 6-18 God goes into great depth to explain one week of years, one seven year period known as the Tribulation period, where God is pouring out His wrath upon the earth during this present age. Following the seven year period of Tribulation, Revelation 19:11 says this. You might just turn back to that text. He s talking about after the vision of the Tribulation. Revelation 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. Now this is Jesus. So after this Tribulation period, then he sees Jesus coming on this white horse. And He comes in righteousness, to judge the earth and to make war. So Jesus has physically returned, as He promised. Skip forward to verse 17. Revelation 19:17-19 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. In his vision, an angel is sent to communicate to the birds that there is a war that is about to take place, and that s the war that the Bible calls the Battle of Armageddon. Many people are going to die in that war. The Antichrist and his armies are gathered to make war with Jesus who has returned to the earth. So they think they can defeat Him. They think they can war against Him. And they re trying to make war against Jesus. So this Battle of Armageddon takes place. It ends quickly because of Christ s infinite power. The Antichrist and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire. That s told about at the end of Revelation 19. And then verse 1 of chapter Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. Jesus then is ruling and reigning on this world for a thousand years. Satan is bound up. And after the thousand years have ended, Satan must be released for a little while. So he is released after having a thousand year period of time in which Satan is unable to deceive, he s unable to tempt, he s unable to corrupt, he s unable to curse, he s unable to harm mankind.

7 4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. These are Tribulation saints and the Tribulation saints come to life and they reign with Christ for a thousand years. And I think this participation in Christ s earthly reign is for every believer who is resurrected. This is the first resurrection. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Did you catch that? We ve been talking about how there is a bodily resurrection prior to this millennial kingdom of Christ, and that s of God s people who are going to return to the earth to rule and to reign. But the rest of the dead, those who are without Christ, without hope, whose souls are suffering in Hades, they didn t have a bodily resurrection until after the thousand years have ended. 7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations Think of that! The world has had nothing but righteousness, peace and prosperity through the reign of Christ for a thousand years. And yet people are born during this time. There are many who are still in their natural bodies during this thousand years. And at the end of a thousand years, Satan, when he s unleashed, he s able to gather up a whole bunch of people who are dissatisfied with Christ. Again, indicating that the problem of man is not greater education. It s not more economic prosperity. The problem of man is in the heart of man. They have a thousand years of experiencing peace, prosperity and righteousness, justice throughout the world. Satan, when he is unleashed is able to gather up a myriad of those who have been born during that time, who internally were still resisting the rule of Christ. Now they say, Yes. Let s join up with Satan. Let s throw our lot in with him. Let us see if he can overthrow this One who calls Himself King of kings and Lord of lords. 8 their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, Just like the Battle of Armageddon, it s not a prolonged war because of God s infinite power. This last battle is not a prolonged battle. 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

8 That s the nature of this place. So then in verse 11: 11 Then I saw I wanted you to catch the sequence of events to have a context through which this last judgment of those who are unbelievers who are now resurrected in body to stand before God to give an account of their life. What an astonishing statement when it says 11 From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. This is a declaration of what had already been prophesied. God is going to undo what He created in this world and He s going to destroy it by fire. He says, I ll never destroy this earth by flood again, but He does promise that he s going to destroy it by fire. And that happens right here, right prior to this great white throne judgment. Peter is going to talk about this event, and here s the application. I want us to draw the application because this is not just interesting doctrine. This has a strong application to our life. If we grab hold of it, it ll change the way we live. It really will. Here s what Peter says: 2 Peter 3:10-13 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. He s talking about heaven and earth fleeing from the presence of Jesus on this last day. Everything we see here is going to burn up in this fire of God s judgment just purifying the world of sin once and for all, so He can make all things new. Since these things are going to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be? That s a question we need to ask every time we come to God s revelation. What kind of person am I to be? If I really catch it that everything around me, my shiny new car, my house that I just remodeled, that vacation home by the lake, the vacation that we take, everything that we see will be dissolved. It s no more! Since this is an absolute certain truth, what kind of people ought we to be? We ought to be the kind of people who say, I don t want to be dissolved with it. I don t want to stand before that God left in my sins. But we re eager about this future day because we have grace and mercy and life promised to us in Christ Jesus. We have an inheritance with Jesus. Sin doesn t have a future. Why would we invest any part of our lives in sin? There s no future to it. There s only destruction! So we looked at the certainty and the sequence, but now, what about the society? Who is going to be there on that final day? The Society at the Final Judgment

9 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The first person that we observe at this great day of final judgment is Jesus. He s going to be seated on the great white throne. If you turn back to Revelation 19:11-12, it makes it plain. Revelation 19:11-12 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire Jesus judges with absolute justice. You might want to mark down John 5:27. Jesus says that the Father grants the Son authority to execute judgment. All judgment has been given over to Him. His eyes are like blazing fire. That s to say He sees everything past, present and future. He sees with piercing righteousness. He is the one who is going to be seated on this great white throne. In Acts 17 Paul talks about this future day and of Jesus being the judge when he talks in Athens to a group of people who all this was new to. This was a central part of the message he gave to them as he explained to them for the first time in Athens to these philosophers and pagans. This is what he says Acts 17:30-31 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. God calls all people everywhere to repent of sin and turn to God in faith. Notice who else is at the great white throne judgment. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Revelation 20:6 already taught us that the redeemed were resurrected prior to the millennial reign of Christ. So that s what Revelation 20 teaches us. So the dead who are at the great white throne judgment are those who are outside of Christ, those whose names are not written in the book of life. No one is exempt. No one s power and wealth can keep them and allow them to avoid that day. But also, no one s obscurity, their smallness can help them avoid that day. No one can say, Who am I? I m not going to stand there. I m such a nobody. No! Every person is there to give an account. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Again, it s the souls that have been in Hades waiting for this future day of resurrection. There was a resurrection and each person was judged according to what he has done. These are all unbelievers throughout all of human history who appear before Jesus on that

10 future day. They didn t participate in the first resurrection. They were offered, but they didn t receive it. And they are bodily raised to participate in this judgment. And it s a judgment of condemnation. Now remember, last week we talked about the judgment seat of Christ, which is for the redeemed. We don t want to mix up the judgment seat of Christ, which is for those who are in Christ, and the great white throne judgment that is for those who are outside of Christ. The judgment seat of Christ is one of rewards. Every one of them receives the inheritance of eternal life with God, of knowing Him and being connected to Him. But here, there s not one of them that receives that. Now, they re still judged, so I believe there are degrees of punishment based upon a person s actions, upon their deeds. There are degrees of hell. But each one who appears here is without a Savior. No one wants to appear before Jesus at the great white throne. On what basis then will people be judged? The Standards of the Final Judgment 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in those books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. I don t know what form these books are found, whether they re books with paper and cover, whether they re flash drives, whether they re DVD s. But everything about a person s life is there. Not one small, minute detail is absent. God keeps a meticulous record of everything. We like to compare ourselves with others in order to feel better about our chances on that final day. We think, Hey, I think I m as good of a person as the Snodgrasses down the street. Well you know what? That might be true. You might be better than the Snodgrasses. But do you know the Snodgrasses? Do you know what has happened inside the heart, the mind, the lives of those folks that you are comparing yourself to? Romans 2:16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. Matthew 12:36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, Everything will be brought to light. It will be horrible if the souls to which God has an infinite righteous judgment against, are attached to us! It will be horrible! God must put an end to sin. And if we choose to keep those sins attached to our own souls, we will be judged along with those sins. Our righteousness is too small, it s too puny, too unworthy to depend upon on that future day. Our sins are too corrupt. They re too dark. They re too significant. I know we might not feel like they re significant, but understand that God is a

11 judge who is infinitely righteous. There is no one who is approved by God on that last day through works of the law. Here s the truth, the Gospel. Those who are without Christ will be judged on the basis of their works. That is to say that some will receive a more severe punishment than others in eternity based upon their deeds. But everyone who is without God s mercy found in Jesus will be cast out of God s presence forever and ever. And that s why we must repent of our sins and believe in Jesus. Isaiah, the prophet calls out Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. That s the nature of God. He delights to have compassion on sinners. The Severity of the Final Judgment 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is a reference to hell. Some say, Well surely that s not a literal lake. If it s not a literal lake, please know that God is a master communicator and He uses the term lake of fire to describe something that is horrendous. And it s as horrendous as a literal lake of fire. And those who are outside of Christ will be resurrected and they ll be thrown into this lake of fire that was prepared for Satan, and from which God has offered a way of escape, where they will be in torment forever and ever. I say that not with joy. I say that with pleading for everyone who is outside of Christ. It takes our breath away as we think of what God reveals about His judgment for sin. Hell is God s just punishment upon sin. Hell is God s ultimate expression of His resistance to evil, His abhorrence of evil and His commitment to put evil away from His world forever and ever so that it will be no more. Remember Jesus words to the Pharisees. Jesus talked about hell more than anyone in Scripture. To the Pharisees He said Matthew 23:33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? The Pharisees had rejected God s prophets, and that s what Jesus was confronting them about on this occasion. And He said, How can you escape? If you rejected the prophets who God sent to tell you how to connect with Him and how to have your sins forgiven, how can you possibly escape hell? That s why what you believe about God s Word is so central to salvation. Because if you reject God s Word, what other avenue, what other means will awaken a soul to come to Christ and to flee from this future day? Jesus

12 doesn t say this with gleeful hatred of the Pharisees. He s not saying, Oh goody! I can t wait! Just a couple verses later, here s what He says. Matthew 23:37-38 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. He s weeping over Jerusalem. He s weeping over these Pharisees to whom the prophets have been sent. The Salvation offered to avoid the Final Judgment Take notice of this book of life that is mentioned here. The book of life is a book that lists all those who are saved, who have found Christ and found a refuge in Him. Thus their sins are forgiven. And friends, the most important book to have our name in is this book, this book of life. We ask ourselves the question an old song presses against us. Is my name written there? On the page bright and fair? In the book of God s kingdom, is my name written there? When Jesus sent out the 12 disciples to minister in cities healing the sick, casting out demons, they returned rejoicing because they were part of this power. God was using them; especially that they had the power to cast out demons. They were really impressed with that ability. And they were thrilled as they came back to have kind of a debrief with Jesus. Let me tell you the stories And here s what Jesus says to them in Luke 10. Luke 10:20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. He says, If you really want to rejoice, don t get all jazzed that God used you to do this miracle. That s great! But here s the motivation of your song on Sunday morning. My name is written in the book! I m forgiven! I ve avoided the judgment of this final day. I have a refuge! I have Christ, who is my Savior. My former seminary professor John Hannah observed, No one who is ever in hell will be able to say to God, You put me here, No one cast into the lake of fire will ever point a finger of accusation on that day. They ll know too much of their guilt. They ll know too much of the rightness of their condemnation. No one who is ever in hell will be able to say to God, You put me here, and no one who is in heaven will ever be able to say, I put myself here. Did you catch that? That s why it s amazing grace, how sweet the sound! God s grace is offered to everyone. There s no one outside of God s call. So what are the applications? Let s close with these. 1. Hear the invitation of Jesus and cling to Him in faith.

13 Revelation 21:6 And he said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. That s Jesus. That s this One who comes riding on the horse, bearing a sword, executing wrath on the Day of Judgment, who sits upon the great white throne. Everyone who comes to Me, I will give of the spring of the water of life, and you don t have to pay anything. Just come! Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let the one who hears say, Come. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. Do you want to know God? Come to Christ Jesus. 2. Proclaim the Gospel! Be bold. Don t shrink back. Let us not shrink away because we re going to be ridiculed or because we re going to pay a cost. Let us be bold to share the good news. Love demands our boldness! The magician Penn Jillette is a very active atheist. He hopes to convert as many people as he possibly can to atheism. Yet listen to what he said regarding evangelism: I've always said, you know, that I don't respect people that don't proselytize. I don't respect that at all. If you believe that there's a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell and you think that, Well, it's not really worth tellin' 'em this, because it would make it socially awkward, how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you and you didn't believe it that truck was bearing down on you there's a certain point where I tackle you, and this is more important than that. This is an atheist who gets it! The question is: Do we get it? Do we look out at our neighbors, at our family, at our friends and see this final day? We have to see it. We can t just say, That s a doctrine that s really uncomfortable. I don t want to think about that. We have to! God said it here so that it would motivate us to live for eternity and motivate us to be bold in the proclamation of the Gospel. 3. Labor in your church to care for the souls of the children sitting near you. I want you to look around. Look particularly at kids who are perhaps 16 and under. Too many children have grown up at Bethany and have left the faith and denied Christ Jesus. Too many! I know that every person is responsible. I know that. But I know it s also possible for their blood still to be on our hands. And I have to ask the question: Do I care enough to talk to these kids early and often; to pray for them? If I m in their Sunday School class or if I m in AWANA, then I m going to have a personal conversation and tell them I m praying for your soul. I care that you would spend eternity with God. And I

14 want them to know as much as I have any influence at all, I want to use that influence. My heart breaks over them. I don t know their future, but God has placed them in my family. And as long as they re here, this is what I m going to do. Let s be that kind of church! 4. Rejoice in the Jesus of the Bible and not the Jesus of man s making. If the Jesus we worship doesn t cause us to tremble with awe and holy fear, we do not know who Jesus is. Let s rejoice in the Jesus of Scripture. 5. Live your life with eternity in view. Let us not evaluate our life by earthly values and priorities. Let s not raise our children to measure their life by the successes they experience here. Let us make what will be valuable on that day, what is a priority and of infinite importance, today for us in our life. To God be the glory!