Please bear with my singing for just one moment.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, dear Gertrude.
I was curious if anyone would finish the song.
Right?
We know that happy birthday has four lines.
And if we only hear three, we're not satisfied.
There's no happy birthday resolution without the final line,
happy birthday to you.
Well, Revelation chapter 20, verses 11 to 15,
is kind of like that final line to happy birthday.
If the final judgment was not in our Bible,
it would be like living in eternity,
waiting for and never hearing the final happy birthday line sung.
The issue of sin must be resolved.
Or otherwise, life is not satisfying.
Judgment must come.
And Revelation 20, 11 to 15, this great white throne judgment,
is God's last needed act against sin.
God resolves it.
The issue of sin, this issue that has been wreaking havoc on creation since the beginning, nearly.
And God will leave no loose ends.
There's no possibility of sin kind of rearing its ugly head ever again,
kind of reemerging from the tomb.
There will never ever again be any sort of move on the part of God's enemies to take His throne,
to do violence to Him or His church.
Because with the final judgment, sin is no more.
It's God's resolution to sin.
And you're maybe sitting here saying,
well, that's all well and good, Matt.
But how does this apply right now here today?
Maybe you're in the room today,
and there's just a person who immediately comes to mind,
and you're just like, oh, I'm so glad that person's going to get his.
She's going to get hers.
That you're struggling to love an enemy,
and you're just, oh, God, please bring this day now.
I really want it here now.
How does the final judgment help you love your enemy?
Or maybe, I'm guessing all of us fall into the second category too,
where the final judgment,
there's names and there's faces of people near and dear to our hearts.
And when we think of the final judgment,
we're heartbroken.
Because there's friends and family and neighbors and sisters and brothers
and all the rest in our lives who we know right now,
if they were to face this judgment today,
they'd be in trouble.
Because they've rejected Jesus.
They're living for themselves.
Does this final judgment give us any way forward?
How we're to see through what God is telling us
to move towards our loved ones with the gospel?
Because God does resolve sin.
We know that.
So how do we make sense of this?
How does this passage help us today?
Why do we have to sit here and kind of think about something
that's so uncomfortable for us?
If you're like me, you start thinking about hell,
you start thinking about judgment,
and it becomes very uncomfortable very quickly.
This is hard.
But far from this text just kind of being this unnecessary topic
that we can sweep under the rug
or we can kind of ignore until a later time,
the final judgment matters very much for us today.
And though we're not going to be able to deal with every single tension
that this passage is going to present,
the goal for us today is to provide some ways
how this text can shape our relationship with Jesus
and our relationship with others around us,
particularly for those who don't know Jesus.
So that's our goal.
We're going to try and show how this final judgment matters
and how we relate to Jesus day in and day out as his disciples
and how we relate to a lost world
who is on a one-way street to hell
apart from receiving the gospel.
Here's the claim of this passage.
I almost don't even need to say it.
You heard it read.
You know what it's about.
But let me try and summarize it.
Jesus will carry out the final judgment on each and every person.
And those whose names are not found in his book of life
will spend eternity in the lake of fire.
Jesus will carry out the final judgment on each and every person who has ever lived.
And for every single person who's ever lived,
whose name is not found in Jesus' book of life,
he or she will spend eternity in the lake of fire.
That's what this passage very clearly tells us.
And so today we're going to walk through it by asking four questions.
Four questions of this passage.
And as we're answering these questions,
we're going to try and deal with some of the tensions.
And we're going to try and apply it again as it relates to our faith
and our following of Jesus
and how we interact with those around us.
So four questions.
Question number one from Revelation 20.
11 to 15.
What does John see?
Of course, that may seem like stating the obvious,
but let's walk through it again.
Put simply, John sees the final judgment.
This is, on the one hand,
the tragic end of a staggering number of individuals who did not repent,
who spent their life in war against the Lamb and the Lamb's people.
But on another hand, it's sin's last breath.
After thousands of years of wreaking havoc,
from Lucifer's war for the throne in heaven,
to the wickedness in the days of Noah,
when God was sad that He even made man,
to more modern examples of things like the Holocaust,
thousands of years of havoc.
Thousands of years of havoc,
and sin breathes its last breath.
It's the last chapter.
The book is closed.
It's done.
This is the resolution
that all of creation has been groaning for
since Genesis chapter 3.
And this is the final move
before the new heavens and the new earth come down.
The place where God
will dwell with His people forever.
And no detestable thing will ever enter into it.
This place that is free of sin and free of death.
So John sees the final judgment.
It's both tragic and wonderful.
That's the first question.
John sees the final judgment.
But then we have to ask,
who's there?
Who does John see at this judgment?
Well, if you look in verse 11,
the first person that John sees
is the one on the throne.
Notice he's on a great and white throne.
It's great because it's unrivaled.
This isn't one throne among many thrones.
This is the throne of thrones.
This is the only throne at the end of time
when judgment comes that matters.
And it's white because of a few reasons.
This word white in Revelation,
it speaks of purity.
It speaks of holiness.
It speaks of wisdom.
So the judge on this throne,
on this great white throne,
he sees everything perfectly.
He knows everything that each person has ever done.
There's nothing that escapes his vision
or his knowledge or his justice.
That makes him uniquely qualified
to judge the nations.
He will judge everybody with equity
and with fairness.
There's no need to wonder
at the end of this judgment
whether God was just and fair and right.
It's because of who he is.
But who is this?
So is this,
are we talking about God the Father here?
Are we talking about the Son, Jesus?
Jesus?
When Revelation,
the one on the throne
is always seen as the Father,
the Ancient of Days from Daniel chapter 7.
However,
the Lamb, Jesus,
is always seen in the midst of the throne.
And he's always the one
kind of carrying out the judgment.
Remember back to chapter 5,
it's the Lion of Judah.
He alone,
who is worthy to take the scroll
and to break its seals
and to carry out judgment.
So rather than saying it's,
well maybe it's the Father,
maybe it's Jesus,
it's yes.
It's a both and.
The Father and the Son
are united in this judgment.
In John's Gospel,
Jesus says that the Father judges no one
but has given all judgment
into the hands of the Son.
So the first person John sees
is God on his throne.
But then of course in verses 12 and 13,
we see those who are standing before the throne,
those who are being judged.
And notice how John describes them.
Four times in verses 12 and 13,
they are referred to as the dead.
I saw the dead,
great and small.
And the dead were judged
by what was written in the books.
Verse 13,
the sea gave up the dead who were in it.
Death and Hades gave up the dead
who were in them.
They're also described as great and small.
Of course,
we're not talking about
seven foot basketball players
and three foot six,
nine year olds.
The great and small is referring
not to a physical stature
but to the rich and powerful
and mighty and influential
and celebrities
and those who are poor
and insignificant,
those overlooked by the world.
John wants us to see
in this description,
great and small,
that no class or social status
of people
escape this judgment.
This judgment
involves everyone.
And I find it so interesting
that everybody's standing
before the throne
but no words
come up in this passage.
Nobody's pleading for their lives.
The judge is not seen speaking here.
So what's going on?
We don't even really have enough
to speculate.
But it seems that these dead
are just standing there
waiting for God
to pronounce
the judgment.
And notice too
where they're from.
These dead,
where did they come from?
Well, it tells us that
they're coming out of the sea,
they're coming out of death
and Hades,
that these places
are surrendering the dead
that they've been housing
somehow
for any number of years.
So we're probably
wondering,
are Christians here too?
It's hard to be certain.
I'm not totally
decided one way or another
but I want to say
a couple of things
and then give you
my best sense of
who is at this judgment.
First, we know from
2 Corinthians 5 verse 10,
Paul says that
we must all stand
before the judgment seat
of Christ.
So Paul is saying
even Christians
someday will stand
before Jesus
and give account
of our entire lives.
But then we also know,
right,
that because we are
in Jesus,
because we are
followers of Jesus,
Romans 8 verse 1
tells us,
there is therefore
now no condemnation.
So there is not
a true born again
Christian on planet earth
who needs to fear
standing before
the judgment seat
of Christ
because being in Christ
they are forgiven
and the judgment
was,
the wrath was poured
out on Christ
so that we might
have life.
But that being said,
I do not think
that Christians
are in the depiction
of judgment
here in Revelation 20.
Three reasons why.
when the dead
seems to be a really
strange way
to refer to Christians.
Seems a strange name
to apply to a believer,
right,
because
though we die,
we live.
Those who,
those Christians who died
when we see them
in the book of Revelation,
they're always
seeming to be alive
spiritually,
speaking to God
or singing His praises
like the martyrs
under the altar
in chapter 6
or in the song of Moses
from chapter 15.
Also,
another reason
why I don't think
Christians are there
is because of the places
that are giving up
the dead.
Death and Hades,
if you remember
back in chapter 6,
death was the one
on the rider
of the pale horse.
He's an agent
of God's judgment
who goes out
to kill a quarter
of the world.
And the sea,
though sometimes
just refers to
that physical body
of water over there,
many other times
in Revelation
speaks of this place
of chaos,
this place of evil
that God must subdue.
And in chapter 17,
the sea is referred to
as all the nations
that the prostitute
is seated upon
and is seduced
and influenced
away from God.
And then in chapter 20,
it seems that
there's a distinction
between those
who have been
raised with Jesus
to participate
in this thousand years
and those
who remain dead
until the end.
If all of the Christians
are raised
to reign with Jesus,
then that stands
to reason
that those who are left
are non-Christians
who will be raised
to judgment.
And immediately
before our text
this morning,
we see the defeat
of Satan,
which seems to flow
right into the defeat
of all those
who have aligned
themselves with him.
So that's my best sense
of who's at this judgment.
The judge
and all of those
who die apart
from Jesus Christ.
Before we answer
the fourth question
of, well,
how is judgment
carried out?
What are the criteria?
I want us to focus
on this third question
of what is this
lake of fire?
It's important
that we
actually get
a clear sense
of what this place
is.
because people
want to distort it,
they want to
make it sound
like it's
less than
what it actually is,
that it's a different
kind of judgment
than what
the Bible talks about.
So let's just
ask the question,
what is this
lake of fire?
In chapters 19
and 20,
we see that this
is a place
where the beast,
the false prophet,
and their boss,
Satan,
are cast forever.
the anti-trinity
is thrown
into the lake
of fire.
And if you look
in verse 10
of chapter 20,
you see that
they will be
tormented
their day and
night
without end.
In chapter 14,
verses 9 to 11,
this torment
occurs
in the presence
of God's
holy angels
and in the
presence
of the Lamb
Himself.
God is still
there
and it's
horrible.
I think
this is one
of the things
that should
help us
when we're
talking to
non-believers.
I'm guessing
you've heard
people talk
about,
well,
I just can't
wait until,
you know,
hell's going to
be this huge
party,
right?
And if I
can just
get there,
then I'll
be free
of God
and rid
of all
of His
shackles
and all
of these
Christians
trying to
tell me
to abide
by these
rules.
And God's
still there.
This is not
a place
that you
escape from
God,
that you
somehow are
set free
and liberated
to kind
of do
everything
you want.
And we
can't let
people walk
around this
planet
thinking that's
true.
We must
tell them,
no,
Jesus is still
there and you
will be in
torment.
You will
have no rest
there.
You will
have no freedom
from God.
God will be
there.
Don't make
the mistake
of thinking
this is a
party.
But it's
not just the
anti-trinity
who will be
in the lake
of fire
tormented
day and
night.
It's also
all of those
who worship
the beast
and receive
its mark.
They are
there too.
And
Revelation
has been
giving us
this very
clear
understanding
over and
over again
that there
are only
two camps
of people.
You are
either sealed
by the
lamb,
bound for
the new
heavens and
the new
earth in
the presence
of God
forever,
or you
are marked
by the
beast.
And
will spend
eternity
apart from
the grace
and mercy
and kindness
and glory
of God,
the one you
were created
to love
and worship.
Only two
kinds of
people.
You're
either sealed
by the
lamb or
you're marked
by the
beast.
And this
text in
the book
of Revelation
tells us
that the
lake of
fire,
which we
could also
describe as
this is
hell,
right?
Just so we're
clear,
this is
hell.
It is a
real place
of everlasting
torment.
Jesus in
Matthew
chapter 25
says that
God has
prepared it
for the
devil and
his angels.
And we
see in
Revelation 14
that it
is those
people who
die apart
from faith
in Jesus
Christ that
they will
go there
too.
And it's
a place
that Jesus
himself says
is a
place of
eternal
punishment.
my shoulders
just kind
of droop
and drop
when I
say these
things.
I think it's
right that this
should be
uncomfortable
for us.
There's no
easy way to
talk about
something that
is so
final
and so
scary to
think about.
God.
But what we
know about
God can
help us
deal with
the discomfort.
It's not
going to
eliminate it.
I don't
have any
pill.
Just take
this and
the discomfort
will go
away.
But what we
know about
God can
help.
Hell is
God's
idea.
This is not
some human
notion that
we've conjured
up to try
and get people
to obey
rules through
fear tactics
and manipulation.
God has
created this
place for the
devil and
his angels.
It's God's
idea.
We know
that God
is holy.
We sang it
this morning.
He's holy
which means
that he's
entirely
distinct and
he's not
corrupted by
sin and
he's not
influenced by
anything bad
or detestable.
It's why in
verse 11 of
our text the
earth and
sky flee
from him
and there's
no place
found for
them.
Because the
one on the
throne is
so holy
that the
creation itself
that's been
corrupted and
stained by
sin just
flees from
his presence.
There's nowhere
for him to
go because
God is
holy.
And God
is good.
God is
good.
We know
that he will
not do
anything
contrary to
his nature.
And we
know that
he's good.
And if you
need to
wonder if
he's good
or not
just look
to the
cross.
You see
the slain
lamb,
God's escape
route from
this judgment.
God is
good.
He's provided
a way or
else none
of us
would have
hope.
He's good.
And so
by faith we
must submit
any of the
discomfort,
any of the
things hard to
stomach about
hell, we must
submit him to
what we know
about God.
He's just,
he's holy,
he's good.
This is his
idea.
It probably
shouldn't make
sense in our
little human
brains how
this all works
out.
But we must
trust him.
We can't do
the opposite.
So there's a
way that folks
at different
points in time
will do
something like
since God is
love, hell
can't be what
so and so
is saying it
is.
If God's
love, he
would not
create a
place like
this.
Right?
But our
text, it's
right here.
We can't
escape it.
God is love
and God did
create a place
like this.
We have to be
able to hold
these things
together.
And where we
don't see how
they meet, we
say, God, I
trust you.
You're good,
you're holy,
you're right,
you're just.
This is hard,
but I believe
you.
I trust you.
There's no
other way that
we can move
forward faithfully
and honestly if
we believe that
this text is
true.
And if it
helps, I was
doing the math
a couple weeks
ago and realized
that by God's
grace, I had
had the opportunity
to preach over
a hundred sermons
downstairs at our
homeless breakfast
on Sunday
mornings.
And most of
those sermons,
I have spoken
of judgment.
I've spoken
of this
terrible place
that unrepentant
sinners will
spend eternity.
It is not
getting easier
to preach that.
It's not.
In fact, it's
getting harder
as I get to
know people
and I see
their faces
and I recognize
their great
need, even
more than they
do.
it doesn't
get easier
to say
hell is real
and you need
to repent.
It's
necessary, right?
If we believe
that this Bible
is true, we
must say these
things to people.
We must warn
them to flee
from wrath.
There's no other
hope than to flee
to Jesus.
So the lake
of fire is a
very real
place that God
will send the
devil and his
angels and
every person
who does not
repent of their
sin and trust
in Jesus
Christ.
So the final
question, how
are the dead
to be judged?
We can see this
in a couple of
verses, in verse
12 and in
verse 15.
The short
answer is that
books are
opened.
And these
books are
described as
being in
accordance with
what each
person had
done.
This phrase
shows up
twice, once
in verse 12
and once in
verse 13.
The dead
are judged,
each one of
them, according
to what they
had done.
This is
really a
depiction of
God's
exhaustive
knowledge and
his instant
recall of
each and
every person's
life.
I kind of
imagine that
each person
has a book
and God's
perfect memory
bank of
saying this
so-and-so,
it's got your
full name,
your date of
birth, your
vitals.
So-and-so,
this is his
or her life.
God knows it
perfectly and
has no trouble
recalling each
and every deed,
thought,
motive of our
hearts.
And that's
why verse 15
says that
if the name
isn't in the
book of life,
they're thrown
into the lake
of fire because
when each one's
works stand
alone, they
only serve to
condemn us.
They don't
give us life.
We aren't
justified, we
aren't granted
salvation by what
we have done.
It's by grace
alone, through
faith in Jesus
alone.
So that's
how the dead
are judged,
but then notice
this other book
shows up.
This single
book appears,
not books
plural, but
book in
verse 12.
Then another
book was
opened, which
is the book
of life.
This book is
distinct,
it's unique,
it's unlike
these many
books, that
we could say
are books of
works.
In this book
elsewhere in
Revelation, we
see that it
belongs to the
lamb who was
slain.
It's Jesus'
book.
In chapter
13, verse
8, we see
that it was
written before
the foundation
of the world.
The ink in
this book has
long since
dried.
I think it's
fair to say
that this
book is
highly valued
by Jesus.
Not because
of its
exquisite
binding and
the goat skin
leather it's
made of and
the gold foil
pages and the
beautiful calligraphy
on it.
It's highly
prized by
Jesus because
it contains
the names of
those that
Jesus has
bought with
his own
blood.
This book
is precious
to our
Lord because
if we are
followers of
Jesus, our
name is in
it.
Is your
name in
this book?
If it is,
then worship
the lamb.
If your
name is in
this book,
it's because
Jesus died
that your
name would
be in this
book.
If your
name is in
this book,
it's because
Jesus endured
the Father's
wrath so you
would escape
the lake
of fire.
Can't you
just imagine
the joy on
Jesus' face
to read your
name from
this book?
It cost him
so much.
And he did
it in love
to spare us
from this
lake of
fire.
our name
must be in
this book.
It must be
in this book.
If you've
trusted in
Christ,
that his
death
saves you
from wrath,
that he is
your righteousness,
then your
name's in
this book.
It should
bring gratitude
and worship
to us,
church.
Remember,
your name's
in the book.
We have a
great Savior
who's able
to save us
from the
lake of
fire.
But not
only does
this help
us to
worship God
for what
he's done,
right?
So now we're
getting into
this relationship
with how does
this help us
in our
relationship
with Jesus
today?
right?
One,
it should
produce this
overwhelming
gratitude.
God spared
me from
that?
Hallelujah.
But it
also strengthens
us to
persevere
and to
one day
finally conquer.
conquer.
We belong to
the land.
Jesus is
making all
things new.
And when
judgment comes,
we will stand
in him.
For a little
while longer,
for a little
farther in this
journey of life,
we press on.
We have
persistence and
perseverance and
endurance to
conquer and
overcome because
Christ has
conquered and
overcome for
us.
So that's how
this text helps
us relate to
Jesus now.
Final judgment
should fill the
Christian's heart
with gratitude.
My name's in
a book.
Jesus purchased
me by his own
blood.
And it should
give you great
courage and
strength to
persevere and
press on in
this journey of
life because God
is doing away
with sin.
New Jerusalem
is coming.
How does it
help us as we
interact with
others?
How does the
final judgment
help me interact
with my enemy?
Maybe you've
got this long
standing hurt.
Maybe it's a
long past
way that
someone sinned
against you,
this deep
wound that
just doesn't
go away and
you're just
aware of it.
Or maybe it's
an ongoing
thing that you're
just being
mistreated and
abused in some
way, whether
it's verbal or
even with
violence or
whatever else.
How do you
how does this
help us with
that kind of
person, my
enemy?
We know what's
coming, right?
So we've
heard God
say, vengeance
is mine.
I will
repay.
Let me just
encourage you,
do not
callous over.
Do not
harden your
heart toward
that person.
We have this
awful way,
right, of
repaying in
our hearts,
right?
Maybe we
don't, maybe
someone slaps
us, we don't
slap them
back, but in
our heart we're
slapping them
anyway.
We can do
this with
individuals, we
can kind of in
our hearts and
say, you're
going to get
yours, bub, and
just harden
over.
It's not how
this text helps
us treat our
enemy.
We can do the
same thing toward
whole groups of
people, right?
Guessing some
people in the
room struggle with
how am I
supposed to
show love
toward the
gay and
lesbian community
for example?
How am I
supposed to
love people who
are so clearly
opposed to God
and his stance
and view on
marriage?
How do we
avoid saying
they're going to
get what they
deserve and
just kind of
harden our
hearts?
Well, we
look to Jesus,
right?
We know when
Jesus looks at
sinners, he has
compassion on
them, right?
The sheep
without a
shepherd and
he goes toward
them in love.
He doesn't
excuse sin, he
never condones
that, but he
moves towards
people, he
moves towards
his enemies or
we'd all be
toast.
So we
soften toward
our enemies
because judgment
is not yet and
God will repay.
so we soften
and we
develop compassion
and love
because the
enemies of God
will be judged
and they need
the gospel,
period.
We move
towards enemies
and love
with the good
news that Jesus
loves enemies
enough to die
for them.
There's still
time for sinners
to repent so
compassion rules
the day for
those of us who
follow Jesus.
us.
That's costly
but it's
right.
So we
preach Christ
hoping that
some of even
our enemies
would repent
so that they
would be spared
while we trust
that if they
do not repent
God will
definitely repay
them in the
end.
It's his to
judge.
then I
saved
our loved
ones for
last.
When we
think of
judgment and
we have
faces and
names of
friends and
family who
we know need
Christ, who
we know need
to repent,
it can be
tempting for
us to soften
this, to try
and maybe
even apologize
for God or
excuse this
and kind of
say well
it's kind
of, we
can't.
We can't
ignore it
because it's
difficult.
We can't
ignore it
because it's
right here.
God's just
told us over
and over and
over again of
judgment.
So we
can't sweep
it under the
rug, we
can't ignore
it, think
it'll go
away because
it's not,
it's coming.
It's coming
on those near
and dear to
us.
So it
ends up being
quite unloving
for us to
ignore or to
soften it
because our
text makes it
so clear that
it's coming.
So in
counting others
more significant
than ourselves,
we deal with
the discomfort
that we feel
because we
love other
people.
We want them
to be rescued
so we keep
going day
after day
after day,
we keep
pressing into
the discomfort
because our
loved ones
need the
gospel.
Final judgment
helps us to
soften towards
others and to
bravely and
fearfully and
sacrificially go
towards other
people.
Let it put
courage in your
heart, friend,
to be
compassionate and
to share Jesus
with non-believers
whether they're
enemies, whether
they're strangers,
whether they're
near and dear
loved ones.
both because we
believe the gospel
is big enough
to welcome even
enemies into the
kingdom and
because we
believe it's
mighty enough
even to save
those most
near and dear
to us regardless
of the life
they're currently
leading.
Jesus is going
to carry out
the final judgment
on each and
every person.
and those
whose names are
not found in
his book of
life will spend
eternity in the
lake of fire.
We need this.
We need this to
be good disciples
of Jesus and we
need this to go
toward others in
love before it's
too late.
So let's pray
together and ask
for God's help to
do that.
Amen.
Father we thank
you for your
word.
Even the hard
word.
Even the
uncomfortable
word and we
ask God that
this would
serve each one
of us today.
You would help
us.
Help us to
relate to Jesus
in light of the
final judgment
and help us to
go towards others
in love and
compassion because
of it.
God we ask for
help as a
church.
We ask for
help as
individuals whether
it's because
we're afraid or
we're angry or
anything else.
God would you
get our hearts
right when we
think about
judgment?
Would you
receive glory
through our
response to it?
Help us we
pray in Jesus
name.
Amen.