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[0:00] So if you are physically able and desire to do so, I want to ask if you'll join with me as we stand together and we read the Word of God found in Revelation 20, starting in verse 10, which kind of concludes what we looked at last week, that last great push of Satan after the millennial reign of Christ.

[0:15] If you remember, Revelation 20 starts with the bounding or the binding of Satan and him being locked up for a thousand years when Christ comes and sets up his millennial reign and all peace on earth.

[0:26] There's no longer any enemy, no longer any adversary, because you could go back to Revelation 19, verse 20, and see that the false prophet and the beast had been bound and cast into the lake of fire.

[0:38] So now here we see that Satan himself is cast for a thousand years. Christ reigns on earth with his believers, with those who have followed him in heaven, those who have trusted in him. They are raised to reign with him during that thousand years.

[0:51] After that thousand years, Satan is released from the pit and he goes into this world and he finds those who have lived in a world of perfect peace, but have never given their heart over to a perfect Savior. And he stirs up and he leads them to one final revolt against Christ.

[1:06] And we read in verse 9 how that revolt never really took place because they came to the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. Now the devouring would be those people, flesh and blood, who had set their hearts to revolt against Christ even though they had lived in a place of perfection all of their life.

[1:27] Revelation 20, verse 10 brings that portion to a conclusion and it opens up for us immediately the next portion. John writes, And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

[1:43] Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life.

[1:57] And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.

[2:11] Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

[2:21] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you've given us this day. Lord, we thank you that we have had the opportunity to worship you through acts of obedience, to worship you through singing of songs.

[2:33] Lord, I pray now that our worship would be directed to you towards the reading and the understanding of your word. Lord, we pray that we would have a comprehension of it that passes our understanding. And Lord, that the understanding that we receive from you would be that which would move us to lives of obedience for your glory and honor.

[2:48] And we ask it all in Jesus' holy name. Amen. You may be seated. Revelation chapter 20 is really bringing all things to a close. It is bringing millennial reign to a close.

[3:00] It is bringing all of sin to a close. And it leads us into Revelation 21 where we begin to see the new heavens and the new earth. As a matter of fact, Revelation 20, verse 11 and 12 show us that even the earth as we know it comes to a close.

[3:16] Because it says all of heaven and earth pass away before him. But we see here the great white throne judgment of Christ. Something that is not very often spoken of today.

[3:26] Something that is really not referred to very often. As a matter of fact, in modern Christianity, this is something that is often neglected. Something that is often cast aside and something that is very seldom considered and thought of.

[3:38] If you have ever seen the statue, The Thinker, maybe you have seen the movies of the Night at the Museum. Maybe you have seen those and you have seen that Thinker, the Smithsonian one where he says, I am thinking, I am thinking.

[3:50] And maybe the humor and the funny part of that, which is so good. But we have seen the statue of The Thinker where he is looking down. Maybe you do not know why that statue was made that way and really what he was thinking about.

[4:02] Because that statue was not just constructed to be one who was thinking about deep things or that was thinking about obscure truth. As a matter of fact, the builder of that statue made him look down intently with the purpose that he was looking into Dante's Inferno.

[4:18] Maybe you have never seen the picture of Dante's Inferno, which is this spiraling staircase which leads to the lake of fire, which is often referred to as hell. And the reason that statue has such a somber look on his face is because he is thinking in a contemplative manner the number of souls that are going into the lake of fire.

[4:34] And he is thinking about those who are descending that spiraling staircase to be eternally separated from a love of a holy father and the love of a loving savior. That is something that in that time and during those days was often thought about.

[4:47] As a matter of fact, we do not have to go very far back in history to see that man often contemplated the eternity of their souls. They would take time to think about their eternal destination. And as is Satan's tactic most often, he began to remove time from man and to speed life up.

[5:03] And when life sped up, man had a lot less time to think. Man had less and less time to think on the things of God, to read the word of God, and to be concerned about the eternal state of their own lives.

[5:15] As a matter of fact, we have entered into an age of you only live once. And that is not true. Because you may only live in this life once, but you live eternally somewhere. There is this clear biblical understanding that man has been created with an eternal being.

[5:29] And all men will live eternally somewhere. And when we come to Revelation 20, and we look at verses 10 through 15, we are looking at that great day when the eternal destiny of man is decided.

[5:43] It has often been said, and it is accurately said, that no one in Scripture spoke more of hell than Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, the 12 times that it is mentioned in the New Testament, 11 times it comes from the mouth of Jesus Christ.

[5:59] The only other time refers to an instance that points to what Jesus had said about it. He brings it up more than anyone else. He is really the only one who brings it up, and speaks in sincerity of it, because he alone can speak in truthfulness of it.

[6:13] He gives us many pictures of it. And the picture we've seen of the separation of the sheep and the goats at the judgment seat is this which is being fulfilled here in Revelation 20. I want you to see four great truths from these verses.

[6:27] Number one, we see the day that is soon approaching. The day that is soon approaching. This is something which would be very becoming for the believers. Again, remember this. This is not, I hope you hear my heart in this.

[6:39] This is not to be a scare tactic for the unbeliever, but to be a awakening call for the believer. This is not to be a scare tactic for those who have not professed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, because my personal testimony is this.

[6:52] You cannot scare someone into heaven, because love draws an individual into a relationship. You cannot scare someone out of hell, because you may be scared for a moment, but love lasts for eternity, and love is that which draws a person to the loving Savior.

[7:08] So if there is any scaring or any fear or even uneasiness, may it be aroused in the life of the believer as he contemplates and she contemplates those they know which are unbelievers.

[7:21] And may they be compelled to move them to the love of a Savior that would call them to a loving Father, so that they do not face what we see here. Number one, it is the day soon approaching.

[7:31] We see the devil who deceived them was thrown into a lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also. And they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. The reality we see is that the beast and the false prophet have already been seized and thrown into the lake of the fire.

[7:45] And now, after the millennial reign of Christ, Satan himself is seized and thrown into the lake of fire. After the millennial reign, we have come now to what is called the day of judgment, the bema seat of Christ.

[7:56] It is the day when Christ comes and his throne is set up, and he sets upon that throne, and he sets as the great judge of the world to judge the hearts and the intentions of men. But one thing we do not notice is that Satan, the beast and the false prophet, do not stand before the throne of judgment, because that day is not their day.

[8:13] Their day of judgment has already taken place. Their day of judgment has already passed, because when Jesus hung on the cross, he judged Satan, because he took what was the power of Satan, that is death, hell, and the grave, and he overcame it, right?

[8:25] And the Bible says that he overcame them, and from that day on, Satan has known his judgment. Satan has known his eternity. Satan has known his feet. Satan has known where he is going. He has known his destiny.

[8:37] That is not a day of judgment for them. As a matter of fact, being created beings, being angels in all of their perfection when they were created, we can read that in the book of Ezekiel, and trying to ascend to the throne of God, as we also see in Ezekiel, with pride and all of this malicious intent in their heart, they were cast out of heaven.

[8:56] But it is not appointed unto once to die to the angels. That is appointed unto once to die to man, and after this comes the judgment. So now we are coming to that day, the day that man often does not want to think about, the day that man really tries to avoid, but it is a day that is coming.

[9:15] He says, Then I saw, after Satan was bound, he is cast aside. So friend, let's just paint the picture here. On that day, there is no false prophet. On that day, there is no beast. And on that day, there is no Satan.

[9:27] No one is to be found but the man who stands before the throne, and the man on the throne. It says, Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat upon it. We see on that day, it is a day of establishing his throne.

[9:41] This is the Bema seat of Christ. We need to understand something as believers, okay? We need to understand something with all of sincerity here, that there are two judgment seats of Christ spoken of in the Bible.

[9:54] The first one is the judgment of Christ, which the believer stands before. That is the day of reckoning for the believer. And it is pictured for us in the entrusting of the talents to the individuals. Remember when the landowner went away, and he entrusted five talents to this one, and three talents to this one, and one talent to this one.

[10:09] And then he came back, and he asked them. He had a day of judgment, a day of reckoning on what they did with what he entrusted to them. That is a picture of the judgment of the believers. Because the moment you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, he gives you a talent for his glory and his honor.

[10:23] He gives you a talent for his purposes and for his use only. We call that spiritual gifts, right? And if we read the book of Ephesians accurately, and we should, understand that your gifts have been given to you for the edification of the saints, not for the benefit of yourself.

[10:40] Let's just stop right there. Let's get a little preachy on us. Let's step on some toes. Whatever he has gifted you for has been for the edification of the saints. You don't want me to stand up and sing his eyes on the sparrow, because you won't be edified.

[10:52] You may be terrified, and you may want to run out, but that is not my gift, right? That is not my gift. I have not been gifted to edify you that way. I have been gifted to terrify you that way. And we understand that.

[11:03] But what God has entrusted you with as a born-again believer has been given for the purposes of building up his church. This is why when we do not exercise our gifts within his church, we are therefore being poor stewards of that which he has entrusted to us.

[11:20] And there will be a day where we stand before him, and he says, what did you do with what I gave you? And if we say, well, Lord, I knew you to be a terrifying master, so I hid it in the ground. Well, he'll say, that's not, I don't want to accept that.

[11:33] I don't want anything to do with that. You should have at least invested a little bit, and I would have had a little bit of return, right? So there's the first judgment seat of Christ. The second judgment seat of Christ is the Bema seat, which we see here being established, and we'll get to a little bit later who is standing before it.

[11:47] But we see the day of judgment that is soon approaching. And because it is Christ on the great white throne, white in its purity, great in its extent. It is massive.

[11:57] It is big. It is over all things. It is a great throne, and then it supersedes all other thrones. It is white in its purity, and we understand the presence of it because it says here that him who sat upon it.

[12:09] The thing that caught John's attention was not the throne, but he who sat on the throne, right? Because the focus is never on the throne. The focus is on he who sits on the throne. You can have a great throne with no one sitting on it.

[12:21] You can have a great throne with a little guy sitting on it, or you can have a great throne with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords sitting on it. But the focus is always on who sits on the throne. And then it says, From whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.

[12:36] Friend, I want you to understand something. On that day, on that day, there would be no Satan to blame. Would the devil make me do it? Well, the devil's not there anymore. There would be no place to hide when man chose to rebel against God for the very first time in the Garden of Eden.

[12:51] It says that God used to walk in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve, right? And then he came down for that moment of fellowship. And they had taken from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and they had eaten it. And God moved in for his time of fellowship, which is really a sombering thought.

[13:05] God was going to man, and man was hiding from God. Remember that? That man was hiding behind the trees, and God was calling out, Adam, where are you? And Adam was trying to hide among creation from the Creator.

[13:18] By the way, that's never changed. Man still tries to hide in creation from the Creator. Because we know that there's something wrong with us. We can't have true fellowship with a holy God. But what we see here is on that day, there's no enemy to blame.

[13:30] You can't say that Satan made me do it, or the false prophet or the beast made me do it, because they're not there. And on that day, you can't hide from his presence, because it says, from whose presence heaven and earth fled away. Literally means you're just standing in the midst of nothing before him.

[13:44] There's no place to hide. There's no one to blame. It's just you and the throne. And there you are, in all of your transparency, being seen as you completely are.

[13:57] It is the day soon approaching. Man will stand fully revealed. Man will stand fully exposed to he who sits on the throne. Number two, we see the dead summoned to court.

[14:10] The dead summoned to court, because by the time we get to this day, the only people alive on the earth, before earth passes away here, are believers, right? They are those who had come back with Christ.

[14:21] They had been resurrected. They went and ascended to heaven with him at their death, and they have come back with Christ for the battle of Armageddon. They have had their thrones and their rulership established with Christ during the millennial reign.

[14:32] Those who did not accept Christ during the millennial reign revolted against him and then died immediately. So the only people left are believers, right? Those who have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. Everywhere in the book of Revelation, when it refers to the dead, it is referring to the unbelievers.

[14:48] It is referring to the unbelievers. And it says, And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. The first thing we need to know is, if you do not know Christ as your Lord and Savior, or if an individual does not know Christ as your Lord and Savior, it doesn't matter how great or how small they are in the world standard, they're still going to stand before that throne.

[15:06] It doesn't matter if they have attained the highest office in all of the lands, or if no one ever knew them. It says, The great and the small, those whom the world considered great, and those whom the world did not even know about, all will stand before that throne.

[15:21] This is not a day for the believer. This is the day for the unbeliever, or the non-believer, because the believer has already passed through his judgment. My understanding of Scripture is that the moment we die as believers, or are raptured as the church, that will begin, I think that's why there's seven years of tribulation, to call man to God on the earth, but also take seven years for God to work through our issues, to work through our problems, to work through our failures as believers.

[15:49] We are there with him, and we are being renewed, and we are there in his presence. You'll see in the next chapter, it is only then in Revelation 21, that every tear is wiped away from every eye, which means that at minimum, we have 1,007 years to be in his presence, and to mourn over how we have failed him.

[16:06] But this, in this moment, is not for the believer, not for those who have accepted Christ, but for those who have never named the name of Jesus Christ. They are the dead, the small and the great, standing before the throne. And the books were opened, we'll come to these in a minute, and another book was opened, which is the book of life.

[16:20] And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. Look at verse 13, and the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up their dead which were in them.

[16:30] Now, Hades, in scripture, is the same as Sheol, or Abaddon, in the Old Testament. It is often referred to as the netherworld. You know it really well, because you know the story of the rich man and Lazarus, right?

[16:44] The rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus used to sit at the gate of the rich man, begging for bread, and no one would come, and the dogs would come, and lick the wounds on Lazarus. And there came a day when Lazarus died, and it says, and the angels carried him away to Abraham's bosom.

[16:57] Abraham's bosom would be a place of paradise. That is what the Jewish people believed to be a place of paradise. Now, this is Jesus telling this, and this is a unique parable, because Jesus used a name, right? Every other parable, Jesus never used a name, therefore it was spoken hypothetically, but when he used a name, he was speaking historically.

[17:15] So he named Lazarus. And it says, and after Lazarus died, the rich man died, and he too was carried away to Sheol, or Abaddon, or to Hades. And there was a great chasm between the two, so you could look from one to the other.

[17:27] And this is something that we see consistent, even in the Old Testament, that the belief is that everybody goes to the netherworld, or to the underworld, upon their death. Now, that's consistent with Scripture, because we see that no man enters into the presence of God, yet through Jesus Christ.

[17:42] So, when Jesus is telling this parable, he has not yet died, been buried, and ascended to the Father, right? So, if we were to think that any Old Testament saint, went to the Father's presence, before Jesus did, then all of a sudden, we have a problem with the first fruits of the resurrection, which we'll get to tonight.

[17:58] I'll invite you to come back to that tonight, Leviticus 23. But, we see here, that what he is referring to, is that all those who have died, even in the lower parts of the netherworld, and even in the parts of the sea.

[18:10] You know, science tells us that we have explored more of outer space, than we have explored of the depth of our sea. There's more unexplained territory underneath our oceans, than there is in outer space, or on the moon's surface.

[18:23] And the reason being is, because this is a hard place to reach, right? So, what the Bible is telling us, it doesn't matter how far you are, if you have died, and you do not know Christ, Christ calls you, and summons you to that day.

[18:37] And here's the reality, that when the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords summons you, listen, you can be summonsed to court in this land, and not show up. We call that contempt of court. Just because you've been issued a summons, doesn't mean you have to go, right?

[18:50] You're supposed to go, and you'll get in trouble for not going, but it doesn't mean you have to go. People say, can't nobody make me go? Well, listen, on that day, when He who created you, calls you, you go.

[19:04] No one fails to answer this summons. It doesn't matter how far you are. It doesn't matter how small you are. On that day, you show up at court, and you stand before the King on His throne.

[19:21] Number three, the decided standard of judgment. This really answers for us, how can a loving God condemn anyone to an eternal hell? This is the problem that modern day mankind, even great theologians, have really wrestled with, and most people cannot accept the reality of this, because they just can't wrap their mind around an eternal hell.

[19:42] And many different theories and explanations have been penned for this, and many different thoughts have been given to this, and maybe many of us have struggled with this reality as well, but we need to understand this, that Jesus Himself testified to the reality of the lake of fire, and Jesus said that the lake of fire in the book of Matthew was created for what?

[20:01] Satan and his demons. It says that the lake of fire was created for Satan and his demons. This helps highlight for us, number one, that God did not create a place of eternal punishment for man.

[20:12] He created a place of eternal punishment for Satan and his demons. For those angels He had created for a specific purpose that revolted against Him, and Satan and his demons' choice led to that place of creation, which would be eternity in hell.

[20:26] So now we come to this decided standard of judgment. We are there before the throne, and the dead are there, and it says, the great and the small standing before the throne, verse 12, and books were opened.

[20:37] This is a multitude of books being opened, and another book that is singular was opened as well. Now that singular book, it says, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, plural, according to their deeds.

[20:52] And then we go down to verse 13, and every one of them according to their deeds. Here's the reality, my friend. God's got books, right? He's got scrolls. He's a whole lot better note taker than I am.

[21:04] If you were to go back in my office, and you were to pull out a certain drawer in my office, you would open that drawer, and no, you won't find a book containing everything I've done and everything you've done, right? You will find a number of spirals, a number of little single subject spirals that have all of my notes, and I take these notes, and I prepare for sermons, but God's got a multitude of books, and in these books is the record of every deed that every man of all time and all ages has ever done.

[21:29] He's got books or scrolls, and he has written meticulously every act we have done. Everything we have said, everything we have, the Bible, I mean, psychologically, it tells us this, that every act which we have ever committed, science tells us this, that psychologically, everything we have done and everything we have ever had done to us never passes away.

[21:54] It's always there. And with the right stimulus and the right trigger, it comes back. I've said this jokingly, I guarantee you that if I could find the music you listen to, it would take you about three seconds of the song that you listened to growing up in a circumstance you wish you weren't there in, and if I played it, you would immediately go back there.

[22:19] Some of us with shame, some of us with a little bit of, oh no, I hope nobody else knows what was going on. It is there. It's stored away. And if man has been created with the ability to psychologically store that, then how much more so has God written that down?

[22:36] Here's the plurality of books. God has a recorded deed of everything man has ever done. But here's the good news. He also has a single book. And that single book is referred to as the book of life.

[22:47] This is the Lamb's book of life. Friend, your name is recorded in one book. There is a book that has Billy Joe Calvert written beside it. And on that line beside Billy Joe Calvert is written everything that I have ever done, everything that I have ever committed, everything that has ever been said or been done in a sinful way, even in a good way.

[23:07] Everything that I have ever done is recorded in that book. I hope I don't ever see that book because my name is also written in that other book. Your name is written in one book.

[23:17] The desire is for your name to be written in both books, right? That is the Lamb's book of life. And the Bible tells us that the Lamb's book of life has recorded those names of the individuals who have accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior.

[23:30] It's an amazing book because the Bible says that my name was written in that book before the foundations of the world were laid. So before God filled in the pages of everything I had done, He had already written my name down in the Lamb's book of life.

[23:41] You say, well, how can He do that? Because He's God, right? That's why. Some of you say, well, I haven't professed Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Well, God knows what you're going to do with that invitation. And when you profess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, He would say, I'm glad you accepted that because I wrote your name down in that Lamb's book of life before I laid the foundations of the world.

[23:57] It's not that He's going to be caught off guard or He's going to be surprised by it. He's finally going to draw you to the reality which He has already done. This is a truth that we need to accept with humility and we need to accept with worshiping because before God recorded everything I had done, He had already called me to Himself.

[24:13] And even after I did everything I had already done, He still called me to Himself, right? After I had rebuked Him and after I had forsaken Him and after I had pushed my way away from Him so many times that He had written all that down in that other book, He still said yes, but there's coming a day shortly before His 21st birthday where He's going to hit His knees at 201 Canova Drive, Shelbyville, Tennessee and He's going to say, Lord, I'm tired of doing it.

[24:36] I don't want to do it anymore. I give my life to You. And then He goes to that Lamb's book of life where Billy Joe Calvert was written and the Bible says and He wrote a new name out there. I don't know what that new name is but it's going to be good because I don't know if you realize it or not.

[24:49] I told someone just yesterday what my name was, introduced myself, said Billy Joe Calvert. They said, Oh, Billy Joe McAllister. I said, Yes, please don't sing me that song. Billy Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahassee Bridge, right? I know it.

[24:59] I've been there. Oh, it's been owed to Billy Joe. But every song about Billy Joe, he does something bad. Anybody know that? Billy Joe McAllister jumps off the Tallahassee Bridge and then Billy Joe and Bobby Sue went around robbing banks. I've yet to hear a song about Billy Joe that he did anything good.

[25:12] So I love my name because it's Billy Joe from Bell Bucca and it kind of fits my personality. But I can't wait to get my new name because it's a new name that's specifically given to me for his glory and his honor alone.

[25:25] But the reality is, my friend, listen, if your name's not recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life, you say, well, how do I know if he's recorded it or not? Well, we don't have to wonder if he has. The question is, are you saved today? It's not will you be saved, it's are you saved, right?

[25:38] Salvation is always spoken of in the present tense. Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today? Yes, I do. Then your name's in the Book of Life. But if not, here's what's going to happen on that day where the dead are raised, they're standing before him.

[25:50] Jesus is going to look at it and go, oh, your name's not over here. So the only standard I have to judge you by is in this other book. Everything you've ever done. Because how do we get our name recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life?

[26:04] We confess guilt to everything that is written in the Book of Deeds. I am guilty. I have done it. I have denied you. I have forsaken you. I have ridiculed you.

[26:15] I have mocked you in the way that I live. Lord, I have despised your love for me because I have rejected you. And Lord, I admit guilt to all that. And the moment I admit guilt, then Jesus Christ writes paid in full across that, right?

[26:29] Because I admit my guilt and I accept his price and his penalty for my guilt. And then he writes my name in the Lamb's Book of Life and says, forgiven. And if we will not confess that today, then there will be a day where we are held accountable to that.

[26:42] That's the standard in which we will be judged. Do we want to know if God is fair? The reality is this. When all people stand before him, if their name is not written in the Lamb's Book of Life, he's only going to judge them by what they have done.

[26:59] You say, well, God's not fair. I'm better than this person or I'm better than that person. I'm better. Well, here's the reality. God's not going to judge you on what you've done according to what everybody else has done because it's not about everybody else at that moment.

[27:13] It's about you and a holy God. Here's the standard. You know how I know God is fair? God has given us the standard. Friend, open up the Old Testament.

[27:25] If you want to be judged according to your deeds, then all you have to do is be perfect according to everything God said in the Old Testament. That's it. And the reality is none of us can do that.

[27:40] None of us. And God knew the standard was so high and he set the standard so high as Paul said, the law is a tutor to lead us to Christ because the moment we realize the standard is not the person next to me but the standard is what God said to me, the moment we realize we say, I can't do this.

[27:58] God says, you're exactly right. I already did. And then we accept the penalty. We accept the payment. We accept the gift for the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

[28:11] The standard is you will be judged according to what you have done. So friend, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you, you will only get, if we do not get what Christ deserves through our surrender to him, that's what eternity in heaven is, we get what Christ deserves, right?

[28:28] Then eternity in hell is man getting what man deserves. Because the reality is we have fallen short. And according to their deeds, God has judged them.

[28:40] Someone said, I believe it was John Phillips who said, on that day there will be no plea bargains. On that day there will be no cross examination. On that day there will be no defense. On that day there will be a king of kings and lord of lords sitting on the throne reading the deeds that man has done and man will stand in silence and accept his judgment.

[29:00] Because there is no defense for all of the offense that man has done to a holy God. Fourth and finally, not only do we see the decided standard of judgment, fourth and finally, we see the destiny sealed to all of eternity.

[29:15] The destiny sealed for all of eternity. It says in verse 14, then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. Verse 15, and if anyone's name was not found written in the Lamb's book of life or in the book of life, if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

[29:35] Now, when it says this is the second death, it means it is an ongoing death. Many people read into the scripture and see a theory of annihilation, that it will be suffering for just a moment and then eventually you will just quit being.

[29:49] Right? That you will pass out of nothing, you will enter into a nothingness. That is a really appealing theory, but it really goes against everything psychologically and internally, you think, because you know to the very depth of your being that there will not be a day where you just stop being.

[30:03] And the reason I can say that with all boldness is because Ecclesiastes 3 says that God has set eternity in the heart of all men. This is why even as we age, men are really guilty of this, right?

[30:13] We're really guilty of this. I've heard men of all ages and all spectrums testify to this. It doesn't matter how old we are in our mind, we still think we're 16. And if it wasn't for our wives reminding us that we're not 16, we would still do the things that 16-year-olds do, right?

[30:27] And we understand this because we know that God has set eternity in the heart of all men. He has created that tells us that we were not made to just live and exist and to pass out to nothingness. We were made to live eternally.

[30:40] And there will be a day of eternality and that day will either be in heaven or in hell. The second death is living throughout this wanting to die and desiring to die. It is the lake of fire.

[30:50] Revelation 14 tells us in Revelation 14 verse 11 and the smoke of their torment those who are cast into the lake of fire says and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night.

[31:03] I've spoken to people saying that's alright hell is going to be great because all my friends are going to be there. We'll have a great party there. Nothing I read in scripture says that. It says it will be a smoke of their torment. It will be eternity of isolation.

[31:15] It will be separation. Hell is literally the separation from being in the presence of God. And what is happening here is the Bible the book has been opened and the Bible tells us that the Son of God read the deeds of men and says by your deeds you wanted nothing to do with me.

[31:29] Now I'll put you in a place that has nothing to do with me. I will give you what you want. And it will be an eternal state of separation and isolation. A state of darkness.

[31:40] As a matter of fact the same wording that is referred to as the eternality of hell is also used to speak of the eternal state of heaven. So if hell is not eternal then heaven is not eternal. We cannot say there is eternity in heaven and only a temporary time in hell because that is anti-truth according to scripture.

[31:57] We have to accept the reality and this my friend is not a tactic we use to scare the unbeliever but really in truthfulness ought to be a tool we use to motivate the believer.

[32:10] because how can the church sit still? How can the church act as if it doesn't matter? How can the church really not push against the darkness of Satan when this is what is going to happen on that day?

[32:32] Spurgeon said if truth must be that man be doomed to hell then may they only go there over our pleading begging bodies as we seek to snatch them and grab them out of there.

[32:49] Which means if we need to ask ourselves should we do something to reach the lost that really as a church I'm saying this with all sincerity may we just open up Revelation 20 verses 10 through 15 and say yes whatever it takes we should do it because if we don't reach them for the cause of Christ listen their salvation is not dependent upon you but God has ordained it he would use the church this is God's tool this is God's instrument this is God's hands and feet this is his bride right we are those who share the love of Christ we are those who show the mercy of Christ and if we have to ask ourselves should we do something with the time we have and may we open up this passage and say woe be unto us if we do not do something because if we don't do it this is their outcome this is the destiny sealed for all of eternity here we see the great white throne of judgment

[33:52] Christ brings everything back and he calls man back to himself let's pray lord I thank you that you have given us this day lord I realize these truths can be so hard lord and they can weigh heavy upon us lord I pray by the power and presence of the spirit that they would do just that move us to long to be used by you for the work of the kingdom move us oh god to be drawn closer to you through the work of the savior lord if there's any here today who do not know you or maybe they've never professed jesus christ as their lord and savior may they follow the example of Aaron lord in childlike faith saying yes I believe lord accepting you trusting only in you lord in preparation for that day soon coming we give you the glory and the praise and the honor and it's in your sweet name we pray amen so

[35:27] Thank you.

[35:57] Thank you.

[36:27] Thank you.

[36:57] Thank you.

[37:27] Thank you.

[37:57] Thank you.

[38:27] Thank you.