The Final Judgement

AI Transcript

Welcome.

Hey, glad you're here if you're just joining us. name is Mark. It's my privilege to open up God's word with you this morning. are getting close to the end of the book of Revelation, so you can begin to make your way to Revelation chapter 20. Last week, when Dr. Matthewson came and preached Revelation 20, I was excited because I knew I would be preaching this week, and I was thinking, sweet.

on to Revelation 21 and 22. The glorious ending, the cherry on top, what we're all longing for and leaning towards. And I was like, this is going to be amazing. And so I went to look at what passage I was preaching on and the schedule. And the schedule I make, by the way. And so when I came to Revelation 20 and I said, what is this five verses? Why am I preaching five verses?

I mean, in this series, I've preached two chapters at a time. So I was like, Oh no, I just want to get onto 21 and 22. This is going to be awesome. But then I, I read the five verses and I was like, Oh no, maybe, maybe I could, maybe I could tweak this. Maybe I could just jump on ahead. That, that seems like where I want to go because like so many of these passages, once again, the first time I read it, I'm like, man, this is difficult.

But unlike the other passages, so many of these passages have been difficult because John is writing in an apocalyptic genre way with all sorts of symbols and signs and beasts and prostitutes and dragons, all sorts of things. Those are often difficult to understand. Like what are the symbols and signs point to? But this passage is one of those difficult passages where it's not hard to understand, but it's hard to embrace.

It's hard to accept. you ever come across God's Word and come to passages that are hard to accept? If you're honest and if you've ever tried to read the Bible in a year, many of those 365 days would be days where you're like, what do we do with that?

There's a few options when you come across a passage like that and like this. The first option, which I don't really consider an option just to be clear, but many in our time and culture do, is that there's something flawed in God or in God's word.

I mean, we've been through the Enlightenment, we've been through modernity, the scientific and industrial revolution. Now we're in post-modernity. And so all truth is relative. We can make everything mean what we want it to mean. so therefore, if it's a difficult passage, we can just kind of twist it into what we want. And again, a lot of people do that. But I don't think...

We should do that. I don't think you should do that. So option number two is often the case.

When I come to a difficult passage to accept and embrace, it's just this realization, well, maybe my understanding of what's going on here is off and I need to do some deeper work. I need to do some context. I need to try to understand better. And so that's often the case. then option number three is it's not that God's thinking or God's word is off. It's my thinking.

is off. There's something in me that needs to change to align with ultimate reality and that's where I think I came to this passage or we should come as a whole to this passage. And so while I was tempted to just kind of breeze past this passage and jump into the next two glorious chapters and they are glorious, I realized there was a reason we have these five verses.

Well, I thought of that line in the Apostles Creed, that the very end that's dealing with the nature of Christ. And it goes like this, I'll put it on the screen. After his death, burial, and resurrection, he, Christ, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From there, he will come to judge the living and the dead.

For 2,000 years, this has been a cornerstone doctrine of our faith that Christ will judge. His judgment will be right and true. And while there are many passages throughout the Bible, especially in the New Testament, that speak to this, none are as clear and as weighty as our passage today.

And so if we're going to be faithful, historic followers of Jesus, we need to deal with this passage. then, as so often is the case with these difficult passages, I realize that these are actually gifts to us. In God's sovereignty, in your life, in my life, and in our church's life, this is what God has deemed we need most today. This is a gift to you.

it's weighty, it's heavy, it's hard, but it is a gift. And I hope that you would receive the gift. It's a gift to you if you are a follower of Jesus, to remind you of some things, to maybe motivate you to some things. And it's a gift to you if you are not yet a follower of Jesus, to hear the wooing of Jesus saying, you can come home. And so.

I want to enter into this gift together. If you have your Bible we are in this section and in the book of Revelation there's these windows that John opens up for us and we're in the penultimate window before we get to the new heaven and earth. But in chapter 19 starting in verse 11.

Jesus has come riding on the white horse and he's got fire in his eyes. He's got a crown on his head to show his authority He's got a a robe dipped in blood, which is his own blood He's got a sword coming out of his mouth which to strike down his enemies He's got a tattoo on his thigh that says King of quick kings and Lord of Lords the King has returned

And he's come to vanquish all of his enemies. And in chapter 19, we get this scene of Armageddon where the nations and all who have rebelled and have set themselves up against the kingdom of God are gathered for this massive battle. Think something from The Lord of the Rings. This is about to go down. It's going to be a bloodbath except

Right in the moment when the battle you would think would take off, it's over. There's no battle. Jesus is King, and with a word, he vanquishes his enemies.

There's no tension. There's no who's going to win in this moment. No. Jesus is eradicating all evil. He eradicates the beasts, the harlot. He sends them to the lake of fire. Eventually by chapter 20, he's going to eradicate the dragon, Satan.

and he's going to send him to the lake of fire. We read about this in the verse right before our verse, verse 10 of chapter 20. says this, the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Into the lake.

of fire. This is going to show up.

It has shown up in chapter 14. It's going to show up again several times in our passage. But notice what's happening here. First of all, I want you to notice this is a description of hell. And notice that hell is not a place where Satan and the demons reign over us or those that would go there. Hell is for Satan and the demons. It is a place where they will experience eternal conscious torment.

All that remains now is the final judgment. That's all that remains. The last judgment, the judgment that has been foretold throughout the ages in the prophets, in the New Testament. And now we get this scene in chapter 20, starting in verse 11. I'll go ahead and read it, pray for our time, and we will jump in together. Listen carefully, this is God's word, verse 11.

John writes, then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it, the earth and the heavens fled from his presence. There was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done.

as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it and the death in Hades gave up the dead that were in them and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of...

fire. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Jesus said heaven and earth will pass away but what you just read never will. Let me pray for us.

Lord, we do receive your word as a gift this morning. So as only you can, would you speak to each person here? What we know not, you teach us. What we have not, you give us. What we are not, you would make us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen, amen. So it starts out, then I saw a great white throne.

great white throne. The throne has been this centerpiece throughout the book of Revelation. And for those of you that have been with us in this series, you could probably guess how many times in the book of Revelation, the throne has been a centerpiece in the book. Any guesses?

Five. said five. Anyone else? Seven. It is seven. It is seven. So in chapter four and five we see the first throne room scene where God is on the throne as creator of all. There's creatures. There's elders. There's God. There's weeping in heaven because there's a scroll that no one can open until the angel comes to John and says the lion of the tribe of Judah can open the scroll and there's rejoicing. But when John turns he doesn't

see a lion, sees a lamb, those slain and standing, Jesus. God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Spirit, they're on the throne in the Lamb. Number two in chapter seven, the multitudes from every tribe, tongue, and nation are gathered before the throne, praising the Lamb. Chapter eight,

It's a little bit different scene now there though there's all this worship that's always going on in the throne room. It gets silenced for a half hour. tells us why because the prayers of the Saints are rising into the throne room of God. Your prayers matter. God is listening.

Chapter 11, there's a heavenly choir singing the praises of God forever. Chapter 16, Babylon has fallen and the people praise God. Chapter 19, there's a roar of heaven like the sound of rushing waters and they are singing hallelujah, hallelujah for our God reigns. And now the last and seventh throne room scene of the book of Revelation.

Chapter 20 is unlike any of the other scenes. Did you notice there were no creatures? No four living creatures. No elders. No angels singing the praise. No multitudes gathered to praise the Lamb. There's no heavenly choir. There's, well, he says a great white throne. The word great there is mega. A mega throne.

White, we know colors have symbolic significance in the book of Revelation for righteousness, holiness, and judgment. There's a great mega white throne in Him who is seated on the throne. Who is Him? But we know from the throne there's going to be judgment. know throughout the New Testament and throughout the book of Revelation that judge is Jesus. It's also the Father. It's the triune God is on the throne now.

And he's about to judge everyone. He was seated on the throne. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence. There was no place for them. The only thing in reality, the only thing of ultimate reality is a throne and everyone. Everyone gathered before. There's weight to this moment.

And that's what he said. He said there, there, I saw the dead. In this, we're going to look at Christ's final judgment in three ways. The first one is Christ's judgment will be personal. I could have actually added to this one personal and public. Christ's judgment will be personal and public. Look what it says in verse 12. And I saw the dead, great and small.

That means this is an all play. Kings and Queens, the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick makers, and everyone else. We should always pay particular attention in the Bible when we see ourselves in the Bible. You are there. I am there. You're there. You're there. You're there. All of us. Billions upon billions.

Ultimate reality, everything else has fled. There's a throne, there's the judge, there's us. It will be personal. Notice what it says here. It says, I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books, plural, were opened. And then another book, singular, was opened, which is the Book of Life. So what are we to make of this?

Well, the idea is that there are books, that there are books, plural, and everyone has their own book. In this apocalyptic scene gathered before God, we all have a book. has our name on it. And we are gathered, billions of us, before the throne. And on the throne, there is another book. This is a bigger book, but it is the Book of Life.

So, him on the throne has that. We all have our own book and this book records everything. Every thought, every word, every deed from our first breath to our last breath, everything. In that time, in that day, there was this idea and so John is playing on this idea that was common in Greek thought and culture that every person...

had a book, books were everything, it recorded everything in your life and John's like, yeah, let's play with that. You have a book, everything's recorded. This is not only personal though, this is public. Think of that show, the Truman Show, 1998, Jim Carrey plays Truman, forget his name, Burbank, that's his name, Truman Burbank, remember that? I should have put a picture up there, but from birth.

He doesn't know it, but he's being recorded. He's being filmed and the whole world is watching. How horrifying. Right? It'd be one thing if the world could watch everything you did. That'd be horrifying enough. But what if the world could see everything you thought? Could see every motive of your heart? What if, I'm just speculating here, especially for those that have stiff armed God and

and are not in Christ, what f for them their eternity begins one by one by one coming before the throne. And their book is open. Their name is called and it says on the screen, Mark Christopher Oshman, come forward. You open the book and it says everything.

Now we're going to see that this second book becomes very important. If in the second book, in the book of life, if your name is in that, it radically transforms and does something to this book. We'll see that later. But if your name is not in this book, and this is all you have to stand before the throne, his personal judgment, it won't only be personal and public.

We see as it continues to go on that it will be perfect. His judgment is perfect. I saw the dead, and small, standing before the throne. The books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. So again, if this is your only defense, you will stand before the perfect

Holy, righteous judge of the universe and you will give an account. And we know his judgment is perfect, complete. It will be based on his holiness, his righteousness. And if there is a deviation from that, and there is, you will be judged according to your works. We'll all be judged according to your works. And so that should cause some alarm bells.

in our head. Say, well, well, Mark, I thought salvation was by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And let me be clear. Absolutely. That's the doctrine of justification. And we want to be a church that every single week you hear this doctrine. You are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Absolutely. That is how you get your righteousness. We do well to emphasize that doctrine. It's a glorious doctrine. In that doctrine, we learn about what's called the double imputation. Theologians call it the double imputation. it means this, that Jesus on the cross, 2 Corinthians 5, 21, he became sin, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. So on the cross, Jesus takes his righteousness, his

perfect life and it all gets credited to our account. But not just that on the cross he takes on our sin all of our guilt all of our shame all of our impure motive all of our rebellion before God that gets put on Jesus on the cross. So absolutely we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone the doctrine of justification. So then you say well what's all this we will be judged by our

works, do our works matter? And I say, yes, eternally so. Like, well, which is it? Well, here's one of the problems with an overemphasis or an only emphasis on the doctrine of justification by faith. That's not the sum total of the Christian life. And we can delude ourselves into believing, well, I'm saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Therefore, my life does not matter.

And the Bible will repeatedly, not just hear throughout, the Bible will repeatedly say, believer, your life matters. Your works matters. Your deeds matter, eternally so. Live like it. So what do you mean? How do they matter? They matter, it's different in the way if you're a believer or unbeliever, we'll see this. But let me just give you a couple reasons why you as a believer, if you're a believer.

why what you do matters for all of eternity. First is it matter because our actions flow from what we believe. So what we believe on a deep level, now I get it, we still have indwelling sin, we still wrestle, we still are not perfect, we're in process. Sometimes we make progress and other times we feel like we're back at stage one, but there is a desire

a longing put there by the Spirit to live a life worthy of Him. Our beliefs flow from, our actions flow from our beliefs. So let me give you an example. So say you realize you're having some health issues. You're like, I need to go to a doctor. I need to go to the best doctor. And so you start to ask around and say, who's the best doctor? And soon you get consensus. this doctor is the best doctor. Man.

his track record or her track record is amazing. It's 2026, I want to be careful here. Her track record is amazing. And so you go to her and she does the full body scan and does the blood work and does all the labs. And as you suspected, she comes back and she says, yeah, there's some major issues here. I'm glad you came to see me as you, when you did, because if you didn't, this could easily lead to heart failure or

or whatever the case may be. And so that's okay. You came in time. Let me ask you this. Do you trust me? You're like, of course I trust you. You're the best. Everyone says you're the best. She's like, okay, good. Here's what I'm going to tell you. If you do this, you will live. Okay, what do need to do? Well, I'm going to prescribe you something. I need you to take three of these pills a day. Okay, I can do that.

Not only that, you need to cut some things out of your life. You need to cut sugar, need to cut caffeine, you need to cut alcohol out of your life entirely to get your body back on track. Okay, I can do that. Not only that, you need to exercise. You need three days of cardio and two days of resistance weight training. You do these things and you're consistent with these things. You come back in six months, most likely you'll be better. And so what do we do? yeah.

I trust you, I'm going to do it. This is for my good. And so you go out and you start off pretty strong, right? Because it's the new year, you made your resolution, you're done with the Christmas cakes, all that, and you're good. But then life just gets busy, right? You're like, man, I can't quite remember the three pills a day. If I do two or maybe even one, I think I'm good. And you start out working out pretty well, but again, life gets busy and...

That's just hard. And so you're like, ah, I can't do that. If I do one or two days a week, I'm sure that it's better than nothing. So I'm going to do that. then soon the Girl Scouts are going to start knocking on your door. And I mean, you want to be a good witness. You can't turn them away. And you want to be a good steward. I bought 10 boxes. And so can't waste those. You're like, oh, I don't know about the sugar.

And you're getting busy at work and so you're working late and now you're waking up tired and you're like, man, I know the doctor said no caffeine, but it's just a cup. It's just a cup of coffee. And you start drinking that and just to blow off steam at night, you're like, ah, one or two drinks. I'm going to do that. And so soon you're kind of just half-hearted going through it and you go back to the doctor six months later and things aren't getting better. And the doctor's like, what's up? What's going on? Did you do what I said? Well, I...

I did try to take the pills and I took at least one a day and I tried to exercise but life got busy and you tell the whole thing and doctor just says but you said you trust me. I do I do trust you. You're the best doctor. Doctor said if you trusted me you would do what I say.

This is what Jesus says in Luke chapter 646. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, master, master? And do not do what I tell you. Our beliefs lead to our actions. So you could say, well, I prayed a prayer when I was 12 and therefore I'm good, but your whole life and your affections and there's no desire. Like that's a dangerous place to be. You should at least be alarmed by this passage. James 2 17.

James says, also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works, show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works. We say, you are saved by faith alone, but that faith never remains alone. Our works should confirm to us, yeah, we are actually believers. Or Ephesians two, this kind of jewel of the doctrine of justification by

faith alone. There's three verses you should memorize. It's this passage. He says this. Paul writes, for by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast. Okay, but read the next verse. Four. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.

We were created for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Listen, we should walk in the good works that God has laid before us. So that's the first thing. Our actions flow from our beliefs, but not only that, our actions we see in the judgment lead to eternal rewards and responsibility.

And this is where I think it's just crazy that we're like, oh, doctrine of justification by faith alone, that's all we're going to think about. And the Bible, the New Testament is repeatedly going to say, no, your life is meant to echo forever and ever and ever. We're going to look at chapter 21 and 22 and see the rewards and responsibilities we are given based on what's written in our book. Jesus in...

the next chapter or two chapters in 22 in his very last words from Jesus in the Bible. says this, Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done. Our works matter. Or that passage that deals with this explicitly in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 3, Paul is trying to.

communicate to the Corinthians this truth, your works matter eternally. He says it this way, each one's work will be manifest or on public display when the books are open for the day, the day of judgment when Christ will come to judge the living and the dead, the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire or testing and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. What has your life been about?

If that work has been built on the foundation, that is, on Christ alone by His Spirit for His glory and not our own, then that will survive and He will receive a reward. Your works, my works matter eternally. We will be rewarded and we will be given responsibilities in the new heaven and new earth. Paul will go on in that passage to say,

All of their life work will be burned up. They'll get into heaven, but there will be regret that they did not live in light of eternity. So that is Christ's judgment will be personal, it'll be perfect. And then in verses 13 and 15, it will be permanent. It'll be permanent, verse 13. The sea gave up the dead that were in it.

and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. Again, back in verse 10, Satan's thrown into the lake of fire.

where there'd be tormented day and night forever and ever and ever. In verse 14, we saw this as well. This is called eternal conscious torment. It is hell. It'll be permanent, meaning there are no do-overs. There is no reincarnation. There is no purgatory where you can kind of get your life together after 20,000 years and you fix stuff so you can finally enter into heaven. No, his judgment will be

personal, perfect, and permanent. Unbelievers, they will be judged according to their works and only their works, and they will be sentenced to hell where they will continue in their rebellion to Christ and his reign and rule forever. Theologian Russell Moore put it this way, hell is the final handing over of the rebel to who he wants to be, and it is awful.

The sinner in hell does not become morally neutral. We must not imagine the damned displaying gospel repentance and longing for the presence of Christ. They do not in hell love the Lord their God with their heart, their soul, their mind and strength. Instead, in hell, one is handed over to the full display of his nature apart from grace. And this nature is seen to be satanic. The condemnation continues forever.

ever because the sin does too.

Brothers and sisters, if that's not your story, one, rejoice. You deserve that story. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, that that's not your story. If that's not your story, man, does that not give you purpose to live for all in your life? That is their story presently. Well, let's talk about believers in this final judgment.

Now I imagine again there's these books. We have our book and there's the book of life I imagine. Again I'm just speculating here. But I imagine Jesus on his throne opens the book. He says, Mark Christopher Oshman and his smile comes across his face. He says, Mark, open your.

I open my book.

And there is line after line, passage after passage, story after story, redacted in red ink in the blood of Jesus.

Jesus says, what's in your book?

Well Lord, all of my sin and all of my rebellion has been covered by your blood. And all that's left is what has been done by you and for you. He says that's right. And by his grace he will say, well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much.

Enter the joy of your Master forever and ever.

So this week I've been praying for two groups of people here, those that are believers and those that have not yet bowed their knee to Christ. For believers, I've been praying that you would rejoice in your salvation, not just your justification, but you would rejoice that you will be judged perfectly based on Christ's perfect life and not yours. you will be saved by works. It will be His works.

And then you will be judged on your work. So my prayer for you this week is that you would live in light of eternity, that you would have a longing, a desire in your heart to make this life count, whatever that looks like for you in your life. And then for unbelievers, again, this is God's gift to you this morning. Do you not hear God wooing you? This doesn't have to be your story. You can come home.

My judgment will be personal, it will be perfect and it will be permanent, but it can be free today. So I've been praying that you would hear a voice other than my voice this morning, that you'd hear the voice of God. so, believer, I pray that you would respond however that looks like as you run your own race, to Jesus and for unbeliever that today.

You would respond in faith and the Bible will say you will become a new creation. The old will be gone and the new will come. You'll be transferred from the domain of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the sun God loves. And if that's you today, we would love to just rejoice with you, answer questions, pray with you. After service, I will be upfront to pray for whatever you need and anyone. But if you want to talk about that, I would love to talk to you. This passage is a gift to us because

Whenever the Bible calls us to understand that right now this moment matters, that God sees everything, it's calling us to what Theologians called to live corum deo, to live before the face of God. If we really understood that Jesus was with us always, how much different would we live? I'll end with one story and I share this story not because we should all do this. I share this story because it was one person's

realization of what it means to live Coram Deo and how it set his life on a completely different track. Okay. I'm not saying we all do this. I'm saying we all live faithful and run our race, but his name was an amazing name. CT Stud. Like when your last name is Stud, that's amazing, but he was a stud.

In the 1800s, he was a student at Cambridge in England, and he was a cricket player. And if you've ever tried to understand cricket, you can't. Unless you're British or Indian, I think, or Pakistani, I think they understand it too.

But it's a thing. It's still a thing. It was the sport. And CT Stud being the stud that he was, became the very, very, very best in the sport. was whatever athlete you think is the best right now. don't want to... Okay, I'll say it. He was the Magic Johnson of the cricket world. That's my guy.

And he had fame. And newspaper art every game. Here's what C.T. Studd did. And he became a professional cricket player. And then one day a guy by the name of Dwight Moody came and talked to him and told him about Jesus. And he gave his life to Christ. And he continued to play for a while. And the crowds were cheering his name. But it started to feel a little bit empty.

started to feel a little bit hollow and so he made this shocking decision to leave the world of cricket. Not only that, his father who was very wealthy died and left him this inheritance that he'd never had to work a day in his life. So he's got fame and wealth and he's like, but one day, one day I will stand before the king and the books will be opened. He says,

That day matters than all of this. And so he gave away all his wealth to the gospel advance. He left the cricket world to be a missionary. They wrote articles about that not because people were becoming missionaries but because the