NR8-02   REV-48

980830AM

But then is the amazing reality, all the dead small and great assembled. All are there, none missing. The last, the greatest and the final roll call. And no one misses this day in court.

  • All the Ivan the Butchers of this world are present. Those evil emissaries of Satan that gassed women and children hide no more in disguise to escape penalty – they each stand exposed.
  • All the Genghis Khan’s of this world who flayed his enemies alive and has no armies to protect his terrors – stand alone.
  • The Scythians, the murderous horsemen who killed their foes and used the skull as a cup to drink blood – stand silent.
  • The ashes of countless cremated warlords and wealthy executives cast to the winds and seas, hopeful of escaping God are now reassembled into bodies, souls imprisoned in Hades now regain habitation in the bodies in which they sinned and turned from God.
  • Yes, all God haters from Voltaire to Hitler now face the One they despised.
  • The God resistors, who faced God and said no, are now assembled, from Pharaoh to the priests of Molech, and they are quaking in dread.
  • They are all present…inescapable in this is their final hour.
  • Before this silent multitude, speechless in the sight of the God they never wanted to know, nor ever wanted to meet, is the eerie flicker of the cauldron of God’s holy wrath.

 

It is a Lake; it is on fire. It is already filled with the Devil, his two apostles (the beast and the false prophet) and all the malignant hordes of evil angels. They have sunken into the blackness beginning their eternal plunge to the never-ending depths of the blackened pit of darkness. Eternally tormented in the very desire that gripped them, to be away from the Light, away from the truth and way from the Life. So they plunge downward.

 

And for the billions who stand frozen with the dreadful fear of inescapable doom, the Last Word of the Final Judgment begins.

 

We now will look at the last word of God to sinners. Think of someone you know who died refusing Jesus. Our text and the rest of the Word of God tell us the first thing they experience after death is a terrible blast of pain. After a time of grinding their teeth in horror they slowly regain the ability to think as their capacity to experience pain enlarges. Then it hits them, they are falling and it is totally dark around them. The heat of the invisible or back liquid fire that surrounds them sears at every sensory receptor of their mind and then they start to scream. They scream for an hour and then a day and then a year. Always tumbling, always falling, never resting. This is Hell forever, this is blackness of darkness forever, and this is the vengeance of eternal fire. And if it were not enough, all the time they fall, burn and scream, those worms of memory chew deeper and deeper. Every sermon, every prayer, every verse, and every word shared with them in their lifetime floods with scorching pain their thoughts. They are lost, forever lost and they didn’t have to be, they chose to be!

 

The GREAT WHITE THRONE and The Lake of Fire

REVELATION 20:11-15

Two thousand years ago, God spoke to His church and warned, “Man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment.”  Heb. 9:27 NIV

Let’s grasp that verse from God.

  • It’s destined for man to die.  RIGHT?  From Eden onward, mankind who sins, dies.  No one escapes on their own.
  • Destined for man to die ONCE. – no reincarnation – no second chance – no intermediate step.
  • Man is destined to die once.  And after that to face judgment.
  • God says life is a one-way street—no returns.
  • God says it is a dead-end street literally.
  • God has a final appointment with all who ever lived.

 

Let’s meditate on the immensity of that thought – All who ever live will die sooner or later. So, man is destined to die.  He lives and dies only once.  And, after that to face judgment!

 

This section of Revelation 20 divides into 5 sobering truths:

  • GREAT is THE JUDGE v. 11
  • INESCAPAABLE is THE JUDGMENT v. 12
  • EXACT is THE STANDARD v. 13
  • FINAL is THE SENTENCE v. 14
  • BLESSED is THE BOOK OF LIFE v. 15

 

The GREAT WHITE THRONE has Five Elements to be Considered

 

THE GREATNESS OF THE JUDGE – v.11

  • It’s great because of His majesty (creator, sustainer, God of gods, Lord of lords, King of kings, Rock, Endless of days)
  • It’s white because of His holiness – (light, everlasting, burning) –
  • It’s God, the Son who said He would do this –
  • John 5:22, 27-28 – God committed all judgment to Christ, v.30
  • Acts 10:42 – One appointed by God (Peter to Cornelius)
  • Acts 17:31 – He will judge world in righteousness (Paul to Athenians)
  • 2 Tim. 4:8 – The Lord, the Righteous Judge

NO WONDER ALL FLEE FROM HIM – HE IS GREAT!

  • the iNESCAPEABLENESS OF THIS JUDGMENT v. 12

All are there, none missing. The last, the greatest and the final roll call. And no one misses this day in court.

  • The Ivan the Butchers, gassed women and children, hide no more in disguise to escape penalty – stands exposed.
  • Genghis Khan flayed his enemies alive and has no armies to protect his terrors – stands alone.
  • The Scythians, the murderous horsemen who killed their foes and used the skull as a cup to drink blood – stand silent.
  • Yes, from Voltaire to Hitler; Pharaoh to the priests of Molech, they are all present…inescapable in this hour.
  • THE EXACTNESS OF THE STANDARD. v. 13

John 12:48 by Christ’s words and by their works –

  • Well, the books are opened, and revealed is the congregation of the doomed.  They are judged according to their works.  However…

Romans 3:20a – “Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight…”

Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God-not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Matthew 7:22-23 – “Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name?  And in Thy name have cast our demons?  And in Thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.”

Nobody is ever saved by works, are they?  It doesn’t matter how good a person is, God will keep a record of all their works and nobody will make it on their own merit. King of kings with Holy unsparingness drags into view every second of their lives.  God kept a running record to show none could make it by works.

  • Their words condemn them. Matt. 12:36-37 –
  • Secrets of the soul exposed. Heb. 4:13 –
  • The flaming eyes of the Ancient of Days looks in and through each, displaying the inward parts. Rev. 1:14 –
  • Dan. 7:9-10

FINAL is THE SENTENCE  v. 14 – Each account will be finalized:

  • The self-righteous will be filthy rags.  (Is. 64:16)
  • The vain babblers will be dumb before Him. (Matt. 22:12)
  • The greats of earth will be pitiful in wretchedness that day. (Ps. 2:1-5)

AND EACH WILL GET THEIR REWARD:

  • Individual portions. Matt. 24:51=
  • Better for Sodom/Gomorrah than some Matt. 10:15=
  • Easier Tyre/Sidon than Bethsaida Matt. 11:21-22=
  • Queen Sheba rise condemn Matt. 12:42=
  • AND THEN – Depart cursed

BLESSED is THE BOOK OF LIFE v. 15 – The names of all souls who experience this saving process stand in “the Lamb’s Book of Life.”  What is our hope as those who believe in Christ? Revelation 17:8  sums it up. We are those who are in the Book of Life. There are 8 glorious elements describing those in that book. They are:

  • Glorified ones for they enter the Heavenly City [Revelation 21:27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. (NKJV)].
  • Blood bought ones because it’s the Lamb that was slain(They that are written in the Lambs Book of Life)  Revelation 21:27].
  • New born ones because its the book of Life [Revelation 20:15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.]
  • Before known ones because it was written before the foundation of the world [Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.].
  • Happy ones because our names are written in Heaven [Luke 10:20  “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.”].
  • Holy ones because all written there are called holy [Isaiah 4:3 And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.].
  • Joyful ones because they defy even sufferings of the Antichrist [Revelation 13:8; 17:8; Philippians 4:3 And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.].
  • Victorious ones because they are Overcomers [Revelation 3:5 “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.].

 

No man can ever say that God sent him to hell – he sends himself.  In fact, in Matthew 25:41, Jesus revealed that hell wasn’t even prepared for men, it was prepared for the devil and his angels.  Remember, God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (II Pet. 3:9b).

 

GREAT is THE JUDGE v. 11

INESCAPABLE is THE JUDGMENT v. 12

EXACT is THE STANDARD v. 13

FINAL is THE SENTENCE v. 14

BLESSED is THE BOOK OF LIFE v. 15

 

Before you end up in the congregation of the doomed at that Great White Throne, won’t you bow to the Lord Jesus Christ today?

  • Everyone will face Jesus, there is no way out of it.

Daniel 12:2-3  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. (KJV)

  • Every lost person will answer and be punished for everything.

Matthew 12:36 “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment.

1 Peter 4:5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

  • Every saint will answer for their stewardship of life.

Romans 14:12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

 

Appendices

” The Book of Life” REVELATION 17:7-8

 

Revelation 17:7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

 

The Book of Life is an often discussed but little understood part of God’s plan. The Scriptures refer to it often:

  • Moses knew of the book of life  Exodus 32:32 “Yet now, if You will forgive their sin — but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” (NKJV) =
  • God acknowledges its existence Exodus 32:33 And the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. (NKJV)
  • It seems to start with all who live  Psalm 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, And not be written with the righteous. (NKJV)
  • God has a plan for the Future   Daniel 12:1-3     “At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands [watch]  [Jude; Rev 12] over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, [Matt 24; Mk 13; Rev 6] Such as never was since there was a nation, [Even] to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, [Zech. 12-14; Rom. 9-11]  Every one who is found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame [and] everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. (NKJV)
  • Christ taught it as a cause for secure rejoicing   Luke 10:20 “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.” (NKJV)
  • Paul associates it with Believers in the Church Philippians 4:3 And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names [are] in the Book of Life. (NKJV)
  • Christ warns and Promises in relation to this Book Revelation 3:5 “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (NKJV)

 

What does “blot out his name…” mean?

There are four views. I believe the fourth is best:

  • This is a poetic figure of speech called litotes [li-to-tez] that means ‘to affirm something by denying its opposite’. [Lenski, Morris, Swete, Alford]
  • This is an allusion to a civic birth record erasing those who die. [Moffat]
  • It refers to one losing their salvation. [Lange]
  • It refers to a book containing all humanity who have possessed physical life, but are erased at death after having rejected Christ. Those who do receive Christ have their place confirmed by Him. [Walvoord]

 

Thus this book of life is seen as a source of security for all true believers. In the city of Sardis the locals would have understood the backdrop: Thus when you think of the Book of Life think of security.

 

Revelation 3:4-6  “You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.5 “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.6 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’ Note a three-fold promise.

True Believers have INCREDIBLE COVERAGE

 

WE have Christ as our garment, our Advocate and our relative:

  • Christ as our garment!  V. 5a “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to [fulfill] the lusts [thereof]. (KJV)
  • Clothed in white They shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy (3:4)
  • White represents celebration life: Ancients stood for celebration – Ecc. 9:8
  • White represents conquest life: In ancient days stood for conquest – Roman white robes of triumph, so Jesus always leads us in triumph 2 Cor 2.
  • White represents cleansing: In all times for cleansing – Rev. 19:7, 17:14 righteousness white/blood, justified, Christian righteousness
  • White represents celestial life: “White” is always the color of Heaven.  The redeemed of the Great Tribulation are seen wearing robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb (7:14).  Then there follows the white cloud (14:14); the white horse  (19:11); the white horses  (19:14), and finally the great white throne (20:11).

 

Jesus, thy blood and righteousness

My beauty are my glorious dress:

‘Midst flaming worlds, in these array’d,

With joy shall I lift up my head.

 

Bold shall I stand in thy great day,

For who ought to my charge shall lay?

Fully absolved through these I am–

From sin and fear, from guilt and shame

 

The holy, meek, unspotted Lamb,

Who from the Father’s bosom came–

Who died for me, e’en me t’atone–

Now for my Lord and God I own.

 

Lord, I believe they precious blood–

Which at the mercy seat of God,

Forever doth for sinners plead–

For me, e’en for my soul, was shed.

 

Lord, I believe we’re sinners more

Than sands upon the ocean shore,

Thou hast for all, a ransom paid,

For all a full atonement made.

  • Christ as our Advocate!  v. 5b “He that overcometh, and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, Hebrews 7:24-25 But this [man], because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. (KJV)

Kept in the book = Saved.  Can you lose salvation?  No, it clearly says no! In Sardis the King could blot your name out if he did not like you.  But not in Kingdom of God.

  • Christ as our relative!  v. 5c but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.   Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together. (KJV)

Confessed: Think[1] of it!  To be taken by the hand by the Lord Jesus, to be led up past the marshaled ranks of the angels, up along the golden boulevards of glory, up past the cherubim and the seraphim, up, up to the Throne of God Himself and to hear the Lord Jesus call you by your name and present you in person as His well beloved!

Then to hear the Father say, “Bring the best robe and put it on him.”    Think of it, a robe of white, bright as the day, pure as the light!  When the Lord Jesus was transfigured on the mount, something happened not only to His countenance, something happened also to His clothes.  His raiment became white as the light.  What a reward for faithfulness, to have a robe like that draped around the shoulders and to be invited to walk the shining ways of glory in light transfigured clothes.  Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

 

What’s the right response to Christ’s message?

 

  • God hates profession without possession.  Beware of pretenders.   Are you pretending?
  • God doesn’t approve of just maintenance.  It’s life and growth and fruit or nothing!  Are you growing?
  • God wants to see you: Watching out- Washed in white- written in eternity – waiting to have Him call your name.

A summary OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT IN HELL

 

  • IT IS THE PLACE OF ETERNAL, UNENDING PAIN, MISERY AND TORTURE –  A darkness so impenetrable in the countless ages of eternity that none of the lost will ever see light or relief – no wonder they are wailing, howling and gnashing teeth.
  • IT IS THE PLACE WHERE BODY AND SOUL ARE TORMENTED.  All will be raised, both saved and lost (Jn. 5:28/Dan. 12:2 – some to bless – the rest to horror.  The worm dieth not.  Mark 9:48 – Eating the conscience and the flesh?  Never consumed by the hellish worms that feed upon them and never die.
  • HELL IS THE PLACE WHERE THERE ARE LEVELS OR DEGREES OF TORMENT – All face intense and unending pain.  Some will face far greater.

HEBREWS 10:28-29 – Says the writer of Hebrews.  “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:28-29).  Those who willfully reject Jesus Christ and trample, as it were, on the sacrifice He made for them with His own blood will receive much greater punishment than those who had only the light of the Old Covenant.  And on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for the pagan materialistic cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom than for the Jewish cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum-who not only had the light of the Old Covenant but the opportunity to see and hear the Son of God in person and to witness His miraculous works (Matt. 11:22-23).

In the parable of the slaves who awaited their master’s return from the wedding feast, Jesus explains that “that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, shall receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of flogging, will receive but few” (Luke 12:47-48).

“Hell will have such severe degrees,” writes John Gretna, “that a sinner, were he able, would give the whole world, if his sins could be one less.”

  • Fourth, the torment of hell will be everlasting.  Nothing will be so horrible about Hell as its endlessness.  Jesus uses the same word to describe the duration of Hell as the duration of Heaven:  “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46).  People in Hell will experience the absence of hope.

 

The inescapable results of our choices

One of the most vivid recollections of my youth took place in the middle of the night one summer in 1966.  I awoke with a start by the seeming pain of being struck in the face.

 

I felt something wet sliding down my face and neck.  It was absolutely dark, so dark I could feel it.  I was cold, clammy and so tightly packed in that it was hard to move!  And, then above all that there was a brief flash of fear and fright of the unknown.  Where was I?  What was happening?  Why is it so dark?  What hit me and was rolling down my face and neck?  Well, as I sat up, my head hit the canvas of the tent; my Dad’s low rumble soon fully awakened me and then the awful realization of the inescapable result of a wrong decision I had made…

 

I settled back into my cold sleeping bag to lay all night under the persistent drip of cold rainwater on my face.  Why?  Dad said, “Don’t touch the tent – it will drip.  At ten, my curiosity drove me to test his word.  All night I faced the horrible reality of the results of disobedience.  (Deserved pain from negligence and willful disobedience is always hardest to face.)

 

Hell is INDESCRIBABLY HORRIBLE

Let me just call off the words used to describe this place – so unimaginable we would doubt its existence had not Christ spoken more of it than any prophet or apostle.

 

More than Heaven – Christ spoke of Hell – more than love, Christ spoke of eternal destruction – more than the church to come Christ Jesus warned of God’s wrath and judgment and Hell.

 

How does our Lord portray this place to avoid at all costs?

  • Destruction (Mt. 7:13) –
  • Eternal Fire (Luke 16:28) –
  • Howling & gnashing of teeth (Mt. 22:13; 25:30) –
  • Place of the cursed (Matt. 7:23) –
  • Unquenchable fire (Matt. 3:12) –
  • Furnace and place of horror (Mt. 13:42, 50) –
  • Prison pit or abyss (Matt. 5:25) –
  • Pain and eternal torment (Matt. 25:46) –
  • Guilt like an undying worm (Mark 9:48) –
  • Fire that never goes out (Matt. 25:41, Mark 9:43) –
  • Wailing that never ends Matthew 8:12 “But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

 

CONDEMNED TO God’s just destruction (Matthew 21:41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”) –

Enduring God’s grinding wrath  (Matthew 21:44 “And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”) –

Under God’s Sentence of Hell (Matthew 23:33 “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?) –

Facing God’s Eternal Punishment (Matthew 25:46 “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”).

 

And, that’s just one gospel in which Christ describes Hell vividly over forty-two times!

 

Is it real?  Yes.  Is it awful?  Yes.  Must it be avoided at all costs? Yes! How impassioned were puritan writer, John Bunyan’s warnings.  (In Hell) thou shalt have none but a company of damned souls with an innumerable company of devils to keep company with thee.  While thou art in this world, the very thought of the devil’s appearing to thee makes thy flesh to tremble and thine hair ready to stand upright on thy head.  But oh, what wilt thou do when not only the supposition of the devil’s appearing but the real society of all the devils of Hell will be with thee—howling, roaring and screeching in such a hideous manner that thou wilt be even at thy wit’s end and ready to run stark mad again for anguish and torment.  If after ten thousand years, an end should come, there would be comfort.  But here is thy misery:  here thou must be forever.  When thou seest what an innumerable company of howling devils thou art amongst, thou shalt think this again – this is my portion forever.  When thou hast been in Hell so many thousand years as there are stars in the firmament or drops in the sea or sands on the seashore, yet thou hast to lie there forever.  Oh, this one word—ever—how will it torment thy soul.  (New Cyclopedia of Prose Illustrationsed. Elon Foster (New York: T. Y. Crowell, 1977, p.450).

 

WHAT’S THE GOOD NEWS?

Jesus Christ died for sinners – All who receive Him are forgiven of all their sins – All who are forgiven receive eternal life! Sing – Prayer – “God Forgave My Sins”

 

YES, HE IS QUALIFIED TO SPEAK, AND DOES, WARN US OF HELL!  AND, HE DOES SO 40+ TIMES IN MATTHEW ALONE – LET’S LOOK AT THEM.  In fact, get a pen and mark these on paper or in your Bible.  WHY?  Hell is being lost as a time doctrine.  J. Stott has recently moved away from it, as are others.  If Jesus Christ preached it, so should we.

 

Jesus warns of hell

Matthew:

“Flee from wrath to come” 3:7 (John, the Baptist)

“Thrown into fire” 3:10 (John, the Baptist)

“He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” 3:12 (John the Baptist)

“Shall be guilty into the Hell of fire” 5:22 (Christ)

“Then for your whole body to be thrown into Hell” 5:29 (Christ)

“To go into Hell” 5:30 (Christ)

“Way is broad that leads to destruction” 7:13 (Christ)

“And thrown into the fire” 7:19 (Christ)

“Depart from me, I never knew you.” 7:23 (Christ)

“Cast out into the outer darkness, in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” 8:12 (Christ)

“To torment us before the time” 8:29 (Demons)

“In the Day of Judgment, than for that city” 8:15 (Christ)

“Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell” 8:28 (Christ)

“More tolerable” (2X) “Descend into Hades” 11:22-24 (Christ)

“Not forgiven…this age or to come” 12:32 (Christ)

“Give account in the day of judgment” 12:36 (Christ)

“At the judgment” 12:41-42 (Christ)

“To burn them up” 13:30 (Christ)

“Gathered up and burned with fire” 13:40 (Christ)

“Cast them into the furnace of fire” In that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” 13:42 (Christ)

“Bad (fish) they threw away” 13:48 (Christ)

“Wicked from among righteous” 13:49 (Christ)

“Furnace fire. weep and gnash” 13:50 (Christ)

“Shall be rooted up…fall into a pit 15:13-14 (Christ)

Gates of Hades 15:18 (Christ)

Lose His life 15:25 (Christ)

Forfeits his soul 15:26 (Christ)

Recompense every man 15:27 (Christ)

Eternal fire v.9 “Hell of Fire” 18:8 (Christ)

 

CHRIST’S STORIES had bad ENDINGS…

MATTHEW

Handed over to torturers…18:34 (Christ)

Bring them to wretched end 21:41 (Christ)

It will crush…21:44 (Christ)

Destroyed and set city on fire 22:7 (Christ)

Bind hand and foot, cast into outer darkness 22:13 (Christ)

Greater condemnation 23:14 (Christ)

Son of Hell 23:15 (Christ)

Sentence of Hell 23:33 (Christ)

Cut him in pieces (scourge) Place with hypocrites – weeping and gnashing 24:51 (Christ)

Cast out the worthless slave-outer darkness–weeping & gnashing 25:30 (Christ)

Depart accursed ones into eternal fire prepared for devil and his angels25:41 (Christ)

Eternal punishment 25:46 (Christ)

MARK

Have you come to destroy us? 1:24 (Demon)

“Swear to God you won’t torture me” 5:7 (Demon)

 

ANYONE ELSE?  YES. PAUL

Eternal Destination 2 Thess. 1-9

Tribulation and Angels Romans 2:9

 

PETER

Prison and Abyss 2 Peter 2:4

 

HEBREWS

Fearful thing Heb. 10:31

 

JOHN

Sea burning with fire and brimstone Rev. 19:20; 20:10,15

Smoke torment rises forever Rev. 14:11

 

JUDE

Eternal fire, blackness, darkness, forever Jude v.6-13

 

There are 7 judgments described in the Word of God

 

Let’s consider two things right now:

  • God’s appointed judgments
  • God’s ultimate/final judgment.  First of all, the Scriptures describe no less than seven major judgments.

 

WHAT ARE THEY?

  • JUDGMENT NUMBER ONE: The judgment of sin – When?  About A.D. 30 – Where?  Calvary. – On the cross, Christ became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21) and took away the sin (John 1:29) of the world.
  • JUDGMENT NUMBER TWO: The judgment of self – When?  Today – Where? On earth.  I Cor. 11:31 says, “If we judge ourselves, we won’t be judged.”
  • JUDGMENT NUMBER THREE: Judgment of believer’s deeds.  When?  After the rapture – Where?  Heaven – (2 Cor. 5) There are seven facts as to this which especially the Holy Scripture permits us to know:
    1. The time              the “day of Christ” (I Cor. 1:8)
    2. The judge            Christ Himself (II Tim. 4:8)
    3. The persons       “We all” (II Cor. 5:10)
    4. The severity        its fire (I Cor. 3:13)
    5. The standard      our faithfulness (I Cor. 4:1-5)
    6. The result            reward or loss (I Cor. 3:14, 15)
    7. The goal              glory (I Peter 5:4)

 

And we are seen to be those who lived for good or nothingness.

  • JUDGMENT NUMBER FOUR: Judgment of Israel – When?  End of the Tribulation. – Where? On Earth (Ezek. 20:33-44) – Christ purges out rebels and unbelievers.
  • JUDGMENT NUMBER FIVE: Judgment of Nations – When?  End of the Tribulation – Where? A Valley near Jerusalem (Matt. 25:31-46) describes the believing from unbelieving Gentiles of survivors of the Tribulation.
  • JUDGMENT NUMBER SIX: Judgment of Satan & Demons.  When?  End of the Millennium – Where?  Earth.  Rev. 20:10.  Jude 6 tells us:  “And the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”  God has planned a special judgment for Satan and his angels.  This will occur at the end of the Millennial Kingdom.  Satan and his angels will be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone, to be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev. 20:10; cf. Matt. 25:41).
  • JUDGMENT NUMBER SEVEN: GWT (Great White Throne) – When? End of time – Where? At God’s throne.

 

So, first of all, what are the appointed judgments?  Sin (2 Cor. 5:21) – Self (1 Cor. 11:31) – Saints (2 Cor. 5:10) – Israel (Ezk. 20) – Gentiles (Matt. 25) – Satan/Demons (Jude 6/Rev. 20) – All the dead unconverted (Rev. 20). Now, let’s go to that scene in Rev. 20:11-15 and see God’s ultimate/final word to the congregation of the doomed.

 

Luke 16 is an interview of a man in the fires of Hades

Turn to Luke 16 to meet another who awoke to a horrible reality.  THE PERSONS – A nameless lost rich man and a faceless sick beggar – Lazarus.

THE PLACE – The grave moments after death. THE PORTRAIT – A foretaste of Heaven and Hell – of bliss and horror – of paradise and pain – of righteousness and unrighteousness – of comfort and tormentTHE DETAILS Start in verse 22 as – Christ Jesus our Lord here gives a glimpse of the grave through the door of death! 

 

NOTE 10 Piercing Laws of Death for Lost & Saved

  • v. 22 – Only the body died, not the soul. (both)
    • Righteous go to bliss – lost go to torments.
  • v. 23 –Conscious (both)
    • Intuitive Recognition of Abraham who died 20 centuries before the rich man and Lazarus.
    • Can see “far-off” long distances – recognition-those of life “saw Lazarus”.
    • Can speak.
  • v.24 –
    • Physical desires present
    • “Thirst” (lost).
    • Experiences pain (lost) – note the vivid contrast “that tongue that never lacked on Earth calls for that hand that was unheeded at his gate…”
  • v.25 –
    • Memory unimpaired.
  • v.26 –
    • Awareness – trapped in destiny – “Great Chasm” – eternal separation good and evil – beyond help “none can pass”.
  • v.27 –
    • No communication from the lost dead to living is allowed…
    •  Wanted to warn of horrors…
    • The dead have no influence in the spirit world.
  • v.28 –
    • Reality of constant torment only drove him to have others flee (recent punk rocker said he wanted to go to Hell with his friends and have fun.)
  • v.29 –
    • Word of God determines the destiny of all, the rest passes away. Abraham knew history after his death (died 20 centuries BC – knew Moses and prophets 600-1200 years after death).
  • v.30 –
    • Supernatural not always convinced (Note – Christ’s miracles and apostles and prophets only confirmed faith – never produces…)
  1. v.31 –
    • No one goes back!

 

But, is this Hell eternal?  No, it’s only the doorway – the waiting room! What will the ultimate destination be of the lost?

 

THE ARGUMENT FROM THE INFINITE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST

(C. H. Macintosh)

 

“If anything less than eternal punishment be due to sin, what need was there of an infinite sacrifice to give deliverance from that punishment?  Did Jesus shed His precious blood to deliver us from the consequences of our guilt, if those consequences were only temporary?  Grant us the truth of an infinite sacrifice, and we argue from thence the truth of eternal punishment.”