WHAT A DAY
REVELATION 20. 11 - 15, 21. 2 - 4
One of the beauties of having a long drive is that you have plenty of time to think. Plenty of time for God to speak to your heart without the normal distractions of daily life. As I was driving home from Lynchburg on Friday, God began to speak to my heart about several things, guiding me toward the thoughts for today. The thought I have is very simple. There are two days listed in Scripture here in these verses that qualify for the thought of what a day. One of the days is the saddest day that will ever come, and the other is the happiest day.
1) WHAT A DAY OF JUDGMENT. REV 20.11-15
* As we envision the Great White Throne, we must notice first that it is a great throne. No comparison, no other like it. It is truly a great throne, and sitting upon it is the only Great God. It is Jesus Christ, the one who died for man’s sin. The greatness of it is given in that the earth and the heaven fled from the face of the one sitting upon it.
* It is a white throne. Purity, justice, no deception. No sin upon it, no faults found in it. It is not a throne of mercy, not a throne of grace, but a throne of judgment. Pure, righteous, unadulterated, unaltered justice. No politics, no race, no unions, no denominations at this throne.
* The one on the throne - Jesus Christ Himself. Not an apparition, not an angel, not a man, but Jesus Christ, glorified of the Father as a result of Calvary. Sitting in judgment. God has committed all judgment to Him. John 5.22. His work, His offer, the rejection is of Him, and on this basis judgment will come.
* The dead stand before the throne. It is not all that have died physically. The unregenerated, the unsaved, those who have never trusted Christ as Savior. Small and great - not in stature, but in man’s opinions. Kings, beggars, rich, poor. There is no status before this throne. Family won’t matter, church affiliation won’t matter, church attendance won’t matter.
* The books will be opened. A book of life. Historical. All of God’s pleadings with you through the work of the HOS. The manifestation of God in nature, the gospel message given either word or in deed. Every pricking of your heart that something wasn’t right, that there was something missing will be presented. Every rejection, every excuse, every time you put it off, all will be in this book. No denying it, no arguing it. No room for excuses at this throne. Remember it is a righteous throne. It is a righteous judgment. No bias of the court toward one person or another. All who stand will be judged according to those things written in the book.
* To stand before the throne of Jesus Christ who gave Himself for your sins and offered salvation from eternal judgment, with nothing to say, without excuse. a sad day at best.
***** It gets worse. Vs. 15.
* Not only will you stand before Jesus Christ without excuse, but Scripture tells us that those whose names are not written in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire. with no hope of an end, no hope of escape, no hope of an easing, but an eternal home in a real lake of fire, with real screaming, real gnashing of teeth, real pain, but no death. No end.
* And worse.
* My understanding of Scripture is that in hell, there is eternal separation. From God, from all that is good, from any and all joy and happiness, from all that is pleasant.
* The reality of what is at stake. Husbands and wives separated. Parents from children. Friends from friends. Children from parents. To be eternally separated from all that you hold dear, from all that you love, from all that has meaning to you except one thing. When the world means more to you, when what you think you have a right to do means more to you than a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will spend eternity with that. Knowing that your selfishness, your self-serving attitude kept you from the only hope for eternal joy will haunt you each and every moment of your eternal judgment.
* Do you know without a doubt, for certain, stake you life on it that you have been born again. Not that you are playing church, not that you were baptized, not that you are a Baptist, a member of this church, you name is on a roll somewhere, that you daddy was a this, your wife is a this, or that you are, were, or desire to be a deacon or ss teacher, but that there is a defining, definite moment in your life that you surrendered everything you have, everything you are, everything you ever will be to the LJesus Christ and asked Him to be your personal savior. Not that you said a prayer, not that you can quote Scripture, but that your life is not what it used to be, that there has been a change, not only in conduct, but in creation. That there is within you a new life, a life that flows from Calvary, a life that is fed by the manna of the HOS, that feasts upon the WOG, that cherishes each and every moment you spend with God in prayer, in devotion, in service. Is there a moment like that in your life. Have you truly been born again, truly been saved by God’s amazing grace? Or do you play church and bank on some prayer you heard the preacher pray as a child. I can pray for you to be saved from now until this day of judgment, but that doesn’t make you saved.
* For far too long, preachers have minimized salvation. In an effort to see more people in the offer, we have asked for people to come forward and pray for salvation. It is more than that. Salvation requires repentance, it requires submission of all that I am and all that I have to Him, it requires me stepping down off of the throne of my heart and conceding it to Jesus Christ to rule and reign in my life.
* There is something real at stake here. It is not a pie in the sky, not a glimmer of reality, but it is a definite time coming, a time that no man knows, and putting it off one more day, one more moment is a dangerous proposition.
* Haggai tells us to consider our ways. Our lifestyle, our commitment to Christ is a pretty good indicator of the state of our soul. Take account of your priorities. Take account of what is important to you - how does it stack up.
* I want to make sure I am abundantly clear. The Scripture tells us that if you do not know Jesus Christ as Savior and you died today, you will spend eternity in hell, period. Is your supposed reputation, your self-serving attitude, your selfish motives, your pride worth risking that?
2) WHAT A DAY OF JOY. 21. 1 - 7
* a new Heaven and a new earth. All that has corrupted the earth will be destroyed. All that Satan has done to try to diminish the glory and power of God in the earth will be cast into hell with Him. When God destroys the earth and the heavens with fire, He will create a new Heaven and a new earth suited for His children.
* Holy city coming down prepared - I go to prepare you a place.
* Adorned. To prepare YOU a place. Not just thrown together. Thought went into this place. God knows His children and has prepared this place specifically for them. To enable them to worship, to rejoice, to live for all of eternity. Every need is provided for, every aspect has been carefully lined up so that God and the prize of His creation can spend eternity together.
* No more sorrow, no more death, no more crying, no more pain.
* What a defined difference in eternities. In hell, there is constant sorrow, constant death, constant crying, constant pain. These will not even be a memory in Heaven. They will be completely removed from us.
* All things are new. New bodies, the sin nature will be forever destroyed, our minds will be renewed through the removal of that nature. We will have bodies and minds fit for worshiping the King of glory of all of eternity.
* A fountain of the water of life freely. Symbolic to us meaning all that we will need for all of eternity is there. Life will never end, there will be no night, because Christ will always be there.
* What a day. But there is more.
* The beauty of Heaven is described in 21 and 22, but all of that will fail in comparison to the moment we see His face.
* 22.4 - and they shall see His face.
* To spend all of eternity basking in the glory and beauty of the prepared city, adorned for the bride of Christ, prepared for each individual that would take Him as Savior, and ultimately, to be able to see His face. To be able to look into the eyes of the one who loved me enough to lay down the crown of heaven and leave the ivory palaces to come to the earth to be despised of man and lay His life down so that I would never have to pay the penalty for my sin, that my sin could be covered forever by His sacrifice. To bow before the nail-pierced hands, to worship at the throne with all those who have come to truly know Him as Savior.
* To walk hand in hand and view the beauty of all that Christ has prepared for His people. To walk in perfect harmony, perfect praise, perfect health, and perfect understanding for all of eternity with Jesus Christ. What a day!!!!!!
* There is going to be a What a Day come in your life. Your decision about Jesus Christ and the perfect salvation He offers will determine which day it will be. Have you been playing church, banking on a prayer you said years ago that had very little, if any meaning behind it. A prayer you prayed because you were expected to, because mama wanted you to, because your friends were doing it. If it wasn’t a total submission to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of your life, permeating every fiber of your existence, if you haven’t grown in your relationship with Jesus Christ, you may need to take a serious account of what you really have.
* If you are not 100% absolutely certain, through the witness of the HOS in your life that you have been born again through faith in the shed blood of Calvary and that you called out unto the Lord for salvation, you need to make sure today. Don’t wait, don’t put it off. Do it today.
* If you are not growing in your spiritual life, not desiring more and more of God and less and less of the world, you need to repent of your sin and be cleansed, repent and confess to Christ that you have a tighter grip on the world and its pleasures than you should, asking Him to change your desires, to change your heart, to revive you. Today is the day, don’t put it off.
* You see there is another day that we didn’t get to. The day of the BEMA seat of Christ where those who have been born again will be judged. The day when every idle word, every evasion of sharing the gospel, every time we chose the world’s way of Christ’s will be called before us. It will be the saddest day for a Christian after death. When all of the earthly goals that were not focused on Him will be brought out, when work, words, and witness will be examined.
* How sad to stand in front of Him, and to have spent a life completely undedicated and uncommitted to Him, the one who died for your sins. If that idea doesn’t bother you, I would have to ask you to seriously consider whether or not you are really His, whether or not you belong to Him as part of the bride of Christ, or if you just belong to a local church. Think of your words, your daily actions, your thoughts. Are they centered and focused around Him, or are they earthly?
Invitation and prayer
