CHOSE YOUR JUDGMENT
08/08/10 New Liberty Christian Church, Veedersburg, IN with Pastor Richard T. McQuinn
TEXT: REVELATION 1:1-7 REVELATION CHAPTER 4 AND 20
INTRODUCTION: I am about to give to you one of the sternest warnings I have ever given to you in recent months. With the events happening in the State of California with the homosexual movement and their agenda, I must absolutely remind all of you of the final judgment that the Book of Revelation speaks of.
John the Apostle was exiled on the Island of Patmos. This is part of the Aegean Sea. 10 miles long, 5 miles wide. It is the Lords day----early Sunday morning. John is up early and is in the process of worshiping the Lord. Now think about this. He is all alone we believe. No choir, no preacher, no offering, no announcements. It was just John and God. So why would John take the time to go to a worship service when he was the only one going? God already knew that John loved him, so why go through the motions?
John knew that God is as jealous God and that He expects us to worship him with all of our hearts, our bodies and our souls. Besides that John worshiped Him daily. He talked to Him, sang to Him, laid silent in His presence so he could Hear God talking to Him. Let this be a lesson to all of us. It does not matter where you are, you need to stop and worship Almighty God for who HE is.
This is probably during the year of 91-95 when Domitian was on the throne. You will remember this killer from your history lessons. John was on this island of exile for preaching the Gospel of Christ. He would not stop talking about His Lord. They could not shut him up so they put him in chains and transported him to this island where he would no doubt live out his life as poor peasant. God had another plan for Johns life. Even when we are in our last minute of hope and all is lost, God comes through and changes our plans.
John was stopped in the middle of his worship service by the ONE who John was worshiping. How do you like that! God told John what to write. He told him to write it to a group of people and God told him what to say.
Let me warn all of you that the Bible says that God is going to return in the form of His Son and rescue the church from the world. The church is referred to as the Bride of Christ.
So John begins by writing to 7 different churches in Asia Minor. He warns them of the coming doom and destruction that will soon take place. He spends chapter after chapter telling us of the events that are about to take place:
Rapture of the Church/Christians
Tribulation. Anti-Christ will rule for 7 years. 3.5 years good and another 3.5 years very evil.
Battle of Armageddon
Second Coming of the King of Kings
1000 year reign of Christ.
The Holy Spirit will be taken out of the world. It will be nations against nations. A sad place to be living in. The church is gone. The Christians are gone! An empty void fills the air.
Each of us should study Matthew chapters 24 and 25 to see what some of the events that will take place in the End of Times.
I am not speaking here of fairy tale stories. This is as real as I can explain it to you. This is your warning time. It is not meant to scare anyone, but to make the call of repentance from our sins and start getting back to a proper relationship with God and His Son.
John tells us that each of us----you and me---will stand before God in the Judgment. There are two judgments. One in chapter four and another one in chapter 20. Which judgment do you chose to go through.
Now I have to tell you plainly that before you stand before the throne of judgment it is very wise for you to secure a lawyer. If you do not have a lawyer then you will never have peace of mind in this world. Right now you do have a choice in the matter. It really is up to you and you alone.
Do you have a lawyer yet? Do you know which judgment you want to go through yet? I promise you, you will in the next 15 minutes when you see the difference between these two chapters. If you are undecided or you just do not know what the difference is then please listen with an open view of what is about to happen.
After all of these events happen in the goodness of time, it will be time for us to settle our accounts with the Living Lord. You are safe, your soul is safe, as long as you have Christ as your Lord and Saviour. He has to me the King of Kings of your life. Let me show you the difference.
I. JUDGMENT OF CHAPTER FOUR
In the opening verses in chapter four we see that that the scene is in Heaven. We see many things in these very few verses. We are looking at the center of Heaven where the throne room is. There is lightning, there is thunder, there is singing, rainbows, candlesticks, 24 elders sitting on their thrones. You see the floor as a sea of glass, you read here of the four living beast. The Lion, Ox, Man, and the Eagle. They make up the representation of all of God' creatures.
Now if you show up at this judgment then you already have a lawyer who will plead your case for you. Your lawyer of course is the Son of God. It is your job to get to know Him well, so He can plead your case with His Father. You will not be judged for your sins in this judgment. I call this misdemeanor court. You might have a conversation with the Judge for not giving 100 percent of your talents that He issued to you to work with.
Is your name written in the Lambs book of Life? You might say, that you do not know. I have to tell you that my name is in the BOOK. I have not seen it, I just know it is there. I have a promise from God that my name is written there.
You do not have to have money to have your name written in the Book, nor do you have to have a handicap and you can not have it written if you try to win it by doing a bunch of good things for people and trying to earn your place there. You have to have a lawyer. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and you made a public confession of that belief then the blood of Jesus Christ covers you from sin. Therefore your name is written in the Lambs book of life. Your sins have been forgiven and washed away for good, never to be brought up again-----ever.
Going back to chapter four you will see that we are having one whale of a worship service in heaven. Angels are singing---Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. What a time to rejoice. It is party time in heaven.
You will be given a crown to wear. A golden crown, but like the 24 elders, we fall on our faces and give our crowns to the Lord of Host.
Now that you have seen chapter four, there is nothing to be afraid of here right? Only if you are not listening today, only if you are not heading this warning. You have to have a lawyer to plead your case.
Do you think you have plenty of time to make that decision right? A case in point is that it was a sunny day this past week when a tractor and a train got together. The train was on time. It is broad day light. You can see the train coming way down the road. The farmer was driving his tractor down the road. You always stop when you are not sure or you have been looking ahead of time and know nothing is coming. He was killed at the impact. He died in a matter of seconds. How much time do you have left to make your decision to get your lawyer. The same lawyer that died for you and washed all your sins away.
On to chapter 20. You will immediately see a different view of judgement.
II. JUDGMENT OF CHAPTER 20
This is going to get ugly real fast.
We are in the same judgement center, but it is different. No lawyers present. Just you and God. YOUR book will be opened for all to see. Yes, YOUR individual book will be opened. All of your secret sins, all the ugly thoughts and deeds, the things you did in your private life when you thought no one was looking. It will all be exposed.
You will know right away that you missed the boat. You can smell the heat, you can see the fire, you can hear the crying. There is no singing, no Angels crying out Holy Holy Holy. This is your time with God, just as you planned out, or didnt take the time to plan out. No planning gets you to chapter 20 very easily.
John sees the great white throne and the person sitting on the throne. He was dressed in all white. He saw the dead, all of the dead, great and small, come before the throne. Personal books were read outloud so all could hear. Not the Lambs Book of Life, but the book of personal living and hidden sins. This is your time to sweat. You will then be judged on what you have done and what you havent gotten done in this life.
Death and Hades were thrown into the everlasting lake of fire. Those who names were not found in the Book of Life were also thrown into this lake of fire.
There are no warnings here. This is it! There are no rainbows showing here as they were in chapter 4, and there are no warnings. The warnings have all been given out. Angels are shouting that it is too late, it is too late.
Hope is gone for heaven. This is criminal court. You had a chance to have a great lawyer to plead your case, but you may have thought that you did not need one, or you were too busy to get one. It is too late now.
You will try to hide, but you can't. You can try to make an excuse, but you can't
Which judgment do you want to go through? Which appeals to you the most?
Today, you have a chance. Today I am asking you to make your decision for the right chapter in your life. Chapter 4 or Chapter 20. It is up to you to decide. You see God already voted for you when He gave you His Son to die for you and wash away your sins. Satan voted for you as well when he lied to you to tell you that you have plenty of time to grow up and be a Christian. You have listened to them both. It is your decision that counts as to where you will spend eternity.
AMEN and AMEN
