The Last Judgment

There are certain events in life which cannot be avoided. They must be faced by each one of us. One of these is a funeral.

If it hasn't happened yet in your life, someday you will be at a funeral of a loved one, or they will be burying you. That day is coming, friend, and death cannot be avoided in this sin-cursed world, for it was sin that caused death in the first place. My Bible declares in Hebrews, and it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

So all of us will face death one way or the other. I remember Adrian Rogers talking about how he was at a funeral, speaking to a dear deacon about the deceased, and Dr. Rogers said, I was standing there talking to that man, and two weeks later they buried him as well. And as Adrian Rogers told me that story, he did not know that in one year he would be gone as well.

Our verse from Hebrews speaks to two events, death and judgment, and my subject today, friends, is a very solemn one, for I am to speak on the last judgment, and that's the title of my message this evening, The Last Judgment. Our passage can be found in the book of Revelation. You can turn in your Bibles there now.

We will be in verses 11 through 15. Our Lord Jesus speaks of this final judgment as found in the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 25, and verses 31 through 32, which declare, When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. There was a knock on my front door years ago, and I answered it, and there stood two Jehovah Witnesses.

They were young men, and they were very ardent about making converts. I tried to argue with them for a little while, and finally I told the one closest to me that there was coming a day when the Lord Jesus Christ would separate His sheep from the goats. He got mad and turned to his friend and said, This guy just called me a goat.

Well, I've always tried to call a spade a spade. I don't sugarcoat the gospel of the glory of the Son of God. The gospel has both the love of God in it and the wrath of God in it, friend.

God has two sides, mercy and judgment. Bless God. I am an object of His mercy.

I don't deserve it. The only thing I do deserve is hell. But He saved me from my sins and pardoned me if I shout, Hallelujah.

Most folks today don't fear a holy God. That's why society is in the shape it's in. In this country, years ago, there was a fear of God in the land.

Recently, I was reading the biography of William Schubert, a missionary to China, and I want to relate an incident in his life because it illustrates what I just said. Listen to his story, taken from the early 1900s. Heaven and hell were always very real to me, and not only the love of God, but the surety of His judgment.

This went back to my boyhood in Watts. One day, when I was a boy, there came into our school and sat right back of me a boy by the name of Wilbur Hinton. He was about six months older than I. He had come from Oregon, where he had been very bad, and he continued to be a very bad boy.

Yet he came to our church and Sunday school with his parents, who were very earnest Christians and had family worship twice a day. Before I was converted, one night I was staying at Wilbur's house overnight. We were both asleep in the same bed.

In the middle of the night, there came a great sound, which I thought was the angel Gabriel's trumpet. The whole house shook, and I thought it was the last great earthquake. I sat up in bed, and Wilbur said, What's the matter, Willie? I replied, Oh, I thought it was the last great earthquake and Gabriel's trumpet.

Our pastor, Reverend Corns, had preached about Jesus' return, and he always ended with this prayer, Let us so live that when thou dost come, we may hear thee say, Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of the Lord. So I was really under conviction about this, and therefore was greatly frightened, but Wilbur thought it was funny and laughed. The strange thing was that I was afraid, but Wilbur wasn't.

He grew up and married a girl who couldn't live on what he earned, so he wrote a check and signed somebody else's name and was put in prison for forgery. There he met some real crooks, and after he came out, he was helping them rob a bank and was shot to death by a policeman. We are often reminded of what the Lord said, that there would be two in one bed, one would be taken, and the other left.

Why, it should be that way one wonders, except that I was afraid of the judgment, and Wilbur was not afraid. That story, friends, disturbs me. It disturbs me because there are a great many people in this world today who are not afraid of the coming judgment, and I believe they are not afraid because many of us preachers have quit preaching on it.

We seldom preach on the surety of the last judgment, where all mankind will be brought before a holy judge who sits on a great white throne. Very few tremble at that thought, because these days, like that young boy did many years ago, they're just not afraid of that judgment. But before I read us our passage from Revelation, I want to say no one can preach this subject and do it proper justice.

I'm a mere mortal, attempting to preach on an eternal truth so vast and so deep and so solemn that I can only bring before you this evening, friends, mere shadows of what is going to come. Can you imagine the awful final judgment of mankind where the angels turn the pages of the books that contain every detail of every person's life lived on earth, private and public, where the majesty of that holy white throne and the judge who sits upon it is so fierce and overpowering that even the heavens and the earth flee from his presence. There was a missionary to the Congo who was witnessing to a tribal chief who refused to take anything seriously this missionary had to say about the Bible or about God until one day he read the tribal chief this passage from Revelation where the earth and sky fled from the presence of that throne.

The tribal chief stood up, threw down his spear and demanded to learn more about this terrible throne of justice which even the earth and sky fled away from. Allow me to read us our text at this time, friends, and it is my prayer that the spirit of God will attend the reading of his holy word. And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works and the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged, every man, according to their works and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. O friends, how terrible a day that will be for the wicked to die in one's sins and be cast into that terrible furnace of a lake for all eternity in Malachi there is a solemn warning about this day it's found in Malachi 4.1 and it states for behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all the proud yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of hosts that it shall leave them neither root nor branch when I was a boy I worked in a local grocery store as a sack boy one of my duties was to take the cardboard boxes that the produce came in and break them down with a box cutter I stacked them on a wagon and pulled them to the back room where a cast iron furnace was I'll never forget the white hot flames in that fiery furnace the heat was so intense it would singe my face when I opened that cast iron door to throw those boxes in there the flames raged and raged I feared that furnace and the power of it I can still sense the power of it today in my memory of it there's a coming day friends where the other side of God will reveal himself his justice side where his anger and wrath will burn as an oven I pray right now for anyone within the sound of my voice to examine yourself before God and be sure you were truly born again because if you were merely an unconverted church member who's resting upon a false foundation of carnal security where your hope of heaven is resting upon your good opinion of yourself and your good works I pray that the spirit of God will break up that false foundation under you right now friend that you will be awakened to your grave danger of dying in your sins and dropping into that fiery lake which burns as an oven listen friend there are no exit doors in hell hell is a place of intense suffering and misery hell is a black lonely place of weeping, outer darkness and gnashing of teeth it's a pit of noise the cries of the damned will drown out your tears for all eternity you better be sure what foundation you rest upon is Jesus Christ your sure foundation are your sins washed in his blood have you repented from your filthy rotten sins are you born from above has the spirit of God brought conviction of sin into your heart and has he made you a new creation through the new birth you don't make yourself a Christian friend only God can change the heart of stone and turn it into a heart of flesh oh friend the most important subject in the world is not your bank account or your investment portfolio it's not your reputation within your community it's not even your family or loved ones the most important subject in the world is where you will spend eternity either in heaven or in hell for there is a common judgment for all mankind there are several aspects I'd like to draw out from our passage this evening and I don't normally use alliteration in my homiletics but this evening I guess it fits I want us to make note of the following aspects of this judgment number one the surety of the last judgment number two the severity of the last judgment and number three the sovereignty of the last judgment first I want us to note the surety of it friends there is no escape in it listen to what Peter tells us in his second epistle in chapter 3 in verse 7 but the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men notice Peter uses the word reserved as if to say every man every woman has a reservation secured for them at this last judgment though men mock God now and shake their angry fists at him and dare him to do anything about it there is fast approaching a day friends a day of settlement a settlement day where the record books will be opened and all accounts will be settled and that brings me to our second aspect of this last judgment the severity of it think of the dead standing there small and great, rich and poor God is no respecter of persons the apostle Peter declares this and if ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judges according to every man's work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear kings will stand there and their knees will be as water the Roman emperors will stand there and tremble before the severity of that final throne judgment where every thought every action, every word every motive will be examined picture that final courtroom scene friends John Wesley called it the final assize the angels are on the bailiffs the books are opened the just judge sits on that terrible white throne which speaks of his holiness and majesty and authority cases will be reviewed, evidence will be presented, and sentences handed out God is a God who must punish sin friend I know many today do not believe in that kind of God but it's true, God is a God who will and must punish sin, Sodom was the scene of the most terrible judgment on human sin the red hot glare of Sodom and Gomorrah runs through the whole length of Scripture Jesus refers to it more than once as the figure of the judgment soon every man will be face to face with this great white throne judgment as God rolls up the scroll of human history I want us to see the severity of this last judgment friend every person will be held up to the strict and severe law of God as he or she stand in their own merits, God declares that one must be perfect to get into his heaven but no one is perfect each will fail that test of being held up against the severity of that holy law of God every man has broken it, every man transgressed it, every man committed treason against it the proof will be in the open books which reflect the personal biography of each person on trial that day the sentencing of the law must be carried out and the severity of the sentencing will vary from case to case punishments will vary in their degree based on an individual basis no one will be in a hurry time will stop for that time because God has all the time in the world friends to review every single case in detail the books of each individual's life will be laid open both the public and the private areas of one's life but the one book which stands out from all the rest the one book that will make each person tremble and quake the most is the book of life for if a person's name is not found in there it is certain damnation and a burning hell or fire the angels will bind that person hand and foot and carry them away there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth wailing speaks of great grief and loss gnashing of teeth signifies anger and regret oh friends the severity of the strict law of God I know I am a sinner and I need a sin substitute in the person of Jesus Christ and so do you friend so do you now I want us to see this last aspect of the last judgment and that is the sovereignty of it the judge who sits upon that great white throne he's a sovereign he is the Lord Jesus Christ John 5 22 declares for the father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto the son and in Titus the apostle Paul states I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom listen friends there is a sovereign king who sits on that great white throne and shall not the judge of all the earth do right every knee shall bow to that sovereign king on that day friend he will make his enemies his footstool if you do not bow to the Lord Jesus Christ now and submit to his lordship in your life I can promise you this friend you will bow to him on that day when he puts his foot on your neck all men will be in subjection to him they can mock the name of Jesus now the world can take his name in vain now but there is a coming day of judgment where that sovereign will reign supreme to such a degree that even the heaven and the earth will flee from him there is good news for believers if you know that your sins have been forgiven you will not be judged for sentencing and punishment the bema seat for believers is not a time for handing out severe punishment because our sins are washed in his blood in 2nd Corinthians 5 10 we read for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad that time for believers will be more like a county fair where blue ribbons are handed out for excellence it will be a time of receiving rewards for service rendered our faithfulness will be rewarded crowns will be handed out on that day friends but let me ask you which throne would you rather stand before the great white throne of sentencing and judgment or the bema seat for believers where rewards will be received let me say this even on that day for believers there will be those who suffer loss 1st Corinthians 3 11-15 states for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire let me finish this message with this thought friend when you stand before Christ on that day and he reviews your life will your life be like a brilliant jewel reflecting his glory or will you stand there knee deep in the ashes of a wasted life and then have to lean over and scoop up those ashes and press them into his nail pierced hands why are we wasting our time on useless things that don't matter in eternity why don't we pray more why don't we read our bibles more why don't we witness more on that day we will wish we had we will wish we had done more for Christ with our life we will wish we had prayed more we will wish we had witnessed more live more for him and his glory only one life will soon be passed only what's done for Christ will last and as I lay dying how good it shall be if the lamp of my life has been burned out for thee may that be our prayer dear friends may we live that way while we have time here to live it