Sermons

Death, Resurrection and Judgment

1/5/2003

GRM 827

Selected Verses

Transcript

GRM 827
1/5/2003
Death, Resurrection and Judgment
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We were talking recently about the Second Coming of Christ, and I want to continue that theme. In fact, we’re going to be talking about it over the next couple of weeks. We’re not going to be talking about the signs of the times, particularly, we’re going to work our way into that, then looking at some of the events going on in the world that seem to indicate we are moving perhaps closer and closer to the coming of the Lord in evidential ways. We talked about the fact that Jesus Christ will be returning to earth to establish a kingdom and in connection with the coming of Christ there will be resurrection and judgment. Really, I want to talk with you about three matters in our study together today—death, resurrection and judgment. Obviously, we’re just going to be highlighting certain of the Biblical truths on each of these areas. It’s very important that you and I have a proper understanding of what the Bible says about death, about resurrection and about judgment, something that each and everyone of us is going to have to experience. There is one hope, and we’ll talk about that in a future study, the rapture of the church, that we will not have to experience death. We will experience resurrection and transformation and there is not a man or woman anywhere, anytime who will avoid judgment. Hebrews chapter 9 says it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this comes judgment.

Just say a few things about the matter of physical death. The Bible talks about death, and it can be talking about three kinds of death, physical, spiritual and eternal. Spiritual death is separation of a person from God. So many people in the world today are spiritually dead. The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2 “were dead in our trespasses and sins,” we were separated from God. The key idea in death is separation. Spiritual death is separation of a person from God. The second death, or eternal death, is separation from God for eternity in hell. We’ll say more about that in the context of judgment. Physical death is the separation of a person from his body.

Turn in your Bibles to the book of James chapter 2, towards the back of your New Testament, just after the book of Hebrews is the book of James. James is really writing about the relationship of faith and works, and we are saved by faith alone in Christ alone. But the faith that saves is never alone and James is saying that true saving faith changes a life and results in a change of lifestyle, a change in the way of living, a change in what you do. He makes a comparison in James 2:26, “for just as the body without the spirit is dead so also faith without works is dead.” Faith that does not change your life and make you a new creature and cause you to live differently than you used to live is not saving faith. What we want to pick up is the comparison he makes in the first part of verse 26, “the body without the spirit is dead.” When the spirit, what you are as a person living in this physical body, when you as a person move out of your physical body, the body is dead. You as a person have not ceased to exist, you are simply no longer living in this present body. What happens when you move out of your body? Jesus indicates that you go to one of two places, you either immediately go to a place of suffering and torment or you immediately go to a place of blessing and joy.

Back up to Luke chapter 16, Luke chapter 16. Jesus gives an account of two individuals, a rich man and a poor man. The point is not that all rich men will suffer in torment and all poor men will be recompensed with joy and blessing after this life, but it does draw the sharp contrast. You either live a life where you have everything and go into an eternity where you have nothing but suffering, and you can live a physical life where you have nothing and at death you can step into immeasurable glory. Verse 19, “There was a certain rich man and he habitually dressed in purple, fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. A certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate covered with sores longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried and in Hades he lifted up his eyes being in torment.” You’ll note the emphasis here, the point Jesus is driving home. At death you go to one of two places, and He makes clear when He concludes this, there will be no changing your place after death. You’ll note they haven’t ceased to exist. The end of verse 22 we’re told that the rich man was buried, so his body was buried in a grave, but he is in Hades in torment. He has not ceased to exist, he is alive and conscious and aware, just as the poor man is alive, conscious and aware. God has so ordained that we live in these physical bodies, but we can also live outside these physical bodies. When we leave these physical bodies, we are spirit beings, but we have the capacity for joy and happiness and blessing and also the capacity for suffering, pain and torment. So here it’s clear, two individuals die, neither ceases to exist. Rich or poor, when your physical body stops functioning, they have a service, this person died. That’s true, but this person has not ceased to exist. Death is separation. This person has been separated from his body. The issue is where are they now? They are no longer living where they used to live. Jesus makes the point here there is no crossing over in going back and forth. The place of torment is awful, the place that we would call Hades.

He asks, the rich man in torment, someone send Lazarus, someone should go back from the dead to tell my brothers of this awful place, so they don’t come here. You know what the response is from Abraham? For the place of blessing was called Abraham’s bosom, the place where Abraham is, the friend of God, the father of the righteous, if you will. Verse 29, “Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. But the rich man in Hades says oh no, if someone goes from the dead they’ll repent.” They’re not willing to listen to the Word of God, but they’ll listen if someone comes back from the dead. Listen to this word. Abraham said to him “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.” That’s been demonstrated. Jesus Christ Himself died and rose from the dead. Is everybody trusting in Him? No, they refuse to believe, they reject Him and thus they are on their way to the same place as the rich man.

Turn to II Corinthians chapter 5, two passages that focus on the destiny of those who are the children of God. Keep in mind that the issue is not the goodness of your life or the lack of goodness, the issue is not what you possess or don’t possess materially and financially. The issue is, have you believed the Word of God? Have you believed the message that God has given? God is commanding all people everywhere to repent, for He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, having furnished proof to all men by raising Christ from the dead. God’s command is that we believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. When we do, we are forgiven our sins, cleansed and brought into a relationship with God. We become the children of God, destined for glory. The penalty for our sins has been paid. The Apostle Paul writes about physical death in the context of his own bodily deterioration.

Verse 16 of II Corinthians chapter 4, “therefore we do not lose heart. But though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” My physical body is decaying, it’s declining, it’s breaking down. But my inner man, what I am on the inside, having been made new in Christ, is getting stronger every day. The sufferings of this life are momentary light afflictions producing for me an eternal weight of glory. Then he moves into chapter 5 and uses the analogy of this physical body is like a tent, and when this tent is folded up and set aside the person hasn’t ceased to exist. They are simply no longer living in that tent. Some of you go camping and use tents. I can’t imagine, but I know some of you say you do. I believe it. You leave the comforts of home and go live in a tent, and I say where’s the bathroom, where’s the sink? Well, you don’t have that in a tent, maybe your tent does. The point is when you get done camping and come home you fold up the tent and put it in the garage or the basement or some place. You haven’t ceased to exist, but you are no longer using the tent. That’s Paul’s analogy in II Corinthians chapter 5. When the tent of this body is folded up and set aside, where are we?

Look down to verse 6, “therefore being always of good courage and knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.” We know this, not because we have experienced it, but because God has told us. So, we walk by faith, not by sight. We believe the Word of God. We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. You know what Paul says? I am a person living in this physical body, in this tent, the tent of this body. But you know what happens when I move out of this tent? I’ll be in the presence of the Lord. That’s why when we speak of friends and family and loved ones who have experienced physical death, but they were trusting in Jesus Christ, we say we don’t grieve for them, our sorrow is not for them. We ache because of the separation, we experience the pain, the loneliness, the emptiness that comes from being separated from someone we love, but we rejoice for them and the glory that is theirs and we anticipate the time when we will enter into that glory.

“To be absent from the body,” verse 8, “to be at home with the Lord.” You’ll note there is no such thing as soul sleep taught anywhere in the scripture. It does talk about the body being asleep and it’s just another analogy like the folding up of the tent. When a person has moved out of his body, his body is inactive, not functioning. It’s like when they are asleep. Some of you go to a viewing at a funeral, you look at the body as it’s there in the casket and you say it looks like they are asleep. They are. Their body is. They’re gone, they’ve moved out. Like you drive by an empty house. You knew the people that used to live there, but the house is vacant now. That’s what happens at physical death and for the believer it is to move from this body into the presence of the Lord.

One other passage, and then we have to move on. Philippians chapter 1. You know this puts to rest all the silliness and nonsense that would be laughable if it weren’t tragic. I was watching a man on TV the other day; he has become quite well-known, and he supposedly communicates with dead loved ones. You have people there with tears running down their faces as he is supposedly saying what he’s hearing from the other world. If he’s hearing anything from the other side it’s from demons, not gone loved ones. I don’t know if anybody or who was whispering in his ear, but I can tell you for sure he’s hearing nothing from people who have died. Those people are in one of two places, they’re either in the glories of heaven and have no time to whisper in his ear, or they’re in the sufferings of Hades and they have no ability to whisper in his ear. Important we understand the Biblical teaching on death, life after death.

Look at what Paul says. He’s in prison as he writes this. There’s always the danger when you’re a prisoner of Rome that the outcome may be your execution. Paul’s confident on this occasion he’s going to be released, and the indication of scripture seems to be he will be. At a later imprisonment the outcome will be different. But here he contemplates the possibility he could lose his life. He says in verse 21 of Philippians 1, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” For me life is all about Jesus Christ and if I die that’s to my benefit. If I live on in the flesh that will mean more fruitful labor for me. If I have more days, that’s more opportunity to serve the Lord and do His work. Now I don’t know which I prefer, to continue to live in this life and serve the Lord here or be promoted to the glory of His presence. “I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.” See, for Paul it is not a matter of being put in the grave, as we put all our cemeteries in the most picturesque places on the highest hill. Nobody is looking. You know I think we ought to honor people and be respectful to the dead and so on and the body in a proper sense. But I don’t care if I’m buried in Fairview, I won’t be looking. That’s not the issue. We get so sentimental over the body. Again, I think there is a matter of respect. I understand God has a future for this body, we’re going to talk about that in a moment. I think the Bible indicates that the pattern is there is proper respect shown. But you understand when I die, I’ll be in glory. You don’t have to feel bad that I don’t get to see my grandchildren grow up and get married, that I didn’t get a chance to do this or that. There is something lost. Every day is an opportunity to serve the living God and have fruitful labor for Him and store up rewards in glory. But you understand when God says it’s time there is no greater glory than being in the glory of His presence.

Paul says “I have a desire to depart and be with Christ. That’s much better. Yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.” Paul’s concern was he had more to teach them, more truth to build into their lives, and that wasn’t done. There’ll come a time when it will be done. In his second letter to Timothy, he’ll say it’s done. “There’s more work to be done, but my labor is done, I’m passing it down to you, to faithful men who will teach others also.” When we die it doesn’t mean the work’s done, but until I die it means God’s work through me is not done. But what blessed hope, what anticipation. I don’t look forward to death, I look forward to the coming of the Lord. Death has certain fears, the pain possibly, the suffering that none of us would eagerly anticipate or desire. But you know the sting has been taken out of death, I know what death is and I belong to the one who has defeated death. Because I belong to Him, I have the assurance that when I do leave this physical body, I will open my eyes in glory beyond compare. But the Word of God is just as clear. The person who has not come to repent of their sins and believe in Christ will open their eyes in unbelievable torment. We understand what physical death is, it’s a person leaving their physical body and now living outside their body, either in torment or in blessing.

Now when Jesus Christ comes back, and we saw this when we studied His coming to earth to establish His kingdom, associated with the coming of Christ there will be resurrections. There are a series of resurrections in scripture, and I just want to review them with you in a highlight fashion. Talk a little bit about the resurrected body and then talk about the judgments of scripture, and we’ll try to not go so fast you get lost if this is new material, but we do just have to highlight it.

There are a series of resurrections in the Bible, I wish I had a chart to show you. We start on one end of the chart, start down here, with the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. He is the first. I Corinthians chapter 15 verses 23 and 24 say that Jesus Christ is the first fruits of those to be resurrected from the dead. His resurrection is a guarantee there is a coming resurrection. He is the first one to receive a glorified body. After that those who are Christ’s at His coming. I take it that with the resurrection of Christ there have been no bodily resurrections for 2000 years. In fact, the only bodily resurrection we have to this point is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Then you move down 2000 years and you’re going to have the Rapture of the Church. We’ll talk about this event at a future time, one of our studies coming up. At the Rapture is when the Church is removed from the earth to meet Christ in the air. That’s the first phase of the Second Coming. All believers from Acts chapter 2 until the Rapture who have died, their bodies are raised from the dead. I Thessalonians chapter 4, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Their bodies will be raised. So, people who have died, they leave their body and go into the presence of the Lord. At the first phase of the Second Coming when Christ comes for the Church, those people will have their bodies raised from the dead, they will come with Christ from glory and move back into those bodies. Similar to what Christ did. He was crucified on the cross, when He died, He left His body; His body was buried in the tomb, three days later He moved back into that body, and it was raised glorified. The next event in Biblical prophecy is the Rapture of the Church which involves the resurrection of dead believers from Acts 2 when the Church began. The transformation: every believer who is alive on earth when Christ comes will have their body changed, I Corinthians chapter 15 verses 50 to 58. “In a moment, in an atom of time we shall be changed. This mortal will put on immortality. Then death will be swallowed up in victory.” That’s the Rapture of the Church, that’s the resurrection of the Church.

Then you have seven years, moving on down, and Christ now returns to earth. That’s the second phase of the Second Coming. First phase occurred seven years earlier when He came for the Church. Now seven years later He returns to earth. We looked at this in our previous study. He comes in power and great glory, crushes all His enemies at Armageddon. On that occasion there is a resurrection, the resurrection includes those who have come to believe in Christ and have died during that seven-year period preceding the Second Coming to earth. Revelation chapter 20 verse 4 speaks of those who died during that seven-year period. Daniel chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 tell us that Old Testament saints, those who believed the Word of God and believed in God as their savior up until Acts chapter 2 when the Church began, that have died will be raised when Christ comes at that time. Old Testament saints, tribulation saints. That’s when David will be raised, Elijah will be raised, Moses will be raised, when Christ comes to earth to establish His kingdom.

Then Christ will set up His kingdom and there’ll be 1000 years. We’ve considered this in Revelation chapter 20. At the end of the 1000 years there will be a rebellion against Christ and all those who rebel will be killed and then there is a resurrection. Every unbeliever from the time of Cain in the Garden of Eden down until the end of that 1000 years will be bodily raised from the dead and will appear to be sentenced by Christ to an eternal hell.

Those are the resurrections of scripture, bodily resurrections, transformations, if you will. What you understand is every single person who is ever born is going to experience this. There are exceptions, but we don’t want to go into those now. We’re talking about up to where we are. In a future study we’ll talk about where there might be some exceptions. Resurrection is coming. Believers will be resurrected, and we see what we call a glorified body to enjoy all the blessings God has promised them for all eternity. Unbelievers, those who have never experienced God’s salvation from the beginning of time, will also be resurrected with bodies that will not and cannot die but are capable of suffering for all eternity.

What will our resurrected bodies be like? Let me just summarize some things. We all have questions, what’s it going to be like when I get a resurrected body? I can’t tell you anything about what you’re like when you leave your body and you’re living outside your body. I don’t have any experience with that, I have experience with this physical body. We have some indications on what the glorified body is going to be like. What we know about that comes from Christ’s body, He is the one who has died, who has been raised from the dead with a glorified body. His resurrection is the pattern for our resurrection. I just want to look at a couple of passages that will tell us what His body was like.

The first thing I want to note is that it’s the same body that dies that’s raised. You remember in John’s gospel chapter 20 verses 25 to 29 “He appeared to His disciples after His resurrection.” Then He says it’s me, they think they’re seeing a ghost. He says look, the nail prints in my hands. That’s evidence, same body that was nailed to the cross, same hands. Look, the wound in my side. It’s the same body that suffered and died and was buried that has been raised. So, you ought to be clear and sure that the body that dies is the body that’s going to be raised. We have all kinds of questions, well what about people who died 3000 years ago, and everything turns to dust? What about people that have been burned up and nothing is left but ashes that blow away? What about people that die or are eaten by wild animals or fish in the sea? I guess the same God who has done everything else marvelous won’t have any problem in putting it back together again. It’s like you take a jigsaw puzzle all put together, you take all the pieces apart, put them all in a pile and you give them to a 3-year-old and say put that back together. It’s hopeless. You take an adult it’s not necessarily hopeless. Somehow, we want to reduce God to our level. Oh, we have a problem, somebody died and was buried in the ocean, the fish ate their body and then somebody caught the fish and ate the fish. I don’t see how you could ever put that together. Well, you know what? You don’t have to put it together, I don’t either. You know who will put it together? I couldn’t create anything either, but God did, so just be sure it’s the same body. That’s why I am not one who has a big issue over how a body is disposed of. I think there is a proper respect shown, but it’s no more problem for God to put together a body that was burned to ashes than it is to put a body together that was eaten by worms, that’s returned to dust. We are sure that the resurrected body is the same body you walked this earth with and I’m glad. If you get something new, how will I know you? If I move into a different body, how will you know me?

Look at Luke chapter 24. I want to just limit it to this passage. You all ought to be interested in this because it affects all of us. Somebody told me you’re going to get a new body tomorrow; I’d say could you give me a little more detail. Well, we’ll see a little bit what Christ had. It’s a body that has material substance, it’s not a spirit. The glorified body is not a spirit, it is a body that has material substance. Now I’m in a realm here I know nothing about, but I know what the scripture says here. Christ is appearing now to His disciples again after His resurrection from the dead. Look at verse 39. The context here at the end of verse 37 is they thought they were seeing a spirit. See they thought Christ had come back but they didn’t associate it with a bodily resurrection. It’s a spirit. Look at verse 39, “see my hands and my feet. It is I Myself. Touch me. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” There is going to be substance to that glorified body. It has flesh and bones. From this it may indicate that the glorified body will not have blood. In our physical bodies the life of the flesh is in the blood and that may be implied here, but we know for sure this body has flesh and bone. It can be handled; it can be grabbed onto. What He is saying is grab onto my hand, feel the bones, the flesh. It has substance. Look at verse 41, while they still could not believe it for joy and were marveling, He said to them, “Have you anything to eat?” Somebody is going to love this. You can eat in your glorified body. Do you have anything to eat? They gave Him a piece of broiled fish. Not going to be my first choice, but they gave Him a piece of broiled fish. He took it and ate it in their sight. What do you think it looked like? This oooooooooo and here goes the fish. No. He’s got flesh and bone. Puts the fish in His mouth and chews it up and swallows it. I take it the glorified body will perfectly assimilate whatever you eat. The fact of the matter is, it’s a physical body. The same body that was buried is raised. You know what that means? When you see loved ones in glory, you’ll be able to hug them. We’re not just going to be spirits ooooing, going to be real that God has prepared for us. If He wanted us to just be spirit beings, He could have created us like angels, and I’m not saying angels are ooooing around either. But these physical bodies have a part in God’s eternal plan.

It’s also a body not subject to physical limitations. Remember in John chapter 20 they were in a room closed and locked and He appeared. On this occasion they’re traveling on the road, and He comes to them in verse 16 of Luke 24, “their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him." We’re going to recognize one another. I take it the scars in Christ’s hands and in His side, the wound in His side, they remain in the glorified body because they are the marks of our redemption. I would take it then; in our glorified bodies the imperfections will be gone. But you know the disciples knew who He was except when they were supernaturally kept from recognizing Him. Another indication was the same body.

You’ll note they were talking to Him, they wanted Him to stay with them. In verse 31, the end of the verse, He vanished from their sight. These glorified bodies, they have substance, they have flesh and bone, they’re able to eat, they can be handled and touched, but they are not subject to the same limitations that a non-glorified physical body is. They’re not bound by time and space and so on, in the same way our physical bodies are. We do get some indication of what our glorified bodies will be like.

I assume we’ll recognize one another. Read something that encouraged me. I’ve wondered how we’re going to know each other’s names. I mean you see somebody walking down the streets of gold in the New Jerusalem and you know you’ve met them before, in fact you met them in heaven before, but I can’t remember what his name is. So, you go by and say Hi Elijah, and he says I’m Paul. Oh yeah, I’ve got to get that, you’re Paul. How will I ever remember all these people? How do I know them? I think in all probability in our glorified bodies there will be that supernatural recognition part of it. On the mount of transfiguration in Matthew 17 Peter, James and John are there with Christ, and when Moses and Elijah appeared these disciples knew it was Moses and Elijah. How did they know? They hadn’t received any pictures; they had never met these men who had been dead for hundreds of years. They knew it was Moses and Elijah. So, I take it in glory, and I’m trusting this is so, the way I am with names, that we’re just going to know everybody. When I’m walking down the streets of gold and here comes Abraham, I’ll go Here comes Abraham. Hi Abraham. Here comes others. That’s an aside. All right, we’ve died, we’ve been resurrected, raised in glory.

There’s one other thing I want to highlight with you, the part of it that people don’t want to consider and that is judgment. “appointed unto man once to die,” Hebrews 9:27, “and after this comes the judgment.” Judgment is a part of our future, every single one. So let me walk you through the judgments of scripture. We could begin with Christ on the cross where He judged sin and the devil. I’m presupposing that, the work of Christ on the cross is foundational to everything else. Then the next judgment and the judgment that involves you and me is the judgment of the Church following the rapture. When Christ comes at the first phase of the Second Coming and all believers in Christ who are part of the Church from Acts 2 and all living believers are caught up to meet Christ in the air, there we have a reunion. Remember I Thessalonians 4, “we’ll be caught up together with them,” with our loved ones who have died, that meeting in the air we talk about. Then He takes us to glory. Then there is the Judgment Seat of Christ, called the Bema Seat. That word is used in the Greek of that particular judgment.

Turning back to I Corinthians chapter 3, we’ll look at verses 10 to 15, I Corinthians chapter 3. Paul talks in verses 10 and 11 that there is only one foundation, that foundation is Jesus Christ. He’s talking to people who have been built on the foundation of Christ, they have come to believe in Him as their savior. Their life is now founded upon the one who loved them and died for them. It’s the only foundation you can lay, verse 11. Verse 12, “Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,” so different kinds of building materials now that we have come to be founded on Christ. “Each man’s work will become evident.” We’ll have our work manifested, what we’ve done now will be revealed for what it is. The day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire. The fire will test the quality of each man’s work. “If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved so as through fire.” Look, we’re talking at this judgment only about people who will be saved. This is not a judgment that determines your eternal destiny, this is a judgment for those who have been saved by God’s grace to determine their rewards. The issue here is reward or lack of reward, the issue is not where you’re going to spend eternity. Everyone at this judgment is going to spend eternity in the glory of God’s presence.

Sometimes we become super spiritual and say well you know I don’t care about rewards. It will be just enough for me to be in glory. You can’t get any more arrogant than that, to tell the living God that what He promises and says is important is not important. It’s not humility, it’s arrogance. When the living God tells me it will be loss for me to have works burned up, it is arrogance for me to say it doesn’t matter. Beware of that kind of false humility, which is just pride in not very good disguise, that we have the audacity to tell God that the rewards which He says are important and will be valuable for eternity we don’t care about. When God says something is important that must become the most precious thing to my heart and life, and He says to have your works burn up you suffer loss.

Do I understand all that’s entailed in the issue of rewards and loss of rewards for believers? No, I don’t. Do I believe that this is a matter of great importance and significance? I do, because God says it is and I walk by faith, not by sight. There is no doubt in my mind at all that I stand at this judgment and look and say oh why was I not more faithful. Why wasn’t I more diligent? Why did I drag my feet and think it was too much trouble? Why would I waste those precious years of building rewards in the glory of God’s presence and fritter them away? There are rewards for believers, there are loss of rewards for believers. God tells us ahead of time, it’s coming. We tell the unbeliever how can you ignore the truth that God says there is a heaven and hell. Yet we live our lives ignoring the fact He says there are rewards for those going to heaven and loss of rewards for those going to heaven. Oh well we don’t care about that. As though we can disregard part of the Word of God and expect people that we talk to be impressed that we want them to honor part of the Word of God. My life consumed with Christ. No wonder Paul could say for me to live is Christ. What else matters? Isn’t it a tragedy that we spend this portion which is all we will have for all eternity to store up the rewards that are promised here and fritter them away with the present pleasures of this life. Building with wood, hay and straw when God says the test is going to be fire. There is a coming judgement for you and me. What stupidity for a person to take their life, their fortune and invest it in building a snowman when we’re told the temperature is going to get to 110 soon. What a waste. We don’t take the truth of the Word of God seriously. There’s a coming judgment for you and me as believers.

One other passage on this, we have to move on. II Corinthians chapter 5. This shaped Paul’s life. The fact that he would have to give an account and everything he did as the servant of God would be evaluated, put the fear of God in his heart. He says in verse 9, having talked about life and death, “we have as our ambition whether at home or absent to be pleasing to Him.” Why? “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done whether good or bad.” Well, are we going to be judged for sin or not? Not going to be judged regarding my eternal destiny, I am going to be judged regarding my faithfulness as a servant.

“Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. I will stand before the judgment seat of Christ; I will be recompensed for what I have done.” Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, am I afraid He’ll sentence me to hell? No, but I am in awe, reverential fear of not doing what I should do because some day I will stand before that glorious throne and all I’ve done. Lord I was tired, Lord, I deserved it, Lord I didn’t feel like it, Lord it just seemed like a lot of trouble. Paul said, “knowing the fear of the Lord I persuade men.” Did Paul like to suffer? No. You think he wouldn’t have liked to cruise the ship in the Mediterranean from his villa on the coast? Cut back one or two days a week? We’re told back in I Corinthians chapter 4, we didn’t go there, God is going to judge the motives of men’s hearts. He’s going to disclose the secrets, not just what we did but why we did it, what really moved us, what was really at heart. It will be a truly just judgment, awesome. May we as believers live with eager anticipation of seeing our Lord, but there ought to be mixed with that a healthy fear of not having used our lives wisely. As we begin a New Year, you know last year is gone, I cannot catch one moment of one day to reuse it and redo it and that’s how my life goes by. I give an account for all of that. That ought to motivate us to be even more diligent.

Well, we have to look at the other judgments. We have that judgment of believers at the Bema Seat. Then Christ will return to earth, that judgment will occur after the Rapture but before the Second Coming of Christ to earth. We know that because when Christ returns to earth seven years after the Rapture, we are with Him clothed in white garments which are the righteousness’s of the saints. We have been awarded and rewarded for our works by that point. When Christ returns to earth there will be a judgment of the living, all those people that have survived that seven-year period and are still alive when He comes will be called before His throne. According to Matthew chapter 25, Ezekiel chapter 20, there will be both Jews and Gentiles at this judgment. There’ll be a mass turning to Jews just before the return of Christ, but not every Jew will believe in Christ. Ezekiel 20 says He will cause them to pass under the rod. In Matthew chapter 25 you have the parable of the talents and the parable of the virgins, picturing Israel’s judgment at the return of the Messiah.

Then at the end of Matthew chapter 25 you have the parable of the sheep and the goats depicting the judgment of the nations before the throne of Christ at His Second Coming. The judgment of the nations will be based on how they’ve treated the Jews, you give a cup of cold water. Because during the seven-year tribulation, particularly the last 3 ½ years only genuine believers will befriend a Jew because it will cost them their lives to a large extent. The result of that judgment, all unbelievers are killed.

Then you have a resurrection, in this context at the Second Coming of Christ, you have a resurrection of tribulation saints, those who believed in Christ and were killed for their faith during that seven years prior to His coming. They are raised, according to Revelation chapter 20 verse 4, when Christ returns to earth to establish His kingdom. According to Daniel chapter 12 verses 1 and 2, Old Testament saints are raised on this occasion as well. So that’s when David and all those that we mentioned are raised. They will also have their judgment on this occasion. You have the resurrection and the judgment that go together like it was with the Church. The Church is raised and then experiences the judgment. You have the Old Testament saints, the tribulation saints, they will be judged at this time as well in preparation for sharing in the rule and the reign of the kingdom with Christ.

At the end of the millenium, you have a 1000-year kingdom, you have the last judgment of scripture. Turn to Revelation 20 and this is where we’re going to conclude, Revelation chapter 20. There was a great rebellion against Christ at the end of the 1000-year kingdom. Fire came down from heaven and killed all unbelievers. Then, verse 11 of Revelation 20, “I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it from whose presence earth and heaven fled away. No place was found for them.” We’re going to have a new heaven and a new earth at the beginning of chapter 21. Here you have the old heavens and the old earth removed from the scene. You have a throne set up, awesome scene. “I saw the dead, the small and the great standing before the throne.” You’ll note verse 13, “the sea gave up the dead which were in it, death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them.” You see everybody here is called back. People who have died and gone to Hades, the place of torment and suffering, are now called out of Hades. Their bodies are raised, whether they are in the grave, whether they died in the sea. You see this is not a problem for God, He calls that body back, it is resurrected. It’s now in a state that it will not suffer physical death again, the person moves back into their body. They appear before Jesus Christ at this awesome scene.

“The books were opened,” verse 12, “another book was opened which is the Book of Life.” The Book of Life is present. According to preceding verses we don’t have time to look at in Revelation, the Book of Life contains all the names of those that have been the recipients of God’s salvation. The book of their works is also opened, and they are judged according to their deeds, their works. I said I thought nobody was going to heaven on the basis of their works. Right. No one at the Great White Throne is going to heaven. You remember the Bema Seat, the judgment of the Church? No one at the Bema Seat when the Church was judged is going to hell. No one at the Great White Throne is going to heaven. This is the judgment of all unbelievers from Cain, after the Garden of Eden, down until this point.

The Book of Life is there to demonstrate their name is not there. The book of their works, just like there are rewards for those going to heaven there are degrees of suffering in hell. They are judged, according to the end of verse 12, according to their deeds. They are judged, according to the end of verse 13, “according to their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire, and if anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life he was thrown into the lake of fire.” You don’t get into the Book of Life by works, you get into there by the grace of God through faith in the revelation of God.

What happens is everybody who has been resurrected for this judgment, everybody who was in Hades is now cast into the lake of fire. You understand what the lake of fire is, this is the second death, the lake of fire. This is final separation from God for eternity in hell. You think about it. The rich man in Luke chapter 16 in torment in Hades, he is in that same torment in Hades while you and I are sitting here talking today. He has not had one relief, one second of relief in the 2000 years since Jesus told the account. You know what he only has? That day when he will be called from Hades, his body will be resurrected, and he will stand before Christ to be sentenced to an eternal hell.

Their deeds, Matthew chapter 11, Jesus said to the cities of His day, “it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for you.” Why? The cities of Jesus’ day had greater light, greater revelation from God, greater exposure to truth. You know what Jesus said? If Sodom and Gomorrah had experienced the same things you did they would have repented. You know what’s going to happen on the day of judgment? These Jewish cities are going to be sentenced to worse suffering in hell than even Sodom and Gomorrah’s inhabitants. You know what’s scary? There are people who sit in meetings like this, hear the truth of the Word of God with the completed revelation concerning Jesus Christ, and do not believe it. You know what? They have had a greater light than preceding generations, than those had before the coming of Christ. What a judgment awaits them.

I have people who will say to me when they talk, oh what about the heathen, what about people who never hear. I usually don’t get into that discussion. You know what I say? I’m willing to leave those people in God’s hands. God will do the right thing with them, whatever it is. My concern is you. What about you? You have heard. What are you going to do with the truth concerning Jesus Christ? There may be people in the world who will be able to stand before God and say I never heard, but you will not be able to stand before God and say I never heard. We talk about degrees of suffering in hell, we’re not talking about well parts of hell won’t be so bad. It will be the worst, awful suffering you can imagine, and there will be people whose suffering will be worse than the worst. You say oh I don’t even want to think about that.

One other passage, Revelation chapter 14. Let me read it to you. Describing those going to hell. Revelation chapter 14 verse 10, “he will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger.” Full strength wrath, that means there is no mercy stirred in, there is no love stirred in, no kindness. This is full strength wrath from God. You say oh I can’t believe God would do it, I don’t want to believe in a God like that. Well, we only have two choices, make your own fantasy or believe in the God there is. “He will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels in the presence of the Lamb. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, into the ages of the ages. They have no rest day and night.” I can’t conceive of it. The Bible talks about the endless glory of God’s presence for the redeemed, I can’t conceive of it. Nor can I imagine the awful horrors of hell. But I know one thing, you better walk by faith, not by sight. You better take God at His Word and believe it. The same God who promised an eternal heaven promised an eternal hell. Jesus said it is not possible that even one small dotting of the “i” would go unfulfilled in God’s Word.

But it’s a message of hope. There’s an awful hell, a horrible place of eternal suffering and separation from God. But you know what? There is a salvation sufficient to rescue you, to rescue me. What do I have to do to earn it? Nothing, you can’t earn it, you can’t work for it. You simply believe what God says. You are a sinner, lost and without hope, worthy of an eternal hell. But His Son, Jesus Christ, came to this earth to suffer and die, to provide a salvation that would deliver you from wrath to come. Jesus said, “if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.” The issue could not be any more serious, but there could not be any more happy ending possible. You can receive a free gift that will deliver you from hell and assure you of heaven for all eternity, and that gift is received through faith in Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for a savior who came to this earth, who suffered, who died and was raised from the dead, all so that He might bear our sins in His body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, that we might experience deliverance, forgiveness, complete, full, absolute, that we could know what it means to be sons of the living God. Lord, I pray for those who perhaps hear this word week after week but hear with an unbelieving heart. May this be a day of salvation for them. Lord, I pray for those who have believed that we might take seriously the truth of your Word to use the time that you have entrusted to our care wisely and diligently. We stand before you we might have built with gold and silver and precious stones to have reward upon blessing. We praise you for so great salvation in Christ’s name. Amen.
Skills

Posted on

January 5, 2003