Dr. Ed Young - The Final Judgment

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TOPICS: Judgment

I invite you to open your Bibles with me, if you would to "One" Corinthians, I Corinthians, Chapter Number 5. I'll read Verse 9 and 10. I Corinthians 5, Verse 9 and 10: "Therefore, we also have our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him; for we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed, rewarded for the deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good, or bad". I have a good friend whose name is Janet and she reads a book the strangest way that I've ever heard. She'll take a, a biography, or an autobiography, or memoirs, or even a work of fiction, and she begins to read the book by turning to the last three pages. Oh yeah! She reads the last three pages first! And I asked her, "What in the world are you doing"? She says, "Well, if it doesn't have a good ending to the story, I just won't read it"! She says, "I'm having a tough time reading with my IPad. It really challenges me"!

How do you read a story? Well, you, you start at the end and know how it ends up... We read the Bible. We know the rest of the story. The Bible tells us in Genesis that life began in a Garden in Eden. The Bible tells us in Revelation that life ends up in a City, the New Jerusalem. And therefore, we've been talking about eschatology. Big word-it just means the science, or the study of last things... We've talked about when God brings down the curtain of history and Jesus Christ returns to this earth, and that is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. We know he fulfilled all the prophecies in His first coming, and now He will come again, and that will be the signal for time to end, and life as we know it on this earth will never be the same. It is over; it is ended. We know there'll be a new Heaven and a new Earth; but that is the signal for the end of all time.

Now, we study prophecy because we want to know something about what's going to happen in the future; what's really going to take place out there. When, when I die, or when time comes to an end, or you die and we're here, what is going to happen? And so we're interested in prophecy. Prophecy... Now sometimes when you have time, look at Revelation Chapter Number 10. It has a very, very interesting study about prophecy. It's a picture here-remember, John is writing on the Island of Patmos. He's inspired by the Holy Spirit. He's speaking the words of Jesus, and in 10, a voice comes and says-an angel comes and hands John a scroll, a book. And he says to the Apostle John, "Eat this book".

Now this is apocalyptic language. What's he saying? He's saying, "Take these words of prophecy, John, and eat them, and let them go down in your system and down in your gut and digest them until they are a part of you. You will know how time will come to an ending". And that's what John did. He took that scroll, and he ate the book, and in that 10th Chapter, it says John reports that, "When I put the scroll in my mouth, it was sweet as honey". But he said, "When the scroll went down in me, I began to digest that scroll. It was bitter". Quite a picture, isn't it? When you and I begin to study prophecy, end times; when the curtain of history comes down, in the beginning, it is sweet like honey to us. We say, "I have a future that will last forever..." and we begin to celebrate what the future's going to be.

But before long, that same feeling of celebration-it sort of begins to die down and to be phased out, because we are reminded that everybody we know and love will not be there. We're reminded of regrets we have for the life that we did not live. And therefore, you read in Revelation Chapter 21 that "God will wipe away every tear in Heaven". You say, "Well, I didn't know there was going to be any tears in Heaven. If God has to wipe away your tears and my tears, then evidently there is going to be tears..." right? Why would we as Christians be crying in Heaven? It would be because we would know that there are people we thought would, should be there; people we knew, and loved, and cared for on this earth, and they didn't make the cut. They didn't make the team.

At the same time, we'll be reminded of what we should have been with the opportunity we had in life, the failures that we made. And God will have to wipe away those tears, even in eternity. And therefore, we are studying the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and today, we are looking at judgment because the Second Coming is followed by, or is simultaneous with judgment. Let me say a word about judgment. First of all, the Second Coming of Christ is not logical. Have you ever thought about that? Take a secular person and tell them that Jesus, who died on a Cross, was resurrected, ascended to Heaven at the right hand of the Father; He's going to come back and live on this Earth as King of kings, and Lord of lords. That's not logical to the secular mind. Just not logical... And also, the resurrection of your body and my body is not logical to the secular mind.

We start off as dust; we go back to dust. That ought to be it, and the idea that God is going to come and Christ is going to come and we're going to be reconstituted and have those resurrected, supernatural bodies forever, that's not logical. Let me tell you what is logical: Judgment. Justice. Okay? Built into everybody on the planet is a sense of justice. What is and what ought to be, and we will lament over things great and small when we see injustice, and the idea that there will be a day, an hour, a moment, a season in which everything will be made right; that is logical.

We start off with little things... Did, did any of you see the bowl game when South Carolina played Michigan? And there in the fourth quarter, did you see that Michigan went for a first down on a fourth down call, and, and they placed the ball down, and if you know anything about football, they brought the sticks out, and they did not make the first down. It was obvious to the watching world. It was short! But the official said, "First down"! First down? Coach, if I'd a been there, they'd a thrown me out of the stadium! I'm a game cock fan! I mean, millions saw it! How in the world? Injustice! Injustice... In our world, ladies and gentlemen, we have been victims, most of us, of things that were not right and not fair. We see injustice. How can it be that this life was snuffed out at such an early age? We want justice... How can it be that the corrupt seem to get richer, and those who are honest seem to get poor?

We cry out for justice! And it's logical that there will be a day, an hour, a moment in which justice will be established by Almighty God. And this Book tells us, there will be that day. And, and we talk about the day of Judgment. "The Day of the Lord" is the phrase in the Bible, all the way through the Bible-Old Testament, New Testament, "The Day of the Lord is coming. The Day of the Lord is coming when there'll be justice and judgment". Now by the way, the word "day" there doesn't mean a 24-hour period of time. It could be from the birth of Christ, to His Resurrection, His Ascension. It could be a period of time. It could be a period of years. They talk about the hour of Jesus has not come. That hour is not sixty seconds; it can be an, a scheduled period of time. So don't be limited in the concept there.

As we move along and understand it, we need to see that in the Second Coming of Christ, Judgment is always connected. And those who are Dispensational Pre-Millennialists-by the way, if this is foreign talk to you, we'll get over it in a moment. If you're a Dispensational Pre-Millennialist, they see the Bible teaches at least five different judgments. Ray Summers teachers this. Others would say, James Montgomery Boice, there's seven different judgments. And I want you to look at those seven judgments. I'm going to hit them rapidly. They're on the screen. Look at the first one: There will be one judgment, is the Judgment Seat of Christ. This is for Christians.

There's a series of judgments on Earth. These are spoken of in Revelation. There's judgment of the Beast and the False Prophet at the time Satan will be imprisoned. There's the judgment of the Gentile nations. There's the judgment of Israel. There's the final judgment of Satan, and then there's the Great White Throne Judgment. I personally think there'll not be this many individual judgments, but I believe there will be at last two judgments, and most of those who have these Millennial views, these views of last things, would tell you the same thing. So let's look at these. I think judgments can be combined under these two headings. Follow me! Stay there... First of all, there is the judgment, the Great White Throne Judgment. It is for those who do not believe, and those who are not Christians.

Look at it with me. It's in Revelation, found in Chapter Number 20, Verse 11 following. This is the Great White Throne Judgment you've heard about. Christ is on the Throne. The Throne is white, of purity and holiness. This is the judgment of those who did not receive Christ. Here it goes: "Then I saw a Great White Throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence Earth and Heaven fled away; and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, and the great, and the small standing before the Throne. And the books were opened, and another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in it; the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were... (Do you see it?) Death and Hades were thrown in a 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 in the lake of fire".

What does this say to us? It is saying that in the Great White Throne Judgment, those who are not Christians, they are there for their justice. This is a time of great justice, and two books were opened. One would be the Book of Deeds. Did you know everything you and I've done; everything you and I've thought had been written down? Wheww! Is that scary? Is to me! It's all been written down, and those who are there, they've got plenty of time, by the way. Eternity's, you know, long, last time I checked... So everything that was there is written down. That's the Book of Deeds. Then there's the Book of Life. And some of there, are there who have said, "Lord, Lord..." but they are not there. And they said, "Look-you mean my name is not in the Book of Life? You mean I, I'm not going to make it"? And they said, "No, it's not there..."

And so we see the judgment will take place. Now, the judgment of those who did not receive Christ will not be equal. I don't know exactly what that means. The fire will be hotter; the loneliness will be more lonely; but I can tell you a couple of things in the Bible stands out about those who did not accept Christ. First of all, those who abuse children! Pedophiles, those who exploit children, the Bible teaches will have a special place of punishment and damnation in Hell! And that is taught in the Scripture. You mark that down! Without Christ, there is no hope.

Also, is a special place for those who have my position, or if you teach a Bible study class and we do not present the whole truth of God-what it means to be a Christian-repentance, reception of Christ-when the Cross is left out, and when the Holy Spirit is not mentioned as convicting people of sin; when there is not repentance; when there is not a new life-there's just salvation without lordship; doesn't mean we're perfect, but salvation in the sense that now we're in the parameters and we seek to live lives pleasing to Him; there's a special place for those who teach heresy and false views of this Book.

So that is all written in the judgment process. Now, I know somebody here is saying, "What about those who've never heard about Jesus? What is God going to do"? Let me tell you something: Look at your screens. I want you to remember this. Nail it down. Listen, people will be judged on the basis of what they did with what they knew. God is not going to say, "you never heard of Jesus? GGrrrr, go down in the fire! What kind of God is that? Where are you? Where, what are you"? So they're going to be judged on the basis of what they did with what they knew; judged on the basis of conscience, based on the light of nature, and based on whether or not they've ever heard the Gospel. Romans 1. Other passages in Scripture. We've got a God that's gracious; a God that loves; a God that cares; a God that forgives people like you and me? Man, He's in the business of grace and forgiveness. But also, there will be judgment on this basis.

And we need to see, and we need to understand that. It will be an exacting judgment for those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Great White Throne Judgment. There'll be a second judgment for those of us who are Christians. I want you to look at it. It's found also over there, and uh, you find it again in II Corinthians. That's what I read while ago. Let me read it again, Verse 10: "For we all must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed (will be rewarded) for the, for the deeds that's done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad". Now that's important that we know. We will all be there before the Judgment Seat of Christ, not really judgment; it'll be our reward.

You say, "Well, I'm not working for rewards. You know, all I want is a little shack in Heaven..." Well, you haven't been satisfied with a shack on this Earth. You think that's all you want? Be careful! Somebody said, "Well, I just want to have a backseat in Heaven"! Maybe God wants you to have a front seat. We're talking about responsibility, accountability with what you are, and what I am, and what we have, and that's where it'll all be measured; it'll all be handled out, and one thing is for sure: God's judgment in Heaven will be absolutely fair. It will be fair. It will be equitable. There'll be fairness there, total fairness. Somebody said, "Well, will I be able to be plead my case"? I wouldn't recommend it. He who knows all-oh, no, no, no! He will be fair.

And this will be a time of reward, but when we step up there, if, if, if you read in the Bible another passage in Corinthians, it says that if you, we stand on the foundation of Jesus Christ. We're building our house, our lives on the foundation of Jesus, right? As Christians, that's where we stand. And then we're to build on that, and that is our good works; that is our moral living. That's things we do for God. That's our belief, our integrity, our faith. But, at this judgment of Christians, the figure is that fire will be set to us-not the punishment; it'll not burn, but it'll burn away all the phoniness and hypocrisy and insincerity that we have in our lives, even though we're Christians.

So, I would stand before the Judgment and I would say, "Lord, look what I built! I preached that sermon"! "Ohhh, but you were showing off in front of the people-Pweeew! That's burned up..." "Oh, I gave something to the poor to help them at Christmas..." "Well, but you did, and a lot of people knows about..." Cheeewt! That's burned up.... So begin to look at our motives and what we've done, and what we haven't done. All of a sudden, we have this fire. It says, "Wood, hay, and stubble-whoof"! Burned up in the judgment-all this stuff we've done when you check out your motive and my motive, right? Only the gold, and the silver, and the precious stones-they, that which we have done and accomplished and said with a pure heart-that will stand in eternity. Therefore, most of us, I'm afraid-we say, "I'm a Christian. My life is built on the foundation of Christ..." but we put on top of it a play house, or a candy house of sweetness and pleasure, and we haven't lived the lives that are transparent and humble, and serving, and loving, and kind, and generous.

Oh yeah... And so as we are receiving rewards, a matter of capacity and responsibility and closeness to the Father and the Son in all eternity as we receive our rewards; it'll be on the basis of our generosity; on the basis of our integrity; on the basis of our candidness; on the basis of our work ethic! Listen-if you are a Christian, you ought to be the greatest employer or employee in your company. There's no room for laziness, or slothfulness, or lateness. As a Christian, we'll answer to God that I stood, and I worked, and I represented that which I was a part of, strong and straight! That'll be a part of the justice and the judgment we'll face in eternity.

Millions upon millions gathered there in that open plain. It was all the people of the world before the Judgment Seat of God, and they were not bowing. They were complaining. They were saying, "God, You've lived a sheltered life. You can't judge me from up there in Heaven..." and, and, and here's an old woman who stood before. They said, "God, do you see those numbers on my wrist? I was in the Holo, Holocaust. I was in Ravensbruck, and I saw all of my loved ones butchered, and fried, and killed, and exploited, and mutilated. God-You can't judge me! You don't know what I've endured".

And there was a black man there among the millions before the Judgment. He said, "Do you see those rope burns on my neck, God? I was hung just because I was black, for no reason, and my people came on, on boats of slavery, and we worked and worked for, until we were dead as animals. God, You can't judge me! You don't know what it means to suffer! You've lived a sheltered life..." Someone else spoke up from a gulag in Siberia and said, "You don't know what I've been through"! An untouchable from India said, "You don't know what I've been through, and, and shame and disgrace"! And here's a man there who was brought up and had a life that was twisted because his mom was a coke addict, and someone else was brought up because a parent was HIV positive, and they, they tell the shambles and the shame of their life, and they're shaking their fist at the Almighty saying, "Who are You to judge us? God, You've lived a sheltered life"!

And so they divided up into committees-thousands, upon thousands, all the people of the world. All who've ever lived, and they offered their complaint to God and said, "God, we want to sentence You. You have to endure this, if You're to judge me". And so they got all their reports in, and finally, they gave the complaint to God and said, "God, if You're going to judge us, this is what You have to do. First of all, you have to be born a Jew-persecution through the ages". Then they said, "The second thing, you have to be born and your birth has to be questioned in the sense that no one really is sure who your father really is". And then they said, "You have to be born with a commission to communicate something to the world that nobody has seen or heard before, and You'll be considered a radical and a revolutionary and a lunatic".

And they said, "Also, You'll have to present a message in which all the religions of the world would seek to destroy what you say and what you've pronounced". Someone else said, "Oh yes, You'll have to be betrayed by one of your closest friends and confidants". And then also it said, "You'll have to be tried under false charges before a jury that was biased, and before a judge that was a coward".

Then they said, "You'll have to be whipped! Yay! You'll have to be spat upon and shamed. You'd have to be stripped naked in public, and you'll have to die a horrendous, painful death with enemies and with criminals known in the world, and you'll have to be virtually alone. And every time, what God would have to do in the sentencing of those who'd be judgment, judge; they'd be cheers going 'Yes!' That's what you'd have to do. 'Yes!' That's what you need!' God, You've lived a sheltered life..." and when all the sentences was completed, suddenly, there was silence. Nobody moved. Nobody said a word. Gradually, somebody fell to their knees. Then they all fell on their faces in total silence because everybody knew that God had already served the sentence.