Tonight we'll begin in Hebrews 9 verses 27 and 28 as we did this morning. It's in these two verses I believe that we have most succinctly the four last things sort of held together here. And as we consider this morning in verse 27, Hebrews 9, 27, that it is appointed for man to die once. Tonight we add to this, and after that comes judgment. After that comes judgment. Let's pray together and ask for God's blessing. Father God, we thank you that you have revealed to us truth that is unsettling but essential. We may not prefer to think long about death and judgment, about heaven and hell, salvation and damnation, but it is absolutely necessary that we give these matters careful thought and that we settle the matter in our own hearts of how we'll be prepared for these eventual realities. We pray that you prepare us tonight and encourage us, give us hope. We pray all of this in Christ's name. Amen. For my birthday this year, Lauren surprised me with a trip to historic Madison. We just took a day trip, you know, without the kids. The two of us went and we had lunch at a nice little downtown sandwich shop. And then we took a self-guided walking tour. and you can actually just kind of access it on your phone and it'll speak to you and it'll tell you information about all of the historic houses and buildings and there are lots and lots of them there. And so it was really fascinating and it was an enjoyable day but eventually we stopped at the Morgan County Courthouse and went inside and the security guard that was in the, you know, guarding the entrance to the building, you know, gave us permission wander through the courtrooms. And the big courtroom, the courtroom for the Superior Court for Morgan County, you know, was really quite impressive. And you have here a courtroom that is everything that you imagine a courtroom being, that you might have a trial by jury. and a very historic setting. And so we went inside to see the 100 years old courtroom there. And I want you to just imagine with me, and you know the type of courtroom that I'm describing, so I don't think it'll be very difficult for you yourself to imagine this, but imagine with me, if you will, entering through the heavy doors of this old courtroom. And the room is filled with pews, not unlike the ones that are here in the sanctuary. They're dark, polished wood with padding, comfortable cushions on the pews. And then there's the low wall that separates the spectators from those who administer justice. And there are two tables where the prosecuting and defending attorneys are seated with the accused before the judge's bench, which is, you know, a high and imposing position. platform of dark wood, mahogany, or oak, or something like this. And off to the side is there are 12 chairs that are surrounded by a little wall where the jurors sit, perpendicular to the pews that are facing the judge's bench, but also where they can witness justice and view the proceedings so that they can participate in this process. And then there's the judge's bench itself, the high back chair, and there's the seal behind on the wall that designates the authority that's granted to this judge to issue the verdicts, declare the verdicts and issue the decisions that are made. And the gavel, you know, you think about, especially with a judge, if there's one thing that comes to mind, it's that small gavel. That wooden gavel that can pound and is so associated in our minds with, again, these decisions that are made and the verdicts that are declared. And I think as I look at that, as we enter this room and as you imagine yourself in such a place, you can see this judge's chair on this judge's bench and get a sense of the solemnity of a room like that, that's seen so many trials And there's been so many men and women who have sat before that judge's bench and have awaited, anxiously, no doubt, awaited that sentence that would determine their fate, either to their relief or to their dismay. You know, as I think about the prospect of myself standing, getting drug into court, and hopefully I'll never have to be drug into a courtroom like this, and hopefully you won't either. But as I think about the prospect of this, it fills you with anxiety. It's a terrifying prospect. And I've followed, and perhaps you have as well, the trials. in recent years of people who have been unfairly accused as a result of politically motivated legal action that's been taken. And there's been a trial recently of a man who really was just protecting passengers on a on a subway car. And unfortunately, as he subdued a man who was maybe mentally unwell and who was threatening the other passengers, this man died. And so thankfully the man was exonerated and he was not guilty. But that was not at all something that I was expecting. I would have been not surprised had he been declared guilty. Because, you know, they bring in race and all kind of politics and race and all kinds of things like this to try to achieve the right kind of decision or verdict. And if you're fortunate, you'll never have to sit before such a judge with your future hanging in the balance. Because, you know, this is a terrifying prospect. But the reality is, that each of us will someday be in this exact position with respect to God. So as you think about standing there with all of the witnesses that would crowd into a courtroom in a high-profile case and with prosecuting and defending attorneys and jurors and clerk of court, all these people who are there and the judge before you, and as you think about the case being fully made for or against you, And that moment just before the verdict is declared, if that fills you with a sense of dread, then understand that each and every one of us will someday be in this exact position with respect to God. And my question tonight for you is, are you prepared to stand before God the judge and to receive his verdict over your life? This evening I want to consider the judgment of God by examining Revelation 20, verses 11 through 15, in particular. And just expanding on this idea that we saw in our opening verse, Hebrews 9, 27, that just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. Just this understanding that judgment follows death. with absolute certainty. We have teaching in Revelation 20 verses 11 through 15 that helps us to understand the nature of this judgment. And I want to look at it and consider it with you tonight. First of all, we see in verse 11 the judge on his throne. And so look at Revelation 20 verse 11 with me. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. Most important in our understanding of judgment is to form correct notions of the judge with whom we have to do. In our nation, we pride ourselves about being a nation of laws, of law and order and impartiality and fairness in our justice system. And I think that especially considering the judicial systems in other places around the world today and historically throughout time, we have a lot to be thankful for. Even when we do see these politically motivated actions, you know, there's very little of this compared to what you might expect. And if we were in a third world country, maybe in some kind of place with a petty dictatorship or something like this, then you might expect that if you were standing before a judge that really the thing to do is to bribe the judge. Because if you understand that the judge is partial, that he is corrupt, then you know that you're not going to have a fair trial. There's no just stating your case and letting the truth sort of come out and trusting that the system works. You understand you've got to grease some palms. You might have to pay somebody for them to actually give you fairness or to judge in your favor. And so it's important to understand the judge with whom we have to do, before whom we stand. Well, who are we standing before when we are considering the final judgment and the last decision that's made of us by the highest authority? You know, on earth, if you don't like the decision that you're given in a court, it's possible that you can appeal to a certain level. All the way up, perhaps, to the Supreme Court in the United States, you can appeal, and a ruling can be overturned, and so there's always a higher court. And even if you don't like the verdict or the decision that you can see kind of coming down the pipeline towards you, you can go to a different jurisdiction. And there are people who have, I think about certain people even in recent history who have been whistleblowers or have this kind of thing where the United States government has declared them to be in violation of the Espionage Act or something like this and they flee to Russia. And so they know that if they don't like what's coming in one jurisdiction, they could always go to another. Well, the reality is that there is really, as we, I think, see as we continue on, there is no escaping this highest court. Because first of all, the one with whom we have to do is sovereign. He is sovereign and he is sovereign overall. And Revelation 2011 presents God as our sovereign judge. And we see this especially in the imagery that we have here of him sitting upon a throne. A throne. And this is the throne. This is the throne that is above every other throne because this is the king of kings. And so there is no appealing. There's no moving to a different jurisdiction because this king, he rules over the kingdoms of the earth. And he is sovereign over and powerfully in control of all. And so this is our sovereign judge, the one who is seated upon the throne. Psalm 103, 19 says that the Lord has established His throne in the heavens and His kingdom rules over all. And so you see there the connection between God's throne in the heavens, similar imagery as the picture that we have here in Revelation 20 with the Lord's throne established in the heavens. The implication is His kingdom rules over all. And so this is, bottom line is, this is inescapable judgment. Whether we consider it to be a favorable judgment or not so favorable judgment, it's inescapable because God is sovereign. And the throne of God depicts His sovereignty. There's no getting outside of His jurisdiction. There's no higher court to appeal to. And so as we think about, you know, whose opinion of us matters? I've even recently talked to somebody who has just expressed to me as someone that is in sin. And I tried to challenge them in the sin and rebuke them in the sin. And they just made it clear that my opinion of them is of no consequence, that they don't care at all for my judgments. and that God alone judges them. And that's true enough. I'm just trying to point them to God's Word, which gives them a clue as to what God's judgment of them is. And it's not so favorable. But people like to pride themselves. And I don't care what other people think. And of course, you can have a healthy lack of concern for what other people think. But at the end of the day, when it comes to what ultimately matters, it is God alone. who judges you. And so one of the implications of this is that it doesn't matter your standing in the court of public opinion or popular opinion. And there are whole cultures and communities where people may look favorably upon you and they may think highly of you, they may praise you. But what does it matter if we have the applause of the world and in the court of public or popular opinion we are judged favorably if God's opinion of us is not favorable. And so it's God's opinion ultimately that matters. God's opinion of you which matters. But not only is God seated on a throne, it is said to be a great white throne. And this signifies the holiness and the purity of God's decrees and the impartiality of His judgments. In other words, His justice is not a function of dimly lit, smoke-filled rooms of bribes or partiality. And this is somehow This is sometimes how we think about how justice is served or dispensed or how decisions are made. But what God does, he does in the open. He does according to principles of righteousness. And the fact is that He has given us His law. He has written it upon our hearts. He has even written it in the revelation that He's given to us in His Word. And week by week we declare this law together in our church services. And so it's not as if there will be commands that God judges us according to which we can claim ignorance to. But all of God's judgments are based upon His very clear and open principles of righteousness and these commands and laws that He's given us. And God's justice is, again, holy and pure and impartial. Sovereign judgments are perfect and they're altogether righteous. And so you'll never be able to dispute His decision concerning you. Because of this, because of just the absolute holiness and purity and impartiality of God's judgments, then we can never dispute His judgments. And there will be on that day when his decision or his verdict is pronounced, our mouths will be stopped and we'll find ourselves dumbfounded because there's no justification or rationalization that we could give that would contradict God's decisions. They'll be so self-evident and clearly right because this is the nature of our judge. And furthermore, the perfect justice of God is inescapable, which is the point of the end of verse 11 here. And from his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. There is no place to flee. And this is implied, I think, again, the fact that God is sovereign over all and the King of kings. And so this is the one who sits on the throne, and this is the one before whose judicial bench that we must one day stand. And so we need to understand that this is the judge on his throne. Secondly, there are the people before the throne in verses 12 through 13. We read here, and I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. God will someday judge the living and the dead. We say that God is coming again to judge the quick and the dead. And of course that's an older English word meaning those who are alive and those who are dead. It's not those who are just quick on their feet or something like that, if you get the wrong idea. That is to say everybody, whether they've passed away, they're not off the hook, they'll be raised from the dead in order to be judged along with those who are yet alive at the time of Christ's return. But not only that, he'll judge great and small alike. And so there's no category or classification of man that is outside of the judgment of God. And the point here is just to underscore the universality of God's judgment and really to drive home this point that we all must someday face God in judgment, all of us. And when that day comes, books will be opened. We see this in what follows. I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne," verse 12, and books were opened. Books were opened. So what is the nature of these books that were opened? chronicle our life and the deeds which we've done. And this serves, as we're told here, the basis for God's judgments on us. So if we wonder, you know, on what basis will God judge us? He's going to judge us with righteousness and impartiality according to the deeds that we have done in our life, just strictly considered. And so this is These are chronicled. If we sort of brought this into the modern imagination, we would think that God is going to pull the security tapes of our life, the CCTV, and we're going to review every detail. And all of it has been recorded and chronicled. And so we read here that the books were opened. And if we skip down, we see that the dead were judged by what was written in the books. And what's the nature of these books? According to what they had done. That's what's written in the books. And so this is the basis or the standard for God's judgment. Ecclesiastes 12, 14 elaborates on this point and tells us that God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. So this isn't the highlights reel. You know, one of the problems with watching golf on TV is they only show you the highlights. And so then you go out on the golf course and you expect to hit these just great exemplary shots that these pro golfers hit. But they're just kind of bouncing around all over the golf course capturing the very best moments. And they're not showing you the moments where even the pro golfers take a bad shot. Well, it's easy enough. If we were judged by our best moments, who among us couldn't come up with enough good deeds or purely motivated works that we might, for a second, think that perhaps God might be pleased with some of the things that we've done. But it's not the highlight reels. It's not the best moments of our life, but it's every day, even the secret things we're told, whether good or evil. And I'll save you trouble and I'll tell you that hope is not found in those books that are mentioned here. These books which chronicle the deeds that we've done, there's not hope in those books. And if I were for each of you, if I were to go into God's archives and bring out a stack of books that just pertain to you and lay them here before you and say, let's go through them and let's see if we can find something to give you hope, something that you could pull out, something that you could use, that you could give to the defense that might be able to make a case for you. I'm afraid no matter how long and hard we peered into those books and examined your life, we wouldn't find any kind of hope there. There are plenty of entries in that book which are sufficient to condemn you, but nothing there to secure forgiveness or which can reconcile you to God. And there's only one alternative to being judged by your works, and that is if your name is enrolled in another book that's mentioned here, and that is the Book of Life. You see that in verse 12. Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. That book comes in again further on in verse 15. There's a very unfavorable judgment that is declared upon all of those except those whose name was written in the Book of Life. And so this is a book that's also called in the next chapter the Lamb's Book of Life. As you think about the author here, John, spoke about Jesus in these terms. That He is the Lamb. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And so this book is, in other words, a list of names of people who have life through the Lamb of God by faith in Him. And so the choice that we now have before us is this. Do we wish to stand upon our own merits You know, if God says, what book would you like to get out? Do you want to pull forth the record of your deeds? And we can sort of really examine those in great detail to see whether or not there's something in that that might commend you to God, that might secure your place in eternity. Or are we going to despair of that? Are we going to refuse to even look into those because we have no confidence in ourselves and rather say, my name is in the book of life. My name is written in the Lamb's book of life because I have faith in Jesus Christ who is the Lamb of God who takes away my sins. And so that is really the choice that we have. Do we stand upon our own merit or rest in our works for acceptance with God? Or do we rather trust in Christ? And having become disillusioned with our chances of entering heaven according to our own record of deeds, we now totally repudiate our own righteousness and cast ourselves for mercy upon Christ. And there are therefore only two kinds of people in judgment. Really, you think about all the people who will gather before God's throne. And you can really just categorize them into two groups. And you think, that's insane. There are people who are of all different kinds of religions. There are people who have committed heinous, gross, heinous sins and crimes. And there are people that didn't believe in Christ but were otherwise more or less good people. And we make all of these distinctions, and we might divide people into a number of categories, but before God's throne, there is only really two kinds of people in judgment. There are those who will take their chances with the book of deeds, or those who want nothing to do with that, but whose hope is solely in the book of life. And finally, what we see here in this verse, in verse 15, we see the judgment that is issued from the throne. And so, starting in verse 13, the sea gave up the dead who were in it. And death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. And then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And then what we have here is this division that comes from judgment. It's either salvation or damnation. And for anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life, it is damnation. It's hell. It's the lake of fire. The implication here is the exact opposite of what we find in Hebrews 9, verse 28. We read that, just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, whose names are written in his book, will appear a second time. Christ will come again, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. That is the fate of those whose names are found written in the book of life. And so the Bible gives us this great advantage in that we can know in advance what that day will hold in store for us on the basis of our response to Jesus. And how we respond to Christ will determine the judgment that we hear pronounced on that day. And so tonight I just want to urge you to make good and sure that you know that you're going to die. You know that your days are numbered as are mine. And we need to think seriously about this, but remember that death is just the beginning. And death brings us to that next stage, which is for us judgment. And what will we hear on that day? Will we hear God declare to us, well done, good and faithful servant, to all of those who are trusting in Christ? Or will we hear, depart from me, for I never knew you. And the wonderful promise of God's word is we can know now what God will say then, based on our response to Christ. And so come to Christ tonight in order that you will escape judgment and enter into salvation. Let's go to Him in prayer tonight. Father God, we thank you that you have revealed to us this courtroom drama. You've given us, God, an advanced understanding of what will transpire on that final day. We thank you for helping us to understand what the stakes are and for revealing something about the principles according to which you will judge us. God said that everything is very clear and that we can know for certainty that we will come into judgment, that it will not go well for us if we stand upon our own merit and upon our own deeds, our own works done in this life. Now we pray that you would help us to trust in Jesus and trusting in him give us great confidence that our names are written down in ink that cannot be erased or removed from that book and that our eternity is secure because we're trusting not in ourselves but in Christ. Give us confidence for not only death but for judgment. We pray all of this in Christ's name, amen. Let's sing one final hymn together.