The Facts of Resurrection and Judgment

Transcript

GR 1803
04/19/2015
The Facts of Resurrection and Judgment
2 Corinthians 5; Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We've been studying 2 Corinthians together on Sunday morning and you might turn to 2 Corinthians 5 in your Bibles, if you would. We're not really going to move forward in 2 Corinthians in our study together today, but we're going to perhaps put things in their context. We come into 2 Corinthians 5, we've been talking about bodily resurrection and the anticipation that we as believers have to have these bodies raised from the dead and have our salvation brought to its completion, the final realization of bodies that have been glorified so that we might enjoy the presence of God and other believers for all eternity. And in that Paul is focusing, as he moves through chapter 5, on how this truth should affect our conduct. And then he reminds these believers in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” And I want to pause before we look into this section in the coming days and just talk about the subject of resurrection and judgment so that we are clear on how this all is put together for us by Scripture. There is more than one resurrection, there is more than one judgment unfolded in Scripture. So before we move in to talk about the resurrection and judgment of believers, we're just going to step back and look at the whole subject as an overview. For some of you it will be a review, for others it may be newer material.

Why don't you put the chart of the resurrections up as you have it here so everyone can see it. This is just an overview chart that we've used before. If you'd turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15. We looked into this chapter in a previous study. It connects the resurrection of Christ to our resurrection as believers and he says something that has been the background for this chart in 1 Corinthians 15:23. “But each in his own order,” talking about we will be made alive in Christ. “But each in his own order. Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.” That gives an overview and it indicates there is an order of resurrections. So that's what we have put together in this chart. Christ is the first fruits. 1 Corinthians 15:20 said, “Now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.” The resurrection of Christ is the foundation for our bodily resurrection as believers, indicative of coming resurrection ultimately for all men.

So we have Christ the first fruits, then we have, that was repeated in verse 23, and then afterwards those who are Christ's at His coming. And there are two stages or phases of the Second Coming. The first phase is what we call the rapture of the church, called on that chart the “first stage.” We'll be talking about the resurrection and judgment of believers at a future study so we're not going to talk as much about that today. Then the “second stage” of the Second Coming is when He returns to earth to establish His kingdom. Then there will be a thousand years. In anticipation for that thousand years there is going to be a resurrection and judgment of Old Testament saints and tribulation saints. Then after the thousand-year reign there is a final resurrection and the last judgment of Scripture which involves unbelievers.

That is sort of an overview. Many Christians are confused on this and they just talk like we'll come to the end of things, there will be a resurrection, a judgment and we go into eternity. That brings confusion. God brings order, He has unfolded clearly the pattern of resurrection. We're not going to talk in any detail about Christ's resurrection from the dead, we talked about that in a previous study and we're, if you will, assuming that, having already covered what the Scripture says about the resurrection of Christ. And because He was raised from the dead, believers in Jesus Christ will be raised from the dead in the first stage of His Second Coming. This is called the rapture of the church, the catching away of the church.

Turn to 1 Corinthians 15:50 where Paul writes, “I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” Here he is talking about the church and the church's situation. There are going to be people who go into the kingdom in physical bodies. We'll talk about that a little later. But the church has to experience transformation. So he tells them something not prior revealed in Scripture through the Old Testament and through the Gospels. “I tell you a mystery, we will not all sleep but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed.” The real issue to be faced, having in the first part of chapter 15 clearly demonstrated that Christians' bodies will be raised from the dead. What about those Christians who aren't dead when Christ returns? They, too, must receive a transformed body. So you have the resurrection and the transformation of church saints, which will be followed by the judgment of church saints.

Why don't you put up the first chart on the judgment of the church, please. This is the way we're going to work through. There are five different judgments we are going to look at in Scripture. The first is the church at the rapture. We'll talk more about the details, but we're going to follow the same series. We'll talk about the time of the judgment, the objects of the judgment and the results of the judgment. And we'll look at the passages related to the church, its judgment and how it differs from other judgments when we move on in 2 Corinthians 5.

The time will be following the rapture of the church, that first stage when we are caught up to meet Christ in the air. The objects of judgment will be all believers who are part of the church. The church beginning in Acts 2 down until the rapture, this first stage of the Second Coming. And the results of the judgment will be believers being rewarded. This is not a judgment that determines eternal destiny, this is a judgment that will disseminate rewards from the Head of the church, Jesus Christ, and involve some of the responsibilities that we will have in the kingdom He will be establishing.

Let's look at the second judgment, if you will, in Scripture. And we're jumping ahead here, but this is a judgment of the living at the Second Coming of Christ. So we had a resurrection and a judgment at the first stage of the Second Coming. That was the church. Now we are at the second stage when Christ returns to earth, and there is a judgment of living people when Christ returns to earth to establish His kingdom. Very important we are clear on this judgment. There is a lot of confusion about it and that leads people in the church to be doing things that Christ has not instructed us to do as the church, because it comes from a misunderstanding of passages relating to those who are alive on earth when Christ returns.

Back up to the chart a minute. In that seven-year period, we had the first stage in the air, the church is removed, then we have a seven-year period. We studied about that in our study in Daniel, the 70th week of Daniel, that seven-year period that climaxes with the return of Christ to earth. Now I don't want to go into too many details here. When He comes back to earth, it's to establish a kingdom. We have the thousand years, the first phase of that kingdom. When He comes back to earth, He's going to gather all the living people who are alive at His Second Coming. Keep in mind billions of people have died in that seven-year period, according to the book of Revelation. But He's going to gather all the people who are still alive when He returns, and He is going to sort out who is going to go into His kingdom and who is not. So go back to that chart, if you would, the second judgment that we are talking about.

So this is the judgment of the living at Christ's Second Advent to the earth. We're not going to look at all the Scriptures, but come back to Ezekiel 20. You see this prophesied in the context of a kingdom being established for the nation Israel on earth in fulfillment of prophecy. And God promises, Ezekiel 20:33, “As I live, declares the Lord, surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with wrath poured out I shall be king over you.” That seven-year period that ends with the return of Christ to the earth is a time of wrath. God is going to bring the nation Israel to its knees and then He's going to bring them into judgment to determine who goes into the kingdom. Verse 34, “I will bring you out from the peoples, gather you from the lands where you were scattered with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with wrath poured out. I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, there will I enter into judgment with you face to face. Like when I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, I will enter into judgment with you.” Remember God brought the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt, then they continued in their rebellion against the Lord so what happened? God brought them into judgment. For forty years they wandered while God's judgment was poured out and all those over 20 years of age died in judgment. They could not go into the land. It's an indication here it's going to be that kind of judgment—who is going into the kingdom that the Messiah has returned to establish.

“I will make you pass under the rod, I will bring you into the bond of the covenant, I will purge from you the rebels, those who transgress against Me. I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn,” the diaspora, they've been scattered among the nations of the world—I bring you out into this land for judgment. “I'll bring them out of the land where they sojourn but they will not enter the land of Israel. Thus you will know that I am the Lord.” So that sifting judgment that will occur for Israel here is the focus, when Christ returns.

Come over to Matthew 25. You can read Malachi on your own. It covers the same time period. Come to Matthew 24. We come to Matthew 24 to put this judgment in its proper context. Some people jump into Matthew 25 and they are in a world of trouble. In Matthew 24 Jesus is coming out of the temple. This is the temple brought to its splendid state by Herod the Great and it was a splendid structure. They are pointing out the temple buildings to Christ as they walk out and something of the awesome structure. And some of you have been to Israel and seen some of the massive stones that were used in the construction. It’s just amazing that they could construct what they constructed without our modern equipment. And then Jesus said to them, verse 2, “Do you see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another which will not be thrown down”—the coming destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. Then He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, “the disciples came to Him privately saying, ‘tell us when will these things happen? What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’”

Why don't we go back to the chart. So they want to know about the end of the age, the second stage, the sign of your coming. These things are going to be torn down. Where are we going? What about the establishing of the kingdom? Tell us about when you are coming to establish the kingdom. Then He goes on to tell them about that seven-year period that they would be familiar with from Old Testament prophecies, the 70th week of Daniel that will culminate. So that's what the subject is coming down, you come to verse 15. He's going to focus on that middle period. We've divided that seven-year period into two sections. Verse 15, “When you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the Holy Place, let the reader understand, then those in Judea must flee to the mountains” and so on. Why? Verse 21, “Then there will be great tribulation since has not occurred since the beginning of the world.” That last 3½ -year period is the greatest time of tribulation that has ever happened or will ever happen in the history of mankind. We saw in the book of Revelation in our studies there billions of people will die. In fact Jesus says that, verse 22, “unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved.” If God had withdrawn His mercy and just let it run its course, when all is said and done there wouldn't be anybody left alive. Just think about it, billions of people dying. You think how your ability to cope gets overwhelmed and you have rotting corpses with diseases, I mean, how do you deal with it? The destruction taking place which is unfolded in some graphic detail from Revelation 6-19.

So He is describing that time. Then He talks about, they want to know what will be the sign of His coming, when is He coming. Verse 27, “Just as the lightning comes from the east, flashes to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Verse 29, “After the tribulation of those days these things will happen,” what you see in the book of Revelation as well. “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, all the tribes of the earth will mourn, they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. He'll send forth His angels to gather His elect together.” Then He is going to tell them a parable of the fig tree and then you have comparison with the days of Noah. And then you have verses 40-41, I want to just mention these, “There will be two men in the field, one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one will be left.” That's not the rapture of the church, the rapture of the church has occurred approximately seven years earlier, the first stage of the coming of Christ. This is when He comes to earth to establish His kingdom. The rapture is when He catches people up to meet Him in the air, believers. Here He comes to earth and every eye beholds Him. The one taken is going to be taken in judgment, as we'll see in a moment; the one left is left to go into the kingdom. So then the exhortation to be on the alert.

Then you come into Matthew 25 and He is continuing to talk to them about His Second Coming and what happens in the context of His Second Coming. First there is the parable of the ten virgins. We don't have time to work through these, but ten virgins preparing for the coming of the bridegroom. But some don't prepare. Five are foolish and don't prepare; five are prepared. So the bridegroom comes. These are not the bride, these are as John the Baptist described himself, a friend of the bridegroom. These are attendants, they are not the bride. The bride of Christ is the church as you know. But here what happens? The bridegroom comes unexpectedly; the five who were prepared are ready to go into the wedding feast. Verse 10, “Those who were ready went with him to the wedding feast.” That's the thousand years here. If you've been with us in our study of Revelation 19-20, in chapter 19 the marriage of the Lamb has occurred, the church, the bride of Christ. And now blessed are those called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. So these go into the kingdom, the rest do not. The door is closed. You see it is the picture here for Israel, the friends of the bridegroom, who will go into the kingdom and who will not. Warning them of the danger of being closed out of the kingdom.

Then you have the parable of the talents. This is not telling you how to handle your money, it is used as an illustration, any more than the parable of the virgins is telling bridesmaids how to get ready. This parable of the talents is not instruction on how to handle your money, it is a matter of being faithful to your master, the Lord. So He told them about the master of a house, the lord of the house going to leave. He gives different of his slaves different amounts of money for which they will be accountable to him. And so he moves through. One had received five talents, which is money. Verse 20, “and he said I have gained five talents,” indication of a slave who has been faithful. Verse 21, “His master said to him, well done good and faithful slave. You have been faithful in a few things, I will put you in charge of many.” This indicates they are going to go into the kingdom, they will have authority in the kingdom. “Enter into the joy of your master.” Another had received two talents. There is variation in responsibilities and gifts given to believers as servants, here talking about primarily Israel. They are called to be faithful with what they are given. But the last one, he is unfaithful. I knew you were a mean, nasty master so I just went and buried it. He's called to account—if you thought I was that kind of master and you really believed that you would have been afraid not to be faithful. You just demonstrate your character. So verse 30, concluding that, “Throw out the worthless slave into outer darkness. In that place there will weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

So these picture the sifting that is going to take place for the nation Israel when Christ comes to earth. Then verse 31, we've talked about the sifting out of Jews, sorting out believer from unbeliever. What about non-Jews who are alive at the return? The Gentiles? Verse 31, “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, He will then sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him.” We saw what's going to happen to Israel, sifting out believer from unbeliever, unbelievers cast into outer darkness—hell, judgment. Now the nations come to be judged. He'll separate them as the sheep separates the goats.

So you want to go to the chart again, if you would. He'll put the sheep on His right, the goats on His left. Note verse 34, “The king will say to those on His right, come you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom.” This is where we are, this is the judgment to go into the kingdom. So the time of the judgment is the second advent of Christ to earth to set up His kingdom. The objects of the judgment are those who have survived the great tribulation. Some have become believers during that seven-year period, following the rapture of the church, Jews and Gentiles alike. So you have to sort out believer from unbeliever. So we saw something of the judgment of the Jews. Now we have the judgment of the Gentiles. That should be verses 31-46. You can see judgment of the Jews is Matthew 25:1-30, then the judgment of the Gentiles. These are the nations, the non-Jews. And it is determining who goes into the kingdom.

Why will they go into the kingdom? Verse 35, “I was hungry, you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, you invited me in; naked, you clothed me. I was sick, you visited me; I was in prison, you came to me.” How many times do you see people who think they know the Bible say, that's why we ought to be taking care of the poor; we ought to be feeding the hungry. Has nothing to do with us today. Maybe you write in big red letters in the margin of your Bible—not us, not today. What the Gentiles are being evaluated on is how they treated the Jews during that seven-year period.

I had a professor at a seminary who claimed to be evangelical was overseas and holding a poor baby in his arms and saying, I realized I am holding Jesus Christ, taking it from Matthew 25. That is pathetic. We have to be careful, otherwise the church is being sent out to do all kinds of good deeds, social deeds—rescue the poor, gather the children. Not saying there is anything wrong with doing those things, this passage is not talking about that. It is not talking about that. It is talking about how people treated the Jews during that seven years that Jesus referred to back in Matthew 24. The point being the only one who will show mercy and kindness to these Jews are those who are true, believing Gentiles because they understand something of the purpose and plan of God for them.

So the righteous ask, when did we do this? When did we do all these kind deeds? Verse 40, “To the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even to the least of them, you did it to Me.” He never talks that way about unbelievers. He's not talking about doing kind deeds to the poor. I'm not saying you can't help the poor, I'm saying Matthew 25 is not setting out God's plan of ministry for the church or for believers today. We can't make it say what we want it to say. There may be other passages that have to be addressed on that. Matthew 25 is talking about a specific, unique situation—the Jews going through that seven-year period. If we just follow the order and plan of where we are, we know what is going on. We jump into things so the church gets involved in all kinds of social programs, and rescue the children, and help the needy, and visit people in prison. And we think we are doing the work God has called us to because Matthew 25 says we will be judged on that basis. You will not be judged on that basis out of Matthew 25. You are not in it, you are not in Matthew 25. You will already have been resurrected in judgment and returned with Christ in glory from heaven. We are not in this judgment. We all have that, right? Anyone who does not understand that?

I had a professor in Bible College, John McGahy, great guy. He asked a question on this on a test and someone put the church here. John McGahy had great silver, white hair. He came into class and turned red as a beet—I can't believe anybody was confused on that. So you don't want to be treated like that. This is important, the church gets drawn into things it has no business in because people don't take the time to handle the Scripture carefully.

Verse 41, “He will say to those on His left,” the unbelievers who manifest their unbelief in their behavior, “Depart from me accursed ones into the eternal fire which has been preserved for the devil and his angels.” Culmination, verse 46, “These go away into eternal punishment, the righteous to eternal life.” Now again I'm not saying you can never do good deeds and there aren't individual . . . Matthew 25 is not talking about that. If you're going to find that, you have to go other places in Scripture. We want to be careful that we build our conduct, and the church must because we are the pillar and support of the truth. If we muddle the truth everyone is in confusion.

I clipped out a couple of articles from the Omaha paper, a week or two ago. I was rereading them this morning, talking about declining church attendance and they realize young people want to do something to make a difference. They want to be involved in their community. They want to help the poor. They want to rescue the children. So the church is trying to adjust to this. One theologian said that it was his view that the greatest transformation of the twentieth century in the evangelical church was its total refocus to do social work. Now we have to be careful. We're changing the ministry of the church. We have to be very careful, are we moving away from what God said? When you mix anything with God's Word that comes from misinterpreting God's Word, you begin to corrupt God's Word. And the end result of that, God's Word in its power is destroyed.

So this is determining which of the Gentiles go into the kingdom, they are sifted out. The result of the judgment, unbelievers are killed, all believers go into the kingdom. So we have the thousand-year kingdom.

All right. Also at this same time, and it would probably precede this judgment but I put them in this order, the third judgment that we will have—the resurrected at the Second Advent. This is when Old Testament saints and tribulation saints get their resurrected body. The church gets their resurrected bodies at the rapture, before the seven years, the 70th week of Daniel. Old Testament saints and tribulation saints are resurrected at the Second Coming of Christ.

Come back to Daniel 12, and we're probably just going to touch on this tonight as we overview Daniel 11, and the last part of chapter 11 carries us to the 70th week of Daniel, talking about the willful king who is the antichrist. And you'll see what happens as chapter 12 opens up. May be an unfortunate chapter break because you'll note chapter 12 begins, “now at that time,” the time he has been talking about. It's the time of the end as he says in Daniel 11:40, “At that time Michael the great prince who stands guard over the sons of Israel will arise. There will be a time of great distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time. And at that time your people, everyone found written in the book will be rescued.” The Jews, God is going to intervene. And remember at the climax of that 70th week there is a national conversion. Remember Romans 11, all Israel will be saved, not every single Jew but there will be a mass turning among the Jews to Christ. And then Christ returns to rescue them from the satanic destruction that is being focused on them that Revelation 12 talks about.

Verse 2, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. Those who have insight will shine brightly, like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever.” The glory that will be theirs as they go into the kingdom, but you note the resurrection that occurs here in connection with the rescue of Israel. So you have those resurrected at the second advent. This, the objects of this, it will bring a judgment as well, judgment of rewards for these people, resurrected Old Testament saints, resurrected tribulation saints. Revelation 20 talks about the resurrection of the tribulation saints. They go together because that seven-year period is the climax of God's program for Israel. Seventy sevens have been determined upon your people, your holy city—490 years. That seven years climaxing with the return of Christ is the culmination of God's program with Israel. So naturally they are included in that same resurrection. This is when David will be resurrected, he is promised a position of ruler-ship in the kingdom and others.

The results of the judgment, they are rewarded for faithfulness. They rule and reign with Christ in the millennium. So that resurrection that occurs there is a resurrection of believers. No unbelievers have experienced bodily resurrection yet. We have had the resurrection of Christ obviously that is the foundation, we have had the resurrection of the church before the seven years at the rapture, now after the seven years at the return of Christ to earth we have the resurrection of Old Testament saints and the resurrection of tribulation saints.

Let's take the fourth. The fourth is a judgment of living unbelievers at the end of the millennium. This is a little different kind of judgment but I have included it here because of its importance. Come over to Revelation 20. Revelation 20 is the only place in all the Bible that indicates that the eternal kingdom promised in the Old Testament has a first phase of 1000 years. That's in the opening verses of Revelation 20. The resurrection of believers who had been martyred in that seven-year period was covered in verse 4. We referred to that, along with Old Testament saints are resurrected. Now what happens at this time is the end of the thousand-year reign. The objects of the judgment are those born in the millennium who have not trusted Christ. The results of this judgment will be unbelievers are destroyed by fire. What has happened when Christ returned to set up His kingdom? Remember we had a judgment of all the living—Jewish unbelievers were executed, Gentile unbelievers were executed. Only believers go into the kingdom, that first thousand-year phase. That means when the kingdom starts there are only believers on the face of the earth. There are resurrected glorified saints that are joined with Christ in ruling in the kingdom. We'll say more about that when we talk about the judgment of the church, and there are those alive in physical bodies that we saw judged like in Matthew 25. They became believers during that seven-year tribulation. The Gospel is preached and many are saved, and so they go into the kingdom in their physical bodies. So you have only believers in their physical bodies on the earth but they have kids. And you know what happens—trouble. What happens? Well, the devil is bound, read the first two verses of Revelation 20. “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss, a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years.” Now that means Satan and his demons are not free to go about deceiving people in the world, corrupting them, leading them into sin. The devil is bound. The curse has been lifted from the creation, the desert blossoms like the rose or the crocus. We have a perfect ruler, the Messiah, the King of kings and Lord of lords. With the curse lifted death and dying not taking place, no pain in childbirth, there is a population explosion. People are not dying except in unique cases of judgment.

But you know what happens? Those people who were saved in that seven-year period and went into the kingdom in their physical bodies have a sin nature. They have children, they pass that sin nature on to their children, who pass it on to their children, and their children, and their children. Do you know what that means? Each of this generation, those born to those initial believers and their descendants have to come to recognize their own sin and guilt as a descendant of Adam and place their faith in the Messiah who is ruling over the earth. So at the end of that thousand-year phase of the kingdom Satan is turned loose. There has been a forced subjugation during that thousand years. We are told that Christ will reign with a rod of iron—no rebellion will be tolerated. So you know what will happen. You have people conforming, submitting, but inside they are not.

So verse 7, “When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, he'll come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth. He gathers them together for war, the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.” Isn't that amazing? Those that had been born and raised and lived their entire life, 100 years, 900 years, in a perfect environment and under a perfect ruler with no influence from the devil. But the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. And when given the opportunity to express a choice between having Christ as their king or the devil as their king, a number that is innumerable, like the sand on the seashore, because there has been a huge population explosion during this thousand years. No babies die in childbirth, there is no cancer, there is no sickness. But given choice they “come up to surround,” verse 9, “the camp of the saints, the beloved city.” This is the capital of the King of kings and Lord of lords, we have come to dethrone Him. “Fire came down from heaven and devoured them.” I have listed that as a judgment at the end of the thousand years. Consumed in fire, they are physically destroyed, all those who were born in the millennium and never trusted Christ. So they are destroyed by fire from heaven.

That ought to settle forever for us believers. It’s clear, people's problem is not the environment, it's not the conditions they live in, it is none of those external things. That's why the church cannot get drawn aside and think if we resolve these problems, if we devote more attention to helping the poor and rescuing these people and doing these good things, we will have done something. The millennium is a demonstration that ultimately the devil is not the problem, the environment is not the problem. The problem is the corrupted heart of a human being. That’s why there is no salvation except in the one who can cleanse the heart. It is almost unbelievable, surreal, but it's the Word of God, it's true. After a thousand years of perfect reign in a perfect creation and perfect environment, a number like the sand of the sea would rather have the devil as their king than Christ? We underestimate the absolute depravity of the human heart. That's why we turn aside thinking we will do this and then people will like us, they will like the Gospel. It is far more serious than you realize, if that's your thought.

We have one more resurrection and judgment. It's the last judgment of Scripture, so you can put this up if you would, #5. This is the resurrection of unbelievers. This is for unbelievers, all unbelievers from all time. If you are an unbeliever sitting here in this church, hearing this word and you die without trusting in Jesus Christ, this is the judgment you appear at. This is indeed the last judgment of Scripture. It occurs at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ. That's the first phase of the eternal kingdom, marked off to demonstrate that the problem is the personal sin and guilt of the individual. There will be no excuses offered—the devil made me do it, I was raised in a bad home, I was raised in a poor neighborhood, I didn't have the opportunities that others had. There is no excuse.

The objects of the judgment are all unbelievers who have ever lived. This is the last judgment of Scripture, but don't confuse it, it's not the only judgment. But this is the last judgment and it is the judgment at which every unbeliever who has ever lived will appear. You come down to Revelation 20:11, “I saw a Great White Throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away. There is no place found for them. I saw the dead, the great the small standing before the throne.” I mean, there are not exceptions here, people who were so important, so great, so rich, so poor, doesn't matter. Now all are called. Remember Hebrews 9:27 gave the general principle—“It is appointed unto man once to die, then comes judgment.” Amazing, people live today ignoring the one sure thing—someday they will stand before the living God.

“The books were opened, another book was opened which is the book of life. The dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds,” their works. I thought you couldn't be saved by your works. You can't. No one is going to be saved on the basis of what is written in the book of their works. “The sea gave up the dead which were in it, death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them.” Everyone who has died, everyone who has been in Hades—remember Luke 16? The rich man and Lazarus both die and the rich man lifts up his eyes being in torment in Hades. Hades is simply the holding place of the unbeliever, a place of fiery torment to await their final sentencing to an eternal hell. We say it would be like being in jail, waiting for the judge to pass sentence on you and you will be transferred to prison. What's the difference between jail and prison? Basically duration, I guess. So Hades is the place of suffering for the unbeliever until their final sentencing to hell.

“They were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds,” verse 14, “then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” You'll note here everybody brought before this judgment is cast into hell, the second death, the finality. Everybody gets a resurrected body in that sense. Those who have died, some are resurrected to life, some are resurrected to judgment. “If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he is thrown into the lake of fire.” You don't make it by your works, but there will be equity.

Come back to Matthew 11, and in this context there are instructions given. Look at verse 20, “He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done because they did not repent.” The cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, Tyre, Sidon. He said Sodom and Gomorrah never had the opportunities you had. Jesus Christ did not visit Sodom and Gomorrah and do His miracles and do His teaching in Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities that Jesus visited had greater light, greater opportunity. “You Capernaum,” verse 23, “will not be exalted to heaven will you? You will descend to Hades. If the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. I say to you it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.” It's a time of judgment, there is equity.

So this is a judgment of works to determine where in hell you will spend eternity. That's an awesome thought, that that is it. Everybody at the judgment of the Great White Throne is going to hell for eternity. Not everyone at the Great White Throne will be sentenced to hell and suffer to the same degree. You say, if hell is hell, how do you sort out degrees? I think God can handle it. Hell will be more horrible than you can imagine, there is nothing to compare that we talk about with an eternal hell.

Come over to Luke 12. Jesus warns of this. The article in the paper I mentioned, talks about people, what they want in a church. A person claimed to be a Christian, but I've dropped out of church, and some day I'm going to go back, but I want to go to a church that doesn't have the kind of doctrine I don't like and emphasizes love and community service. People want to think, I want to do what Jesus did and I just take the love of Jesus to people. Jesus said this in Luke 12:4, “I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that they have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear—fear the one who after he has killed has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” Next time you are talking to someone and they want to tell you what Jesus was like and what Jesus did, and they want to be like Jesus and just love people, say, I agree with you. I think we ought to follow Christ, do what He says. Let me take you to Luke 12. He is the one who knows how awful hell is as well as how wonderful heaven will be. And He says there is one person you should fear—the true and living God, Jesus Christ, the One standing before them, worthy of their fear. “Fear the one who after he has killed the body is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that comes judgment.”

That's why the message of salvation with which we are entrusted is so important. I want you to understand the way I am saying this, but it's not the greatest tragedy that people die poor. It's not the greatest tragedy that they are raised in unpleasant circumstances. It's not the greatest tragedy that they're billionaires. All that can be an added obstacle. The greatest tragedy is people die outside the salvation that God has provided. And if we, the church of Jesus Christ, do not carry that message to them, where will they hear it? That's the tragedy of the devil's work in turning the church aside from the unique ministry God has given to it to function as ambassadors of Christ and carry the Gospel to a lost and dying world. I'm caught up in trying to fix the world, rescue people from their poverty, help to do nice things to deal with their affliction. I'm not saying we never do some of those things. It's not what the church is called to do. We are called to do what no other organization, no other religious group, no other entity can do. We bring the message of life that will rescue people from an eternal hell, bring them cleansing and new life. We cannot turn aside from the urgency of that responsibility. Governmental organizations, other religions can do many things and the world admires it. But only the church of Jesus Christ can bring the message of salvation to the lost and dying. That's what is so crucial, that's so wonderful. You don't have to go to hell. You say, I don't even like to think about hell and a place that could be so terrible. I don't either, but it's real. I like to think how wonderful it is that God has provided salvation that rescues people from their lost-ness. We know, we've experienced it and we share it.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your salvation. Thank You for the clarity of Your word, the beauty of what You have revealed, the urgency of the time. Thank You, Lord, for raising us up as a local church with many other local churches across the country and around the world, many believers who testify of Your saving grace, shine as lights in darkness to bring hope to the hopeless, to bring forgiveness to those who are lost. Thank You, Lord. We look forward to what you have promised, the glory of Your presence. Thank You that we can share with others that salvation has been provided, it is free to all who believe. We pray in Christ's name, amen.