In November 1973, Betty Eadie allegedly, during a hysterectomy surgery, died. She died on the table. She returned five hours later with what she says is the secrets of heaven that were revealed to her by Jesus. She wrote about her near-death experience in her book, Embraced by the Light, which was on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year, five weeks at number one, and selling more than a million copies. While visiting heaven, Edie merely relegated Jesus to, in my opinion, a happy tour guide. by what she said is, he never wanted to do or say anything that would offend me. Although claiming to be a Christian, using biblical terminology, dedicating her book to Jesus Christ, what Edie says is a strange mixture of Mormon and New Age theology. She denies the deity of Christ, that Jesus is the only way of salvation, since she says heaven is everyone's eternal home no matter what. She believes death and God himself should not be feared because there is no ultimate responsibility for any wrongdoing. no divine judgment, and no eternal hell in the afterlife. But such best-selling false teaching is totally contrary, totally contrary to the inerrant and authoritative Word of God that clearly tells us the reality of divine judgment. and the reality of an eternal hell. Now I know that none of us like thinking about these things. And we're kind of on the doorstep of going into chapter 21 and we get our minds off of the tribulation, off of this final judgment. But as we continue our study of Revelation, Final judgment in eternal hell is exactly what our passage addresses this morning. And we must not avoid it because of the vital truths that God has given to us here. So if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Revelation chapter 20. In Revelation 20, verses 11 through 15, I want us this morning to look at three aspects of man's last day in God's courtroom that I believe should terrify unbelievers and sober believers. The first aspect is what I call the incomparable judge. The incomparable judge. John says in verse 11, Then I saw a great white throne, and Him who sits upon it, from whose presence the earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. Now the phrase, then I saw, as we've seen for quite some time, this is the sixth scene or vision of the seventh bold judgment, which has to do with the great white throne judgment here in verse 11. The throne is great because it is not only the seat of the almighty God's sovereign rule, where he rules and reigns, over all of his creation, but also because it is a terrifying judgment throne. And it is white because all the judgments that issue forth from it are perfectly pure, they're holy, they're righteous and just, reflecting the character of the judge himself. who sits upon his throne." Now, although the judge's identity is not stated here, God the Father is seen throughout the book of Revelation as sitting upon his throne. We've seen that all the way through chapter 1, chapter 4, chapter 5, chapter 6, 7, 19, 21, again, the Father is upon His throne. But sharing the throne with Him at His right hand is the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. And Scripture tells us that the Father gave authority to His Son to execute judgment as the judge of the living and the dead. In John 5, verse 22, we read, for not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son. John then states a very startling reality that the judge first does in the second part of verse 11. Look what he says. From whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them. Now, we remember that the earth is totally devastated by God's seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments. during the tribulation time. Then Christ restores it for his millennial kingdom. But since it is still tainted and corrupted by sin, subject to the effects of the fall, the creator, Jesus, who is the judge, he removes it from his presence. The statement fled away and no place was found for them speaks of the physical universe vanishing into nothingness. It pictures the sudden, the violent destruction of the present heavens and earth as we know it today. It's all gone. The all-powerful omnipotent God, who spoke creation into existence out of nothing, as we see in Genesis 1, can certainly speak it into non-existence. And that's exactly what happens. Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3, verse 7, but by his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. That's this day that we're looking at in this passage. He goes on to say in verses 10 through 13, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat. and the earth and its works will be found out. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens burning will be destroyed and the elements will melt with intense heat. But according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Christ will cause this present universe to explode like a gigantic nuclear bomb, melting everything to whereby it totally disappears. That's why he wants us to be heavily minded, not earthly minded, to seek those things which are above, not the things on the earth. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the things that God has blessed us with here, but we cannot put our hope and our security in these things. They're all gonna be gone. This world's gonna be gone. And this present world goes after Satan is thrown into the lake of fire at the end of the millennium, which we saw last time, and right before the great white throne judgment, which we're looking at today. Although we have seen numerous judgments all through, revelations, The great white throne judgment is the last. This is the last. This is the final judgment. This takes place somewhere in the indescribable void or nothingness between the end of the present universe when he destroys it and the creation of the new heaven and the new earth. That's where this takes place. The Lord Jesus Christ, the majestic and incomparable judge of the universe, sits upon His throne and is now ready to begin His righteous and just judgment. And we see this in the second aspect of man's last day in God's courtroom. I call it the incontestable trial. The incontestable trial. John says in verse 12, then I saw the dead and the great and the small standing before the throne. Let's stop there. The phrase, then I saw, again, this is now the seventh scene or vision. It's another one that John sees as part of the seven bold judgments. And this one is the judgment of those not in the book of life. Not in the book of life. Those judged at the great white throne judgment are unbelievers, not believers. If you're a believer here today, you will not stand before the great white throne judgment, praise God. This final judgment is the fulfillment of Hebrews 9, verse 27, that warns, it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment. This is the judgment. The phrase, the dead, the great and the small in verse 12 refers to the eternal souls of all the unrighteous, unbelieving dead of all time. from the very first person who died after the fall, all the way up to the very last person that God killed in Satan's final rebellion at the end of the millennium, which we saw last time. All of the unbelieving are here. Again, regardless of their social class or status in the world, whether they're great, they have prominence, everybody knows their name, or they're small. Nobody knows them. It doesn't make any difference. If they've rejected Christ, if they're not a God follower, a Christ follower, they're here. Romans 2.11 says, for there is no partiality with God. He doesn't care what social class they're in. The issue is whether we put our faith in Christ or not. Now, the fact that they're all standing before the throne reveals that they have been resurrected. They've received their physical bodies to appear before the bar of divine justice. Since the first resurrection includes all believers that we saw back in verse 5, by implication, this is often called the second resurrection, even though the Bible doesn't use that terminology. By implication, this is the second resurrection, which includes only unbelievers who experience the second death. And we'll talk about that later. This resurrection is called in Scripture a resurrection to reproach and everlasting contempt in Daniel chapter 12, verse 2. A resurrection of judgment in John 5.29 and a resurrection of the unrighteous in Acts 24 verse 15. Now the standard for judgment at the great white throne judgment is seen in the second part here of verse 12. Look what he says, and 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 the books according to their deeds." As the trial begins in this solemn courtroom scene, the judge opens the books, plural. He opens them. Daniel describes the same scene in Daniel chapter seven, verses nine and 10, where he says, I kept looking until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His clothing was like white snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with fire. Its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands were attending Him and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him. The court sat and the books were opened. What a terrifying scene. Fire is coming out from a stone. This is a throne of judgment. The books contain the written record of every thought, every word, every action of every unbeliever throughout all of their lifetime. You think, well, that's impossible. This is possible for an all-knowing, omniscient God with whom nothing is impossible. Hebrews 4, verse 13 says, and there is no creature hidden from his sight. But all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have an account to give. And that's what they're doing here. They're giving an account to Him. And we see that very thing at the end of verse 12. And the dead were judged. from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds." The standard by which every unbeliever's deeds or works will be measured is the perfect, holy standard of God. Jesus defined that in Matthew 5, verse 48, when he said, therefore, you are to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. As people, we kind of compare ourselves with others and kind of gauge how we're doing because of how someone else is doing. Not with God. Jesus says God's standard is perfection. We're to be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect. That's the standard we are to live by. if we want to make it to heaven. But James chapter 2 verse 10 states, but whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, one point, he has become guilty of all. It's like a pane of glass. Just one little hit, the whole thing shatters. This is why Romans 3.23 declares, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That's the reality for every single one of us. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. And God's holiness and his justice demand payment. The Bible says that He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. He has said the soul who sins will die. And the wages of sin is death. Which is far more than just physical death. As bad as that is. But it's spiritual death. It's spiritual death that began in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve didn't die immediately. They died spiritually, and yet they were continually dying physically, but it took a while there. But immediately, they died spiritually. Their relationship with God, again, was severed. And ultimately, eternal death for those who refuse God's only remedy for sin. in the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. 100% God, 100% man. As our substitute on the cross, Jesus. The eternal Son of God stepped out of heaven to become a man for the purpose of going to the cross as our substitute. He took upon himself the holy wrath of God against sin. He took that upon himself and he paid in full the penalty for sin that we deserved. He died in our place. He was then buried. Three days later, He rose from the dead to prove that He is not only God, but that the Father's holy justice was completely satisfied by His sacrifice. Therefore, those of us who have repented of our sins and put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone are saved, and we will never ever stand before the great white throne judgment. For we are eternally secure in Jesus Christ, who took that punishment for us. Again, I like to say, He took our hell to give us His heaven. But those who have rejected Christ, Here in verse 12, it says that they are judged from the things which are written in the books according to their deeds. Since unbelievers have rejected the perfect righteousness of Christ that is imputed to sinners who have put their faith in Christ, they have rejected Christ. Therefore, they stand before God in their own righteousness. which is like filthy rags to an infinitely holy God, as we see in Isaiah 64.6. Whereas one's deeds or works are not the basis of true salvation, since they cannot save anyone. For by grace we are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. However, these deeds or works are the unmistakable evidence of true salvation. We're not saved by deeds, we're not saved by works, but those things are the unmistakable evidence of true salvation, which is why God always judges according to their deeds. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7.20, you will know them by what? Their fruit, their works, their deeds. Because a regenerated heart will come out. It will show itself and how they live. It shows the change that true regeneration brings. Therefore, the convicting evidence presents an incontestable trial for every unbeliever as the best of their deeds and their good works are judged to fall infinitely short of God's perfect standard. Therefore, they must pay the penalty themselves for violating God's law. In God's courtroom, there is no jury. There's no lawyers. no witnesses, no cross-examinations, no rebuttals, no excuses, no blaming others, no plea deals, and no appeals. There is only the perfect justice of the all-knowing, omniscient God who has perfect knowledge of every detail of their lives and their hearts. Payday has come. And we can only imagine how terrified these unbelievers are as they're standing there, having been resurrected to bodies now fit for eternity before the Almighty Judge. But there is another book in verse 12. Look what it says. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. This is an abbreviation of the title, The Book of Life of the Lamb Who Has Been Slain, back in chapter 13, verse 8. The book of life, singular, is the record of all of God's elect, all of the redeemed that have been chosen before the foundation of the world. That is seen multiple places. in the New Testament. And the reason the book of life is mentioned here is to show that the names of all of these unbelievers are not written in it, which confirms their eternal condemnation. Therefore, the books and the book of life serve as a dual witness. against all of these unbelievers so that on their trial day, they are all now pronounced guilty and sentenced to eternal hell. John then kind of goes back to what he said in verse 12, having already implied the physical bodily resurrection of the unbelieving dead in verse 12. He now explains what this means in more detail in verse 13. Look what he says, 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." The Greek word here, gave up, used twice in this verse. It's another way of depicting the physical bodily resurrection of all of these dead unbelievers. Before The sea is destroyed with the rest of the physical universe before the great white throne judgment. Notice, it gave up the dead which were in it. All of those throughout all of time who have died in the sea, whatever happened that they never found their body. They now are coming to life out of the sea. Again, the sea is probably singled out because it appears to be the most difficult place from which to be resurrected. That was the most terrifying place, the depths of the sea. And yet, once again, nothing is impossible for God. He can do anything. He can put us all back together exactly. Every atom and subatomic particle, He knows everything. Also in verse 13, it says, death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them. Both of these are likened to a criminal being kept in the city jail until his trial and sentencing, at which time he is then taken to the state penitentiary to serve out his life sentence. The city jail is death in Hades. That is the temporary place of imprisonment. The state penitentiary is eternal hell. And whereas death is the separation of the soul from the body, Hades, also called Sheol in the Old Testament, they mean basically the same thing. It's the place or the realm of where the souls of the unbelieving dead are temporarily imprisoned. I like to call Hades temporary hell because that's where temporarily they are tormented, as you see in Luke 16, verses 22 through 28, where the rich man in Hades is crying out to Lazarus, the poor beggar, to have, again, his finger dipped in water and touch his tongue. They're imprisoned there in torment while they await their sentencing at the great white throne judgment to then be cast into eternal hell. All unbelievers of all time stand before the Lord Jesus Christ in their physical bodies suited for eternal punishment. They cannot escape. There is no place to hide. The universe is gone. And as we see at the end of verse 13, repeating itself, what we saw in verse 12, and they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds. Again, their unregenerate heart, these unbelievers, it is seen in their deeds, their thoughts, their words, their actions. that they're not transformed. And the punishment of each unbeliever perfectly fits the crime. And the gravity of their sin determines the degree of their punishment. But regardless of the varying degrees of punishment in hell, which there are, Everyone will suffer intolerable, indescribable misery and torment. And we see that to me in one of the most horrific passages of Scripture in the third aspect of man's last day in God's courtroom, which I call the irreversible sentence. The irreversible sentence. Look what John says in verse 14. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. Stop there. As the sentence is passed, death and Hades are the first to be thrown into the lake of fire. Death is the last enemy that is abolished. No longer is it a tool of Satan to threaten mankind. Both death and Hades are destroyed in that they are swallowed up. They're swallowed up by the lake of fire or eternal hell, which is defined here as the second death. whereas everyone will experience the first death or physical death, unless we happen to be part of the fortunate who are raptured. Everyone is gonna experience physical death. Right now, as I've said before, the death rate is standing firm at 100%. No exceptions. Again, the only ones are those who are fortunate to have been taken by the Lord. The second death is eternal separation from God in a place of eternal torment. And that is only for unbelievers. Only they will experience the second death. I believe it's been correctly said. Believers are born twice, physically and spiritually. They die once, physically. Again, unless they're raptured. They die once, physically, and live forever in heaven. Unbelievers are born once, physically. They die twice, physically and spiritually, and they die forever in hell. Robert Thomas Ackerley states, and I quote, death and Hades come to be personified as inseparable companions, two voracious and insatiable monsters who have swallowed all past generations and now meet the same fate as the prey they have just disgorged. Pretty gruesome word. To disgorge means to vomit out. Again, death and Hades, again, are emptying themselves. They're disgorging, they're vomiting out all of those who they have held bound in prison, all from the beginning of time. because they're being resurrected. Well, now they're being thrown into the lake of fire, death, and Hades. He goes on to write, the lake of fire is a figure of speech to accommodate a limited human understanding of what eternal punishment will be. But it nevertheless corresponds to reality. Just as the rich man in Hades experienced unbearable Torment in flames, those in the lake of fire will have to endure punishment of the same nature. No significant difference separates the physical and the spiritual reality embodied in the lake of fire terminology. Its unending torment makes the second death a suitable subtitle for it." End quote. The Lake of Fire not only is a place of mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual agony, the scripture also very vividly portrays various tormenting aspects of this eternal, fiery hell. Jesus repeatedly used the word Gehenna, meaning Valley of Ben-Hinnom, as a picture of eternal hell. since fires of Jerusalem's garbage dump in that place kept constantly burning and smoke coming up that was putrid to the smell. The word fire is used more than 25 times in the New Testament to depict the torment of hell. And the Lake of Fire or Eternal Hill is also described graphically as the place of outer darkness, the black darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth where their worm does not die, eternal punishment, eternal judgment, eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. What a horrifying place. God wants us to know about this. That's why he's given it to us. Because this is where all those who reject Christ are sentenced. Look at verse 15. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. All of God's enemies are now in the eternal lake of fire. Satan, all of his demons, the Antichrist, the false prophet, and all unbelievers of all time who have rejected God's only way of salvation in Jesus Christ. And in this lake of fire, there is no parole, there is no escape, no rest, no relief, no hope, no end, forever and ever. The damned are ever-burning, but never consumed. They are always dying, but never dead. No wonder we are warned in Hebrews 10.31, it is a terrifying thing. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Beloved, what I believe we can learn from this passage is that God's final judgment is real and it is coming. Therefore, don't believe anyone who says otherwise. Even if they say they went to heaven and they came back and it's not true, don't believe it. The warning of the prophets, of John the Baptist, of Jesus, and of the apostles is to flee from the wrath to come. And that warning is just as true today. Only those who flee to Jesus through repentance of their sin and faith in Him alone will escape this final judgment in the fires of hell. Let me ask you this morning, have you received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? I just thought about it. But have you repented of your sin? Have you put your faith in Jesus alone? Have you received Him? Do you see the fruit of a changed life? If not, I encourage you to do today what you will one day be glad you did, when you stand before Jesus Christ, who is the Almighty, Sovereign Judge, And if you have not received him, again, I encourage you to do it now before it's too late. I know I've said this before, but I've preached a message knowing people in the pews before me. And then the next week, next time I got up, they weren't there. They had stepped into eternity. Life is short. We don't know how long we have. And if you have received the Lord Jesus Christ, we who have done that, we need to allow the sobering truths of this passage, I believe, to motivate us afresh, to wholeheartedly praise the Lord for the salvation that he has given to us and what it is that he has saved us from as we see. and also to recommit ourselves to faithfully pray for and to share the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with a lost and dying world before it's too late. May we all remember Hebrews 9, verse 27. It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment. There is no soul sleep. There is no annihilation. We die. If we do not know Christ, we go to Hades. Temporary hell while we await for the great white throne judgment, or then we are cast into the lake of fire. If we know Christ, praise God, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. What hope we have as believers.