All right. Are our electronics working, Verla? Okay. It's a sign. I'm not sure what, but all right. Next Sunday morning in the first hour, we're going to begin going through John Bunyan once again, only this time, The Life and Death of Mr. Badman. I think most of you have a copy of this. If you don't, those of you online, you can get a copy pretty quickly through Amazon. And there's probably an extra copy or two floating around here somewhere for anybody here who doesn't have one. And so, The Life and Death of Mr. Badman. I think you'll find that Bunyan had Well, we already saw this in Pilgrim's Progress, but Bunyan had quite an amazing, clear back in the 1600s, wisdom and insight into how evil works. And this book is a great example of it. It's not nearly as well known as his work, Pilgrim's Progress is, of course. Anyway, that's next Sunday and we will be live streaming that next Sunday morning then as well. All right then, here we have the scripture reading. It is Matthew chapter 20. I bet this is a parable. that, because you're like me, it was true of me, that initially you read through that and you think, well, what does that mean exactly? What is the point here? And I think that by the time we're done this morning, you'll see more clearly the main point of that parable. Matthew chapter 20. beginning in verse 1, verses 1 through 16, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. All right, here we go. For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace and said to them, you go out, you go into the vineyard too and whatever is right I will give you. So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour he did the same. About the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing and he said to them, why do you stand here idle all day? They said, because no one has hired us. He said to them, you go into the vineyard too. And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first. When those hired about the 11th hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now, when those hired first came, They thought they'd receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, these last worked only one hour, and you've made them equal to us who've borne the burden of the day in the scorching heat. But he replied to one of them, friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Do you begrudge my generosity? So the last will be first and the first last." There's the Word of God, as is typical in so many of these parables. It's that last phrase that's really the punchline and the meat of the whole thing. But this is the Word of God, and we are to receive it as such, as the Lord is teaching. This is how it's done in Christ's kingdom. It's radically different than the ways, then, of this present world. Well, this morning we want to, next week we'll plan to continue again in our series in 1 Corinthians, but this morning I wanted to take you over to Revelation chapter 20 and look at this very important and vital doctrine that you've probably heard about. Maybe you've worried about it and probably haven't understood it. uh... in in the clarity that's required and so we're going to see if we can remedy that this morning regarding the great white throne judgment so let's ask the lord's blessing as we come to the ministry of his word father here is your word here's this book of revelation this that you've given to your church for the purpose of encouraging your people and uh... enabling us to stand fast in this present evil world, eager for, longing for, and looking for the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we pray that as we hear from your word here this morning, that you will enable us to understand as we haven't before and to be encouraged by the fact that this is something that as your people, we can eagerly look forward to and not dread. And so we ask your blessing now as we come to your word, and we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. All right, then. Well, here is, and it's in your handout here, Revelation chapter 20, this section. on the great white throne judgment, verses 11 through 15, follow along as I read the word of God. Then I saw, this is of course the Apostle John, 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. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. 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. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the Lake of Fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire. If you've been following along in the midweek study of the Book of Revelation, then this passage here, you know we just dealt with this, actually the last couple of weeks, this section of scripture. But I wanted to look at it this morning for a couple reasons. First of all, it's vitally important for all of us. And secondly, probably numbers of people haven't been able to follow. I don't expect everyone to follow three midweek Bible studies and so forth. I know some people do, but some others pick one or so forth. But this is really an important passage of scripture for us to understand for a number of reasons. This is not a trivial doctrine, as if really no biblical doctrine is trivial, but this is a really, really important doctrine for us to understand to the degree that our concept of the day of the Lord, the day when Christ comes again, and there's this great white throne judgment, to the degree that our thinking is not in accord with the Bible's teaching on this subject, to that same degree, our understanding of vital truths is going to be weakened or even denied. God's grace in Christ. If we don't clearly understand the great white throne judgment, our idea of the grace of God in Christ is going to be deficient. That's why that parable that we just read is so important. It concerns the grace of God in Christ, which is so contrary to the way that the world operates. Our idea of being free from condemnation as a Christian is going to be discolored. We won't have a clear view of that great truth. The very nature of justification by faith alone in Christ alone, that is the gospel, will be affected negatively if we don't understand the great white throne judgment. even more individual basis, our thinking about what God thinks of us right now is going to be defective and deficient. What does it mean that I'm a new creation in Christ when I've been born again? And so a misunderstanding of the great white throne judgment has all of those negative effects, and it would have even more, and as a result Satan is going to have a much easier time launching his missiles of accusation and blame and guilt upon you. If you ask yourself just a question of self-examination, this question. Am I a joyful person? Am I a joyful Christian? Now, all of us, that doesn't mean you have to be just bubbly every moment and so forth. No one's going to be like that. But fundamentally, do I experience real joy in my life, or do I tend to be downcast and anxious and kind of gray and hazy? and glum, and so forth. And I can put it to you without apology in saying, your problem is you don't understand the great white throne judgment. You don't understand it. And I think that you will see, I hope that you'll see what I mean here. You know, as Christians, as we grow in Christ, I hope that we see increasingly that Certainly, there is a place for biblical counseling, for instance. But it better be biblical counseling. Much so-called Christian counseling isn't biblical counseling at all, or therapy, and those kinds of things. But when it gets right down to it, my problems in this present life all stem from the fact that I don't understand as clearly as I need to the gospel, the word of God, the doctrines of the word of God, the great salvation that Christ has effected for us. If we, and I realize in this present life we won't completely with full clarity understand really the depths of what Christ has done for us. And one day when we see him face to face, then we will. But fundamentally, then we can say without apology, if a person who's a Christian and they just are more characterized by being gloomy, downcast, and so forth, the answer to their problem, the antidote to their problem is the truth that we have here in the Word of God and what God has done for us then in Christ. If you don't understand this verse, here's just one verse right here, okay? 1 John 4, 18. If you don't understand this, John says, there's no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment. And whoever fears has not been perfected in love. If we don't understand that truth, then our thinking about our relationship with God is messed up. Now granted, again, this morning, I'm talking to Christians. There's a good and right place in an unsaved person, in the natural man, for fear. He needs to come to a place where he or she fears God. But I'm talking to Christians, and that's what John is talking about here as well. Perfect love casts out fear. If we don't understand that truth, then our thinking about our relationship with God is messed up. And we're messed up to that degree as a result. And we're suffering. We're suffering as a result. Our ideas about what the Lord has done for us in Christ, if they're not in tune with scripture, we are not going to be joyful Christians. We're going to be suffering as a result. We suffer because to a lesser or greater degree, we're still in bondage to the idea of, and here it is, acceptance by performance. And I hope that you realize that that parable there in Matthew is largely about that. That's where God's saying, you know, in my kingdom, acceptance is not based upon performance, right? That's not what it's based upon. But we are creatures of this world. Many people have had the thinking, Acceptance is based upon performance. Many people have had that idea pounded into them by maybe a parent whose love wasn't real love at all. Sometimes it's pounded into them from pulpits in churches that they've been in. So as a result, they're not a joy-filled person as the Lord intends for us to be. So I hope that that's got your attention now. And you see how important of a subject we're looking at, then, this morning, and how it relates directly to what we're taught here in this section about the great white throne judgment. Now, you've often heard me quote from a pastor of old named Herman Huxema, if I pronounce it right. He wrote this commentary. on the Book of Revelation, Behold He Cometh. And you can still get that book. And I highly recommend it as a way to study through the Book of Revelation. He was a pastor for over 30 years and a longtime editor of the Standard Bearer magazine. I think we've got some copies of that on the back table. progressively, each edition of that magazine that came out, he taught through the Book of Revelation. And that's what I think is the result of this commentary, what this book is. And so I highly recommend it. I think Pastor Hoxhama was a great pastor. But none of us, alas, are without error, right? And I found recently a serious error. And it is a serious error. in Hoxhama's commentary here in his treatment of the Great White Throne Judgment. And I'm not particularly picking on him, but what he taught about the Great White Throne Judgment is an example of, I think, what a lot of Christians have been taught about it. And it does a lot of damage. Listen to these verses again, all right, just let's keep Let's get these verses in our minds here. Verse 11, 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. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. 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. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, He was thrown into the lake of fire. Now here is Pastor Hoeksema's comment on those verses. And the first part of it that I've quoted here for you is accurate, all right? So we want to give him credit for that. And this is what he said. The question may be asked, however, if all shall be judged according to their works, what will become of God's people, right? I mean, as I read that passage, you may have been thinking, that's why I boldfaced those sections in there. And they were judged, each one of them according to what they have done. And so it should start rolling around in your head here. Wait a minute. How is it that, I mean, everybody's going to be there, Christians and non-Christians, regenerate, unregenerate. Is this saying we're all going to be judged according to our works? Apparently it is. Well, if that happens, how am I going to be looking forward to this great day? And so you begin to think once again and look at the coming of Christ with kind of a measure of dread. All right? So anyway, he says. The question may be asked, however, if all shall be judged according to their works, what will become of God's people? Good question. They also have sinned, and they also would be condemned, wouldn't they? To this question, the text furnishes the answer when it informs us that not only shall the books be opened, but also another book shall be opened, which is the book of life. The Book of Life is God's own record of His elect saints, the book of God's election in Christ. It contains the names of all His chosen saints. They are written in that book as redeemed by the blood of their Lord and Savior. Through that blood, they were justified. By that blood, they were also sanctified in Christ Jesus. This book is also opened. For when men are judged according to their works, The work of Christ for his people, in his people, and through his saints, the elect whom God has given to Christ from before the foundation of the world, shall also be manifest. This work of Christ for, in, and through the saints belongs to the works according to which they shall be judged. And therefore, the saints can never perish in the judgment." Now, that's pretty good, but it's not He's already started to go rather wrong there, in that here's the book of life. If you're a Christian, your name's in it. And it's got your works, good and bad, there. But this book has the work of Christ also recorded in it. And so when your sins and so forth come up, then they're taken care of by the blood of Christ. And that's not. That's not accurate, as we'll see. But that wasn't too bad, what he said there, but now he really goes wrong. Listen to what he says here. Also, God's children, therefore, shall see their sins in that day of judgment as they have never fully seen them before. Everything shall be brought into remembrance and shall be seen in its true light. They shall see the corruption and filth of their sin in that day, and they shall fully understand that even their best works were defiled by sin." Do you begin to dread the great white throne judgment at that point? Right? Something's wrong here. They shall understand the truth of their confession, that even the holiest of men has but a small beginning of the new obedience in this present life. But thanks be to God, we shall also understand, as we have never perfectly understood before, that we are in Christ. Now, that is error. And it's not a minor error. It has serious and damaging consequences. We are reformed Christians, right? That's a good thing, as long as we hold to the word of God accurately. We believe in, for example, the solas, the solas, grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, and so on. And we stand firmly against antinomianism, this theological libertinism that says, yeah, well, when grace abounds, everything else is forgiven, so no big deal if we sin, and so forth. The law of God, oh, that has no application at all to the Christian. Well, as Reformed Christians, we say, Yes, it does. The moral law of God still stands. And so we reject the widespread teaching and practice in so many churches that just winks at the ongoing unrepentant sins in professing Christians' lives. However, we have to take care that we do not forget that in Christ, the condemnation of the law has been removed. now, all right? It's been removed. There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. We've died to the law, which means it can no longer be used by Satan to accuse us. For example, Colossians 2, and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him." So here's that great statement in that passage, canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. How? He nailed it to the cross. Well, wait a minute. Jesus was nailed to the cross. Yeah. He became that curse for us and canceled then that debt. So now you can begin, I think, to see where Huxema is wrong. He taught that at the great white throne judgment, this canceled record of debt, our sins, it's been canceled, is going to be brought up again, once more. It's been covered by the blood of Christ, but nevertheless, it's going to be brought up, all of your sins that you ever did or thought, everything, all of it, in ugly clarity, for everybody to see, and see it as never before it's going to be there. There it is. Here's all this stuff that you did. And what he's saying is that, therefore, then this magnifies the grace of God in Christ in forgiving us, you see. But there's huge problems with this. That's not going to happen. And I hope that you can be convinced of that as we go through scripture here. That's not going to happen. When the great white throne judgment occurs, let me pull out another commentary here, Lenski here. You are not going to stand before God as a Christian and hear him recount every one of your sins that you ever committed, right? And then say, but the blood of my son washed it away. No, that's not going to happen. Listen to what this, I think Linsky might have been a Lutheran pastor here. And he wrote a commentary on Revelation as well. Listen to what he says. He starts with the same question here. But if the books contain a record of the works of all of the dead, and they do, all right, will they not contain also the bad works which Christ's people have done as well as their good works? And listen to what he says. Not one bad work will they show. Peter's denial, you will seek in vain. Now start thinking through this. What Hoxhama is saying is that when Peter, at the great white throne judgment, when Peter, who's already glorified in heaven right now, all right, when Peter, at the great white throne judgment, comes before the great white throne judgment, what's gonna happen is he's gonna hear the Lord say, Peter, Three times. Everybody, look at what Peter did. Denied me three times. It's forgiven, Peter. But do you see where this is going? Put yourself, then, in that spot, you see. But Lenski says, well, won't the godly have their bad works displayed as well? Not one bad work will they show. Peter's denial you will seek in vain." There's not going to be any mention of it. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses from all sin. Ours is the dismissal, the remission, which blots out all of our sins. Those, you remember, well, I guess I'm going to read Psalm 103 in part again, that our sins, he remembers no more. Those books contain nothing, now this is in regard to the Christian, but our good works, and even these as made perfect by the righteousness of Christ, and these works as the public evidence of our faith demanded by a holy judge. Not one word. Helensky gets that right, absolutely right, you see. And I'll show you, that you don't just have to take Lenski's or my word for it, I'll show you here then in a moment. If you are told that, as Hoxham says, your sins are going to be recounted and demonstrated in detail, some giant video record of you and what you did, inevitably, If you think that's what's going to happen then, inevitably, that's what you think is happening now. That's what you think God views you as, that he's still up there, even though it's forgiven, he's still remembering what you've done. Do you see how that's going to have a huge negative effect No wonder, if we believe that stuff, no wonder we're without joy. And I have no doubt that many Christians who struggle with depression and shame and gloom can trace the origin of all of this to wrong thinking about what Christ has done for us in his saving work. They have a faulty view of the cross, and they've been taught a faulty view of the cross. and of salvation. And whether they realize it or not, they're thinking about the day of the Lord when Christ comes. Oh, man, great white throne judgment, going to have to stand before him, you see. And so their view of themselves as new creations in Christ have been shaped by falsehoods then thrown at them and embraced. Well, what about these statements then here in Revelation 20 that state, and this is true, all human beings, pagans, Christians, believers, unbelievers, however you want to call the categories, are going to be resurrected, bodily resurrected on that great day, stand before the great white throne, and they're going to be judged according to their works. It says that, absolutely. This is a judgment according to works of everyone. Now, what does the scripture say about this? Does this mean that as a Christian, I'm going to have and see all of my sins in this ugly clarity recounted and so forth? Is that going to be what happens? No. That's not what's going to happen, and let me show you why. Listen to Jesus describe, in Matthew 25, the great white throne judgment. That's what this is, Matthew 25. This is Jesus himself describing the same event, great white throne judgment, as we see in Revelation 20. Here we go, Matthew 25, 31. When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." OK, so you're with me so far? Clearly, this is the great white throne judgment, the same thing, all right? He's describing the same thing. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me. Then is there a verse that says, now, let's recount your sins? It's not there. What does he do? He moves on to the goats. Poor goats. I mean, I think the goats are kind of cute little critters. I don't know how they got a bad rap in it. Dogs, too. Bad rap in scripture here. But anyway, then he will say to those on his left, depart from me. You cursed into the eternal fire. Prepared for the devil and his angel. Again, language there, compare it with Revelation 20. It's no doubt the same event. Great White Throne Judgment. For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me. Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they also will answer saying, Lord, When did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them saying, truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. So here you have both sheep and goats, From all the nations, these are all, every human being that ever lived. This is the final judgment. Everyone, Christian, pagan, everyone. Now, is this a judgment of works? Yes. Obviously it is. Revelation 20 says it. Jesus says it. It is a judgment of works, but There's a glaring absence of that which Hoxhauma says is going to happen. What are the works that the Lord says he's going to point to in respect to the sheep, to his people? They are entirely righteous works. It's a judgment, but it's a, you know, a judgment can be innocence as opposed to guilt. It's still a judgment. It's a judgment of works. I judge you innocent. I judge you Righteous. The only thing that's recounted here is righteous works, which are the fruit of a regenerate heart. As I was reading those verses, by the way, I think, that's a good passage to preach against the so-called social gospel. Because there's lots of people that in Jesus' name, oh, look at the great things that we've done. And we ministered to these people and fed these people. And Jesus will say to them, depart from me. I never knew you. You never did those things for me. You never did those things for my people. In fact, you hated my people. You did it for the people in the world. Anyway, that's another issue. But this is a judgment of works, but it's entirely a judgment in regard to the sheep. Righteous works, you see. What works are not mentioned at all in regard to the sheep? Sin. unrighteous. The thing that Hoxham says are going to be displayed in this ugly clarity and recounted and so forth, that they're not there. It's not there. Now, what is mentioned in respect to the goats, to the wicked? Well, only evil works. That's all Jesus mentions. Evil works, their sins. Those are the sins that are going to be recounted there, you see. There's not any mention, even though they're bragging about all the good works they did, they didn't have any, none, because they were not in Christ, only guilt and condemnation. So listen. Having read that, Matthew 25, listen again. This is, again, this is repetition. Listen to how Hauksama put it. Also, God's children, therefore, shall see their sins in that day of judgment as they have never fully seen them before. Everything shall be brought into remembrance and shall be seen in its true light. They shall see the corruption and filth of their sin in that day. and they shall fully understand that even their best works were defiled by sin." No. That isn't there. That is not going to happen. This is important to really think about. Do you see how all of this plays into how right now, not just at the Great White Throne Judgment, but right now, What is your idea about how God views you? What's your thinking on that? Are you thinking that, well, really, right now, he's doing the same thing? He's bringing up, he's recounting, he's remembering my sins. He's remembering my sins. OK, he forgives them in Christ, but he knows I've done this, and he is remembering those. What if you had an earthly father like that? And some of you did. What if you had an earthly father like that? And he says he loves you, but you know he's still remembering every little thing that he holds against you. He says he forgives you maybe, but he still holds again. You're going to transfer that concept then to God. There was a lady in our first church in Montana who, she was like that, full-blown narcissist, classic narcissist. We didn't understand those things at the time or whatever, but I can remember her once, I think it was right after a service, standing out in front of the old log community hall there where we met. And she came up to me and said, you know, Jeff, I remember when you said this and you weren't going to do a Bible study for us. There was all this long story, rivalry between communities, where they came from, whatever. But my point is, she said, you know, I remember when you did that. Oh, really? So why are you saying that to me? Why are you doing it? That's just your dig. If we think that God is like that, obviously, are we going to be a joyful person? Do you realize that when Christ saved you, if you're born again, do you realize what it means that you are a new creation? Do you understand that someday God's going to give you a new name? A new name. Now, these things are true right now, but they haven't come into their full consummation, okay? But we have a new identity. I'm a new person then in Christ. I still got lingerings of the old Jeff hanging on to me in my flesh. I'm gonna get rid of that someday entirely. But this is who I am now in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we don't tend to grasp that and fully, and this is hard to explain, but that certainly on the day when Christ comes again and we're fully then glorified, that will happen. But it should be true increasingly of our thinking now. And it's like this. And I think in the Bible study last week, I used the example of Gandalf. in Lord of the Rings, right? So you remember Gandalf, that one, you know, where they're, what are they in? They'd gone to the mountain where, the base of the mountain where Gandalf didn't want to go because he knew that this huge, horrendous beast was there. I can't even remember the name of it. But at any rate, he does battle with it and so forth. goes off the cliff with it, and then you don't find out what happens to him until he shows up later in one of the subsequent movies there. And Frodo and the rest of them see him. And initially, they don't recognize him. He's this wizard, and he's all in light and everything. They don't recognize who he is. They're afraid of him and so forth. But then they begin to realize that he's Gandalf. And they tell him that, well, you're Gandalf. And he's got kind of a confused look on his face a little bit. And he's remembering back. And he's, yeah, yeah, that's what they called me then. And I think that what we need to understand this great salvation in Christ Put your name in there, and it's like, oh yeah, Jeff. That's what they called me then, back then. But that's not who you are now. In Christ, that's not who you are. You're not that old. That old man is dead and gone. And we still have some of his stench hanging on here in our sinful flesh. But he is gone. And we're going to consider the fact then that, well, wait a minute now. As we are fully glorified, including our glorified bodies, are we going to stand before Christ? And he's going to bring up all these things that the old Jeff did? See, you begin to see more and more about the problem. The great white throne judgment occurs at the end of the figurative thousand years, at the end of the church age, when Christ comes again. And upon his return, this happens, all right? First Thessalonians 4. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep. Christians who have died, all right? That you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Christians that are with him right now who have died, okay? They're souls, right? For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. The dead in Christ will rise first." So here's the resurrection of the body. These are still events describing the timing, great white throne judgment, and so on. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet them, to meet the Lord, in the air, in 1 Corinthians 15, we'll say, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, and we shall be changed, all right? Glorified. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. So there's the resurrection of the righteous. In 2 Thessalonians 1, we have an account of the resurrection of the wicked, which happened at the same time, bodily resurrection, okay? This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering. Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed. Again, those are events happening at the time of the great white throne judgment. It's a great white throne judgment because the Lord's glory is great. The one seated on the throne is great. And it's a great congregation that are judged, the righteous and the wicked alike. Now, think this through. When a believer dies during the church age, that's now, right? When you or I depart this life, what happens? To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, OK? Every single one of Christ's true people who have departed this life in ages past are with the Lord right now in his glorious presence, and they are with him in glory, and they are glorified, and they are absolutely sinless and holy. And one day, their glorified body will be raised from the dead. At the Great White, going to be a universal bodily resurrection, which fully and completely finishes the glorification of the elect, so 1 Corinthians 15, so is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, and what is raised is imperishable. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised in glory. It's sown in weakness. It's raised in power. Now, with those points in our minds, let's consider again what Choksama was erroneously teaching. According to him, The saints in heaven who are right now glorified and who will, along with us, be absolutely glorified at the resurrection of their body, who are right now in face-to-face presence with Christ, are going to, one day at the great white throne judgment, have all of their sins and all of their ugly clarity and detail rehearsed and displayed before their eyes so that they can see the wickedness and depth of the sins they committed as never before. And that is going to cause God's grace in Christ to be glorified, you see. But all of the sins which we've committed and which the blood of Christ has washed away, Huxma says they're going to be brought up again as never before. That's his teaching. But here's some more verses, Psalm 103, as we read. I'm just going to read the last part of this, verse 12. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. Except that the great white throne judgment, he's going to bring them up again, right? Isaiah 43, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Jeremiah 31, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying, know the Lord for they shall all know me. from the least of them to the greatest of them, the greatest declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. 1 Corinthians 1, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, guiltless. 1 Thessalonians 3, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. And another one here in 1 Thessalonians 5, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see that. It's just incomprehensible that God would, at the great white throne judgment, have his people put all and bring up the sins and he says he'll remember no more. He's gonna bring them up again and recount them and you're just gonna, He melt, you see. Well, now you could hear maybe Pastor Hoxham or others say, and it's a good point, you'd say, well, what about 2 Corinthians 5.10? For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Well, there again, you see, Paul is talking about a judgment of works. But what he's talking about here, we all must appear before the judge, is the righteous and the wicked. It's the same thing as the great white throne judgment. We are going to receive what's due for what we've done in the body, whether good or evil, but we know that that that judgment in regard to Christ's people, there's not going to be any condemnation. Their sins are not going to be recounted, you see, just righteous works then. So there's been all kinds of kind of some end run interpretations of 2 Corinthians 5.10, the judgment seat of Christ, and somehow You've got the great white throne judgment, but then there's another judgment called the judgment seat of Christ. And you'll hear people go on in detail sometimes about that. But it's one in the same thing, you see. So it's a serious mistake that causes us all kinds of undue suffering and discouragement if we fail to see the greatness of this salvation. Yes, we're going to be there. It's going to be a great event, the great white throne judgment, we're going to be there. But there's not going to be any recounting then, you see, of our sins. We live in a world. It's all we've really known, right? Corrupted and fallen, whose God is the devil. And we're hammered on all sides, telling us justification and worth are based upon your performance. So you better perform well then or else. But that's the point of that parable that we read in Matthew. You see, well, God, how is it right that I've worked I did all this work, you know? I mean, well, let's put it this way. You know, I suffered for you through all kinds of, my whole life long, 80 years, 90 years, whatever, and I suffered for you and I served you. And now here we are, great white throne judgment and brought into the kingdom of God and so forth. And then you got this guy over here. He lived a wicked life. And then like the last five years of his life, he was saved. He heard the gospel. And you're going to give him the same reward as me? Yep. Because that's grace. You see, that's how it is in the kingdom of God. It's not like it is in this world. Our salvation is all of grace. It's not due to works then at all. And that's the point then of that parable. And to the degree that we don't understand that, we are going to be people who are given to despair and shame and depression. And you're going to be living your life really in fear of the day that when you stand then before the Lord. But perfect love casts out fear. And if I'm afraid, of Christ's appearing, it's just telling me my idea of God's love for me in Christ is imperfect. My thinking on this still isn't right again. It's not going to be that we're going to come and stand before the Lord, and the Lord will say, OK, yeah. Yeah, I know you. You're a Christian. You didn't really measure up to John Calvin or the Apostle Paul or some of the other reformers, but go ahead and come on in. There's a chair clear in the back. You go, that's not how it's going to be. That isn't going to be. He who is first now will be last. there. Here again, here's one more passage. This is great benediction, one of the great benedictions of scripture, Jude 24 and 25. Now to him who's able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time. and now and forever. Amen. Father, we thank you for these great promises, these great truths from your word. Help us, Father, to understand with more clarity what you've done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ, and who we are in Christ, and that you are a God who washes away and blots out our sins to be remembered no more, and realizing these things then to be joyful then and encouraged even more to live righteously for you. And we pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.