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Summary
We are called to reckon seriously with the reality of final judgment as described in Revelation 20:11-15. This passage teaches us that judgment is not a matter of *if* but *when*, and that every person’s eternal destiny is determined by whether their name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Key Lessons:
- God’s judgment is certain, personal, and final — Scripture consistently warns that every hidden act, word, and motive will be brought before the righteous Judge.
- Believers will face the Judgment Seat of Christ (not condemnation), where their works after conversion will be evaluated for reward or loss of reward — we are called to build on the foundation of Christ with gold, silver, and precious stone, not wood, hay, and straw.
- The Great White Throne Judgment is a sentencing, not a trial — the unsaved are judged by their deeds recorded in God’s perfect books, and no human status, argument, or self-righteousness can protect them.
- The only escape from God’s wrath is trusting in Jesus Christ alone, whose death on the cross absorbed the full penalty of sin so that our names may be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Application: We are called to examine ourselves honestly before God, ensure our trust is fully in Christ and not in our own goodness, and then boldly share the gospel with others — letting the weight of God’s Word do its work in their hearts.
Discussion Questions:
- How does the certainty of God’s final judgment change the way you think about sin in your daily life?
- As a believer, how does the reality of the Judgment Seat of Christ motivate you to invest your gifts, time, and resources in kingdom work rather than living for yourself?
- Is there someone in your life who needs to hear the warning and hope of Revelation 20? What is holding you back from sharing it with them?
Scripture Focus: Revelation 20:11-15 reveals the Great White Throne Judgment and the Book of Life. 2 Corinthians 5:10 and 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 describe the Judgment Seat of Christ for believers. John 8:24 warns that dying in sin leads to condemnation, while Romans 5:8 and 6:23 declare the gift of eternal life through Christ’s substitutionary death.
Outline
- Introduction
- The Certainty of Judgment
- Sin’s Tipping Point
- The Judgment Seat of Christ for Believers
- The Great White Throne: The Judge
- The Judged: Who Stands Before the Throne
- How the Dead Are Judged
- The Book of Life
- The Second Death: Final Destiny of the Unsaved
- The Cross: The Only Way of Escape
Introduction
Morning everyone. Let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to Revelation 20.
You may also want to bring 2 Corinthians. I’m going to be looking at that. 2 Corinthians 5. So you may want to find that also.
All right. Let me have a word of prayer and then we’ll look at Revelation this morning. Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you again for bringing us together. Thank you for the joyous events that you give us in our life to celebrate—things like marriage and children being born. Lord, even celebrating people coming to Christ, growing in the Lord, children coming to Christ, and Lord, people growing and maturing and becoming people of God and becoming light and salt in the world.
I pray you would continue to do that right before our eyes and never forget that you are still working. Even though the world is getting more corrupt, you are still working. Your light is still working through the gospel. People are still getting saved.
People are still walking in the waters of baptism, giving testimony to the great things you’ve done. Your people are still praising your name and singing from their hearts of the great things you’ve done and how great you are as our God and our Lord and our Savior.
Thank you, Lord, for all that you give to us. Thank you for the word of God that we’re able to read and get the sense of your mind on what you’re doing and how your plans are working out. You’re not done with them yet, but you will be someday, Lord.
Thank you, Lord, we’re part of that. It’s an exciting time to live. I pray, Lord, that you continue to grow us in our knowledge and wisdom of Christ so we become strong soldiers in this world where we’re not tossed to and fro by every wind of teaching. I pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.
Revelation 20, the last passage of scripture from verse 11 through verse 15. But before I go there, this passage of scripture is very sobering because it is talking about judgment.
In the gospel of John we learn that the Father does not judge anyone. He has given all judgment to the Son.
The Certainty of Judgment
And this section of scripture right here in Revelation speaks of judgment that is personal and judgment that is final.
You’re going to see that it’s not a trial going on in these passages to discover whether a person is guilty or not. It is actually a sentencing, a pronouncement of judgment by the Lord God Almighty upon the ungodly and their doom.
There’s an attitude though today in the world that they think that there will be no judgment, that God is just going to overlook things, that there won’t be any requirements or accounting of one’s life before a sovereign judge. People actually live in that sphere. A lot of people live in that sphere.
No matter what people think, they don’t have the final word on things. The scriptures have really given us a sufficient amount of warning that there will be a judgment someday.
In that judgment, the distinction between what is hidden and what is public and private collapses when everything is made open and bare before the one in whom we have to do.
Scripture is clear that judgment is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when. I’m talking about the final judgment. That’s what we see in Revelation—a final judgment.
Jesus taught of a future judgment. Even in Matthew 7, he said, “Many will say to me, on that day, that’s the day of judgment. Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.”
The Apostle Paul also taught future judgment. He says in Romans 2, “On that day when according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.”
Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, taught of a future judgment when he said in chapter 17, “Because God has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.”
Even the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 9:27 says, “Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and then what? After this comes judgment.”
The book of Ecclesiastes even tells us that God will bring every act to judgment—everything that is hidden, whether it’s good or evil.
Scripture presents judgment as a very old, very consistent, very sobering truth.
“Scripture presents judgment as a very old, very consistent, very sobering truth.”
There will be no event like it. It will take place and there is no one, no event, nothing to stop it. It is unavoidable. It’s an unavoidable truth in scripture.
In other words, we all have to put ourselves in the equation and ask ourselves, where do we stand with God today? Where do we stand with Jesus Christ today?
Death is really not the great leveler. Judgment is the great leveler because judgment is the one that actually sends a person either into glory to be with Christ forever or sends them away from a loving God forever.
“Judgment is the great leveler — it sends a person either into glory with Christ forever or away from a loving God forever.”
God has given his son to execute judgment. Why? Because he is the son of man.
No one can argue at all that an appointment with death is going to be escaped. Someday your name and my name will appear as deceased in an obituary section of a newspaper or on a media site.
What will be the verdict? Will your eternal destiny be in the last judgment?
Sin’s Tipping Point
So on our way to understand what it is saying here, let me just kind of illustrate it in this way. There’s such a thing as a tipping point.
There are many areas of science that teach about tipping points. For example, a tipping point in physics is when adding a small amount of weight to a balanced object causes the object to suddenly topple out of control.
There is a tipping point in the field of thermodynamics. The tipping point is known as the phase transition.
It’s a formation of the thermodynamic system from one phase to another where the physical properties may undergo an abrupt change. For example, when water turns to vapor at a boiling point, there’s a specific time when it switches from not boiling to boiling.
Even in calculus, the tipping point is known as the inflection point. The point of inflection is a point on a curve at which the curvature changes from concave upwards or downward, or vice versa.
And even in theology, there is also a tipping point. This comes when the holiness of God says it’s enough.
In this case, the tipping which tips the scale is sin.
So we call it sin’s tipping point.
It is the point of God’s judgment in which a long-suffering God, a patient God as portrayed in scripture, says it’s enough. In other words, it is the point determined by God alone in which he, because of his holy character, must finally judge sin.
“The tipping point is the point determined by God alone in which he, because of his holy character, must finally judge sin.”
And there are many examples in scripture of a particular turning point or a tipping point.
One familiar one is when Abraham in the Old Testament was visited by the angel of the Lord.
The angel of the Lord said to Abraham, “We’re coming because there’s an outcry indeed in Sodom and Gomorrah.” Scripture says, “Their sin is exceedingly great in that city.” Remember what Abraham said to the Lord. He said, “If there are 50 righteous people, will you hold judgment?” The Lord says, “Not for 50.” He said, “For 45, not for 45. For 40, not for 40. For 30, not for 30. For 20, not for 20.” And Abraham says, “Lord, this last time, can I ask you this last time?
What if 10 righteous people are in the city? Will you hold judgment?” God says, “For 10, I will not.” When Abraham woke up the next morning, all he saw in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah was smoke.
In fact, there were only four people delivered from Sodom and Gomorrah: Lot, his two daughters, and his wife.
The angel said to them as they left Sodom and Gomorrah, “Don’t look back. Escape for your life and don’t look behind you and do not stay anywhere in the valley. Escape to the mountains or you’ll be swept away.”
Remember what happens. Lot’s wife looks back and she’s immediately turned into a pillar of salt.
See, that’s an example of the tipping point of sin.
Sin reached heaven from Sodom and Gomorrah and God held judgment on it.
Why did he do that? He had to do it because he is holy and he has a system of justice and holiness. That system of justice and holiness must be satisfied.
“God’s justice must be satisfied.”
God’s justice must be satisfied.
The Judgment Seat of Christ for Believers
Now, what about Christians? What about them?
Now, just very quickly, I want you to turn over to 2 Corinthians 5:10 because there are some examples for the position that future judgment is in a number of phases with the great white throne judgment being the last of them.
But one of the ones I want to look at is where Christian judgment will happen.
And this takes place in heaven as it now exists.
And it says in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in his body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
So I do want you to see that while no Christian will endure the wrath of God, our works after we become believers will be tested by God.
With all the groaning and burdens of life, our lives must be lived before the eyes of the one who matters the most, and that’s the Lord Jesus Christ.
In fact, the phrase “the judgment seat of Christ” comes from the Greek term we get the word bema, or the bema seat. It’s the seat of judgment. It’s a judicial bench.
The whole picture of the judgment seat of Christ really comes straight out of the athletic games in the New Testament world. After the races and the games concluded, a dignitary or even the emperor himself would get up from his throne and evaluate the winners. They would be given a reward, and those who didn’t do well would not be given a reward.
So all believers will face an evaluation before Jesus.
All the church age believers and those true believers who died before Jesus’ death and resurrection will face this judgment.
There are several facts about this judgment. Jesus’ evaluation of our lives is not to determine whether we enter heaven or not. The issue of our eternal destiny was settled when we repented of our sins and believed in Jesus and received eternal life by faith alone and through grace alone.
Also, we Christians will not face condemnation or punishment for our sins when we stand before Jesus.
“We Christians will not face condemnation or punishment for our sins when we stand before Jesus.”
God has promised that no condemnation will ever fall on those who are in Christ by faith.
Also, the evaluation will focus on what we did in life.
What did we do with our gifts? What did we do with our resources? Did we give them to the Lord or did we just live for ourselves?
Also, the outcome of the evaluation will be either reward or loss of reward, above and beyond eternal life.
Building on the Right Foundation
Now, just look at 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.
I want you to see in this passage of scripture because I want to give you some background to let you know why believers in Christ Jesus will not be at the great white throne judgment, which I’m going to look at in a second.
It says in verse 10 of 1 Corinthians 3. According to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise master builder, I laid the foundation and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which was laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Verse 12. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay or straw, each man’s work will become evident for that day or the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. In verse 14, if any man’s work which he has built on remains, it will receive a reward. And if any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss. But if you notice the last part of verse 15, he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
So the believer is not going to lose their eternal salvation, but he is going to lose some type of reward that God wants to give us. And reward is a motivator.
The Lord doesn’t want us sitting on our hands. He wants us to be out there working for him. He wants us to be engaged in what? In the study of God’s word, in witnessing to other people, in growing ourselves to maturity, in contributing and using our gifts in the church to build it up. All those things are going to be evaluated so nobody gets away with anything.
You and I are building on God’s construction project.
The foundation of the building was laid when Jesus died on the cross. Each one of us is building upon it either with gold, silver, or costly stone. That means these are precious things. That’s God-honoring motives, walking in the spirit, personal integrity and holiness, joyful obedience to the Lord and other things that would go with that.
Or you’re building with wood, hay, and straw. These are things that are not permanent. They’re perishable things. They’re going to get burned up quickly by God’s judgment. And those are sinful pursuits, selfish motives, pride-filled actions, underhanded manipulation, laziness, worldliness, not listening and obeying the word of God, grieving God’s spirit, quenching God’s spirit.
All those things are a posture that goes on too much. We may have to even question whether the person is really a believer.
If today you are seeking to serve God with commitment and in obedience, you are building with the right stuff.
“If today you are seeking to serve God with commitment and in obedience, you are building with the right stuff.”
If you are coasting along with no desire for spiritual growth or any demonstration of sacrificial ministry to others, you’re building God’s house with the wrong stuff.
The fact remains that you’ll give an account as a believer. I will give an account as a believer as to how I and you lived our lives. What we did for Christ after conversion.
Now that becomes very serious if we’re going to stand and be evaluated before the Lord and we his children are going to come before him and we are going to be called to account for what we did with our knowledge of the word of God.
The Great White Throne: The Judge
We have to examine ourselves as Christians. Christians are going to be examined before the Lord, but that’s before the judgment that I’m going to speak of now. That was kind of an introduction to where I’m heading.
Let’s look back at Revelation 20:11. The first thing we see in verse 11 is the description of the one who actually judges. We’re talking about the judge.
If you notice in verse 11 of Revelation 20, it says, “Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them.”
The one who sits on the throne is God, and Revelation already pictured Christ as the one who stands in the center of the throne. In other words, the Father, the Son, and even in Revelation 6, the Spirit are all present. The trinity of God is present in this judgment.
Revelation 22:1 tells us, “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” The Lamb, Jesus Christ, is pictured here as the one who was slain before the foundation of the world and the one who is also given the authority to judge those before him.
This throne seems to be a very special place where the judgment of unbelievers is to take place because it tells us several things about the throne.
Number one, it’s a great throne. That means it pictures the immensity and the majesty of the throne by extension and the one who sits upon it.
Perhaps it includes the dignity of the judge, the greatness of the occasion in which the judge will judge, and the vastness of the audience, especially the eternal consequences that are involved when the judge pronounces judgment. It is a very weighty scene, and it’s meant to be that way. When we read scripture, it’s meant to lay heavy on your heart.
For what reason? Make sure you’re not there. That’s the reason. Make sure you’re not there at this judgment.
It is God who will have the last word according to this passage of scripture.
“It is God who will have the last word.”
The Throne Described
Another thing it says about this throne is that it’s white.
That’s the picture of purity. It’s the picture of holiness.
It’s the picture of the righteousness of God. It’s also the picture of triumph.
Someone who sits on the throne has ruling authority, and it also may denote a justice without mercy.
There will be no altar or sacrifice or blood that will protect the guilty or satisfy the wrath of God against sin.
“There will be no altar or sacrifice or blood that will protect the guilty or satisfy the wrath of God against sin.”
Everything of all of that is done. It’s in the past.
Also, the presence of God is there. The judge has an awesome presence, and what happens in his presence is that the heaven and the earth flee away.
The Old Heaven and Earth Pass Away
So this old earth that we are all occupying right now at this judgment will pass away.
See, what happens is the judge is so awesome that at his presence the heavens and the earth flee away. The old heavens and the old earth that we know of are gone, and that is really pointing to the end of the age and the beginning of a new age.
The environmentalists need to get this. I mean, we need to take care of our earth, but global warming, global cooling, climate change—all those things. What it says in the word of God is true. Isaiah says the earth will wear out like an old garment.
Psalms tells us it will wear out like a garment.
The book of Romans says, “The creation groans for redemption.” And the passage of scripture we read in our morning scripture reading says, “But by his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly men.”
So this heaven and earth that we know of will flee away, and there will be no place found for the old heaven and the old earth anymore. In other words, this heaven and the earth that we see every day and we’re on is disposable.
God is just going to get rid of it and all the corruption that goes with it. And this is the point: God is going to get rid of all evil, all corruption, everything is going to go.
“God is going to get rid of all evil, all corruption — everything is going to go.”
In fact, Revelation 21:1 says, “Then I saw a new heaven, a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.” So yes, brethren, there is a new age dawning after this great white throne judgment.
In fact, the great white throne judgment is located somewhere in limitless space outside of human history.
So every sinner will be brought before the judgment seat.
And Jesus Christ, who before came as a savior offering salvation from the condemnation of sin, will be the judge.
And the word of God says every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. So if God cannot be glorified in salvation, if he cannot be glorified in the salvation of sinners by their surrender to him and to the gospel, then he will be glorified by their damnation.
The Judged: Who Stands Before the Throne
So that is the judge. Now let’s look at the judged.
In verses 12 and 13, at least the first part of these two verses, it says in verse 12, “And I saw the dead, the great and small, standing before the throne.” And then in verse 13, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it.”
Now keep in mind that there is a different destiny for the saved and the unsaved. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body until the future resurrection summons that body out of the grave.
Here we see the second resurrection, and it includes all unrighteous dead from all ages. Those include those who join forces with the devil and perished in the final rebellion after the millennium, and the rest of the dead who had no part in the first resurrection before the millennium.
If you’re part of the first resurrection, then you were part of God’s people. That comes before the great white throne. If a person is part of the second resurrection, then they are part of this judgment that we’re looking at.
In other words, the resurrection of believers occurs before the millennium while the resurrection of unbelievers occurs after the thousand years. That’s implied in the second resurrection.
There are two things about the dead who are resurrected for their judgment. Number one, if you notice in verse 12, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne,” their position in life is no consideration during the day of judgment.
The great are the people who had it great in this world—people who had authority and influence and wealth. And there are the small too who stand before him. Their position doesn’t come into play in the judgment.
These dead come from all classes and conditions of humanity. But just to make a note, they are all standing before God here, which indicates that they’re all going to be sentenced.
“They are all standing before God — which indicates that they are all going to be sentenced.”
The picture is that of a judge. Even our own court system tells us that a person being judged or sentenced is asked to do one thing before the judge: stand up. And that’s what we have here—them standing before this judge with sentence about to be pronounced on them.
There’s another thing about verse 13. The method of burial or death has nothing to do with God’s power to raise them for judgment day. It says, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it.” And then it goes on to say, “And death and hell gave up the dead which were in them.”
It doesn’t really matter how a person dies. It doesn’t matter when they die. It doesn’t matter if they were chopped to pieces or eaten by sharks or died a natural death. God is going to be able to raise all people up and bring all the molecules together and have them stand right in front of him.
That’s the power of God. How a person dies and what condition they die in have no bearing at all on God bringing their body and soul together and raising them from the dead.
Now they have resurrected bodies standing before him. They can no longer die anymore.
Although the great white throne is not a trial—which I’ve been saying, there are no lawyers, there are no witnesses—God has made provision for the records to be kept, which will be presented as evidence in this judgment.
How the Dead Are Judged
So that brings me to the third thing.
How are the dead actually judged? Now here’s the picture.
We have everyone being resurrected who died who didn’t believe in Jesus Christ in the first resurrection. Now this is the second resurrection. God brings them to life, stands them before him.
Now they have a new body, a body that cannot die anymore.
And notice what it says in verse 12, the second part of the verse.
This is how the dead are judged. It says, “And books were open, and another book was open, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds.”
Now here we see that the wicked will be judged by their works. By their deeds, their works are evaluated and judgment is given according to their works.
Meaning this: that God is a fair judge.
He’s a fair judge. And even after their life is ended, there will be degrees of judgment for unbelievers from the judge who has perfect records of your life.
“God is a fair judge — there will be degrees of judgment for unbelievers from the judge who has perfect records of your life.”
In verse 13 it says, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds.” So anybody who was cast into hell, which is a temporary place, after they died, their soul was kept there. Those who died in the Lord, their soul was kept with the Lord.
But now they’re resurrected. Their body and soul come together and they stand before the judge.
And the thing about this is the judge has perfect record books.
See the divine records of people’s life history will be available for inspection.
And the Bible actually says here that there are two books that come out. The record books, the divine books of people’s life history will be inspected.
And that means that the record of each human being has been kept in God’s books.
And God is an accurate bookkeeper.
The Book of Deeds
Let’s just look at the first book for a minute, the book of deeds.
And the books were open.
The record book of the deeds of people are those who have died in their sins. This is really in line with what Jesus told the people who claim to be the children of Abraham in John 8. The final spiritual state in which a person dies will determine who stands before Jesus at the great white throne judgment.
What did he say there? This is what he said to the people who were children of Abraham. They thought they were in because they were connected to Abraham. And Jesus says, “Oh, no, you’re not.”
He says, “I go away and you will seek me and die in your sin.” And then he says this in John 8:24: “Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”
In other words, there’s only two ways to die. You either die in your sin and you pay for them, or you die in the Lord and he’s paid for your sin. There’s no in between.
You must really evaluate yourself to see what group am I in and be honest enough to know that the Lord knows everything going on in our life. So there’s only two conditions a person can die: you die in your sins or you die in the Lord.
You are not forgiven and still condemned in your sins at your death. So you are not free to go into the holy presence of God because you remain in your sins at death.
You must pay the penalty for your sins.
The unsaved are judged for their own righteousness. However, their own righteousness can’t save them.
When you talk to people about the Lord and ask if they were to die today, do you go to heaven and stand before God, and God would say, “Why should I let you in?” They say, “Well, I’m a good person.”
It’s good to be good, but being a good person will not save you. It will not wash away your sin. It will not make you right with God. That’s not what makes you right with God.
If you die in the Lord, he took your payment. Jesus died in your place for your sins and paid the full price and the just penalty for each one of them.
So you’re forgiven. You’re uncondemned in your death. And so free to go into the presence of God in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, not in your own righteousness, in his righteousness, because Jesus paid the penalty for your sin.
Even Revelation tells us in chapter 14: blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.
This first book of the two books is the book of man’s works. The record book of the deeds of the people who died in their sins. A record of the people’s deeds are kept by God.
It contains things like memories that you forgot about but the Lord didn’t. Things happening in your conscience, sinful acts, motives, your character, words spoken and thoughts thought.
Scripture makes consistent reference to the register of human actions all throughout scriptures. Even what it says in Matthew is a kind of shocking thing where Jesus says, “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Could you imagine the words that we speak? How many words we speak? Some people speak a lot more than others, and we’re going to be judged by what we say and how we say it and the attitude in which we present it to other people.
The times we cursed God under our breath, those things are not forgotten by the Lord. All everything is being recorded.
If that’s not a sobering thought, nothing is.
So the books were opened. And they were judged out of those things according to what they did. They were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds.
“They were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds.”
Secret Sins and God’s Perfect Records
And that God is able to reach back into a person’s life and to retrieve buried memories, half-hearted desires, and will bring every single one of them to an accurate and utterly faithful assessment at this divine justice, judgment seat.
See, the people’s deeds are all written down very carefully by God. Did you ever think of that? Did you ever think how serious sin is?
If sin is this serious to God, how do we take sin and just blow things off? Oh, that’s no big deal. To God, it’s a very big deal.
See, secret sins will be brought to judgment. God knows your secret sins.
“Secret sins will be brought to judgment. God knows your secret sins.”
God’s not blind to them. All of them are recorded and one day will be read openly. Your skeletons will come out of the closets. The torment of secret sins will be felt.
And any time we think of such weighty scenes like these must bring some trembling, some anxiety, some torment to the soul that would take place in our hearts and our minds as we hear and as we ponder our own sinfulness.
But there’s another thing in this judgment. Nobody’s talking. The people standing before God say nothing. They have no defense because this is not a trial.
These are people who will be judged rightly and justly by God because of his perfect righteousness and justice. The judgment will take place according to written evidence, and the sentence for each rests upon written evidence.
In fact, uncommitted sins will be judged. Unintentional sins will be judged. See, God knows what is perfectly going on in each person’s heart.
They are judged according to written evidence, and therefore their sentence rests upon what is written. Accurate wages.
The Wages of Sin
And it has been said that every person who goes to the lake of fire makes his own way and pays their own ticket. That they are only receiving their proper wages and getting what is their due.
Romans 6 says the wages of sin is death. And that’s not just physical death. That’s spiritual death, and the worst of it is eternal death. And that’s what will happen here: eternal death.
But on the other hand, those who trust in Christ alone for eternal salvation escape the wages and instead get the rest of the verse. The gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
“Those who trust in Christ alone for eternal salvation escape the wages and instead receive the gift of God — eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
See, this is the age that we’re living in now of open mercy, open grace. Anywhere, anyone—whoever you are—can come and believe in Christ. They could be saved and forgiven. They could be reconciled to God right now. They can escape this judgment.
And you who already know him can tell others who come into your life, who don’t know him yet, because you can tell them there’s coming a day of this kind of judgment. And I pray that it would produce fear in their heart and ask the right questions.
The Book of Life
Well, beside that record book, the record book of deeds, there’s another record book that will be open at the judgment. And it is the book of life.
This could be the final humiliation, the final condemnation, the final blow to every sinner at the terrible judgment before Jesus in the great white throne. What’s the purpose of this book? It’s God’s final answer to every plea of a sinner.
When the book of life is closed, the mercy is gone forever. Notice in verse 12, it says, “And another book was opened which is the book of life.” But this book is not a book of deeds or works. This is a book of names. This is the record book of names, not deeds.
See, the book of life comes into the discussion only to show that the names of these dead are not written there.
“The book of life comes into the discussion only to show that the names of these dead are not written there — it contains the names of all who have true spiritual life.”
It contains names of all who have true spiritual life. And if you take your Bibles for a minute, I hope you look using your Bibles so you can see for yourself. If you look back to Revelation 3:5, notice what it says there.
In verse 5 of chapter 3, it says, “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments and I will not erase his name from the book of life. And I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” Then look over to Revelation 13:8 because this book uniquely belongs to the Lamb of God and it’s related to his death. Notice what it says in verse 8 of chapter 13: “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.”
So this book of life is connected to Jesus Christ. Those who believe in Jesus Christ have their names written in this book. Don’t you want your name written in that book? I hope you do.
And then look at Revelation 21:27 because your name must be written in this book in order for you to enter the heavenly city. Revelation 21:27 says, “And nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it. That’s the eternal city. But only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
You want to come into my city? Let me see if your name is here. I don’t seem to find it. Or, oh, I see it right here. Come on in.
See, the picture in the mind of the writer was in the ancient city. When a city was built, there was a roll of citizens’ names that belonged to that city. Those written on the rolls had free passes into and out of the city. They could come and go as they wanted.
It’s the same with the people of God.
Is Your Name Written There?
Those who are in Jesus Christ, their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. That means they’re on the membership roll, and it’s like the old hymn that says, “When the roll is called up yonder.” When the roll of those who are in the book is called up yonder, what does it say? “I’ll be there, I’ll be there.”
It’s a sobering thought to know that your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
The only way you can be confident of that is if you yourself know that there came a day when you repented of your sin and your philosophy of life. You repented of anything you were trusting in to save your soul, and you turned and trusted in Jesus Christ alone. That’s the only way your name’s going to get there.
So if when you enter the kingdom of God your name’s going to be there, then what you have to do is rejoice.
Don’t rejoice if it’s not there. And don’t rejoice if you’re not sure it’s there. Rejoice because it’s there.
That’s what it says in the Gospel of Luke when Jesus says, “Nonetheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits were subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” That’s where you need to rejoice.
That’s what causes rejoicing today: sins forgiven, your name’s written down in heaven.
“That’s what causes rejoicing today — sins forgiven, your name written down in heaven.”
You’re the possessor of eternal life. You’re a partaker of the divine nature. You’re born of God. You’ve passed out of condemnation into everlasting life. That is a blessed state to be in, and it’s a state that causes you to rejoice all your life because you could never have saved yourself. You’re delivered from the wrath of God that we see here in this passage of scripture.
I pray today that your salvation would never be commonplace. Every time you think of how God saved you, may you experience fullness of joy and express your joy in verbal praise.
Some may ask the question: what are you getting saved from?
You’re getting saved from God’s standard of justice. You’re getting saved from the tipping point which God must judge all sin.
The reason why you are saved is because Christ took the righteousness of God and paid the full payment of your condemnation. He paid for the wrath of God that should have been poured out on you, but was poured out on Christ so you can have eternal life. Your names can be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life so that you can have hope and experience fullness of joy.
I remember witnessing to this woman. We had an appointment with her in her living room, but I ended up at her kitchen table. She was armed for us. She knew we were coming, and she had a stack of tracks and information that she was going to refute everything we said.
We sat there and laid out the gospel of Jesus Christ to her. I thought to myself, what if I just open up Revelation 20 and read it to her?
Me and another man were there at her table. All I did was open up Revelation 20 and read it to her, and those words hit her like a ton of bricks.
She just bowed her head and trusted Christ that day at her table. She knew she was guilty. There were no arguments. She never opened up her literature. She never refuted us.
I just let the tiger out of the cage and the tiger did its job. That was 35 years ago, and she’s still walking with the Lord today.
The power of God’s word to move somebody, to convince somebody, to bring somebody to the place where they know for sure they have eternal life is not based on anything they could have ever done. It’s based solely on Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross of Calvary where he shed his blood.
When you trusted in him, your sins are washed away forever. They will never come up against you and condemn you ever.
The Second Death: Final Destiny of the Unsaved
There’s one last thing in our passage and I’m closing. Notice in verses 14 and 15 of Revelation 20.
It says in verse 14, here’s the destiny of those who are judged. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
Now verse 15 says, “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Don’t think that the second death is in some sense annihilation, which is being taught today. You’re not going to be annihilated. It’s also not talking about ceasing to exist.
You’re created in the image of God. The day you were created in the image of God, you were created for eternity. That’s why hell and the lake of fire are eternal. Heaven’s eternal because we are eternal beings.
They can kill our body, but they can’t kill our soul. God brings soul and body back together and resurrects them for eternal life. He resurrects them for eternal damnation.
Don’t ever think that it’s talking about annihilation. The second death is a separation from the love of God forever. It’s conscious torment in a resurrected body that cannot die, that also allows you to remember everything in your life. The second death is conscious torment for all eternity.
“The second death is a separation from the love of God forever — conscious torment for all eternity.”
Death and Hades join the false trinity. That’s the antichrist and the false prophet and Satan himself. They are thrown into the lake of fire because God is going to eradicate all evil for all eternity.
These people’s names are not written in the book of life because they rejected God’s call of repentance. Both the saved and the unsaved have responded to the call of God and the sacrifice of the lamb. The response has determined their destinies.
Where are they going to end up? The saved escape the second death and have eternal life with Christ forever in his kingdom. They enjoy eternal bliss.
But the unsaved, on the basis of their rejection, on the basis of their choices, on the basis of their deeds, their sin, and their judgment under a sovereign God, are heading for eternal torment where there is no mercy, there is no love of God, there is no grace. There is only the wrath of God.
No Middle Ground
There’s no middle ground in scripture. There’s no purgatory. There’s no limbo. There’s no dying and no second chance. There’s none of that in scripture.
This is all you got. You got one chance. I have one chance.
When we hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, we believe it or we don’t.
“We have one chance — when we hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, we believe it or we don’t.”
Right now the grace of God is flourishing throughout the world. It’s being preached all over the world.
Really, people have no excuse not to come to Christ.
But don’t do it because I said anything. Do it because the word of God says that God says what’s going to happen.
I pray you avoid that place by trusting fully in Christ today.
The Cross: The Only Way of Escape
Where do you stand before his holy justice? Really, honestly, where do you stand? The God who demonstrated great love showed that the only way to escape this judgment, his own wrath, is by the cross of Jesus Christ. That’s what makes the cross so special and so central to our faith.
On that cross, as Romans 5:8 says, God demonstrated his love toward us. While we were yet sinners, what happened? He died for us—the perfect God-man, sinless, died the just for the unjust. He died for us so we can be with him.
See that? That is amazing. He died for the ungodly. He died for the unrighteous. He died for the sinner. He did not die for the righteous man, the one who thinks he can get to God on his own.
There are no righteous men before God. He died for the ones who needed his death. He died for us who were helpless to save ourselves.
He died for us to rescue us so we would never have to endure his wrath because he took it for us. That’s the only way to escape.
“He died for us to rescue us so we would never have to endure his wrath, because he took it for us.”
So where do you stand today? Heavy message, sober message, but a needed one.
This all puts us in a place to know God is serious about sin. He’s serious about where you end up, and he doesn’t want you to end up in hell. But the only way you can avoid that is by running to Christ today.
Run to Christ with all your sin. Run to Christ with all your baggage. Run to him because he says, “If you do that, I will in no wise cast you out. You come and you’ll find rest for your souls because you’ll find that I’m gentle and I have meekness of heart. I’m the one who died in your place to save you and make you right with God.”
That’s the only way to live. Then what? You can truly rejoice from your heart, knowing that you never deserved salvation, but by the love of God he gave it to you. Amen.
Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you again for the weightiness of the word of God. Lord, we live in a day where there’s a lot of foolishness, a lot of silliness, a lot of conjecture, very little fact. A lot of things that are said today are not backed up by truth.
Yet, Lord, we come to your word and we get a passage like this and we realize that you are the judge. If we are going to be made right with you, we must come to Christ. He is the answer.
There is no other way to be saved. There is no other way to be forgiven. There’s no other way to come in your presence someday so that our destiny would be that our names are written in the book of life because of what Christ has done for us.
Oh Lord, please save those whose names are not there. I pray their names would end up there by their trust and faith in Christ, by their repentance of their sin, by their leaving what they’re trusting in to save their soul, by their wrong thinking about the way they die or where they go when they die.
Change all that, Lord, and help them to look to Christ and call upon you as their Lord and Savior. I pray this today in the precious and holy name of Jesus Christ.