The Judgement Seat of Christ - Part 1 — Leonard Ravenhill

The Revelation of Jesus Christ and the Apocalypse

And very often you notice preachers call this the book of the revelation of St. John. That is not the title. It's the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's called to the scholars the Apocalypse or again the revelation means the unfolding, the taking away of the veil as it were.

The Finality of Judgment and the Loss of the Unrepentant

I find the book of the revelation a book of mystery, a book of majesty, and a book of misery. Because it shows me the final stage of lost men that forever and ever they're going to be cut off from God.

That if there are a million roads into hell, there's not one road out. That if they continually sing in heaven worthy as the lamb in hell, the only thing they sing is the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we're not saved.

Reading Revelation 17–20 and the Blessing of Hearing God's Word

And I suggest to you in these awesome days of such universal chaos in morals, in politics, in economics, that maybe every day this coming week you should read the 17th and 18th and 19th chapters of the book of the revelation.

You know this book has an imprint on it that no other book has in the whole of the Word of God. Because in chapter 1 verse 3 it says blessed is he that readeth and they that hear. There's a lot of people that read, but they don't hear.

Blessed is he that readeth and heareth the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand. Let's go to the 20th chapter in this book. Revelation 20 and read from verse 11.

The Great White Throne and the Lake of Fire

And I saw a great white throne and him that sat upon it from whose face the heavens and the earth fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened.

And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell were delivered up the dead which were in them.

And they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Christ as the Foundation and the Judgment of Believers' Works

Step over a minute into the third chapter of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 3, and we read there from verse 9. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 9. For we are laborers together with God, ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it. Because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

If any man's work abide which he buildeth thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, that he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Now back to Revelation chapter 20 again.

The Meaning of the Great White Throne Judgment

The judgment of the sinners. I saw a great white throne, typical obviously of purity, and him that sat upon it. Now we read these things and they kind of slide over our minds, but listen to the awesomeness of this.

From whose face the heavens and the earth fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened. Various titles have been given to this awesome event.

John Wesley called it the greater size. Billy Sunday, in his wonderful way, called it payday Sunday. A cowboy preacher preaching on it called it the last roundup. You could call it, if you like, a date with destiny.

Or better still, or more awesome still, you could call it a day with destiny. Or if you like, you could call it your day in court. Now this book begins, the book of the Revelation, by telling us these things will shortly come to pass, and that was 2 ,000 years ago.

Seeking New Illumination on the Truth of Judgment

In a very brief, but very brilliant biography of one of the greatest preachers that ever preached in America or England, the biographer says that this man, well, he had strange habits, and one of them was to carry in the right-hand pocket of his coat a handful of precious stones, a diamond, an amethyst, a sapphire, a ruby, an emerald, and so forth.

To add to his strange ways, he would walk into a park where people were going up and down, and he would put his hand in his pocket and take one of those precious stones, and then he would hold it up to the light of the sun, and he would lower it, and higher it, and seek this different shades from it, or different illuminations from it.

And people would go past, particularly children, and you know, they'd do this, you know, they'd do that, you know. I don't mind people doing that. If they want to point to their own heads, that's okay.

They point to mine, it's something else, but the children were doing this, you know, there's something strange about that man. And there's an old saying that Potter envies Potter. Preachers don't usually criticize singers, they criticize preachers.

Singers criticize singers. Potter envies Potter. And these preachers were sitting around a table one day, eating in England, and they began to discuss this famous preacher. And one of them said, I heard him the other night, he was awesome, he lifted us into eternity, he has a vast vocabulary.

I hardly knew whether I was in the body or out of the body. And then my little boy said he'd seen him in the park, playing again, like a child plays with marbles, playing with precious stones. A hymn writer wrote about the Bible, and he called it a golden casket where gems of truth are stored.

It is the heaven-drawn picture of Christ, the living Word. There are roughly three-quarters of a million words in the Bible. I suggest that like that man selected his stone and lifted it up to the light of the sun, that we select one word out of this golden casket, and that word is judgment.

And we hold it up to the light of eternity. And you can tell God you're not concerned about what this preacher says, but say, Lord, give me some new illumination on this awesome fact of judgment. I thought repeatedly this week of that awesome sermon, one of the greatest ever preached in America.

Jonathan Edwards and Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Back in the 1700s, it was preached by Jonathan Edwards. We're told he brought his manuscript, and he had a candle there, and he wasn't very good-looking, and he had a big nose, and he thumbed, and he read with monotonous, you know, routine.

He read that sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And people fell off their seats, and they clung to the pillars that were holding the gallery up. And he didn't say, oh friends, please excuse me.

I never meant to embarrass you.