Christ of the Great White Throne — E.A. Johnston

The Great White Throne and the Reality of Judgment

Years ago, I was the visiting preacher in a church and I preached that Sunday morning out of the book of Revelation on the great white throne judgment and in the middle of my message God showed up and it was as if a cannonball had been shot down the center aisle of that church for the congregation looked startled and it was as if a curtain had been pulled back and we were suddenly facing the last judgment and Christ was on the throne.

And a young man came running up the aisle jumping up and down saying I just got saved. I really just got saved. And afterwards the music minister came up to me grinning and saying I saw Jesus sitting on his throne.

Revival is when Christ's preeminence is reestablished in God's sanctuary and Christ becomes prominent in the life of his saints. Well I don't know friends if we're going to have a touch revival here tonight or not because the wind blows where it will but I'm preaching out of Revelation chapter 20 on the last judgment and Christ of the great white throne and it is my prayer that God moves among us.

The Modern Church's Diminished View of God

Let me preface my sermon with an observation of the modern church because it grieves my heart. They've got such a low view of God. It seems the church today has shrunken God down to man size turned God into a jolly Santa Claus who just exists to take everyone to heaven except the devil.

You'll often hear when a person dies. Oh he's no longer in suffering now or he's looking down on us. Everyone who dies these days goes to a place of peace because God is a big love guru who'd never send anybody to hell except for really evil people like serial killers or sociopaths.

Everybody else thinks they're all going to heaven. So nobody's worried about hell because everybody's going to heaven. But there is a real hell and there is a real God of justice who will send all guilty lawbreakers there.

The sad fact is most folks don't know the Word of God and they don't know the God of the Word. So they just make up a God that won't get in the way of their daily living. Listen friends I have a serious message to bring before you tonight.

An Undiluted Gospel of the Cross

It's a solemn warning. I didn't come here to comb your hair and send you to hell with a soothing little message. Look like we say in the South. I'm going to give you the oil straight from the can because I preach a undiluted gospel of the cross of the Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm going to preach hell in eternity tonight until this place is smoking and I've got your attention. So get the wax out of your ears friends and listen up to what God has to say about death and eternity.

God willing somebody here tonight will see the Christ of the great white throne and you go to trembling and conviction of sin if you don't mind friends I'm feeling a little opposition here. I'm gonna have to pray pretty hard before I begin this message because it's a tough message to deliver and it goes against the philosophy of this world.

It goes against the popular easy believe gospel of the modern church. Look I'm a weak old man who can only cleave to Jesus. Stand on the Word of God and rely on the Spirit to move in our midst and speak to hearts and disturb folks tonight.

Prayer for Conviction and the Power of the Word

Let me pray the great God in heaven. I come before you now. Oh ancient of days empower me by your spirit to deliver this message that you put on my heart. It is my prayer that these people here don't just hear the shaky voice of a poor preacher but that some sinner here will hear your voice as it comes to them in power authority and majesty.

Oh help me Lord to hold your word like a sledgehammer and bust up every false foundation of a false faith and make your word of fire that alarms and they'll smoke out sinners from every false refuge of self-righteousness and self-reliance.

I pray great God that your Holy Spirit will attend the preached word like a like a two-edged sword and that you human down get out your divine scalpel and cut some men and women to pieces in conviction of sin.

I pray great King you open hearts reveal your son Jesus hanging on a cross as a bloody sacrifice for sin. I pray these things great God in the strong name of the Son Jesus. Amen. What if we read our Bibles friends we will find a common theme that men die and go the way the earth.

Death, Mortality, and the Coming Judgment

At the very beginning of the book of Ecclesiastes we read one generation passeth away and another generation cometh but the earth abideth forever. Go take a walk by graveyard and read the tombstones and you will soon see.

Death does not discriminate. Death visits the young as well as the old. You have appointed day to die and that day will come and you will then be separated from all those you hold dear and let loose of all you have and your body be placed in a casket to go the way the earth while your soul will end up at a future judgment where every man's eternal state will be finally determined.

God himself will be the judge whose every and every work will be brought into judgment. There'll be a courtroom scene where cases are reviewed evidence is presented arguments are made and sentences are carried out.

The prosecuting attorney will be the devil himself the accuser of the brethren. And everything done in the body will be called up again brought into the light whether it be good or evil even secret things will be exposed and reviewed on that day not only the deeds done in the body but the motives behind the deeds.

And as every person is held up against the strictness and severity of God's unbending law. If you stand there in your good works and your own merits you'll come short. You'll you'll be guilty because all have come short of the because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Listen friend you must stand there in the merits of another the Lord Jesus Christ. But very few are saved and many are deceived. You may be in perfect health as you hear my voice. But next week you may be suddenly removed from this world chased into another world that you're quite unprepared for.

In Hebrews 9 27 we read. And as it is appointed unto men wants to die. But after this the judgment we're going to focus in on that final judgment. Friends we're going to take a look at it this evening.

Ecclesiastes and the Duty to Fear God

We are reminded about it all through scripture and at the very end of the book of Ecclesiastes King Solomon was a man who had it all had seen it all had done it all and he was sick of it all and it was all vanity and vapor to him until God showed him what really mattered in life.

And he sums it up by saying. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. Then it's as if Solomon gets a glance of the great white throne which the judge of all the earth is sitting there as the angels open the books and as Solomon peers down the corridors of time and eternity and he sees that great white throne.

And he ends his remarks pointing every reader to a solemn future event. And he writes for God should bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil. Every mother's son will one day be arraigned to appear in that heavenly courtroom scene where lives would be reviewed as the risen Christ opens their personal biography with all the good with all the bad in his piercing gaze with his eyes of fire examines that exposed life beneath his intense scrutiny.

Revelation 20 and the Great White Throne

Come with me now friends as we go to the book of Revelation if you have your Bibles turn to the last book of the Bible we will be in chapter 20 will be in verses 11 through 15. Let me read this striking passage of scripture to us now friends and I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and it was found no place for them.

Let me pause here to say here is a vivid picture of a tribunal of judgment. An entire scene is so solemn and awe-inspiring that at the very appearance of the judge Jesus Christ there's a dissolution of the whole frame of nature.

The entire physical realm comes apart at the seams and as a giant ball of wax it all melts away in the very presence of a thrice holy God sitting on that pure holy white throne. Well let's return to our text friends.

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.

The Books of Judgment and God's Perfect Record

Let me pause here again friends to say what books are mentioned here. Well there's a book of remembrance with him both for good and bad. God only God not only listen to me. God not only keeps good records.

He's the keeper of those records on every single one of us from our birth to our death. It's our own definitive biography including the dark chapters. No one else knows. The book that the works are held up against is the stature book of heaven containing the rule of life in the touchstone of God's unbending law.

It's against the strictness and severity of that holy law that the hearts and lives of men are to be tried where they have be justified or condemned in its here friends it's all a mankind is brought before that judge who sits on that great white throne where every mouth will be stopped.

And the sentence of the law must be carried out upon all guilty lawbreakers. Well let's continue reading this narrative. While the whole world stands on the very verge of eternity. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works.

Every Person Before the Judgment Seat

Let me pause here friends. And let us gaze at that vast heavenly courtroom scene. There stand the dead from every generation since Adam. The antediluvians are there who drowned in the flood in the days of Noah.

The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah stand there not with boastful pride but with cringe and shame. The kings and monarchs from every generation stand there like belches are at his feast and their knees are knocking in terror.

All of Hollywood is standing there on that day. All the celebrities are there. All the famous models are there. All the great philosophers of ancient Greece stand there. All the powerful Caesars of Rome are lined up there.

All the great painters and poets and authors and composers from every generation are lined up there on that day. All the great scientists and discoverers all the kings and queens of England and the presidents of the United States.

The well-known and the unknown stand there side by side. The small and the great. Your co-workers stand there. Your neighbors stand there. Your family members stand there. Each life is reviewed by that judge.

He's no respecter of persons. He plays no favorites as he pours over the records in those books. Well let's look at verse 13. And the rest of the narrative. Friend. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it.

And death in hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works. Let me ask you friends about the time. Look let me just say this. Your works won't cut the mustard on that day.

You stand guilty like that like everyone else. For all have sinned and come ashore to the glory of God. 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.

The Book of Life and Justification by Christ

It appears out all those books that are opened. Only one really determines the eternal fate of a soul. The book of life. It's not a book of church. Member roles. No not of being a member of a church that won't save you friends.

The book of life holds the final answer. And that's this is your name written there. If not then your bound hand and foot and strong angels will cast you into the lake of fire. Only those who are written in the book of life are justified and acquitted by the judge and can enter into eternal life with nothing more to fear from death and hell.

The Heavenly Courtroom and the Need for an Advocate

John wesley called this judgment the grand assize. The assize was a court in england to administer civil and criminal law. Well picture this grand heavenly courtroom scene with that great white throne which symbolizes purity and holiness.

See the judge of all the earth there in all his regal majesty. The lord jesus christ. The angels are the bailiffs attending the books. The prosecutor is the devil. The accuser of the brethren in a great numberless crowd stands in that courtroom and observes the proceedings.

And across from that throne is a boiling lake of fire spitting flames like a restless sea casting up mire and dirt. For there is no peace for the wicked saith the lord. All of a sudden i hear my name called.

It's my turn to face that solemn judge. And as i walk over to that great white throne my knees are knocking because i know i deserve hell. As i slowly approach that bench where the judge of all the earth sits waiting for me.

The Thief on the Cross and Christ's Saving Grace

I stand there and i'm thinking of a story i heard long ago. My mind races to that story. I can picture it now. There was a man traveling through the city of st louis and it was a sunday and he was a christian.

So he parked his car at a downtown church and went inside to worship. Once he was in there he realized he was the only white person in an all-black church. So he took his seat on the back row. Up on the platform was a well-dressed elderly pastor who was speaking on his subject that morning and his subject was heaven.

He began his sermon by saying. Some folks call heaven paradise. Other folks call it abraham's bosom. I like to think of heaven this way. Here is jesus just returned from his earthly ministry. And old gabriel greets him.

Hello jesus. Sure is good to see you. Jesus. We sure missed you. Jesus welcome home. But wait. Who's that with you. It's. Is that that thief from the cross. Oh no sir no sir. We can't have no thieves up here.

He's not welcome here. Then jesus replied. Never your mind gabriel. Never your mind. And just then he reached around and placed his arm around the thief and said. Never you mind. Gabriel. He's with me.

That's the story racing through my mind as the books are opened on my life. And i stand there before that throne and before that judge because i know i'm guilty of sin time and time again. I've transgressed the law god.

I know i deserve hell. I can feel the heat of those white hot flames flicker on my back as they crackle behind me and flash in that lake of fire. I'm sweating like an eskimo on the fourth of july. And i deserve to go be thrown in those flames right alongside the devil.

And the devil's laughing at me mocking me taunting me as that prosecutor brings the evidence of my sins and brings them before me. But wait hold on a minute. I have an advocate in the courtroom. I have an advocate.

He stands up from behind that great white throne and regally he walks over to me wraps his arm around me and turns to address that vast concourse. And he cries out. He's with me by faith. My sins are washed in the blood of the lamb.

My sacrifice for sin. Why. There's a shout of hallelujah in that courtroom as the angels go to singing as they escort me into glory to be with my god forever and ever. How about you friend. Don't die on your sins and wind up in that burning lake of fire.

Salvation Through Faith in Jesus Christ

I need a substitute for sin. And so do you friend. So do you. You must get to jesus and own as your savior and lord. Listen. Good people don't go to heaven. Only forgiven people get to go there. You must be born from above and washed in the blood of the lamb.

I plead with your friends don't go to hell. Hell is a horrible place of great darkness never-ending misery. Look. Jesus is your only hope. Salvation in jesus. Salvation is jesus. He's the pearl. A great price.

He's worth selling all for and losing all for. So we may be gained. Listen friends. The gospel is for the hungry the weary and the thirsty. Let me ask you friend. Are you hungry for god. Are you sick and tired of your filthy sins.

Are you thirsty for christ. Then come to him and believe on him. The only duty required is to come. He's got a pure gospel promise to all who come. And and i will in no wise cast out. Oh dear friend. This gospel message may be the last one you ever hear.

You may be suddenly removed from this earth very shortly. Listen listen to this gospel plea. And the spirit and the bride say. Come and let him that hearsay. Come and let him. That is a thirst. Come. And whosoever will let him take the water of life freely.