Revelation 20:11-15 (The Great White Throne, Jeff Kliewer)

If you weren't here when I announced that our projector is still not working, you'll need the lyrics. In the Church Center app, we'll go to notes .cornerstonesj .org. We're gonna start our service with a few songs.

If you would stand with me. I pray, Lord, that we're ourselves wavering in the truth, that we will know beyond a shadow of a doubt, regardless of the circumstances around us, that you are God and God alone.

You are Christ, the Redeemer. You are three in one.

And that's here present with us today. And those of you who are watching via our live stream, just have a couple of announcements. First off, we're gonna be having a concert this upcoming week on Friday.

This is gonna be an evangelistic outreach for the kids. So please be in prayer for that concert, for the band Roman's Road that's coming to sing and perform, and for the kids that are gonna be coming.

We pray that kids would be saved this Friday. There's also gonna be a, we've been mentioning this the last couple of weeks, that the Book of Isaiah is gonna be taught by Pastor Jeff and Pastor John on Wednesdays.

That's gonna be starting in September. And those will be recorded as well. So if you're not able to attend, you can watch those on our YouTube channel. So you can talk to Jeff and John about that study.

We also have been mentioning about, we're gonna be offering a three-week introductory class, which we call Starting Point. Those are, that's a class that's for people that are new to Cornerstone. For those who might be interested in joining the church, that's our first point for a membership class.

Once again, you can contact Jeff and John about that. And then finally, we're gonna be having a blood drive here. And April Marino is our contact person. You can take care of everything online and sign up with American Red Cross.

Or you can talk to April here. And so it's a great opportunity to serve and help out others. So, all right, that's all I got.

Well, church, we are privileged today to have some visitors with us. Brian and Debbie Ford. Would you come on forward? Brian and Debbie are, well, Brian is the son of the Kamlins. No, Debbie is the daughter.

Yeah, I got it wrong outside too. You'd think I'd learn. We support the Kamlins in Portugal, who have been missionaries there for probably, what, 30 years or more?

25.

25 years. I'm getting everything wrong today. So, but we are privileged to have Brian and Debbie who are preparing themselves to go to the mission field. And they'll tell you what they're doing. We're thankful for them and their family here in second service.

So, Brian, it's yours.

Good morning, we are here on behalf of Missionary Aviation Repair Center. And we would like to share the vision God has placed on our lives with you guys for ministry in Alaska. So, why would a missionary airplane ever be needed in North America?

That was a question we often asked ourselves when we were hearing about ministry in the state of Alaska. But did you know that in a state that is two and a half times the size of Texas, there are fewer miles of paved roads than the smallest U .S. state of Rhode Island?

And a third of the communities in the state of Alaska don't have a church or a pastor to minister to them. My wife, Debbie, some of you may actually remember her from 1995-ish when they were here for deputation as she was a little bit older than my kids.

This is Kaylin and Noah, my two. And it's been over 10 years since the Lord has placed this calling on our lives to be missionary aviators. We were actually hearing about the ministry of Mission Aviation Fellowship at a teen Bible camp up in Punxsutawney where Groundhog Day happens.

So while we were serving as leaders, we were the ones who actually had our lives changed by the Lord's leading. Since that point in 2009, I've completed additional Bible training. I've become a licensed commercial pilot and an aircraft mechanic, while my wife, Debbie, has continued working as a nurse.

And this specific training and skill set will be utilized in the future. I'm also going to serve in the state of Alaska as I plan to serve as a maintenance specialist. Missionary Aviation Repair Center began in 1964.

It's a ministry that seeks to serve the rural communities of Alaska, which are unreachable except by airplanes. In addition to servicing our own aircraft used for ministry, MARC also currently provides inspection and repairs on airplanes of more than 10 different ministries that are used to transport hundreds of children to Bible camps each summer, pastors and other missionaries to rural villages of Alaska, as well as much-needed supplies and cargo, sometimes including fresh fruit.

MARC also operates a flight school to train local students and assist mission pilots and other pastors with keeping their training current. While I'll be focusing on work at the airport, Debbie is hoping to use her skills as a nurse in some of the...

Grandparents, great-grandparents over there. Debbie will be continuing to use, hoping to use some of her nursing skills at some of the Bible camps that we'll be serving, as well as being highly involved in schools with the kids and other community activities.

We hope that as a family, we can be involved in some of the camp ministries that we support through MARC by having our kids help and help foster in them a heart for the needs of the children of Alaska, so that they can be the ones that are developing relationships and hopefully leading some other kids to Christ.

But we cannot do this alone. We are simply hands and feet of a much larger team that will prayerfully support the continued work being done in the state of Alaska. We are seeking partners picked out for us by God.

We will be in the back area of the building or outside afterwards. We'll have more information you guys can take home and look at. We can answer questions. We can tell stories about when Debbie was a middle school kid.

I'm sorry. Thank you guys very much for listening this morning. Thank you, Pastor Jeff and Michael for helping us get set up so we can come and share.

Can we pray for you?

Absolutely. Awesome. Well, our family, we were in missions from 2004 to 16. So kids, these guys know what it's like to go to the churches and you stand in front of all these people. But the good thing is we're all partners in the gospel.

So we all are hands and feet and supporting one another in the work. Let's pray for the Fords, guys. If you wanna just close your eyes, you wanna stretch a hand out towards them or just pray in your heart for this family.

Father God, we lift this precious family up to you right now in the name of Jesus. We ask that you would strengthen them for the work you've called them to do. We pray that you would go before them, go behind them, be their rear guard, keep your hand of favor upon them and bless them in all that you've called them to do.

Lord, we pray for their support raising, that you would inspire people, maybe even right here in this room, to be supporters for this work, that they could have a hand in the gospel going to Alaska, to tribes and villages that don't have a church and don't have pastors.

Lord, that the gospel could be flown in. God, we pray for this family, that you would just bless them and keep them. Provide also prayer supporters, those who would be on their team by lifting them up regularly in prayer.

God, we lift up this family and just send them off, calling on you to give them even more grace. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you guys for visiting with us.

Before Jeff comes and opens God's word to us, we're gonna sing one more song together. If you are comfortable, you can stand with me.

The Great White Throne Judgment and the Need for Grace

Revelation 20, verses 11 to 15. You could turn there. So. Revelation 20, 11 to 15. 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. And 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.

Thanks, Ben.

Let's pray. Yes, Lord, we do pray that you would teach us holy reverence and true humility. Lord, that looking to you, we would see our desperate need for grace and be overwhelmed with gratitude for the grace you've given.

Lord, we know that we exist for the praise of your grace. Lord, we do, according to Ephesians 1 .6, praise you for your grace. We ask, Lord, that however we come here this morning, with whatever understanding of grace we bring into this room, that every person here would leave with a higher view of grace.

I pray that we would, therefore, mature in our understanding of your word. And we recognize that we cannot accomplish this. We, therefore, ask for eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart that's sensitive to your word.

Give us grace, Lord, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Desoday Erasmus of Rotterdam was the opponent who fought most fiercely with Martin Luther. At first, they were kind of on the same side because Erasmus was looking to the original sources, as Luther was.

So as the Reformation began in 1517, Luther found in Erasmus a friend, someone who was likewise interested in Reformation and things changing. However, it didn't take long before Erasmus realized what Luther was actually saying.

And so Erasmus responded to Luther's Reformation with a book called The Freedom of the Will, where he argued for human freedom. Now, Luther, in response to that, wrote a book of his own called The Bondage of the Will.

So it was kind of like a written debate. And in that introduction to The Bondage of the Will, Luther notes something about Erasmus. He says, you alone get it. You're putting your finger on the crucial spot, on the hinge upon which this entire Reformation turns.

And that was the doctrine of grace. So Erasmus and Luther had a different view of grace. Erasmus was interesting. He was a very colorful kind of guy. And one of his colorful titles for Martin Luther was Dr. Hyperbolicus, Dr. Hyperbolicus.

Because of hyperbole, he was saying that Luther was taking things too far. And in his doctrine of grace, Luther was overstating things and blowing it out of proportion, overstatement, taking it too far, hyperbole.

Well, of course, Luther thought none of that. And ultimately, I think, won the day as the Reformation conquered the Roman doctrine, which was that you had to contribute the works of the seven sacraments in order to be saved, to sustain your justification.

This was the key, the hinge of the Reformation. So today, I have a rather modest goal. When I was a younger preacher, I always hoped to convert the world. I wanted every person to get saved, and I still do.

But I figured it would happen every time I preach. And I still want that. And my goal in preaching would be that every person would agree with everything I said. As I've grown, I've realized that there is gonna be some disagreement.

So here's my modest goal. That whatever view of grace you came into this building with today, that by the scripture, it will go higher. You'll understand grace more. You'll appreciate grace more, and you'll be humbled to trust less in yourself.

My goal today is modest, but it's for each and every one of you to have a higher view of grace than the way you entered today. So we open now to Revelation chapter 20. And here we have what's frankly a terrifying passage of scripture, because we already saw the devil, the false prophet, and the antichrist thrown into a lake of fire, which is pretty terrifying.

But by the end of this passage, a majority of mankind join them there. Those who are judged by works. The road is broad that leads to destruction, and many there are that go that way. But the road to life is narrow, and few are those that find it.

And here in Revelation 20, Ben's read it for us, verse 11 to 15, we have the great white throne judgment. And any whose names are not written in the book are thrown into the lake of fire. So today, I would like to highlight five points regarding this judgment, and support those points from other scripture, hopefully bringing in a wide range of scriptures to the topic.

It's gonna be a little bit deep, but that's good, right? Anybody here wanna go a little deeper today? Want a little bit of meat that's hard to chew? You may have to go home and look these scriptures up and chew over them a little bit.

It's thrown into the lake of fire. So the picture here is not a judgment of works where some people are good enough and they make it, other people, they're judged by their works and they just don't quite measure up so they don't make it.

No, rather it says, anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. In other words, to be judged by the book of works, by the record of what you have done, means certain doom.

And doesn't that accord with what the scripture teaches? In the book of Romans chapter three, verse nine and following, we are told that there is no one who does good. There's no one who's righteous. No, not one.

All of us have become worthless, it says. The Bible says that the poison of asps is under our tongues and our throats are an open grave, not a flattering picture of the state of humanity. We are dead in our sins, according to Ephesians 2 .1, a very desperate predicament.

In fact, Isaiah 64 .6 takes it a step farther. It says, even our righteous deeds, you could fill in the blank, are like filthy rags. So if even the good things we do are still tainted with wrong motives and selfishness, if even our good acts are tainted and like filthy rags, imagine how ugly our sinful, rebellious behaviors really are.

This is the picture of the unsaved man, a person in sin, utterly dependent upon grace. So we utterly, desperately need grace. And guys, don't miss the force of Revelation 20, verses 11 to 15. The picture is hell, eternal lake of fire, and anyone whose name is not written in, the second book, the book of life, is thrown into that lake of fire.

So first we know there is an utter need for grace. Now, four points about grace. And with each one of these, I would like for you to contemplate and understand these so that your understanding of grace would rise a notch at each level.

The first, grace is unconditional. There are no conditions placed upon grace. As it pleads for us, as it accomplishes a work in us, it doesn't depend on a condition that is to be found in us. Well, is that really biblical?

Look at verse 15. It says, if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Point being, having your name written in the book means you escaped the judgment.

But when does your name get written into the book?

Flip back with me.

I will have you turn to this scripture here. And then afterwards, it's probably better just to stick in Revelation 20 because the scriptures will come quickly and you'll have to look them up later from your notes when you have more time to spend in them.

But look at Revelation 13, verse eight. When is your name written in the Lamb's book of life? All who dwell on the earth will worship it being the beast, the false prophet, the antichrist, I should say.

Everyone whose name has not been written, when? Before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. That Greek construction reads that way, that the name is written when?

Before the foundation of the world. Before any condition has been met, before you even existed to do something good or bad, to meet a condition, it says here, the names were written before the foundation of the world.

Well, someone will say, well, well and good, maybe everybody's names are written in the Lamb's book of life. And then he blots out people who don't meet a condition. Not the case in Revelation 13, I'm sorry, Revelation chapter three, verse five.

We do not find a warning and the possibility that someone can be blotted out, but rather a certain promise that the one who has genuine faith, which is a faith that conquers, a real faith, a persevering faith, a genuine overcoming faith, the promise is he will not blot your name out of the book of life.

Isn't that what it says in Revelation 3, five? He says, I will never blot his name out of the book of life. This here is a promise, not a threat. It says, I will confess his name before my father and before his angels.

So the teaching in Revelation chapter 20 is that the writing of your name in the book of life happens before you existed, before time, and you will not be blotted out because of your genuine faith. Now, where does that faith come from?

According to Ephesians chapter one, verse four, it says you also were chosen in him before the foundation of the world, that you would be holy and blameless in his sight, chosen before the foundation of the world, when your name was written, before you met any conditions.

Jacob and Esau, they struggled in the womb, fighting one another, but Romans 9, 11 says that before they were even born, before they could do anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and election might stand, he said, the older will serve the younger.

So it doesn't depend on the one who wills or the one who runs and exerts himself. Rather, it depends on him who calls. And we'll learn what that call is in a couple minutes. It depends on God, his electing grace.

It's unconditional. And because it's unconditional, it eliminates boasting. In Romans 3, 27, where is the one who boasts? Boasting is eliminated by the law of faith. I had debated a Roman Catholic one time, this thing at Hotel ML, where he took the position that actually, you have to work to earn salvation.

And I said, no, it's a free gift of God's grace through faith, which is a gift. And we were debating these points from scripture. We came to Romans 3, 28. And he argued that justification there is not according to the works of the law, as Romans 3, 28 says, but that doesn't eliminate Roman Catholic works and sacraments.

He said that only eliminates the law of Moses. But I said in response, and I think this is where the debate was won, do I get to decide if I won the debate or not? I feel like I do, because I have the pulpit right now, so I get to do that.

I think the debate was won at this very point. I said, but look at the basis for that reasoning in Romans 3, 27. It is in order that no one may boast. So whether the boasting be from obeying the law of Moses or obeying some new prescribed system of works, whether it's the seven sacraments of the Catholic church or the Mormon temple rites or the Jehovah's Witness knocking on a certain number of doors, whatever new law you put in that place, you lose grace.

And isn't that what the scriptures consistently teach? The reason that we're saved by the law of faith, according to Romans 4, 16, is in order that it may depend on grace and not upon works. According to Romans 11, if it were not this way, grace would no longer be grace.

The very definition of grace eliminates a contribution by man, by the works. According to Romans 9, 11 and 9, 16, even of the human will. For it says, it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs or exerts himself or works.

It's not of that, but it is of God's call. So the first point is that this election, this grace that God gives us is not conditioned on us. And that faith, which is an open hand to receive grace, is the disposition of someone who's been moved that way because their name is written in the Lamb's book of life.

Now, that's the first point. Little deep, but you have it in your notes, okay? Let's go back to Romans 20 again. Verses 11 to 15. The second thing I'd like to say about grace, to take this view higher, it's not just a grace that's nebulous toward an indeterminate group of people.

It is very particular. It is personal. In other words, when Jesus was dying on that cross, your name was engraved on his hand. Isaiah 49, six. Your name was on his mind and he knew your every deed and your every thought and who you were.

He died with you on his mind. It says in Revelation 20, verse 15, if anyone's name, anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. The great white throne is not the peoples of the world coming in groups, a collection of Hittites or Ammonites or Americans or Saudi Arabians that appear before him and he judges a people group.

No, it says any one. It is a very individual judgment, very individual. Each one must appear before the one with whom we have to do. But those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life are spared that judgment.

We're rescued by his blood. His blood that was shed on the cross covers our sins. The written code that was against us, the law was pinned to him and he washed it away in his blood. And our names were written on his hand.

And this is a very particular grace. It's particularly for those who would believe. How so? In the death of Jesus, you were crucified with him. In his rising, you were given life and justification. You died with him and you rose with him.

You are united with him. That's why Ephesians one repeats, I think, 13 times. In him, you are united in him. And therefore, his death is your death and his life is your life. John 10, 28 says, I give them eternal life.

The book of life, you're given eternal life and they will never perish and no one can snatch them out of my hand. He particularly gives life to the ones he died for and rose for. Now, who is that? John 10, 28, he says he gives them eternal life.

Who is it that he died for? John 10, 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life.

For who?

For the sheep. He bleeds for the sheep. You say, well, maybe he bled for everybody in the same way. But that's not what the scripture says. In John 10, 26, he tells some why they don't believe. He says, you do not believe because you are not my sheep.

He does not say, you are not my sheep because you do not believe. He says, you do not believe because you are not my sheep. He particularly dies for the sheep. He particularly dies for the bride. I'm looking over here at my wife.

If I had the same love for women in general, this would be a problem. I have a particular love for my wife. And in the same way, Christ particularly loves the church. That's the image of Ephesians 5. So husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church who gave himself up for her.

A particular special love. This is the teaching here of Revelation 20, 15, and most explicitly in John 10 in Ephesians 5. So that's two deep points meant to raise your view of grace to something even higher than you entered today.

Third, grace pleads effectually. It has an effect. The grace that God offers accomplishes the thing for which it was sent. Grace is effectual. Look at the text with me. It says, if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

There is a name written, a person who is known. And John 10, three says, I call them by name and lead them out. The sheep hear his voice. He calls the sheep by name. In other words, you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

You lived in a pig pen, or at least some kind of sheep pen, dirty, disgusting, wallowing around in sin, and blind so you're unable to get out, and deaf so you can't hear, and your heart is hard and uncircumcised, and you're a slave.

In fact, you're a dead sheep in your pen because Ephesians 2, 1 says you're dead. And along comes a shepherd and he calls you by name. That call is the effectual call. It's when you not only heard the outward call of the gospel, but something inside of you was called and awakened, and your heart of stone turned to a heart of flesh, and you were given ears to hear his voice, and eyes to see, and you came alive.

You heard his voice and he led you out through the door, and that door is Christ. That moment in time when hearing the gospel, you believed you were awakened to it. This is grace. It's the effectual call of God.

It is effectual. It accomplishes the work that God means for it to accomplish. That's why in John 6, 44, it says, no one can come to the Father unless the Father draws him. You have to be drawn by the Father, and if you are drawn by the Father, it is effectual, you cannot be lost, because the rest of John 6, 44 says, I will raise him up on that last day.

It's a certainty that the one so drawn by the Father, effectually drawn, will be raised up and experience eternal life. John 6, 44, that's what it says. It's also what John 9, 11 says. The golden chain of redemption begins in, I'm sorry, Romans 8, 30, right?

What does it say in Romans 8, 30? Those whom he predestined, he also called. That word called is very important. It's a call that goes out to the unregenerate heart and makes the person alive, and how do we know that it will certainly be accomplished?

The golden chain of redemption cannot be broken because those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified.

It's a certainty.

It's him who's doing it. Nothing can break that chain, and so if you're called, effectually drawn by the Father, you will be justified. You will be glorified. This is the teaching. Romans 9, 11, in that contrast between Esau and Jacob who had done nothing, it says, it's not of him who works and him who wills, but the called, those whom God has called.

That's the effectual call. So that's the next thing, and it makes me think of the Reformation, the doctrine of grace, how God is the one who's effectually accomplishing this. You never know where the wind is gonna blow.

I can't stir up revival at Cornerstone Church. I could preach till I'm blue in the face. I cannot convert a one of you, listeners on YouTube. I can't convert you, but the wind blows where it wills, and no one knows where it's coming from or going.

So it is with those who are born of the Spirit. Sometimes the wind blows powerfully, like in 1859 in Ireland. A great revival broke out such that most of Northern Ireland became evangelical and Protestant and reformed.

In the late 1850s, this revival lasted for a couple of years. Out of that revival, a pastor's daughter was sitting and hearing the Word of God for many years, and in 1863, she wrote these words. Her name was Charity, Charity Bancroft.

She wrote, before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea. A great high priest whose name is love, who ever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on his hands. My name is written on his heart.

I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart. When Satan tempts me to despair, tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see him there who made an end of all my sin.

To Telestai, it's finished, it's over. Christ made an end of sin for those whom he is effectually drawing. Lastly, not only is grace unconditional, particular, and effectual, it is eternal. Grace is eternal.

Look with me at Revelation 20 for one last dive. This is like swimming, right? The dad throws the little something into the water, and the kid dives in and swims to the bottom and pulls it up, then the dad throws something else in.

You gotta keep diving, you gotta keep swimming because there's unmindable depths to the ocean of God's word. The more we plumb the same scripture over and over again, the more we see and pull out. But we've gotta be willing to take a deep dive sometimes.

In Revelation 20, verse 11, it says, 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. This is a picture of eternality.

The temporal things, the earthly things, flee from his presence, and all that's left is the eternal throne of God. Each of us appear before the one who is eternal. And the judgment that is rendered is unending.

Those who are cast into the lake of fire, it's an eternal lake of fire. Eternality. Guys, it does us well to think about how short this life is. Just a mist compared to the eternity to come. But the life that's given does not begin at this point in the text, does it?

John 10, 28. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. John 3, 16. Whoever believes in him will never perish, but have eternal life. Eternal life begins when you believe. Ephesians 1, 13. Having heard the word of truth, having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a guarantee of your inheritance until the redemption of all those who are God's possession.

My Bible says that eternal life is given when you believe. And that belief seals you with the Holy Spirit. He is the deposit, the down payment, the guarantee of an inheritance that will never be taken from you.

John 10, 28 and following says that nothing can snatch you out of his hand.

Nothing.

You're also in the Father's hand. You are kept eternally secure. There's probably somebody here who struggles with security, assurance of your salvation. You know that you still slip up in sin. You know that you fall and you wonder, will he one day be done with me and cast me off?

Will I burn eternally in the sea of fire? By faith in the Son of God, you are kept secure forever. He will never let you go. Romans 8, 28 and following, he works all things together for good. And those he predestines, he calls.

The predestined and called and justified and glorified. He goes on to say that nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Not height or depth or angels or demons, not things present or things to come.

Even the future is secure in him. Indeed, nothing in all creation, in all creation, can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. His love, unconditional love, secures you for all eternity.

Grace is eternal. He keeps those who are his children. He never tires of us. He never casts off his bride to run after another. He's a faithful husband to the church. Grace, grace. Isn't grace amazing?

So in closing, there's probably somebody here who's trembling at this thought. You know what? Maybe I'm not chosen. Maybe my name isn't written. What if I'm not written in the book? Listen, that trembling is grace.

It's the spirit quickening you to make you afraid. The one who bristles at the thought and pleads his own autonomy and says, no, I have control of this, and no one's gonna tell me that I can't do it. You can do it.

That person is the one in danger. But if you tremble before his word, if you feel stripped away of all your ability to do anything, to control anything, to save yourself at all, that's good. That's where grace comes in.

It first of all humbles us. It reduces us to where we belong as mere creatures made in the image of God, but sinners in the hands of an angry God. And having been stripped away and humbled, he offers the call.