REWARD OR CONSEQUENCES PT.3
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Intro:
Intro:
We have been looking at this chapter for 3 weeks now because there is are so many things that are important for us to know.
We have just started what is called the millenial reign of Christ, which is litterally 1,000 years that Christ will come down to earth and rule and reign on the earth with His saints. Both those who have been raptured before the start of the tribulation period and those who were killed for their faith in the tribulation period.
We will be ruling with Christ on the earth. Those who will be on the earth will be those who at one point placed their faith in Jesus during the tribulation period. These people made it through the tribulation period and now have entered into new new season where Satan is no longer running wild and deceiving people on the earth.
I. SAINTS REIGN WITH CHRIST (V.4-6)
A. REIGNING WITH CHRIST (V.4)
John sees “thrones” at this point. Thrones are always a sign of authority and judgement.
Who will sit on the thrones ?
as mentioned before, it will be those who put their faith in Jesus before the Rapture of the church, which is you and me..... and those who are killed for their faith in the tribulation period.
B. THE FIRST RESURRECTION (V. 5-6)
Now these piece of scripture can be difficult to understand so for the sake of time , i will try to make it simple.... We have to look at two resurrections that the bible speaks about
1st resurrection
this is basically speaking about all those who are saved, or are in heaven with God .
We will die once and our bodies will be resurrected again ..... there is no specific time but is speaking of many different times.
We see Jesus’ body resurrected in the gospels, we see the resurrection of the bodies in the rapture
But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Paul is addressing the rapture. And he is saying that at the rapture those who have died already will be resurrected and those who are raptured shall meeting in the air together died to meet the Lord Jesus.
This First resurrection that the bible speaks about takes place before the 1,000 year reign of Christ. And this resurrection leads to blessing and eternal life.
2nd Resurrection
the 2nd resurrection speaks of those who reject Jesus as their Lord and Savoir . These people will die once and will be resurrected to face judgement and then will die again as they suffer the consequences of their choices. This will take place at the end of the 1,000 year reign of Christ and will lead to eternal torment
III. Satan Released to Deceive (v. 7-9)
We see that after the 1,000 year reign of Christ , Satan will be released. Again the question would come, why would God release Satan?
the answer is to do the very thing that caused him to get locked up..... to deceive the world.
The Purpose od the Millennium Reign of Christ
we talked about last week that those who came to faith in the tribulation period and made it through the 7 years would enter the 1,000 reign of Christ. Those who will be in the 1,000 year reign will begin to have babies and will begin to populate the earth. In a process of 1,000 years, there will be many many people who are born during this time.
now what makes them different is that they will be born into a world that does not have Satan ruling and deceiving .... you remember that satan is bound during this time.
so while Christ is ruling and His authority is reigning on earth, those who are born during this time will follow the authority outwardly.... but there will be many who do not surrender their hearts to Jesus. We know this because of the rebellion that we will see happen at the end of the 1,0000 year reign.
and we talked about this last week in detail. That God is longing and looking for your heart above all things. The outward works of religion is not what God is looking for.... but he wants a heart that is in full surrender to Him.
and in order for there to be a heart fully surrendered in love and obedience, there has to be a choice. God does not just make us love Him but He always gives us a choice. So this is the main purpose of the 1,000 year. It is an opportunity for those who have not had a choice , to make a choice to follow and surrender God freely.
Remember there are many people who were born in the millennium reign who were not born again , or did not really have an option to give their lives over to Jesus. They followed the rule of Christ but were not surrendered to Him..
Transition
last week we addressed the fact that our hearts are wicked and the reality is that you can take all of the wickedness of the world away, you can take all of the evil influences of the world away..... and still our hearts would want to do what is wrong and would want to disobey God.
This is because our hearts are wicked. Jer. 17 tells us this. This goes to show you and I that there has to be hard work to guard our hearts not only from outward influences but also from ourselves.
Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.
We often want to blame the world, or satan or our friends or our family for our mistakes and our issues..... but the fact is that our heart is what is wicked and it will always want to do what is wrong while we are on this earth. We have to work hard to protect our hearts and to be spiritually disciplined in order to keep our hearts surrendered to God.
Transition
here you see that many people who were born in the millennium reign will be deceived and will follow Satan in one last rebellion against God. The people come from the 4 corners of the world or from all over the world and we are told that the number of them is as the sands of the sea. So those deceived is a large number of people.
These armies gather around the saints of the beloved city, possibly Jerusalem. But we are told that God devoured these people with fire from His mouth. Awesome to see how God just speaks and the great multitudes of the earth are destroyed.
IV. THE JUDGEMENTS TO COME (V. 10- 15)
now we are going to take some time to look at what the bible speaks about the judgements to come for Satan, for non believers those who reject Jesus as their Lord and Savior and the judgement that believers will face, that is you and me.
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
Every person will have to stand before God and will be judged according to what we have done. This is where if you remember i asked you to remember two words. “REWARDS OR CONSEQUENCES” . We will either receive one or the other.
And there are (2) main areas we will be judged on.
WE WILL BE JUDGED ON OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
We have to understand that the bible declares that God is a righteous God. The Bible declares that God is a holy God and a just God.
Because God is a righteous God and a Just God, He has to judge us based on our righteousness, or on our standing before God.
Here is where the problem lies. Because the bible tells us that all humans are sinners and there is no one that is good.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
They have all turned aside,
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.
so the bible declares clearly that there is no person who is good and the reason is because of our sins. Ever since sin entered the world, every person born is born with a sinful nature. We will always do what is wrong no matter how much we try to do what is right.
And since we are sinners , and God is a just God, the only thing that is right, is for us to receive judgement and consequences for our sins.
Transition
its like if your parents were driving down the road and they were speeding and got pulled over. The cop would have to do the right and just thing because he is required to do that....... he would have to judge at that moment and decide if the person broke the law..... since the person did break the law.... the only just thing to do is to give the person a ticket.... that is the punishment required for the judgement ruled.
This is the picture we have to look at. The difference is that based on the law of God..... every human is guilty. We all deserve to be judged , to be found guilty and to suffer the consequences of our sins.
2. WE WILL BE JUDGED ON WHAT WE DID ON THE EARTH
what we did with the things we were given, our talents , our resources our time. And what the motive of our heart was.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.
A. SATAN’S FINAL JUDGEMENT (V. 10)
After Satan is released and is allowed to deceive the people of the world, he is finally judged. We are told that he is cast into the lake of fire for his final judgement where the anti-christ and the false prophet are.
the lake of fire is synonymous with “Gehenna”.
Gehenna comes from the Hebrew word Ge Hinnom, or Valley of Hinnom.
The valley of Hinnom was the located just outside of Jerusalem. In the old testament, this place was know for child sacrifices to the idols. This valley became a dumping ground for sewage and refuse of the City.
it was a placing crawling with worms and maggots and the continual fire burning . Jesus used this picture to symbolize Gehenna to the place of everlasting punishment.
Mark 9:43–44 NKJVIf your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched—where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’
The picture is of everlasting punishment for Satan and his demons. This is the final judgement for Satan.
B. THE JUDGEMENT OF NON-BELIEVERS ( GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT ) (V.11-15)
we see a few different things here. This is the judgement of the non believers. We are told it is called the great white throne judgement. This is where those who have died now are resurrected at the 2nd resurrection at the end of the millennium reign in order to be judged.
We see in our passage that both small and great were standing before God, and the books were opened up.
Transition
now remember that the two areas we will be judged are....
Judged on our righteousness
Judged on our works.
As these people are standing before God , it says that there are books that are opened. We are told that one of the books is the book of life.
Book of Life
the bible makes reference to the book of life as the book that contains the names of those who have placed their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.
He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
So the moment that you and I place our faith in Jesus as our Savior , our names are written in the book of life.
Other Book
there is also another book we are told. Yet we are not told what this book is called. We are told that this book contains the works that people have done. (v.12)
Transition
So we see that those who are standing before God at this moment are judged according to their lives…
the books are opened up and as each person stands before God, he is judged according to his righteousness and according to the things that he did on this earth.
now remember that these people are those who have rejected Jesus as their Lord and Savior. So these people will stand before God and face judgement based on their own righteousness, or based on their own goodness.
This is where the problem is...... it is not that God is mean and only wants people to believe in His son..... But the bible tells us that placing our faith in Jesus is the only way we can find forgiveness for our sins, it is the only way that we can be made right....... and have Jesus’ rightousness imputted on us.
which means that Jesus paid for all of our sins on the cross. Jesus declares us innocent of all charges
Remember that the law requires perfection. We have already established that no person alive is perfect ...... so that means that on our own , we cannot enter into heaven if perfection is required.
this is where the people who reject Jesus will a problem...... they will stand before God, the deeds will be read before them from the books and they will find that they have no way of making right all of the wrong that they have done......
so the consequences their lives and the choices they made is to face the second death and be cast into the lake of fire (v. 15) to suffer eternal torment and separation from God.
C. THE JUDGEMENT OF CHRISTIANS (BELIEVERS)
The christian , that is you and me will also face judgement. But it is a little different. There different aspects of how we will be judged.
Judged at the Cross
The moment you and i come to the place where we recognize that we are sinners and that we are in need of a savior , and we come to Jesus and confess our sins, and ask him to come into our heats....... We are judged and are found righteous not on our own works..... but because of what Jesus has done.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
not only has he taken our sins, and washed us.... but the bible tells us that He has imputed His righteousness on us..... which means he basically has transferred over to our account what is in His. So that when God sees us and our lives..... He now sees the perfection of Jesus in us, and we are accepted .
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
so we as believers will not face the great white throne Judgement to see if we are rightous .... this happened at the cross for us.... but we will face the BEMA SEAT of CHRIST
2. JUDGED AT THE BEMA SEAT OF CHRIST
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
the word Judgement seat of Christ in the original language is BEMA Seat....... Which in the greek culture that believers where in , they would understand what Paul was saying to the readers.
in the greek culture you had games like olympic games..... and you would have men competing to receive a crown. once the games where over and you determined who won, that man would stand before what was called a BEMA SEAT, which was where the judge sat and would declare the man a winner and would give him his reward.....Which was normally a wreath crown.
this is the picture that we are given by Paul, that as believers we will not stand before God to be judged on our righteousness.... but we will stand to be judged or to receive our rewards.....
each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
we are told that all of the things that we have done will be thrown into the fire and only the things done for Christ will remain , those things made of Gold, silver . We will receive rewards and crowns based on what made it thru the fire.
for some there will be many rewards.... all the things that they did for GOd, they served people, they lived for GOd, they used their gifts and talents to serve God, they helped the poor, they loved people and were kind......
others were content to just not go to heaven , they really didn’t do much for God and when all the things they did get thrown into the fire , they will have nothing to show for it.