The Millenium

I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 20.

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

We're almost through with the study in Revelation.

Somebody said you can't do it less than a year.

Well, I'm going to do it in about six months, about half a year.

But it's been good.

Boy, has it been good?

And now as we're approaching Easter, it couldn't be better timing.

If you're here this morning, do not have a worship guide, raise your hand so you can be sure you have a worship guide.

The outlines in the back, and for you that are on, uh thank you, Carrie.

And for you that are watching online, the outlines online as well.

And uh, so if you need a worship guide, raise your hand, guys.

Do y'all need one?

You got one?

Okay.

We'll we'll get one for you.

And uh I used to tell my students, you turn in the outlines when I'm preaching, and I'll give you extra points.

So trust me, they were grabbing one and two and three outlines.

Uh in chapel services, I'd tell them if you take out an outline and turn it in, uh, I'll give you extra points.

Uh, because, hey, the word of God is what changes our lives.

Can I get an amen?

You shall know the truth, and what?

The truth shall set you free.

John 18.

And we know that.

And it's so true.

In fact, uh, I am convinced Jesus said, uh, and he made this, the prophet made this profound statement in Isaiah 55, 11.

He says, My word will never return void, but it shall accomplish that where I send it.

In other words, it will accomplish what God has purposed for his word.

And in Revelation, we've been talking about last week, we uh looked at the end of uh chapter 19, and we saw uh how the you had a choice to be either at the marriage feast of the Lamb as a believer, or you had a choice to be at the Great Supper of God for unbelievers.

It was your choice.

But today we're going to the thousand-year reign of Christ in chapter 20.

In fact, every student of Revelation is aware that this chapter is really shrouded with a lot of uh, should I say, controversy because of the one word millennium.

In fact, in chapter 20, verses 1 through 7, you see the word 1,000 years, and well, the millennium means 1,000, you see it used six times.

In fact, that's the only place you see it used in the Bible.

But it's used six times in seven verses.

And the disagreement really revolves around the thousand-year reign.

And here's why.

In 2 Peter 3, 8, Peter makes the statement that a thousand years as is one day.

So they've taken that and run with it.

A lot of the liberal theologians have, and tried to debate it to the point that Jesus and the book of Revelation is not a literal book.

For example, I'll give you three of the most, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time because it's not that important, because you can you can get hung up on stumps, and young people don't ever do that.

It's not worth it.

Hey, just stick with Jesus.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father except by him.

John 14, 6.

Just like whether you're you, you know, you're a Calvinist, you're not a Calvinist, and I used to tell our young people all the time at Liberty University, I'd said, it's not a matter of whether you're chosen or not.

That's not your job.

Hello.

God already knows who's chosen and who's not.

Amen.

He's God.

It's our job to preach the gospel.

And you know what I learned out of after 40 years?

The more I preach the gospel, more seem to get elected.

Hello, amen.

So just preach the gospel.

Don't worry about the other.

And you'll stay.

Hey, you won't get into all those controversial issues, which I enjoy them.

I debate them all the time.

I always did in seminary and graduate school.

But that's not the issue.

But really, there's three major views about millennial and what it means.

First of all, there's a millennialism.

This teaching believes in a literal return of Christ, but the thousand years, and much of Revelation is not literal, it's just symbolic.

And technically speaking, they don't believe in the millennium then.

They believe Satan is already bound for a thousand years.

Now, I don't know about you, but I live in a world I know he ain't bound.

Hello, amen.

And I'll show you that in a minute.

And then the second view is post-millennialism.

This viewpoint holds that Christ does not come back until the conclusion of the thousand-year reign.

And they believe that man, you and I, we are going to be the ones bringing in God's kingdom on our efforts.

And hey, and once we set up and build this utopia, and the church is going to do it, then God's going to come back.

Hmm.

Again, they believe the world will get better and better, and then the Lord will return when there's a utopia on earth.

Well, I have a problem with that.

I know I'm living in a world that's not getting better and better.

Would you agree?

In fact, 2 Thessalonians 3.13 says that it's going to wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

It's what Paul said.

So we know that's not true either.

But again, they too believe Satan is already bound, or else, how could man bring in the utopia?

Well, I got news for you.

God's word makes it very clear that Satan is not bound.

Look at 2 Corinthians 4.4.

It says, in whom the God of this world.

Who is that?

Satan, the God of this world, hath blinded the minds of them that which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

And we know he says in 2 Corinthians 11 14 that he's the angel of light.

And we also know in Ephesians 4.27, neither give place to the devil.

And then Paul says in Ephesians 6.11, and that's where we're going after this series.

We're going to chapter 6 in the book of Ephesians, and we're going to do a mini-series on putting on the armor of God.

We'll look at each piece of armor.

But he says, put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles, the methodology, the tricks, the schemes of the devil.

And then 1 Peter 5.8, we know, and we'll look at that a little bit later.

But post-millennialism was made very popular by Daniel Whitby, Daniel Whitby, in the 1600s and was accepted by theologians all over the world.

This teaching flourished during the 1800s and 19th centuries as scientific discoveries, if you remember.

And the Industrial Revolution were changing the world.

There was major changes from horses to cars, and all this was going on.

And then on the scene came the lies of Charles Darwin, the theory of evolution, which deceived people into thinking that the world was going to get better.

It was an evolutional process.

Well, then guess what happened?

World War I.

World War II.

The wickedness of the roaring twenties and the Great Depression, and then the Jewish Holocaust of Hitler in World War II.

All this smothered out the popular teaching of post-millennialism, which leads us to, I think, the proper interpretation.

And that is pre-millennialism.

And this is the position I hold to.

Our church covenant founded this church that we hold to.

And this view believes that right here, Revelation 20 is literal, and that the thousand years is a thousand years.

We believe that.

And there will be no kingdom until Christ returns and Satan is bound by the Lord for a thousand years in the pit.

And the time of the millennium was given by the Lord in Matthew chapter 24, verse 29 and 30.

Matthew 24:29

I think that's up on the screen for you.

It's definitely there in your bulletin or your worship guide.

And by the way, I put all those scriptures there because you're going to see in a minute how those are used, because it's powerful.

But listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 24, verse 29 and 30.

Matthew 24:29

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers, and he says, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and then verse 30, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory.

So Jesus himself tells us that he's coming.

Isaac Watts, you know who Isaac Watts is.

Do you what is one of the favorite Christmas carols we sing every year?

Joy.

Joy.

Now here's the problem with that.

Why shouldn't, and by the way, that's usually the only time we sing it.

And it is so wrong.

You mean that hymn, Joy to the world?

Yes.

Yes, it's wrong.

Just to sing it at Christmas.

The song's great, but we have misinterpreted.

It's taken from Psalms 98.

And when he was writing, the psalmist was writing about the joy to the world, he was talking about the millennial reign.

So it ought to be sung all the time.

Not just part-time.

Amen.

All the time.

Joy to the world.

And in fact, uh, our worship leader's sick, Benji's sick.

That's but it worked out perfect.

See, the Lord knew all that.

But when he wrote the song, he did not have Bethlehem in mind, but the millennial reign.

Now, here's the exciting thing.

All those verses, and there's more, there's 30 to uh 40 plus all throughout the Old Testament that we call prophetic verses that relate to the millennial reign.

And I don't have time to read them all to you, but I do have time to go through real quickly, and you can go and read them yourself.

This is exactly all these verses relate to what we will be doing in the millennial.

I mean, you hear it, but what will we be doing?

For example, one, it will be a time of rest and reconciliation.

Isaiah 32, 17 and 18.

The work of righteousness shall be peace.

There will be peace, and people will dwell together in peace, no wars.

Two, it will be time of rejoicing.

Joy will be a characteristic of Christ's reign.

Listen to what he says.

I will turn their mourning into joy, and I will comfort them and make them rejoice.

Can you imagine what you just saw up here?

Us rejoicing, having fun.

That's the way it's gonna be the whole thousand years, folks.

Amen.

That's the way it's gonna be.

And then look what else it's gonna be.

It's gonna be a time of reverence.

The Lord's kingdom will be a holy one.

He says holiness will be evident in the life of Christ and glorified believers.

Once a year, people from all the nations there in the millennium will go to Jerusalem to worship the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 4:3.

Isaiah 4:3

Can you imagine having a national revival once a year?

For a thousand years.

That's a thousand revivals.

Woo-hoo! Amen.

Think about that.

Think about that.

It will be a time of radiance.

God's kingdom will be a glorious kingdom.

The word of God will fill the earth.

Isaiah 45, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.

It will be a time of refreshing and reviving.

The Lord will comfort mankind and fulfill, listen to this, and will fulfill man's every need.

I love Revelation 21, verse 4, and we'll see that next week.

Revelation 21:4

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

There will be no more death and no more sorrow, no more crying, no more pain, for the former things are passed away.

There'll be no more cancers.

Hey, sinners, can I get an amen?

By the way, Susan's mother's test this week could not have been a better result for the cancer she has, and they think it's it's not spread, and they hope to maybe do surgery this weekend to try to remove all of it.

So can we give God a hand for that?

Amen.

It will be a time of rightness and reasonableness.

You know, I often wonder when I see what's going on in America and all these shootings and these killings and just recently here in Birmingham.

Where's just reasonable thinking?

Forget whether you're lost or saved, you're just common sense.

Hello?

Well, it will be then.

Perfect justice will be a minister to every individual in the Lord's kingdom.

Isaiah 9, 7.

Perfect justice.

Number eight, it'll be a time of righteous recommendations.

Our Lord will instruct and teach us.

Oh, the only thing I don't know, the only bad thing about this, and it's really not bad, because I'll be so enamored with his teachings.

I won't get to preach.

But bless God, I'll be a cheerleader.

Amen.

I'll be going around hollering, Jesus is awesome! I have all my life, and I'm going to do it then too.

So it'll be a time that the Lord instructs us.

Isaiah 2, 2, come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.

Whew.

Number nine, it will be a time of removal of the curse.

The original curse placed upon creation will be removed.

There will be abundant productivity, and the animal kingdom will be at peace.

You gotta read when you go home, Isaiah 11, 6 through 9.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the goat, and the calf and the young lion and the uh fatlands together, a little child shall lead them, and the cow and the bear shall feed together, the young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall, hey, eat straw like the ox, and eight.

Now this verse eight gets me.

I know.

And the the baby child shall play, hey, it with snakes, and even go into their den and grab them and play with them.

I won't be a part of that one, I promise you.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

And then it will be a time of recovery and retention of life.

Sickness and death will be removed.

Are you ready for this?

The longevity of man will be restored as it was in pre-flood days.

People will live into the hundreds years old.

Seven, eight, maybe even nine hundred years, they'll live.

Can you imagine that?

Unbelievable.

Jeremiah 30, 17.

And it will be a time of reproduction.

Isaiah 35 says, the desert shall rejoice and blossoms as the rose.

Oh, even the deserts.

And then he says in Zechariah 10, 8, that was Isaiah 35, 1, I will whistle for them and gather them, for I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they have increased.

Now here, here's what you got to understand.

There are people that survived the tribulation.

Thousands, thousands.

And so guess what?

They will enter into the millennial reign with us.

The resurrected.

And you're going to see this in a moment, the first resurrection.

There's only two resurrections: resurrection unto life and resurrection unto death.

Okay?

So we will be in our resurrected body.

Just like Jesus was, remember, after he resurrected himself and he was on the earth for those 40 days, and he ministered and taught to the disciples and ministered to the disciples.

That's the way we'll be in the millennial.

We'll have our resurrected bodies.

But, and you'll see that in a minute, I'm going to teach you a little bit on that too.

But but these that have come through and that were hidden during the time of that tribulation and all the horrible killing, and then after the battle of Armageddon, they will be there and they will re hey, they will set up their lives and they will reproduce.

There'll be a lot of children born during this time.

And the sad thing about it, they'll be born just like you and I were born.

They don't have resurrected bodies.

They'll be born with a sin nature.

Just like you and I are born.

You say, how do you know that?

Because remember, you're gonna see this in a minute.

God grabs Satan and he throws him into the pit for a thousand years and chains him.

But at the end, verse seven, he loses him for a little while.

See, God wants man to freely choose him.

Powerful statement here.

For those strong Calvinists.

Strong statement.

And they'll give them an opportunity again.

But let me, but but so what you gotta realize, they're born.

Kids are born.

And but but even though, hey, as they're growing up, it's still harmony and love, there's no rebellion, there's no sin.

Why?

Because God, hey, son, Jesus is ruling, and he won't allow it.

Sin cannot dwell in his presence.

Can I get an amen?

But there'll be a short time.

So we see it will be a time of reproduction.

It will be a time of rising light.

Isaiah 60, 19, 20, the Lord will be, hey, Shekana glory, there be no need for the moon nor sun.

His glory would just be brilliant.

Can you believe?

I used to say I get nothing good out of sleep.

I won't have to worry about it in the millennial.

Oh, we're gonna be having such a good time.

It's gonna be unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

And then it will be a time of removal.

Are you ready for this?

I can only speak one language and it's English, and I have a hard time with that.

And a lot of other folks I know do too.

Amen.

But then we'll all just because of the sin of man and all, and God at the Tower of Babel had to, you know, confuse all the languages because they were trying to worship gods instead of the God.

Well, he's gonna remove that barrier.

Listen to what he says.

This is awesome.

It will be a time of removal of language barriers.

The curse of Babel will be removed.

Zephaniah 3.9.

For then will I turn to the people.

I will return to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve him in one consent.

Wow.

Well no, we can communicate to everybody.

I won't need an interpreter.

And then it will be a time of revival.

Zechariah 14.

And then the last thing that I just want, there's a lot more, but it will be a time of reward and residency.

Israel will finally possess all the land that they've been arguing over and fighting over that God promised Abraham over 400,000 years ago.

Wow.

It'll be theirs.

Now that is what's going to take place in the millennial reign.

And then as we see here, the curtains open on chapter 20.

And these verses here, all these verses, these 15 verses, contain God's solution to the evil in the world.

Let me help you here.

The solution is not environmental.

Now I know environment can have some effect, but it's not the main effect.

And it's not educational.

People say if they have the right environment, they have the right education, they can turn out to be great contributors to the society.

I got news for you.

Part of that's true, but not all of it's true.

Because it's not the environment and it's not the education that changes a person.

It's the heart that changes a person.

And that heart has to be transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Can I get an amen?

Yes.

Amen.

Amen.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation.

Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new.

Powerful.

Powerful.

Eve and Adam were in a perfect environment, and they sinned.

The people in the millennial will be in a perfect environment.

But they too will sin.

And at the end choose Satan's deception and Satan's lies over the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When given the opportunity to choose Christ or Satan, thousands, maybe millions, billions.

And how do I know that?

It says, as the, hey, as the sand, hey, as the as the grain of sand on the shore, they will choose to reject Christ.

Wow.

After living in a perfect environment and having the best education, Jesus himself teaching them.

Wow, folks.

Wow.

But right now, an angel, chapter one, I meant chapter verse one, comes from heaven and binds Satan in the bottomless pit for a thousand years in order that righteousness and peace might thrive on the earth.

The devil must be removed.

Let me say this: Satan has to be bound for us to be victorious.

Totally.

Just as the angels were in Jude 1.6.

For now Satan continues to wage war against God and mankind.

One of my favorite verses, 1 Peter 5, 8, be sober, be vigilant.

That word sober there means have your priorities in order.

Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour.

Powerful.

So we see, number one, right here, the incarceration of Satan has to take place.

It has to.

But secondly, we see the imperialism of the saints in verses 4 through 6.

Look at it.

Then I saw thrones and people seated on them who were given authority to judge, and I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of God's word, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands.

They came to life and reigned with the Messiah for a thousand years.

Thousand years.

And the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years was completed.

This is the first resurrection.

Blessed and holy is the one who shares in this first resurrection.

That's of the saved.

The second death has no power over them, but they will be.

I love this priest of God and the Messiah, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

Those who belong to the first resurrection, the saints of God, will rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years.

Look at 1 Corinthians 6 2.

I think, Jason, we have that there.

I'm going right with the outline.

1 Corinthians 6 2, there, number two.

The imperialism of the saints, look at what it says.

Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?

And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

That's pretty good.

He says, if we're going to judge the world one day, why can't we handle our little matters now?

Can I get an amen?

Is that not true?

Why is that not true?

Because of sin and Satan.

That's why.

And then the Bible speaks here, look at it, of two resurrections.

The first resurrection is to everlasting life.

And this involves only the saints of God.

Now let me tell you what else it's called in the New Testament.

It's called the resurrection of the just.

Luke 14, 13 and 14.

It's called the resurrection of life.

John 5, 29.

And it's called, I like this, a better resurrection.

I absolutely.

It's better than the other.

The other one, you're going to spend eternity in hell.

Yes, it's better.

A lot better.

Hebrews 11, 35.

The first resurrection takes place in stages.

In other words, the resurrection of all the saints.

Let me give you an example.

One, the first scene of this resurrection was the resurrection of Christ.

In Matthew 28, 6.

When they came, they said, What are you doing here looking in this grave?

Don't you know he's not here?

For he's risen, as he said.

Come see the place where the Lord lay.

He's not here.

Then the second stage is the resurrection of the saints of the church age at the rapture.

The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

That's the only time it pays to be dead.

Hello, amen.

And the dead shall rise first.

And then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

So shall we ever be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4, 16 through 18.

At verse 18 he says, and comfort one another with these words.

And then we have the resurrection in Revelation chapter 11.

Revelation 11 · chapter mention

You remember?

Verses 7 through 12 of the two witnesses.

And then right here, verse 4 and 5, we have the resurrection of the tribulational saints.

That's before the millennial reign.

Those that were killed and martyred during their awful tribulational period.

That died, giving their life for Christ.

They didn't take the mark of the beast.

They said yes to Jesus and no to Satan, to the Antichrist, and to the false prophet at that time.

They will be resurrected.

So they can rule with us as well.

So all the resurrected saints, all the Old Testament, New Testament, tribulational saints, will reign with our resurrected bodies in the millennial reign.

Bam.

Now look at verse 6.

Ooh, I love this.

Verse 6 tells us about those who will have a part in the first resurrection.

Look at it.

First of all, they will be blessed.

Look at what it says.

Blessed and happy in their eternal state.

We'll be blessed and happy.

Now I'm going to tell you, it doesn't get any better than that.

Do you want a storybook ending?

Well, here it is.

You're blessed and happy.

Now, if anybody doesn't want to be blessed and happy, you need to leave right now.

Why are you here?

If you don't want to be blessed and happy, amen.

And the Bible says God has been mindful of us to bless us.

Psalms 112, verse 15.

So here we see it.

Notice the, hey, the can that's the condition.

Look at the character.

Holy and identified as God's special people.

Do you know something?

I want you to say this with me.

As a believer, we are special.

Amen.

Doesn't that sound good?

Doesn't that feel good?

Say it again.

As a believer, special.

You're a chosen generation.

A royal priesthood.

A holy nation.

A peculiar people.

That we should show forth the praises of God throughout this universe.

Amen.

I've never had a problem of that part being peculiar.

I'm sorry.

It is what it is.

No, it is what you make it.

I don't like that statement, by the way.

It's not, it is what it is.

It is what you make it through the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

You got a choice.

That's the character.

Look at the charge.

We'll be priests who will serve in the presence of God.

Look at the command.

We'll be, hey, they will, we will be both a royal and political priesthood.

Except our politics will be right this time.

Can I get an amen?

He said, Well, you don't know that mine's not.

Well, I know whose is.

And it's not Republicans and Democrats.

Do you know what's right?

J-E-S-U-S.

Jesus.

I'm in his politics.

The B-I-B-L-E.

The course?

Here it is.

How long?

Thousand years.

And look at the care.

The second death will have no power over us.

We are redeemed and will not suffer the second death in the lake of fire.

Now, that's the first resurrection.

Now the second resurrection.

It takes place at the end of the millennium.

A thousand years later, it is the resurrection of the lost who will stand before the God, the God, at the great white throne judgment, where the degree of each person's punishment will be determined.

Look at Revelation 20, 14 and 15.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.

This was the second death, whose whosoever name was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Now watch this.

Chapter 21, verse 8, and we'll look at it next week.

But the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, drug users, adulterers, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Wow.

That brings me to the third point.

We see the incarceration of Satan.

We see the imperialism of the saints.

Amen.

Our condition, our character, our charge, our command, our course, our care.

And then we see the third thing.

And boy, is that not true.

We see the independence of Satan, verse 7.

Look at it.

When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth.

I told you, children will be born during the millennium.

They'll grow up.

And they will grow up and they'll have the choice.

See, what you got to realize until you get saved, okay?

Your heart is wicked.

Jeremiah 17.9.

Do we have that, Jason?

Jeremiah 17.9.

The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.

Who can know it?

I don't like that verse.

Because that means every one of my grandchildren, till they get saved, their hearts are desperately wicked.

And by the way, you can know it.

Do you have to teach your grandchildren how to be good?

Do you have to teach your grandchildren how to be bad?

Isn't it amazing?

And you know what we say, which we're this is kind of crazy.

Not really intelligent.

Why would they do that?

Sin nature.

Behold, I'm formed in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalm 51, verse 5.

Psalms 51:5

Amen.

So we see that right here.

Oh, and Satan's gonna run rampant there at the end of the millennium.

In fact, and I like this because it really gives truth to the scripture.

These men and women that have grown up in the millennium will have to make a choice at the end.

Now we're not we're not talking about us.

We're not talking about the resurrected saints, okay?

Remember, we're like Jesus when he was on earth, ministering to these folks, helping these folks, judging these folks, keeping them in line.

That's what we'll be doing.

Okay?

But now they got to make a choice at the end.

Will they receive Christ or they will, or will they reject Christ?

This reminds me, is Easter coming up.

Jesus is in the middle, you have a thief on the right and one on the left, and he gives them the same opportunity.

One, hey, he says, hey, you can receive me.

I'm dying on this cross for you.

At the beginning of that morning, they both were cursing him, but by the end of that day or noon that day, one had seen the love of Christ being expressed through Jesus himself.

And he turned to Jesus and he said, Lord, you don't deserve this, but we do.

Will you remember me when you come into your kingdom?

And he said, Today, I'm not gonna remember you, I'm gonna take you with me.

Amen.

Today you're going with me.

They will have that same choice right here after living in a perfect society, perfect economical society, perfect educational society, peace, love, prosperity, happiness, and they will have a choice to continue that or reject that.

And my soul, church, they reject it.

A lot of them.

Not all of them, but a lot of them.

As many as the grains of sand on the shore, he says.

Wow.

Wow.

Shows you how powerful Satan really is.

It's gonna get an amen.

Here's what one of the old Puritan theologians wrote about this.

Listen.

Our Lord they will leave.

To Satan they will cleave.

God's heart will be grieved as Satan's lies are believed, and billions are deceived.

When they die, they will perceive that there is no reprieve.

But then they will suffer in hell and will not be relieved for an eternity.

Wow.

Powerful.

And then the last thing.

Well, excuse me, the fourth thing.

The insurrection of society.

And I verses 8 through 10.

Look at what it says.

What I just actually preached to you.

Look at what it says.

And will go out to deceive the nations for the four corners of the earth.

Gog and Magog.

Let me tell you what that means.

Gog and Magod are terms for those who totally oppose God.

That's what it means.

They totally, absolutely oppose everything God stands for.

That's what it means.

Gog and Magog to gather them for battle.

Their number is like the sand of the sea.

They came up over the surface of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city.

Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them.

The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire.

Now he's in Gehenna.

And suffer.

Where the beast and the false prophet, the Antichrist and the false prophet is already there.

And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Wow.

God doesn't let this is not like the battle of Armageddon.

This hey, God, hey, there he took care of it with the sword of his mouth.

Remember?

Here he says, that's it.

It's over.

Bam! Fire.

Boom.

I don't know what.

Or maybe it may not just be fire.

It could be nuclear.

I don't know.

It's all kinds of stuff, but I know this.

Fire means fire.

Whether it's visible or invisible, and there is fire that's invisible.

You're gone.

Taken care of.

You're thrown into the lake of fire forever and ever and ever.

But guess what?

They will be resurrected then to the great white throne judgment.

And we look at that.

Number five, the infliction of the judgment.

Verses 11 through 15.

Now watch this real quick.

Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it, earth and heaven fled from its presence, and no place was found for them.

I also saw the dead, the great, and the small, standing before the throne, and books, underlying the word books, were opened.

Another book was opened, which is the book of life.

And the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.

Then the sea gave up its dead, and death and Hades gave up their dead.

All were judged according to their works.

Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire, the compartment there called Hades.

That word Hades there is a different word than the lake of fire, Gehenna.

This is the second death, the lake of fire, and anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation starts with a throne, and it ends with a throne.

The great white throne judgment occurs at the end of the millennium.

Notice it is a throne.

A throne is set up for a specific purpose.

It's not permanent.

At this throne, remember, let me show you what God showed me a comparison.

Remember when Jesus was brought before the throne of Pilate before he was crucified?

Remember this?

Watch this.

Hey, at that time the Creator was judged by the creature.

At the great white throne judgment, the creature appears before the creator for judgment.

In Pilate's hall, God stood speechless before man.

But man at the great white throne judgment will stand speechless before God's judgment.

Wow.

Having rejected, hey, and by the way, why is this throne?

You know, I asked myself, let me just give you my belief, my answer.

Why is it called the great white throne judgment when everybody's being judged and thrown into hell?

Because of the greatness of the salvation of the perfect judge.

That's why.

Because you got the great Redeemer who is just delivering the judgment.

Powerful.

Oh, powerful, powerful, powerful.

The throne corresponds to the character of their occupant.

Listen to what he says in John 5, 22, 26, 27.

For the Father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son.

For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of Man.

Now, with eyes aflame of fire, right here.

And you and I will be honored by the participation.

In this judgment.

You know, we'll be here.

We'll be here at this judgment.

We will be here watching this judgment, participating in this judgment.

Now, watch this.

Again, 1 Corinthians 6, 2 and 3, we saw that.

And I love this.

The court of the great white throne will not be set up to discuss the pros and the cons.

There'll be no defense attorney here.

We're not going to discuss the pros and cons of any sinner's case, but to carry out a sentence already declared.

Without Christ, people are already condemned to hell.

One of the verses I hope all you students have memorized, I probably have.

Listen to what he says in John 3.18.

He, I think we have that too, Jason, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.

He that believeth not the Son, what?

Come on, tell me.

He that is condemned already because he's not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Wow.

There it is.

So it's done.

Done.

Now I want you to see something.

About through.

Still okay.

By the way, we got one of the best meals today.

Ooh.

Chicken and dressing.

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

That's why they like to come because they know how well they're going to get fed.

The word books, everybody tries to decide what the books are.

Now we know what the book of life is.

If your name's not written in the book of life, you're not getting in.

Can I get an amen?

It's just that simple.

You're headed to the other place.

You're headed to hell.

So everybody wants their name written in the book of life.

Can I get an amen?

Verse 15 here.

Amen.

In fact, look at what it says.

And anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown in the lake of fire.

So can I ask you, which book do you want to have your name written in?

The front row does.

Anybody else want to be written in the book of life?

Amen.

All right.

Amen.

Which book do you want?

All right.

It's better.

So you know what I decided?

Well, somebody said, well, it could be this and it's plural.

I decided I'd do a word study on books.

Now let me give you what I came up with.

Okay?

Ready?

Number one.

It's the old and New Testament books.

Look at what he says in John 12, 48.

He that rejects me and receives not my words, that's old and new, hath one that judges him.

The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in that last day.

The word of God will be the judgment book.

The old and the new testament.

In other words, how you've lived your life according to the B-I-B-L-E.

That's the book for me.

You listening?

Number two books.

Another word.

Here's another book.

The book of secrets.

How many of you have ever had a book of secrets?

I'm the only one that just raised my hand.

I'm preaching online.

Yes, you do.

Now you may not.

Hopefully, you may not have it written down.

You do?

Well, let me suggest you get rid of it.

Look at all these texts.

Last thing I'm gonna do is text you something that one of my secrets.

In fact, if I'm gonna tell you one of my secrets, it'll be face-to-face.

And I doubt I'll tell you then.

But guess what?

There's a person named God that knows all your secrets.

So there's gonna be a book of secrets.

Look at what it says.

You look, somebody says, I don't know if I believe that.

Well, why don't you read this verse?

And look at what it says, Ecclesiastes 12, 14.

For God shall bring, I like it, every work into judgment, including, uh-oh, what's that say?

Everything, whether or good or equal.

Wait, wait, every what?

Wait, wait, wait, every what?

Whether or another book.

It's called the Book of Works.

Matthew 16, 27.

For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his father with his angels.

Here we come to reign, and then he shall reward every man according to his work.

Listen to what Jude 1.15 says.

To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against them.

Wow.

There it is.

There's one other book.

This is the good book.

The book of life.

So those are my five books that I think may be there.

I missed one?

Oh, oh.

Well, I use Jude 1.15.

Yes, the book of words.

But I say unto you that for every idle word men may speak.

Oh, by the way, yeah, go to that.

Go to that.

Yeah, oh, I'm glad you caught that.

Matthew 12, 36.

Go go there.

For every idle word men may speak, they will give an account of it in the day of judgment.

For by your words you'll be justified, and by your words you'll be contempt.

Now watch this.

Let me tell you what that little idle word means.

Are you ready?

Anything that does not glorify God.

Can we all say, oh me?

Wow.

That's all those little off the wall jokes.

It's all those little silly stuff that you think's cute.

Sarcasm.

Oh, I didn't mean to say that.

Well, you may not have meant it, but it's on record.

Oh, I dare you.

Oh, I didn't mean to say that.

It's on record.

It's in the clouds.

That's the true picture.

It really is in the clouds.

That's pretty good, wasn't it, preacher?

That's pretty good, wasn't it?

Everything's just in the clouds.

It's in the clouds.

Well, guess what?

Everything I just said, it's in the clouds.

Amen.

So, you got a choice today.

And by the way, I gave you all the scriptures of a description of hell.

And the reason I'm not going over those, I've already preached on hell.

About six, no, almost two months ago now.

But you need to go online and pull that message up and listen to it.

Because I dealt with every one of these descriptions, all ten of them that's in hell.

You've got to read them.

They're there, they're powerful, they're real.

And once you get through that, I guarantee you, you will not want to go to hell.

Where the worm never dies, and it's not a fishing worm, it's a maggot.

It's horrible.

It's horrible.

But guess what?

If your book is written in the book of that was come on, guys.

Where's their energy?

Think a minute.

If your book is the book of life.

Your name's in that book.

All those what 15 things I shared with you that we're going to be experiencing, if that doesn't get a Methodist and a Presbyterian excited, nothing will.

That ought to make us all a little Pentecostal.

Amen.

Amen.

Now, hey, let me tell you something.

If you, did you see the way these kids were up here dancing?

There's gonna be a lot of dancing in heaven.

And it's gonna be joyful dancing, not erotic dancing.

We're talking about dancing.

I don't know what kind of dance David did, but it sure embarrassed his wife.

Hello, you okay out there?

But whatever dancing that is, that's what we're gonna be doing.

All around the throne.

And I can't wait.

But I'm sad to know that there's a lot of my friends and relatives and even church members that could be dying and going to hell.

It's not because you've put your name on a roll or you've been baptized.

Now those are important.

But those are evidences of a true salvation.

They're not salvation.