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The Great White ThroneBy Dr. Jack Hyles "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."--Rev. 20:11-15.
Herein you find the story of what is known in doctrinal terminology as the Great White Throne Judgment. In all my ministry I have never thought there was anything as important as keeping folks out of Hell. I have always thought that was the biggest thing. In fact, if I understand the Bible, that is why Jesus left Heaven. That is why He came to earth. That is why He lived on earth for thirty-three years. That is why He went to Calvary. That is why He rose again. That is what He is doing in Heaven tonight, interceding for us, that people might go to Heaven. That is the biggest thing the church has to do. That is the greatest job of the preacher. That is the most important job of the Christian. Jesus said, "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." He said again, "As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you." Years ago the famous preacher, J. Wilbur Chapman, took a poll of people in his campaigns as to what age they were when they were saved. He found by far the great majority of people who ever came to Christ are saved before they reach the age of twenty. The greatest majority of people are saved between the ages of twelve and sixteen. For example, how many of you here received Christ somewhere between ten and fifteen? Well, you can see the huge response of those who are here, saved between the ages of ten and fifteen. He took also a poll and found that when a man passes 25 years of age--man or woman--he has one chance in 1,000 to get saved. Only one person in 1,000 is saved after he is 25. If a person passes 35, he has one chance in 50,000 to be saved. If a person passes 45 without Jesus Christ, he has one chance in 200,000 to get saved. If a man passes 55 without Christ, he has one chance in 300,000 to get saved. And if a man passes 75 without Jesus, he has one chance in 700,000 to be saved, or one chance in almost a million. Now you can see why it is tremendously important that we stay after sinners, that we try to get folks saved. And so constantly we are after people, trying to get them to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Now a word about the background. We are looking tonight for the rapture of the church. That is the event when the Lord Jesus Christ will come, the trumpet of God shall sound, the dead in Christ shall be raised, those who are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and for seven years we will be with Him in the air. While that seven years transpires in the air, on the earth will be what is known as the Great Tribulation period, the time of suffering, of war, of famine, of death, of bloodshed. On the earth, a seven-year period known as the Great Tribulation period. In Heaven, the judgment seat, the marriage of the Lamb. We will be there seven years. The earth, in the Tribulation for seven years. At the end of that time we will come back with Jesus to establish a kingdom on the earth. For one thousand years, we as God's children, shall rule and reign with the Lord Jesus Christ here upon this earth. We shall be priests of. God and shall rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years. Now at the end of that thousand years will take place what is known as the Great White Throne Judgment. Have you ever heard anybody pray thusly, "Dear Lord, help me to live so as some day I may appear before the Great White Throne"? Now I don't want to pray like that. I don't intend to appear before the Great White Throne, for the Great White Throne Judgment is the closing judgment of the unsaved dead. Now tonight for our message I will use the word "seconds" and show you a series of second things that will summarize the study of the Great White Throne Judgment found in Revelation, chapter 20, verses 11 through 15. In the first place, I call your attention to the second resurrection. In the second place, I call your attention to the second judgment. In the third place, I would speak on the second Adam. In the fourth place, the second death. In the fifth place, the second birth. Now look if you will in the first place to The Second Resurrection. Turn to Revelation 20:5: "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." In verse 5 we find the resurrection of the saved, when those of us who are saved shall be caught up to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the air. I remind you of this: All the people will not be raised at the same time. I hear people talk about, "At the last day," "the resurrection." There will not be any such thing as the resurrection, one general resurrection. The Bible says when Jesus comes, two shall be grinding at the mill. One shall be taken; the other left. Two shall be in bed. One shall be taken; the other left. And so at the first resurrection, which takes place at the rapture of the church, only Christians will be resurrected. For our message tonight we speak of the second resurrection. Now, after the Christians are gone, the Bible says the unsaved will be left. Those who die in their sins will be still in the grave. And it says, "They lived not again until the thousand years were finished." Just suppose tonight, here is a man who is saved; here is a wife who is lost. They die, they are buried. Now that man, that saved person, will be raised from the dead when Jesus comes for His own. When the trumpet of God sounds and the dead in Christ rise, the dead in Christ will be raised when Jesus comes for His own. But this lost wife over here in the grave, right beside the saved person, won't rise at the second coming of Christ. The lost person will not rise when Jesus comes for His own, but will stay in the grave a thousand and seven years longer than the saved. The saved rise before the millennium; the lost rise after the millennium. There are two different resurrections. Look at verses 12 and 13: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works." Now there is going to be a second resurrection. At the second resurrection, at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ upon the earth, the unsaved dead will be raised- -the drunkards, the harlots, the whoremongers, the liars, the thieves, the sorcerers, the adulterers, the idolaters - -all unbelievers; those who rejected the Gospel of Christ, those who, in services like this, said no to Jesus Christ; those who believed they knew more than God- -the infidels, the liberals, the modernists--all the people who laughed at the Bible and thought they were too smart for the Word of God, they will be raised at the second resurrection. Now notice the words "death" and "hell ." It says that death and Hell will deliver up the dead which were in them. At death a lost man's body goes to the grave, but his soul goes to Hades. Actually the word "hell" in verse 23 is translated from "hades." Hades is the place where the rich man is in Luke, chapter 16, when he lifted up his eyes, being in torments and said, "Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." His body was in the grave; his soul was in Hades. At the second resurrection, the soul of that rich man, and the soul of everybody will come from Hades, their bodies will come from the graves, and the soul and body shall be reunited, and both body and soul shall be cast in the final lake of fire. Let me say again- -you will hear me say it a thousand times in this pulpit--I believe in a burning, literal Hell of fire. If the Bible is not true on Hell, we have no reason to believe the Bible is true on anything else either. If it is not fire in Hell as Jesus said in the Bible, we can say salvation does not mean exactly what it says. Heaven is not real, if we do not believe the Scriptures on Hell. Jesus said Hell was fire. We modern folks, we have gotten too educated. We are too scientific. I don't care what you believe, my friends; the Bible is true. The Bible says, "Let God be true and every man a liar." And so the souls of people who die in their sins are in Hell, in conscious torment tonight. But at the end of the millennium, the souls shall come from Hades, the body shall come from the grave, the body and the soul of the unsaved shall be reunited, and Jesus Christ Himself shall take both body and soul and cast them into the lake of fire. My precious friend, if you are hoping in some way, that maybe you will go to purgatory and somebody will pull you out of purgatory, you have got your eggs in the wrong basket. My Bible says there is a place called Heaven, there is a place called Hell, and between the two there is a great gulf fixed, and no one can pass from one to the other. When you die, you have sealed your destiny. They can call prayer meetings and pray for your departed spirit; they can call a High Mass or a Low Mass, but if you have not received Christ, you are lost forever in the pit of an eternal Hell. So the body of the unredeemed will come from the grave; the soul from Hades. Jesus will later cast both body and soul back into Hell. Now we have seen the second resurrection. We hasten on to what is known as The Second Judgment. Now the second judgment takes place after the second resurrection. Look in verse 13 again: "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hades delivered up the dead which were in them [that is the second resurrection]: and they were judged every man according to their works [that is the second judgment] ." We have preached to you before about the judgment seat of Christ. I told you about a time that is coming when all believers shall receive their rewards. And not a single lost person will be at that judgment. If you do not remember a thing I say, do not forget this: There will never in this world, there will never in the world to come, be a time when all the people, saved and unsaved, will be brought before the same judgment of God. There will not be any such time. Our sins were judged in Jesus on the cross of Calvary. That takes care of that. He judged my sins for me. I will never stand before God as far as salvation is concerned. I must stand before God when all Christians stand before Him. Before the millennium, before the thousand years, we must stand before Him to get our rewards. At the end of the thousand years, will be the second judgment, and that will be the judgment of the unsaved. The unsaved will be at the second judgment. Before the second judgment, verse 11 says, "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away... ." Did you see that? At the Great White Throne Judgment, when all the redeemed are resurrected and stand before God, then the Bible says, "the earth and the heaven shall flee away. There is going to be a day when the earth shall flee away. In II Peter it says it shall melt with fervent heat. There is going to be a day when even Heaven itself shall flee away. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, Jesus said that Heaven shall pass away, earth shall pass away, but the Word of God abideth forever. And so before the Great White Throne Judgment, Heaven shall pass away, and the earth shall pass away. Now why shall the earth pass away? Because God will not have anything contaminated by sin, and this earth has been contaminated by sin. And so God is going to give us a new earth and a new heaven, the starry heaven. And when this time comes, somewhere in the skies, in the third Heaven maybe, when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, sits on the Great White Throne and all the unredeemed stand before Him, Heaven shall flee away, earth shall flee away, and then shall be a new heaven and a new earth. May I say again: This judgment in Revelation 20 is not for the saved; it is only for the unsaved. Not a single saved person will stand before this judgment. Dear friend, rest at ease. If you are saved, you are not going to stand before God. I have heard folks say, "Well, I hope I get saved in the end." Brother, if you don't get saved in the beginning, you won't get saved in the end. If you don't get saved now, you won't get saved at all. There is not going to be a time when God is going to take us and decide then whether we go to Heaven or Hell. That was decided the moment you received Christ as your Saviour. These people this morning who came down these aisles and by faith received Jesus Christ as their Saviour, that once and for all settles their going to Heaven. Why? Because when they accepted Him, they immediately got a release from this Great White Throne Judgment of God. Only the unsaved will be there. And this Great White Throne Judgment of God is not a judgment of salvation, but a judgment for degrees of punishment. Some are going to burn hotter than others. (That is not a very good way to put it, is it? But that is about the way it is.) But some will receive more punishment than others. Just as some at the judgment seat shall receive more rewards than others; at the Great White Throne Judgment some shall receive more punishment than others. Let me say this, too: Those who reject Jesus Christ the most, those who say no to the Gospel, shall burn in Hell far more uncomfortable than those who do not. Here is a good man who hears the Gospel one time. He lived where there was no gospel preaching. Only one time did he ever hear the Gospel. He is a good husband, a good father, but he rejected the Gospel of Christ. Yes, he will go to Hell because he received not the Saviour. But he will not burn as much as this fellow who heard the Gospel every Sunday. Some of you folks who belong to a church but have never been born again- -you go to church every Sunday and you are reminded every Sunday, "If you die, would you go to Heaven? Do you know if you died tonight, you would go to Heaven?" Again, and again, and again, and again the preacher said that and your conscience is pricked. You know you are not saved. You know you have not been born again. You know you are lost. The Bible says those people who have received much shall be punished more. And people who have heard the Gospel much and rejected many, many times the story of Christ, those who have lived in awful sin, shall get more punishment than those who have not heard it so often. And so the White Throne Judgment is not for salvation, but for degrees of punishment. Let's picture it here. Here is the great throne over here. On the throne is the Lord Jesus Christ. Ken, can you and John imagine you are lost, for a minute? I will have you both stand before the throne. Ken is standing before the throne. He has been a bootlegger, he has beaten his wife (you didn't know all that about Ken, did you?), he is a first-class crook. He has come to church all his life but never believed the Gospel of Christ. He does not believe the Bible is the Word of God. He does not believe that Jesus Christ is God's Son. He snickered and laughed at his wife. She carried the children to church all her life while Ken laughed, mocked, and made fun of the old-time religion and the Bible being the Word of God and Jesus being the Son of God. When he stands before God, he will suffer more hell than will somebody else who didn't have the opportunities that he had. Here is John. He is a good man. He drinks soda. That is the very strongest drink John drinks. John stands before God. God says, "John, have you ever heard the Gospel?" "Yes, I heard it one time. When I was a little boy, I heard the Gospel." "Did you receive it?" "No I didn't." "John, have you been a good husband?" "Yes." "Have you been a good father?" "Yes." "Have you been a good citizen?" "That's right." "Have you lived a pretty clean life?" "That's right." "John, you will still have to go to Hell, but yours will be say 1900 Fahrenheit and yours, Ken, will be 6400 Fahrenheit!" Don't you tell me that the drunkard in the gutter who beat his wife and drank up the food from the little children, and made them orphans and made a wreck out of his wife and children, and said no to the Gospel and made light of the Word of God, will not suffer more than one little child fifteen years old, perhaps, who died but rejected the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't believe it. It says that they shall be judged every man according to his works. So we have the second resurrection. That is, when the unsaved are raised from the dead. We have the second judgment. That is, when the unsaved stand before God. Now in the third place, we come to what is known as The Second Adam. In I Corinthians, chapter 15 and verse 22 it is mentioned. Jesus Christ is called the second Adam. In the first Adam, all died. In the second Adam, all became alive. Whereas through the first Adam, sin came into the world; through the second Adam, righteousness came into the world. So Jesus is called the second Adam. Who is going to judge? In verse 11 of Revelation 20: "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them." In John, chapter 5, the Bible says all judgment is given to Jesus Christ. The second Adam is going to sit on the throne. May I say this: In that day Jesus Christ will not be the loving, tender Saviour wanting to save. Tonight He is. Tonight Jesus says, "Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." In that day He will not give you a chance to come to Him. For Jesus, the Son of God, the one you rejected, the one who tried to save you, the one who died for you, sits on the throne and He calls your name. Here is Jesus, and here is the unsaved person. For the first time in his life he has to stand face to face with Jesus Christ and give an account for why he rejected the Gospel. Here is the unsaved one standing before Jesus. Too late to get saved at all, you will have to get saved now, for it will be too late then. It is said a judge in a large city was walking along the walk near some water one day. He saw a young man drowning. He rushed to his rescue, took off his coat, jumped in the water, and brought the man to safety. He saved his life. The man, so grateful, expressed his gratitude to the judge. The judge literally had saved him from death. A few months passed, and this same young man committed some crime against society and was brought before this same judge. The judge sentenced him to whatever the penalty was. The man said, "But say, Judge, you remember me, don't you?" Sternly the judge answered, "Sir, I don't recall." He said, "Judge, remember a few months ago you were walking near the water and I was drowning? You pulled off your coat, jumped in the water and pulled me to safety? You saved my life, Judge. Now I know you won't want to send me to jail." The judge looked at him and said, "Young man, that day I was your saviour; today I am your judge." Jesus Christ is your Saviour tonight. He wants to save you. He will save any child, any man, any woman who will come by faith to Himself. He will save you. He will forgive your sins. He will make you a home in Heaven. He will save you from the fires of Hell. He will make you His child. All that belongs to Him shall belong to you. And you can leave this building tonight saying, "I know that I know that I know I am a child of God." But in that day the loving Saviour will be your Judge. But you say, "Dear Lord, I am the one who is on the prospect file down at the First Baptist Church in Hammond. They always beg me. I thought about coming when I got around to it." "I was your Saviour then; now I am your Judge," He will say. Jesus, the second Adam, shall be the judge. We have seen the second resurrection; we have seen the second judgment; we have seen the second Adam; now may I remind you of The Second Death. Look at verse 14: "And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." The second resurrection shall take place first. After the second resurrection, the unsaved will be judged at the second judgment. They will be judged by the second Adam, and then they will suffer the second death. Here it is. They call the names... John Peabody! Mary Smith! Jack Johnson! Joe Jones! They call the names! They stand before God, and God opens the books. The books are opened, and another book which is the Book of Life, and Revelation 20:15 says those not found written in the Book of Life were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Do you know what America needs? A generation of Hell -fire-and-brimstone preachers. Listen to me tonight. Every religious revival this world has ever known, every spiritual revival, has been built on preaching the judgment and the wrath and the fury of a righteous and holy and just God. I am not discounting God's love. I believe in preaching about the love of God. But as Billy Sunday used to say, "You can't love flowers uniess you hate weeds." You can't love God unless you hate sin. For it was sin that nailed the Saviour to the cross. And the more you love Him, the more you appreciate Him, the more you hate that which caused Him to suffer on the cross of Calvary. Billy Sunday, Dwight Moody, R. A. Torrey, Paul Rader, Gypsy Smith, George Truett--oh, how many more names we could recall; men of yesterday--Savonarola, Martin Luther, John Wesley, John Calvin, John Huss--were every one men who realized our God is a consuming fire. My precious friend, you hear me tonight! You someday will stand before God and if you are not saved, you will stand before Him and God shall say, "Cast him into outer darkness. Bind him hand and foot, for he has not received the invitation to come to my supper. The second death. In chapter 21, verse 8 it says the same thing: "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Nowadays theology says, 'Don't tell folks about Hell. Don't tell them they are going to Hell if they die and are lost. Tell them that in Jesus they have the more abundant life." That is right. You do have the more abundant life. But brother, lost people are going to have an abundant death, and you had better tell them about that, too. I believe Jesus does give abundant life. Thank God, I have been happy ever since I came to Christ. Now I am happy in the Lord. I love the prayer life, the Bible study, and the fellowship with God. But there is one thing I do know: The same God who accepts sinners also condemns them to Hell if they receive not the Gospel of Christ. The second death; the fires of Hell. Some of you folks will say, "Well, I just don't believe Hell is real fire." Well, you have a right not to believe it, but you can't say you believe the Bible and not believe Hell is real fire. And you have a right to believe what you want to believe, but don't you call yourself a Christian. Don't you call yourself a Bible-believer. Don't call yourself a fundamental believer in the Gospel of Christ if you don't believe what Jesus said about Hell being fire. Jesus said, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire...." But you say, "He didn't mean fire." He may not have meant fire, but He said fire, didn't He? And as the little girl said, "Mamma, if Jesus didn't mean what He said, why didn't He say what He means?" He said fire. Again He said in Mark 9:44, "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Over and over and over again we are reminded in the Bible that those who reject the Gospel of Christ must suffer the second death. My friends in the balcony, on the lower floor, up here-I beg you tonight, if you have never by faith received Jesus Christ, flee to the Son of God who alone can save you from the fires of Hell. After the Great White Throne Judgment will come the second resurrection. After the second resurrection will come the second judgment. On the throne shall be the second Adam, and there shall be a second death. But you say, "Preacher, how can I escape the second resurrection? How can I escape the second judgment? How can I escape facing, at the awful time, the second Adam? How can I escape the fires of the second death?" I am glad you asked me. That is by being participants in the second birth. The Lord Jesus said, "Ye must be born again." Anybody who has the second birth will not have to suffer the second death. If you have not received the second birth, you have to suffer the second death. Jesus stands, the books are opened, another book is opened, the Book of Life. You stand before God. God looks at you. Jesus Christ says, "Is your name in the book?" You say, "Dear Lord, it must be. I was a good church member. He says, "Is your name in the book?" "Well," you say, "I guess so. I was baptized." "But is your name in the book?" "Well," you say, "I imagine it is. I had an attendance pin. I didn't miss for fourteen years in Sunday School." "But is your name in the book?" "Well, I think so. I gave to the Community Chest every year. I have a little sticker on the window." "But is your name in the book?" "Well, I think so. I was a good husband." "Is your name in the book? "Well, I guess so. I was a good father." "Is your name in the book?" "Well, I paid my debts." "IS YOUR NAME IN THE BOOK?" There is only one thing: Have you been born again? If you have, you will go to Heaven. If you haven't, you are going to Hell regardless of all the good things you have done. Only one determining question: Have you been born again? If you have been born again, thank God, you will miss all of this. If you haven't been born again, you will stand before God as the books are opened. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ethan Allen stood up to testify at a Christian meeting. Ethan Allen was for years an officer in the United States Army. Allen gave this testimony at a Businessmen's luncheon: "I married the girl of my dreams. We were so in love, so happy. But she was a Christian; I was an infidel. I watched her go to church Sunday after Sunday. I looked at her life, listened to her prayers. I saw her Bible stained with tears. I was an infidel. I laughed at her as she walked off to church, made fun of her as she prayed. I thought she was foolish for reading the Word of God. I was an infidel." Ethan Allen said: "After awhile, gentlemen, God gave us a baby, a precious little girl. Oh, we loved her! How we loved her! When she was an infant, her mother carried her to Sunday School every Sunday. When she was a Beginner--four, five, six--every Sunday she was at church. Every Sunday night- -back to the Sunday night service. Every Wednesday night--to mid-week prayer service. She never missed. Every week she went with her mother." Then said Ethan Allen: "When she was six--to church with Mother. Seven- -to church with Mother. Eight, nine, ten, eleven--to church with Mother. But when she got to be about twelve, I began taking her with me to night clubs, to dance halls, to high balls. She had a good time. "Finally she began to tell her mother, 'Mother, I don't want to go to church today. I am too sleepy. Daddy and I stayed out so late last night.'" Ethan Allen continued: "I would laugh under my breath and say, she is not going to follow the old-time religion of her mother. I am so happy about that. Her mother would plead and beg, 'Honey, please go with Mother. Please go with Mother.' But I would say, 'Honey, you stay home if you want to.' So she would say no to her mother. "Finally on Sunday nights I would take her out to the dance halls or some night club with me, and we would have a big time painting the town red while Mother was at the church house weeping her eyes out because her daughter had gone into sin." He said: "Finally our daughter quit going to church. She never went with her mother. She was a beautiful girl, fifteen or sixteen years of age. We loved her dearly. Her mother was a Christian; I an infidel. She was following Daddy's footsteps. "But one night she was out with a gang of kids in a carriage. They had been swimming, and she caught cold. After awhile it went into pneumonia. In those days we didn't have penicillin and all the other cures we have now. So before long she was at the point of death. "The doctor called me in and said, 'Mr. Allen, your girl is dying.'" Allen looked at those businessmen and said: "I went in and looked at my little girl--just a teen-ager. Her mother had served Jesus Christ; I was an infidel. I looked at her and my daughter said to me, 'Daddy, I am dying, am I not?' "I replied, 'Yes, Honey. You are going to die.' Then I began to weep. Her mother was crying. But there was not a tear in our little girl's eyes. She said, 'Daddy, I want to know one thing. All my life Mother has gone one way, and you have gone the other way. Now Daddy, since I am dying, I have got to know the answer. I have got to know. I love you, Daddy. I love you and I trust you and believe what you say. Daddy, while I am dying, should I die Mommy's way or your way?"' Ethan Allen said: "I began to cry. Then I threw my body on hers and said, 'Honey, choose Mother's way! Choose Mommy's way! Quickly, honey! Choose Mommy's way!"' Ethan Allen said: "Before I could get it said, she had gone off to meet the Lord Jesus. I will never know until I face God whether or not she chose Mommy's way or Daddy's way!" Oh, in Jesus Christ tonight is escape from judgment. There is salvation forever. Heaven with Christ and the saints. That is the best way. Choose Mommy's way! Oh, Thomas Paine thought he could live without God. When Paine came to die he said, "I wish I had never lived!" Voltaire laughed and mocked at God, and when Voltaire came to face death, he said, "0 Jesus Christ, 0 Jesus Christ! It is hell to be left alone!" Thomas Hobbs wrote book after book denying the efficacy of the Gospel of Christ. And when Thomas Hobbs came to die, he said, "I am taking a fearful leap into the dark! 0 Christ! 0 Jesus!" My precious friends, in Christ tonight, in the second birth, you can know the second Adam; you can escape the second death, the second resurrection, and the second judgment, if you know Christ in the second birth. Do you know Him tonight? Will you be at the first resurrection, or at the second? Will you be at the first judgment, or the second? Will you suffer the second birth, or the second death? Do you know what it is to receive Christ by faith and know that your sins are forgiven? If you don't, you can, just as easy as a lifted prayer to God, saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." I recommend Him to you tonight. Oh, how wonderful! Oh, how marvelous is our Saviour's love for me! I stand amazed in the presence He loves you tonight. He will save you. Do you know that if you die, you will go to Heaven? Are you sure you are saved? Have you been born again? Have you had the experience of the second birth? If you have, don't worry about the second resurrection. Don't worry about the second judgment, Don't worry about the second death, because you have the second Adam in your heart by experiencing the second birth. Will you bow your heads for prayer? Our Father, we come tonight in this sober thought, realizing some day the unsaved must stand before God. Some day those who have not received the Saviour must face Him. Oh, what an awful day! When the books are opened, and death and Hades deliver up their dead, and the people who are unsaved shall be judged according to their works and cast into the lake of fire! We thank Thee, our Saviour, that we have received Christ. We thank Thee for refuge in Him. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. I have mentioned this, but a famous artist was teaching one of his pupils. The pupil painted a beautiful scene, a beautiful for -est scene. The trees were lovely, the forest was beautiful. The master came and looked at the picture. The young man was so proud, so happy. The master, as he observed the picture, made this criticism, "Young man, never paint a forest without a path leading out. I think I can say that to every preacher: Never preach about Hell, never preach about the judgment, without a path leading out. Thank God, there is a path! That path is Jesus who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Do you know Him tonight? Have you trusted Him? Is He your Saviour? Can you say, "Brother Preacher, I have received Him as Saviour. He is mine; I am His. I don't worry about the second judgment for I won't be there. I don't worry about the second resurrection. That won't affect me, for I have received the second Adam and experienced the second birth. I know I have. I belong to Christ. He is my Saviour, and I know it"? Will you lift your hands up high? As you drop your hands, keep your heads bowed. How many of you will say, "Brother Preacher, I could not lift my hand tonight. I do not know that I am saved. I have not been born again. I am not a child of God. I wish I were. I don't want to go to Hell. I want to go to Heaven. I want to be saved. But I will have to confess tonight I do not know that I am a Christian. I wish you would pray for me. I want to know it. I don't want to go to Hell, I want to be saved some day. Preacher, pray for me"? I wonder how many of you will lift your hand tonight, and by the uplifted hand you will be saying, "Include me in your prayer." Lift it now and I will pray for you. Click here if you want to find out how to be avoid the Great White Throne!
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