Light on the Hill

James Kaddis: Pastor James Kaddis speaks of the great equalizer. Nobody can escape this judgment. Death is the great equalizer. It doesn't matter if you were rich or if you were not rich. It doesn't matter if you were of great stature or of little stature. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are, death is the great equalizer and the judgment of God is even a greater one.

Guest (Male): God's judgment is coming and it's very real and permanent. It's important to understand this coming judgment that God will bring because by doing so, we learn so much about God's grace, love, and his very nature. We're talking about the great white throne judgment today on Light on the Hill. As we begin, Pastor James Kaddis doesn't want us to confuse this with many of the other judgments spoken of in the Bible like the Bema seat.

James Kaddis: Revelation chapter 20. Now we have already discussed quite a bit here and I'm telling you, we don't have a lot left in order to get through the whole book of Revelation. It's been a lot of fun and in many cases, a lot easier than a lot of people think because if you know the Old Testament, you're going to understand the book of Revelation quite well. This is something that I'm constantly saying.

Now, it is important to note that a lot of time has gone by. Of course, as you know, we right now are technically living in Revelation between Revelation chapter 2 and the beginning of Revelation chapter 4. The rapture actually happens in Revelation chapter 4 at the very beginning of Revelation 4. Then from Revelation chapter 4 all the way through Revelation chapter 19, you've got the tribulation that takes place. Thank God we won't be there. Can I get an amen on that one? All right. Praise the Lord for that.

Then when we get to chapter 20, we begin to see the millennial reign of Christ, which we're going to be parts of. We're going to be there with him and we get to be the enforcers during that time. Of course, now we have seen the end of the millennial reign and we get to what is, in essence, the beginning of God's judgment upon a lost world who has chosen to rebel against him. This is after the final battle has taken place at the end of the millennium, which we talked about.

For those of you that were not with us last week, you get to learn lots of new vocabulary that I hope you will never forget, like phenomenological language. Some of you might not know what that means. Go back and learn it. It's a cool term and I explained how that works in context with the middle portion of Revelation, specifically Revelation chapter 20, verses 7 through 10. When we get into chapter 20, verse 11, we start at verse 11 and we get into what is known as the great white throne judgment of God.

I want to say this because it's really important to understand. By the way, I'm going to say this for the record. You're going to hear me say two phrases quite a bit during this Bible study. You're going to hear me say, "It's really important to understand," and "It's really critical that you know this." You're probably laughing at me because I say that a lot anyway, but this stuff is critical. It's really important that you know this. Understand this. This is really, really important. Now I'm conscious of the fact that I'm saying it all the time, but it is really necessary.

When you start looking at the judgments of God, most people conflate the different judgments that we read about into one. They conflate the great white throne judgment with all the other judgments that we read about in the Bible and specifically in the book of Revelation and of course, part of Ezekiel and other parts of the Bible. We actually see four specific judgments that are separate from one another and have different purposes and in some cases, even different time periods.

The first judgment that we read about is called the Bema seat judgment. This is the judgment that Christians will actually experience. This actually is a judgment that takes place after we're raptured. After the rapture, this Bema seat judgment comes and that judgment is when God rewards us for our deeds. This is a reward ceremony. For some people, there will be no reward for their deeds; they just made it to heaven because all their deeds were by ill-gotten motives. I think most people will have some pure motives behind many of the deeds that they did and God will reward them for that.

This will be a reward ceremony. That's what this is going to be. There are two other judgments that take place after the second advent, meaning the second coming of Christ. This is at the end of the tribulation and that is the sheep goat judgment that we read about in Matthew chapter 24 and the parallel judgment that is referred to as the judgment of the Jews. Those are two judgments where one deals very specifically with the Jews and the other one deals with a group of people where God separates them from believers versus non-believers.

This will happen with the Jews and this will also happen with these people who are in the sheep goat judgment that we read about in the book of Matthew. What happens at that judgment is when God makes the determination between those that are walking with him and those that are not that survived the tribulation. There will be some people that will have survived the tribulation that were not walking with God. How in the world you're going to survive that and still not walk with God is beyond me.

But there will be people who will not be walking with God who survive the tribulation and in that sheep goat judgment or that parallel Jewish judgment that takes place, there will be a separation. Those that are not walking with God will be thrown in that temporary holding place oftentimes referred to as Hades, that place of hell. It's not the permanent lake of fire, but it is that holding place of hell. It's the same place that people go to when they don't know the Lord and they die in the current day.

In essence, those people who are separated at that moment will be held in that temporary holding hell place while there will be others in that separation who put their faith and trust in Christ and they will be allowed to live through the millennial reign as they go into that period. These are both very unique times. Then of course, you get the fourth judgment. The fourth judgment is referred to as the great white throne judgment and that is a judgment that I promise you, if your faith and trust is in Christ right now today, you will not be at this judgment.

It is not going to take place. You will not take part in the great white throne judgment because what happens at the great white throne judgment is every single person who has ever rejected the Lord, who has died in their rejection of the Lord, who has lived an ungodly life, will be resurrected back to the place of receiving judgment from God. In that final judgment, that's when they'll get thrown in the lake of fire. That's when it's permanent and it's not going to be good at all. Thank God that none of you will be there if your faith and trust is in Christ Jesus.

It's interesting because I oftentimes refer to a statement that the late great Walter Martin made. It's one that I have changed in many ways. It's still the same adaptation of the same language. That man was a remarkable man. I have had the privilege and continue to have the privilege of knowing and loving his family, who are really great people. He made this statement oftentimes regarding the great white throne judgment and he said, "It's either Jesus or it's Moses." If you embrace Moses, then Moses is going to end up leading you straight to hell and if you embrace Christ, you're going to heaven.

Let me explain what I mean when I say this. If you put your faith and trust in Christ to bring you salvation because of his finished work and his actions, then you will go to heaven. If you put your faith and trust in your ability to follow the law of God as given to us by Moses, then you're going to hell because there's no way in the world you'll ever be able to fulfill the law of God perfectly. We had this conversation even last week, how you can be one year old and you can break the law of God. I have a 20-month-old son who has broken God's law on a bunch of occasions and the sin nature in that little stinker is very alive and well.

I can tell you that right now. It's not difficult to be able to discern that we are incapable of living the law of God perfectly. The reality of it is, I want people to understand this. When a person goes to hell, they go to hell because they did not live the law of God perfectly. You can make the argument as a lot of preachers make that if you die without Christ, you go to hell. That's right. But the reality of it is, you don't get judged because you denied Christ, you get judged because you broke the law of God.

That's the issue. You failed to put your faith and trust in Christ and you thought that you could fulfill the law and your fulfillment of the law got you to heaven. Well, you're going to hell because you have never been able to fulfill the law of God perfectly. Although there are different degrees of sin and although you can commit one sin that's way worse than another, any sin, no matter how fractional it might appear, is enough to get you to hell. Even if you're guilty of the smallest infraction, that is enough for you to go to literal hell.

Understand this, Isaiah makes it clear. The Bible says that it is your righteousness, not your unrighteousness, it's your righteousness that the Bible says is as filthy rags to God. In other words, it's your righteousness that is a dirty menstrual cloth. Think about that for a second. You women understand that a lot better than men. The reality of it is, it's gross. It's not a pleasant picture. It's an ugly picture. God says that your righteousness, not your sins, your righteous works are as filthy rags to God.

In other words, the very best that you give to God is not enough to get you to heaven. So the picture that we gain is that when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, then it is his perfect life that was lived on this earth that we get credit for. When you go to heaven, you go to heaven because God sees the fact that you lived the perfect life, but it wasn't you that lived it, it was Christ. Not a single work that you've ever done got you to heaven.

The only work technically that gets you to heaven is your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It's putting your faith and trust in Christ that gets you to heaven because it's Christ's work that gets you there and not anything else. This is really important to note because if you have done that, then that means you will not be at the great white throne judgment. You just won't. The Bible makes that very clear. You're not going to be at the great white throne judgment.

But if you choose to deny the true and living God, then now you're basically telling God, "I got this. I can do this on my own. This is no big deal." No, you don't. You absolutely don't have it. It's just not going to work. I was thinking about this the other day and I didn't even get to share this with first service, but I'll share it with you. When we were at the park yesterday, I had to zip home for a minute. I didn't want to get in my car and drive off because it was busy and it was easier in my mobility scooter to go down.

It took a little longer because you have to drive down the riverbed and I'm in a mobility scooter that's pretty much brand new. There's this little voice in me that says something is wrong with this thing. There was a little wobble in the wheel and I'm on the riverbed and I'm going fast. I'm going ten, eleven miles an hour, which is fast for mobility scooter. It's a little shaking and I thought, "This is not good." So I go through the whole park, doing all the things I'm doing and I tell my wife, "Babe, park your car in the driveway closer to the other side so I can get close to the garage."

I go close to the garage. I'm just going to grab my shop stool and sit under the lift where the mobility scooter is and I see something that literally just shocks me. It freaks me out when I see it. For those of you that are mechanically inclined, you'll understand. There's a turnbuckle that holds that wheel in place where the screw that goes through the turnbuckle is completely loose. It was to the point where there was so much play that all it would have taken was one little tiny little turn and that wheel would have fallen straight off of that scooter.

Actually, it would have done worse than that. The turnbuckle would have loosened from the wheel and this would have been the wheel that would have been on the side of where the riverbed is. So had that turnbuckle went off, it would have launched me into the riverbed and your pastor would have been dead. It would be beyond Humpty Dumpty having a great fall. Imagine going down Spring at a high rate of speed and that wheel breaking off. It would be right in the traffic. Everybody would think pastor committed suicide. It would have been that bad.

I realized at that very moment as I'm tightening that bolt back and I'm getting it all straightened out and I'm fixing it, that the Lord God of heaven is the only reason why I'm alive today. There's no way in the world I would be alive if it was not for the Lord God of heaven. I'm six-foot-four and on top of that thing and that thing has got to be pulling really hard. That turnbuckle should have broken straight off. It should have been completely destroyed, but it was the grace of God.

You can't argue mechanical inclination. You cannot argue that there was anything that anybody did that kept that thing working. It was literally the hand of God. It was the miraculous hand of God. The reality of it is, that's a great picture of our salvation. If you look at every aspect of our attempt to keep us safe, to keep us from experiencing hell, it's all broken. Every bit of it, we're in the riverbed. Every bit of it, we're in the street. It's done.

There's no hope for us. Only Christ can do that work. So when we get to the description of the great white throne judgment, understand this, you don't want to be there. I can promise you, you don't want to be there. For the overwhelming majority of the people in this room, you won't be there. Can I get an amen on that one? Give me a black church amen. Come on. Yeah, there we go. Amen. All right, good. I like that. You gotta have some soul in you. Give it to me.

Verse 11. Watch this. "And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away and there was found no place for them." Think about this for a second. This is the heaven and the earth. They can no longer be used to hide from this judgment. The face of heaven and earth are gone. There's nothing there. Imagine that. Now, there are some people that actually argue, and I would actually argue this, that this great white throne judgment is happening after the heaven and the earth is destroyed.

So there's no place anybody can go to. Some people say it's before and there's good arguments on both sides of the fence on this one. It's actually a pretty reasonable argument, but think about this for a second. Nobody can escape this judgment. Death is the great equalizer. It doesn't matter if you were rich or if you were not rich. It doesn't matter if you were of great stature or of little stature. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are, death is the great equalizer and the judgment of God is even a greater one. One of the things that we should stop to reflect on right now in this moment is how ominous that picture has to be.

On the 3rd of July, I love doing this, we took our family to one of the military bases and they do this massive firework show. It's really cool because when you drive into the military base, the MPs make you roll all your windows down and they've got their guns on them and they're checking everything to make sure everything is all good. Then you go into the base and then there's nothing better than setting your seats out on the base. You're literally on the runway, which is the coolest part of it. You set up on the runway.

I have my kids in my arms. Nothing is better than taking my little 20-month-old son and showing him all the Black Hawks. You drive into the base and you're looking at at least 15 to 20 Black Hawks that are there. You see the foreign air force, a bunch of fighter jets that were there on the tarmac, which was really cool. I think it was the Swiss Air Force actually. They were all there. You see the big cargo planes, a big old jet prop. It is just really cool stuff all over. It's a really cool thing.

When the firework show starts, it's really cool because you can see the Black Hawks in the shadows. It's super dark on base and the fireworks are going off and the Black Hawks are there. It's really cool when you see the military drones above that are actually patrolling. That's kind of an ominous thing. You see them and you know what they are and then you go and you look them up in the ADSB database and they're not there. This is some cool stuff. So it's always an enjoyable thing.

But here is the thing that was a really cool moment. I had my son with me and I'm holding him and eventually, while the firework show is going on, SpaceX launches a rocket. Now, for those of you that don't know, they're launching that from Vandenberg Space Force Base. So they're launching these rockets from Santa Barbara, folks. That's where they're launching them from. When they launch those rockets, you get to turn around and they're right behind us. We look and my son is going, "Plane, plane, plane!"

Remember, there was nothing in the air because they had a very strict temporary flight restriction. You can't have a plane in the air around the military base. It's restricted airspace. There were lots of commercial jets that were flying way around the area, but there was nobody flying over. So my son is looking at this and he is going, "Plane, plane!" I turn around and I'm like, "That ain't no plane, boy." That thing's a rocket. It's really cool because it looks like one rocket initially and then the booster separates.

SpaceX works by that booster coming right back down and landing. So you began to see the separation of the boosters and it's coming down. But what's so cool about that is watching the rocket just go through the sphere of the earth. You can see it. It gives you a picture of how ominous God's creation is. You look at the wonder of space, you look at all the things that God has done, the formation of planet Earth, and it reminded you of all of that. I love every part of it. You're looking at that and you're going, "Whoa, man, this is crazy. This is such a cool thing."

Guys, when you realize how big heaven and earth is, when you realize how expansive it is, and then God Almighty says, "You can't hide anywhere in it," look, I promise you, you don't want to be a part of this judgment.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Pastor James Kaddis on Light on the Hill. He'll be right back with more. As we go through the study of Revelation, there may come a time when you miss a message or would just like to hear a program again. If so, visit lightonthehillradio.com and click on Radio or listen through our app. We have a Light on the Hill app available for iPhone and Android users. Just search for Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.

Light on the Hill is heard all around the world and it takes a team to bring these shows to the radio and internet. With your help, we're able to reach people with the truth of God's word at a time when they really need to hear it. You can donate today at lightonthehillradio.com. You can also give through our Light on the Hill app. As we're going through Revelation, this is a great time to mention Pastor James's new book entitled *The Last Book*.

It will share what you need to know about Revelation, the rapture, and the end times. This guide to Revelation is part one of two and you can order it today at lightonthehillradio.com or at Amazon. We hope you'll join our online communities. You'll find James Kaddis on YouTube, Rumble, and Instagram. You can also hear our weekly prophecy show, *Countdown to Eternity*, wherever you get your podcasts and at countdown2eternity.com.

As we return to Pastor James, he speaks for a moment about who will be doing the judging at this great white throne judgment.

James Kaddis: I will argue one thing very quickly because I hear a lot of people talk about this. They talk about who it is that's actually doing the judging. There's a lot of people who will debate back and forth as to who is judging here. Some people say that it's God the Father. As a matter of fact, a lot of people say that it's God the Father. I think that's a great mistake. I think it's not God the Father that's actually judging here. Now, I understand why people come to this conclusion. It's an appropriate conclusion to come to understanding the track record of God's behavior.

The reason why we study the judgment of God is because the judgment of God tells us all about God's character and nature and it's really important that we understand that. As a matter of fact, one of the things that we're going to talk about in tonight's Bible study is the one thing that you need to know. If you don't know this, then nothing works. To understand the fact that we were made in the likeness and image of God. If we were made in the likeness and image of God, then that means our judgment or our ability to judge will tell a lot about our character.

We will learn about our own character based on the judgment that we choose to express. So when we look at God's judgment, we learn a lot about his character. So understanding and studying the judgment of God is really important and if you study the judgment of God, then you will correctly conclude that an overwhelming majority of all the judgments that we see in the Bible is God the Father that's executing the judgments. You look at the history of the nation of Israel and God executing judgments, it's God the Father that's doing it.

God the Father is establishing the covenants. God the Father is the one who executes the many judgments that we read about in the book of Revelation. When you look at the bowl judgments and the seal judgments and you actually look at the trumpet judgments, that's God the Father executing all kinds of judgments upon the earth. So we know that's happening. So it would make sense that the average person or not-so-average person, even the marked theologian, would make the assumption that of course this judgment, the great white throne judgment, is actually going to be God the Father.

It isn't God the Father. I believe that who it is is Jesus Christ. Now, I don't just pull that out of the hat and I don't make that assumption based on some weird idea that I have. I go to a passage and you can look at it later like John chapter 5 that talks about the fact that Christ will be the one who will judge the world in the end. We read references to it in Ezekiel. We find actually references, this is very interesting when you start looking at the discussion of the idea of Christ being the one who will judge.

This is a very interesting picture when you read the book of Acts and you start getting into the section of Acts where the Apostle Paul speaks to those that are on Mars Hill. He has a conversation with them and he talks about you guys having this consciousness of God to the unknown God. Then he talks about the idea in that passage that Christ will be the one who will judge in the last day. He refers to Christ as being the one.

How about the Apostle Paul when he writes the book of Philippians? When the Apostle Paul writes the book of Philippians, what does he say? Every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. So understand the fact that Christ will come back as the judge. As a matter of fact, he comes back as the final judge when we see that last battle. We see him being the one who executes as the judge, the great judge. So we know here that this is who we're talking about.

Guest (Male): Our study of Revelation will continue next time on Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis. Remember, as a Christian, you are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.