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Men, we're continuing tonight where we left off this morning with Armageddon in chapter 19 and then we roll into chapter 20 with the millennium and the great white throne judgment. Now it says in verse 1 of chapter 20, and I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season and I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and which had not worshiped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years and so when we see this living and reigning with Christ that's where we get the term the millennium. Millennium just simply means a thousand years, you know if you know Spanish, meal, thousand, ennium, like annual, thousand years is what that means and there are people out there who do not believe in this millennial reign of Christ. So when people talk about what we believe about the end times they would call us premillennial and we would call ourselves premillennial and what that means is that we believe that Jesus Christ will return before the millennium. So obviously Jesus Christ has already returned in Revelation chapter 19, he's doing battle at Armageddon and so Jesus Christ's return is premillennial and then there are people out there that are post-millennial which they believe that the millennium happens and then Jesus Christ returns. It's kind of hard to figure out where they're getting that from this passage you know since Jesus has already returned clearly in chapter 19 and then we have the millennium in chapter 20 and then the great white throne, everything's over, new heaven, new earth, so we'll get into that in a moment. Then there's another group of people that's all millennial and people who are all millennial basically don't believe in any literal thousand year reign of Christ and what they'll often say is that we're in the millennium right now. The all millennial view would say this is the millennium you know and the thousand years isn't an exact number it just means really long time. You know by saying a thousand years it just means long time and Jesus Christ has been reigning ever since the first century AD. I remember back in 2013 when I interviewed James White and we were just kind of chit chatting before or after the interview I think it was after the interview we were kind of chatting and we kind of just touched on the subject of Bible prophecy and I said oh well you know you're probably what all millennial and he said well you know well isn't don't I mean don't you believe that Jesus is reigning right now you know through his church or in our hearts or whatever. I don't remember exactly what he said but it was that type of an answer something about him reigning now but here's why that's wrong because of the fact that the millennium is not just about Jesus reigning or God reigning because guess what in a sense that's always been the case. I mean Jesus Christ is always the king and the Lord God is always ruling and reigning so to just say well he's already reigning. Folks what is the key characteristic of the millennium according to the Bible? It's that the devil is bound a thousand years. So a better question for James White to have asked me would not have been well isn't Jesus ruling and reigning right now? Here's a better question he should have asked me well isn't the devil bound right now? I mean isn't the devil bound right now and not deceiving anyone right now? But that would be a ridiculous question wouldn't it? Because who in their right mind believes that right now the devil is bound and not deceiving anyone? So you can't let people spin this around and try to turn it around into something else. What does the Bible say? Look at Revelation 20 verse 1, and I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. How does this millennium chapter start? Starts out with a chain in the hand to wrap around Cornpop's head, no, to actually bind Satan for 1,000 years. So that's the emphasis right? If we actually go to the Word of God, verse 1, the chain is the emphasis. Verse 2, he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. Verse 3, and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loose the little season. Folks, are we just going to ignore verses 1 through 3? Don't just jump to verse 4. First you've got to do verses 1 through 3, then get to verse 4. And verses 1 through 3 are about the devil being bound. Don't miss it. Okay, you're not in the millennium if the devil's out deceiving people. How could anyone make the case that the nations are not deceived right now? Well let's think about particular nations. In fact, let's talk about the biggest nation in the world. Is India deceived right now? And does the devil have something to do with that? I mean we're talking about 1 billion plus people, you know, 1.4 billion people or whatever. You've got South Asia where like one fifth of the world's population lives in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Southern Asia. You've got well over a billion people deceived today and they are deceived by the devil, whether it's Hinduism or Islam, they are deceived and the devil is the great deceiver that has them deceived. You know, if we were to look at Europe tonight, is it deceived? Is Europe just basking in the light of the truth of God's word or are they deceived today by the Roman Catholic Church, deceived by the East Orthodox Church, deceived by all the secular atheism and agnosticism? They're deceived today. They're in darkness. All over the world, false religion is thriving with Satan at the helm. The devil is the one because the Bible says that the devil's ministers are transformed into the ministers of light. And so we know that the devil's behind false religion. The Bible says that the things that the Gentiles offer in sacrifice unto idols, they sacrifice unto devils. So when we see a billion Hindus offering sacrifice unto idols, we know that they're worshiping devils according to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And so therefore, to say that we're in the millennium right now is to ignore this key characteristic of the millennium found in verses 1 through 3 where the devil is bound and deceiving the nations no more. It says in verse 4, "...and I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which did not worship the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon his forehead or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." What we can see there is that the events where the Antichrist and the false prophet are causing people to receive a mark in their forehead and in their hand have already happened. Otherwise this would make no sense to try to say, well it's not chronological. Well clearly it is, because in chapter 20 we're referencing the mark of the beast as a past event. So we know for sure that order. Now you say, okay, well what about post-millennialism? Well post-millennialism is the idea that we're bringing in the kingdom, you'll sometimes hear people say. Post-millennialism is the idea that basically we will experience a golden age of Christianity and blessing that will usher in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Well my question is, where is it? You know they talked about this during the Reformation, it didn't pan out. They talked about this during the so-called Great Awakening and Second Great Awakening, and neither of those panned out either. Here we are in the 21st century and we are not heading toward a golden age of Bible believing Christianity at all. Now of course the Bible predicts no such thing anyway, but these post-millennialists are predicting that and their prediction has failed. It's clear that evil men and seducers are waxing worse and worse, the world's getting worse and worse, we're headed for a one world government, Antichrist, mark of the beast, and you know what, that's what premillennialism teaches. So premillennialism is the only one of these three viewpoints that actually matches reality. Reality matters. Can't you say, well I'll just forget reality and just go to the Bible. No the Bible better match reality or either you're misunderstanding reality or you're misunderstanding the Bible. And I think it's pretty safe to say we're not misunderstanding reality. No actually things are getting really Christian in the world today. It isn't true, okay? There's wickedness in our world, the devil's a deceiver, nations are deceived, we're headed toward a one world system, you'd have to be blind not to see it, and that's why in 2020 how could you not be premillennial if you're a Bible believing Christian? I don't get how anybody could not be premillennial. Not only that, but premillennialism is just the plain reading of the text. Because in the text when the sixth seal is opened, the sun and moon are darkened, Christ comes in the clouds, the trumpet sounds, he gathers the elect, and that happens before chapter 20, okay? And again I already proved that because we're referencing back to the tribulation, back to the beheading and all that in this verse. Now let's deal with another important subject regarding the millennium. Some people will read verse 4 and they will misunderstand this, that the only people that will be reigning are those that are beheaded. You know some people would read this and say, you gotta be beheaded or you're not in the millennium. Because it says, I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and which did not worship the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Now here's a big mistake in understanding the Bible, really it's just a mistake in logic to say well because John saw those who were beheaded he didn't see anybody else and there wasn't anyone else. That's not what the Bible says. Just because John is emphasizing the fact that he is seeing the martyrs being rewarded and reigning with Christ, it doesn't mean that nobody else is reigning. It doesn't mean that no one else is there. And there are plenty of scriptures that prove that there are, but first I just want to point out that in verse 5 when it says the rest of the dead lived not again, that is not referring to us as Christians. Here's the proof, because we're premillennial, right, that's why we got to get that out of the way at the beginning of the sermon. If we're pre-millennial, then we know that Jesus Christ has already earlier come in the clouds, the trumpet has sounded, the dead in Christ rose first, we which are alive and remain are caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Let me ask you something. If someone is a saved Christian right now and they're in the grave and Christ comes, the trumpet sounds, and they're caught up to be with him, are they dead anymore? Are they ever going to be dead again? No, because once you've been resurrected, you're alive forevermore, so shall we ever be with the Lord, the Bible says, wherefore comfort one another with these words. In Revelation chapter 7, when that great multitude appears in heaven from the rapture, it says they're going to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, and they're not going to hunger anymore, they're not going to thirst anymore, you know, their striving of this world is over, they're alive, they're resurrected, they're not dead. So when the Bible says the rest of the dead, we're not talking about anybody who went up in the rapture or anybody who was dead in Christ that rose first, they're not dead. Okay, so when the Bible says the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished, this would have to be saved people who got saved after the rapture or after that resurrection. So they're basically going to go up in the second resurrection, okay, because there's a first resurrection, and then there's the second resurrection, okay. The second resurrection is after the millennium. This is the first resurrection, the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years are finished. You say, well, how do we know that that's not referring to unsaved people, because the unsaved people will never live again. The unsaved people will never live again. They will be resurrected, but they will not live. Because as we're going to see in a few verses, when they are resurrected, they are still dead. They are the undead, right, they are dead people standing before the great white throne, being judged. So the Bible is clear that all believers are going to go up in the rapture, okay, the dead in Christ are going to be caught up because when it's described in 1 Corinthians 15, it says we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye at the last trump. All of us will be changed in a moment at the last trump when the trumpet sounds, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, this mortal must put on immortality. That's everybody, okay. And if you go back, this isn't in my sermon, but go back to Revelation chapter 11. Revelation chapter number 11, and the Bible says in verse number 15, and the seventh angel sounded, Revelation 11 15, and there were great voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders which sat before God in their seats fell upon their faces and worshiped God saying, we give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art and wast and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. And the nations were angry and thy wrath has come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets and to the saints, watch this, and them that fear thy name small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. So notice when the seventh trumpet sounds here and God is reaching the end of pouring out his wrath on this earth, right? He's at the end of the wrath period and he's saying the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, meaning that it just happened. Just like the song, joy to the world, the Lord is come means, is come means he just got here. So what it's saying here is just now the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ right now. That's where you get that is come, are become, that present past participle there combo. And so what this is basically saying is that at the time that the seventh trumpet is sounded, the wrath is ending, and the millennium started, that is the time when God will give reward unto his servants the prophets and he said and to them that fear his name small and great. So all of God's servants are being rewarded at this time, not just a few who got beheaded. Does everybody see how important that is? All of God's servants, small and great, are going to be rewarded at this time, not just a select few. It's not a partial rapture where only certain really good Christians make it in the rapture or only certain good Christians who really give it everything and get beheaded and everything else but rather it's all of God's servants, anyone who fears his name small or great, lame Christian, good Christian, anybody who's saved, anybody who's a saint, anybody who's his servant is getting rewarded at this time. Now obviously not everybody's going to be reigning at the same level because it's not going to be all chiefs and no Indians. Obviously in order for somebody to reign there's got to be some other people that are on a lower level and obviously you know the Apostle Paul and the thief on the cross aren't going to get the same reward and they're not going to be ruling and reigning at the same level in the millennium. They're both saved, they're both going to heaven, they're both going to be with Christ for all eternity, the thief on the cross and the Apostle Paul but obviously the Apostle Paul racked up a bunch of rewards. The thief on the cross, I don't know if he's going to get any rewards. Maybe he gets rewards just because his story is such a cool story and it's so instrumental in getting people saved, maybe he gets a piece of those salvations that come from that Bible story. I don't know. I don't know how that rewards package works but I guarantee you that a guy like the Apostle Paul who wrote half the New Testament, he's getting more rewards than the thief on the cross, okay. And I'm sure that there are people who did even less than the thief on the cross. The Bible talks about people who all their works are burned up but they themselves are saved though. They make it in by grace through faith even though they don't have any works to show for it. They still, they themselves shall be saved yet so is by fire according to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Now let me bring up at this point a damnable heresy that's out there and thank God this is a pretty obscure heresy but a famous well-known Bible teacher has just come out with this and so it's good to just rebuke stuff like this when it rears up its ugly head but it's this doctrine that says that if you're not a good enough Christian you're going to get left out of the millennium and you know where you're going to be hanging out during that time according to these false teachers? In hell. In hell. Okay, now that's wicked. That's a horrible doctrine, okay. So like I said, the Bible's teaching that Jesus Christ is going to return with ten thousands of his saints and he's going to reward his servants small and great. So everybody who's saved is going to be resurrected and in the millennium and ruling and reigning with Christ or at least being a part of that kingdom but they teach this doctrine called millennium exclusionism and there's this cult leader in Missouri out in the middle of nowhere. He moved his church from Texas to Podunk Hall or Missouri where the closest hotel is an hour away. That's backwoods, okay, out in the middle of nowhere. His wife left him, took the kids, so he's unqualified to pastor but does that stop him? Oh no. He continues to pastor out in the middle of nowhere and teach this lying heresy, this garbage and here's what he says, if you're not a good Christian, if you get backslidden, you're going to spend a thousand years in the lake of fire but you're still saved. You know, I'm not saying you're not saved. It's just that you're just going to just, you know, just, I mean you're just going to do a little stint in the lake of fire. I mean, you know, it's just like, you know, it's like a thousand years. I mean, you know, it's not a big deal. It's a thousand years. I've been alive for 39 years. It seems like kind of a long time, 39 years is a long time. You know, I've been pastoring this church for what, like 15 years? I feel like I've passed this church for a long time. Folks, 15? How about a thousand? I mean, that's crazy. Kent Hovind, who knows who Kent Hovind is? Yeah, Kent Hovind had this guy on his YouTube channel promoting this guy, promoting his book and here's what Kent Hovind said, I've read his book four and a half times and I can't debunk it. I can't refute what he's teaching. I'm not 100% convinced but I can't refute it. Then he uploads the video to his channel of this guy preaching his lying heresy and the video is called, Must Watch. Every Christian must hear this. You know, Christians could spend a thousand years in the lake of fire, whatever. Folks, a five-year-old could debunk that. If Kent Hovind can't debunk that, he has no business teaching the Bible because anybody should be able to debunk that. How about John 3.16, okay? It's not hard to debunk. But look, here's a really clear verse to debunk this. The Bible says, I'm the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Folks, I'm not going to spend one second in the lake of fire because that place is the place of the dead. That is the place of death. That's what the Bible calls it. And so the dead are there, okay? I'm saved. I have eternal life. Nothing can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord. And the Bible says that as far as the east is from the west, so far has God separated me from my sins. How in the world could I go to the lake of fire for any period of time? That's crazy. Okay, not only that, but the sinful things that we do. I talked about this a little bit this morning. We do them because of our flesh. It's our sinful flesh. It's not the new man. Well when I die, the flesh is buried and gone and it's the new man who goes to heaven and when I go to heaven I'm never going to sin again. Imagine how ridiculous it would be for God to chastise me when I get to heaven over something that I didn't even do. Look at Romans chapter 7 if you would. We're going to come back to Revelation, but look at Romans chapter 7. Let's see what the Bible says. Romans chapter number 7, this is one of my favorite passages, it's most Christians favorite passage because we relate to it because it's so real and it makes us feel better when we realize that we're not alone. The Apostle Paul is in the same boat with us where we struggle with sin and we struggle with temptation. That's life. Well he talks about in this passage how on the inside his inner man, he wants to do what's right, and listen to me, everybody who's actually saved, everybody who's truly born again, inside wants to do what's right and loves Christ on the inside. If you're sitting there thinking to yourself, well I don't have any desire to do what's right and I don't, I can't find any love for God in my heart, I just don't even care. Well then you know what, you're probably not even saved if that's you. If you're a teenager and maybe your parents dragged you in here and you're sitting there thinking like, I don't care about any of this, I don't even care. You know what, you're probably not even saved because here's the thing, everyone who's actually saved has the new man and the old man. Everybody who's actually saved is indwelled by the Holy Spirit. And so according to the inward man, we delight after the law of God like Paul. According to the inward man, on the inside we love Christ, we love God, we want to do what's right. Here's the problem though, the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. So when we sin, we're doing something that the new man doesn't want to do. That's why when you're saved, you can live a sinful life and still be saved, but you know what, you're not going to enjoy it as much because you're going to be guilty. People that are unsaved, they might be able to go out and party and do a bunch of sinful things guilt-free. But when you're saved and you go out and do those things, you feel bad about it. You feel bad about it, why? Because there's that part of you that loves Christ and wants to do what's right and it grieves you to know, man, I shouldn't be doing this, I don't want to do this, you know, I need to do better. That's where the struggle comes in. So the Apostle Paul, he's talking about how he delights in the law of God after the inward man, but then he's got the flesh and he keeps doing things that he doesn't want to do. He wants to do what's right, but then he ends up doing wrong things. Watch what he says though. In chapter 7, he says in verse number 16, if then I do that which I would not, and this is an old style language, but he's basically saying, if I do the things I don't want to do, if I do that I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good, now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. What did he just say? It's not I that's doing it, it's sin that dwelleth in me. And just in case you missed it, go to verse 20. Folks, when things are repeated twice, it's for emphasis in the Bible. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. That is stated twice, you must accept what Paul has said here, twice. When I do that I would not, it's no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. The Apostle Paul is identifying with the new man, the new creature, the saved Paul, he's saying that's the real me. But then I've got this other turkey that I'm stuck with, the old Steven Anderson, the old Apostle Paul, and he is the one who wants to do all the sin. And look, I've got the old Steven Anderson and the new Steven Anderson, and if I walk in the flesh, the old Steven Anderson is in the driver's seat, and I'm sitting there in the passenger seat, you know, the new Steven Anderson, and I'm like, what are you doing? Where are you taking us? Okay and I'm reaching over and grabbing the wheel and we're fighting, there's a struggle, the car's swerving on the road. Okay, the Christian life is a struggle between the old man and the new man, the flesh and the spirit, okay. And Paul is saying, when I do that I would not, it's no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Okay, so now fast forward, the Apostle Paul lives his life, gets to the end, goes up to heaven, goes to the judgment seat of Christ, and God's like, well what about the time you did this? What about the time you committed this sin and that sin? Would that make any sense when the Apostle Paul's not the one who did those things? And the version of the Apostle Paul who did those things is the one who's dead and in the grave. So when I die, if I walked out tonight and I head home and I get hit by a car on my way home and I die and go to heaven, okay, the body, the part that's there that gets buried that everybody would mourn over and bury, hopefully, somebody cares, you know. But anyway, that part of me, that would be the old Steven Anderson, that's the guy who did all the bad stuff. The one who goes up to heaven is the good side, right? That's the new creature, that's the saved Steven Anderson, that's the soul, the spirit that's been regenerated by Christ. So why would that Steven Anderson get to heaven and have God start chewing him out? And you know, why'd you do this? I didn't. I didn't do that. That would be my answer, well I didn't do those things. So this wasn't you? No, it wasn't. The man who did those things is dead. You're talking to the new Steven Anderson that didn't do any of that. It's a stupid doctrine to say that God's going to punish saved Christians for their sins when they get to heaven. When you get to the judgment seat of Christ, it is not going to be some kind of a bash fest where Christians get bashed for everything that they did wrong. Look, you're going to get rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ and your works will be tested whether they're good or bad. And if your works are bad, meaning low quality, no quality, not of eternal value, they're the wood, hay, and stubble and you lose a reward. Go to 1 Corinthians 3, just quickly we'll go to this because it's important. First Corinthians chapter 3 says in verse 11, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he had built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. And what is the Bible teaching here? It's saying that when you get to the judgment seat of Christ, your works will be tested and tried. What is the criteria? It's saying look, they're going to be tried of what sort they are. What type of work are they? This is not your sins. Your works being tried of what sort they are, this is not lying, stealing, drunkenness, that stuff has been separated us as far as the east is from the west. Now let's talk about the stuff that the new Stephen Anderson did because the only thing that would make sense to even talk about at the judgment seat of Christ is the stuff that the guy did who's actually there, not the dead guy. So if I'm at the judgment seat of Christ, the stuff that Stephen Anderson did, the saved Stephen Anderson, is going to be tested of what sort it is. So basically let's think about things that we do as saved Christians. Well, you know, let's say we go to work every day, we build a business, we do yard work, we pull weeds, we mow the lawn, we fix the roof, you know, we go to work and turn the screwdriver and we play a board game with our family, we exercise, we eat, we drink, we sleep. Are those sinful things, am I listing anything sinful right now? Those are all good things, right? But hold on a second, do you think you're going to get rewarded by God for any of those things? Do you think that those are the gold, silver and precious stones, well done on that remodel, you know, well done on that business deal. They're not bad things in the sense of sinful or wicked, but if you're testing materials for eternal value and you're putting them through the fire, wood, hay and stubble are the things that have no value. So in that sense they're bad in the sense that they don't have any eternal value, whereas the good stuff are the gold, silver and precious stones, okay? Not only that, but let's say we did good things, but we ended up getting a lot of fame and accolades on this earth for it. Stop and think about that. The Bible says, you know, if you fast and everybody knows that you fasted, you lose your reward. Okay, it's not a sin to fast and tell people about it. It's not a sin to pray and tell people about it. It's not a sin necessarily to give alms and people know about it and you get lifted up and praised for the soul winning you did and the preaching that you did and everything like that, but it cuts into your rewards. So here's the thing, I could get to the judgment seat of Christ and I'm like, well look at all this money I gave, look at these souls that I preached the Gospel to, look at this money I gave to charity, and then I'm like, why is it all wood? This doesn't look like gold, this doesn't look like silver, oh well that's the stuff you, you know, you ended up bragging about that stuff. And so that stuff turned into wood, hay and stubble. It's not a sin though, it's not that it was a sinful thing, it's just something you're not getting rewarded for, okay? Think about the materials, wood, hay and stubble. Is wood a good material or a bad material? Is it good or bad? I mean in the sense of like morality or, I mean I wouldn't look at wood and be like oh it's just wicked. You know wood, wood's great for certain things. Stubble is great for certain things, you know, I mean stubble could be you, hay and stubble, I mean you could feed animals, I mean, you know, there's something to be said for those things. Make a mattress out of it. So those things, when you put them next to gold, silver and precious stones though, you'd say this is worthless! Even though they have some value, when you compare them to the gold, silver and precious stones they don't have any value. Does everybody see what I'm saying? So when we talk about gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, these are all the things you did with your life. If you spend your whole life just doing things that don't matter for eternity, it's not that they were sinful things, but when you get to the judgment seat of Christ they burn up because they're just not relevant to that judgment. You get rewarded for the righteous deeds that you did, not for the praise of men, but the things that you did for the right reason and you did the right works, you get the rewards. So go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse number 9, or let's start in verse number 8 it says, For we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord, wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, and here's the thing, when it says he may receive the things done in his body, the object is missing there. You know, he's going to receive what? It's not like you're going to receive the stuff that you did, you're going to receive a recompense for the stuff that you did, is what's left out there, okay? So he's saying you're going to receive the things done in your body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad, okay? Now this is not saying you're going to get punished for the sins that you did, it's saying you're going to receive for the things done in your body, whether they're good or bad, whether they're wood, hay, and stubble, or whether they're gold, silver, and precious stones. This is why it's important not to just take one verse in 2 Corinthians 5, 10 and just run with it and say, see the bad stuff, you're going to get rewarded for the bad stuff too, you're going to be lambasted for your sins or something. No, because if we actually compare scripture with scripture, we understand that the meaning of the bad there is not sinful things we did, but just a bad quality of work that doesn't get rewarded, okay? And also if you study the word bad throughout scripture, you'll see that often it talks about a bad house, a bad sheep, a bad goat, and it's not saying, you know, ooh that wicked sheep. When it says a bad sheep, it's saying it's poor quality. The bad house is one that's got less value. When the priest comes and values the house and he finds it to be bad, that's what that means. So anyway, go back if you would to Revelation. So we see here that the idea that Christians would go to the lake of fire for any length of time is madness, it's bizarre, we've been passed from death unto life, we shall not come into condemnation, our sins have been separated as far as the east is from the west, we shall never die, our sins shall not be mentioned unto us. So you don't want to take the judgment seat of Christ and twist it into something where it's just about bringing up our sins. And think about it, what about the sins I do in my thirties and then I live to be ninety and die? He's like, what about what you did when you were thirty-two? I was like, what? When I was thirty-two, you want to bring that up now? It's crazy. Now look, unsaved people, they're going to give account for their sins and go to hell. But folks, that's the whole point of being saved. What are we saved from? Our sins. The Bible says, and obviously the Bible also teaches that we're saved from hell, we're delivered from wrath, we're saved from the fires of hell, there's plenty of scripture on that, but he also says he shall save his people from their sins. So if I'm saved from my sins, why are they coming back to haunt me? In heaven. Oh man, I can't wait to get to heaven so we can talk about stupid stuff I did as a teenager. Wow, that's, what a day that will be, when my sins I shall see, and I look upon that great big screen, where all my sins are played back to me, and forever I will be the laughing stock of everybody who sees. What a day, glorious day, that will, oh man, I just can't, you know, even so, come Lord Jesus. Let's talk about every stupid thing I've ever done, it's gonna be great. It's not, and then, and then, if I'm not good enough, all right, lake of fire, don't worry, it's only a thousand years. Thousand years is super long. You'd go insane. How long, how far in would you completely lose your mind? What in the world? Man, alive. But that's, that's the bozo that Ken Hovind has on his program, teaching, and look, anybody who believes that isn't saved, period. If you believe that if you don't live right, you're gonna go to the lake of fire for a thousand years, folks, you're not saved. Because salvation is by grace through faith, and you know what saved is? Saved from your sins. Saved from hell. So how are you saved from hell if you do a stint in hell? How are you saved from your sins if you're getting punished for your sins? If you're getting blasted for your sins, if you're spending a thousand years of punishment for your sins, that's crazy. And anybody who believes in it is not saved, period. Are you saying Ken Hovind's not saved? I just did. That's what I just said. And you say, well, I don't know if he really believes in it because he says he's not 100% convinced, he's a liar. Because anybody, look, if I'm gonna have somebody on my channel and say, well, I read it for four and a half times, and I can't debunk it, you know, I'm not 100%, he's just hedging his bets. I'm not 100% convinced he wants to see which way the wind's gonna blow, because if people freak out too much, then he can backpedal. Well, I said I wasn't convinced, I thought about it, and it's not true. Folks, if he didn't believe in it, he wouldn't say every Christian must watch. Must see. I can't debunk it. I read it four and a half times. Well, you should have finished that fifth time then, you idiot. Alright, anyway, that was kind of a tangent that I went off on. But anyway, let's go back to Revelation 20 and go through this. So the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection, okay? Now basically, here's the way this works. This is the order of the resurrection. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, you don't have to turn there, but it gives an order for the resurrection. And in the order of the resurrection it says, Jesus Christ is the firstfruits. Afterward they that are Christ said is coming, and then cometh the end when the last enemy that's destroyed is death. Okay, so these are the three phases of the resurrection. The three phases are firstfruits, firstresurrection, secondresurrection, okay, Jesus, those that are Christ said is coming, and then the postmillennial, white throne, finalresurrection. Those are the stages of the resurrection of saved people. Okay, now stop. Don't miss this. Stop and think about it, okay? In the Bible, when they would harvest their field, first they would harvest the firstfruits. This is like, everything's not ripe yet, but a few, you know how when you plant things there will be a few that are ripe before anything else? Those are called the firstfruits. So if you looked at your field, you know, let's say 80% of it's not ready to harvest yet, but there's that little bit that is ready, okay? That's the firstfruits. Then there's kind of a primary harvest when everything's ready and you go through and do the main harvest, the big one, where you bring in the vast majority of the crops, right? Then afterward you have what you call the gleanings, right? The gleanings. And the Bible talks about, you know, going over the field the second time and getting the gleanings. And the gleanings were supposed to be left for the poor. So basically the landowner, he brings in the major harvest, but he doesn't go over it a second time. The poor, the fatherless, the widows, to go through his field and get everything that got dropped, everything that fell, everything that's still on the trees, and they can get the gleanings. That's what Ruth is doing in the book of Ruth. You know, she's going after the harvesters and she's getting the gleanings. So with the resurrection of the dead, when it comes to those who are the righteous and they're being resurrected, it's the exact same thing. So Jesus Christ is the firstfruits. You know, Jesus Christ is the first resurrection, the first. What do I mean? Because of the fact that he's the first person to actually be bodily resurrected, never to die again. Because, you know, you have some Old Testament characters who die and then they miraculously get raised back to life, like by Elisha, where Elisha raises a dead body to life. But here's the thing, when Elisha raised that dead body to life, that person died later. More like Jesus rose Lazarus back to life. But Lazarus is not still alive right now. Lazarus died later. Imagine being at the second funeral, you know, wondering, is this another drill or is this the real, you know. But anyway, so Lazarus, yeah, he was brought back, but not in the same way as Christ. Because when Jesus Christ was resurrected, he's conquered death. He's never going to die again. He's immortal. He's resurrected in a glorified body. Isn't that different than Lazarus? Isn't that different than Elisha raising a dead body? So Jesus Christ is the firstfruits of that glorious resurrection. So the Bible says, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ said is coming. So at Christ coming in the clouds, the trumpet sounds, and then the dead in Christ rise. That's the big harvest. You know why it's such a big harvest? Because every believer who's ever lived. That's a lot of people. I mean Old Testament, New Testament, I mean we're talking millions and millions and millions of people who've lived throughout time. That's going to be just this incredible number of people in that first resurrection. And then the gleanings or the second resurrection takes place after the millennium. Now what's the purpose of the second resurrection after the millennium? Why do you need that cleanup resurrection? Because what about people who get saved after the rapture? After the rapture has already taken place, or people who are born after the rapture. You know they're born after the rapture, they get saved after the rapture, or they're born or get saved during the millennium. Well what about them? They need a resurrection too. So that's where that second resurrection comes. So nobody, no saved person's coming up in that second resurrection that was alive and saved before Christ's second coming. Because if you belong to Christ at that second coming, you're getting resurrected, you're going up in the first round, alright? The gleanings, and so the gleanings are going to be a much smaller group of people obviously than the big, bulk, main resurrection. So that makes sense. Verse 6, blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power. And what is the second death? The second death is the lake of fire. The on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years, and when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. Now verse 10 is the first Bible verse that I ever memorized in my life. I might have been taught something in Sunday school by a teacher or something before that, but the first time I took the Bible and memorized a verse myself where I said, I'm going to memorize a Bible verse. This is the verse I chose. Revelation chapter 20 verse 10, and here I am still preaching hellfire and damnation decades later. But the reason is because I was a little kid, I don't know how old I was, you know, six years old or something, somewhere around that time. And my parents both had matching Bibles, they had his and her Schofield reference Bibles, okay. They had the leather-bound, his and her. My dad's was navy blue, and my mom's was red, and they had these matching Bibles. And in the back, they had both made the same little cheat sheet in the back, and it was the same in both. They worked on it together and copied it into both. Of doctrines that they felt were important, and things that they felt like, hey, if somebody challenges me on this, I want to know where to turn in my Bible. So they had a list of issues where if an argument comes up, they're ready, you know. So one of those bullet points was hell, and it said Revelation 20, 10. That was the go-to, my parents' go-to verse on hell, Revelation 20, 10. And then they had other things like eternal security, you know, John 5, 24, or, you know, deity of Christ, and they had a list of verses on the deity of Christ, bodily resurrection, you know, just whatever the main points of the Gospel. And you know, have you ever noticed how children tend to fixate on things that are negative? Have you ever noticed that? If you haven't, you might not have kids, because kids, whenever something's negative, kids are fascinated by these things. So when you're six years old, you're more interested in memorizing the hell verses than the heaven verses. You know, later you come to an appreciation for heaven and the positive things, but when you're a kid, you're kind of fascinated by things that are negative or dark. And so, you know, I said, well, I need to learn this hell verse. This is what I need to learn. And so I memorized this verse, and so this is the first verse that I set out to memorize, and it really is an important one. My parents picked a good one, because it says the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. Now the reason this is significant is that in chapter 19 in verse 20, go to chapter 19 verse 20, it says, And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and then that worshipped his image, these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. So these guys are cast in the lake of fire in chapter 19. Christ reigns for a thousand years and they are still there. Does everybody see that? Thousand years go by, they're still there. Where the beast and the false prophet were, where the beast and the false prophet went, where the beast and the false prophet had gone, no it says where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. And you say wait a minute, maybe that's just those two guys, I mean those guys are so bad they have to do eternal hell. Well go back to Revelation chapter 14, go back to chapter 14. Look at Revelation chapter 14, and the reason that my parents chose this verse is because they were using it as a verse to prove that hell is eternal. That's what they were getting after with that. Look at Revelation chapter 14, it says in verse 9, And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image and receive his mark and his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. The Bible is pretty clear, those who take the mark of the beast, they're going to that same lake of fire and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever, smoke of their torment ascendeth up. Any man. Okay, who's going to be taking the mark? The Bible says people all over the world are going to be taking that mark. Masses of people are going to be taking the mark of the beast. Multitudes all over the world. The Bible says all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. So you have multitudes, masses, people all over the world taking the mark of the beast. They're all suffering that same fate of going to hell for eternity. Okay, why? Because that's where unsaved people go. And by the way, Ken Hovind also taught and said, oh, you can receive the mark of the beast and still be saved. John MacArthur taught that you can take the mark of the beast and still be saved. Folks, the Bible is pretty clear here, if anybody takes the mark, they're going to hell. Now, of course you can't lose your salvation, but no saved person will be able to take the mark because to take the mark you must worship the Antichrist. That's why it's so dumb. Like I just was looking at some YouTube comments this afternoon on my channel, COVID-19 vaccines, the mark of the beast. Now, folks, I'm not going to take the COVID vaccine. And I would warn you, do not take a coronavirus vaccine. Because first of all, you know, these vaccines are dangerous. Even the tried and true vaccines that have been around for decades are dangerous. I've personally known many people damaged by them. They're harmful, they're dangerous. And by the way, they're also immoral and unethical since they were made using aborted fetuses. Okay, so if the vaccines are made using aborted fetuses, and they contain harmful materials such as thimerosal and formaldehyde and things, and I've personally known people who've been harmed by them. There's all kinds of autism and things being caused by these vaccines, let alone some hurriedly thrown together vaccine that's being rushed out the door. I mean, even if you were for vaccines, do you really want to take some experimental vaccine that's on the fast track in 2020? Forget about it. You know, I would strongly caution you. Now look, if you go take that vaccine, I mean, you're doing it to yourself, you know, it's no skin off my back. But I would warn you and caution you, do not take the vaccine. I'm against it. I won't take it. I don't vaccinate my children. Most people in our church don't vaccinate their children. And you know what, we haven't had a measles outbreak yet. After all these decades, there's been no measles outbreak or mumps or rubella. And so what if we did get measles, mumps and rubella? Because guess what? You're going to survive those things. It's just a childhood. It's just like fifths disease or chicken pox or anything else, right? And so I'm totally against the vaccine, but folks, are you really going to click like on that comment? Because it had a lot of thumbs up. You really click on that like that the coronavirus vaccine is the mark of the beast. Okay, so let me ask you this. Are we going to be required to worship the Antichrist in order to get a coronavirus vaccine? Or is it going to be at CVS and Walgreens for 20 bucks? Is it going to be covered by most insurance? Is it going to be, hey, we'll give you a gift card to shop in Walgreens if you take this thing? They're like giving you money to take the flu shot sometimes. They're like, we'll give you 20 bucks to take a flu shot. I've seen that advertisement in CVS where they're like, we'll give you a $20 gift card for CVS if you just please take this vaccine, because then they want to get the money from the insurance or whatever. It's like a little kickback. But folks, no, or people, look, people today, I was just talking to somebody in our church who was saying that their buddy at work, you know, already has a microchip and was that was you, right? He already had a microchip implanted in his hand already, because he's trying to be just on the cutting edge of technology and everything, you know, where you can get your medical records. And look, I'm, look, I'm not going to get a chip implanted in me. I'm not forgetting a chip implanted in me. But let me tell you something. That guy has not taken the mark, you can still get your buddy saved, because he has not taken the mark of the beast. How can that be the mark of the beast? Who did he worship to get that thing? Nobody. So don't just get tossed to and fro with every window. You say, why do you even talk about this stuff, Pastor Anderson? Give me something that's relevant. Look, you know what, you need some sermons like this. Like the sermon this morning and the sermon tonight, so that you don't get caught up in every crazy thing that comes along. You know, if you'd have a basic understanding of Bible prophecy, and you understand what the Bible teaches, at least have a basic skeleton of the timeline, and a basic understanding, you're not going to be tossed to and fro with every window doctrine, where everything's the mark of the beast. And everything is the tribulation. And we're in the fourth trumpet right now. And this is the fifth vial. And this is the third seal baloney. How can this be the tribulation when Coronavirus is not even close to being as bad as the Spanish flu of 1918? You know, what what kind of a nothing burger is this tribulation? tribulation is gonna be the worst thing ever. If you're if it's not the worst thing ever, it's not the tribulation. Here's a little we need like a little flow chart a little diagram like, is this the worst thing ever? No, not that you're not in the tribulation, man. Right? Did you have to worship the Antichrist to get it? Okay, then it's not the mark of the beast. Now look, that doesn't mean you should do it. Hey, don't take a Coronavirus vaccine. And don't get a chip put in your hand. But neither of those are the mark of the beast friend, because they have nothing to do with the Antichrist because the Antichrist isn't even on the scene yet. Now there are many other little Antichrists, but the big Antichrist, the main boss is not on the scene yet. And so you've got to not just be caught up and just, oh, well, I'm against Coronavirus all just Yeah, yeah, it's a mark of the beast. Amen. Folks, I heard people say that the that the that the mask. I see the mark of the beast in our auditorium right now. You're Whoa, buddy. You better hope john MacArthur was right. Folks, that I heard people say, Well, you know, you just change the s to an R. I mean, mask mark, it's trained, you're being trained to take the mark by wearing a surgical mask. That's what's wrong with our hospitals. They've been so demonic all these years, all the surgeons, they've all had the mark of the beast and didn't even know it. So stupid. There's some wild things out there. Okay. So we need to understand, how did I get off on that? Oh, because we're talking about, you know, the revelation 14, anybody who takes the mark of the beast is going to hell period. They're doomed, it's over, put a fork in them, they're done. Go back to Revelation chapter 20. So the point was that it's not just the the Antichrist and the false prophet who go to hell forever. It's anybody who receives the mark of the beast is anybody who's not saved, ultimately, because we could go to the preaching of Jesus and, and go to teachings from the Apostle Paul about eternal hellfire to all those who who don't obey the gospel, you know, they're all going to be damned that believe not the truth and had pleasure and unrighteousness and so forth. So they'll be tormented day and night forever and ever. Verse 11, 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 open and another book was open, 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. Now, again, who is being judged according to their works, the dead, okay, are saved Christians who were already resurrected over 1000 years ago, are they dead? So how can you say, well, see, you know, the dead are just folks. They're not the same people aren't dead. The dead people are the unsaved because the same people already went up in a resurrection a long time ago. I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were open. Another book was open, 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. So death and hell deliver up the dead that are in them because the people that are in them are dead people. And the dead stand before God, they're still dead, resurrect, okay. If you break that word down, think about the word erect. You know, my dad, when he was in the military, he was in the military, there was a guy from like Mississippi or Alabama or one of those type of places. And you know, he was talking about how some of these people from the south, you know, alright, enough said. And so he's there with these people and he was talking about, there was a guy from Pennsylvania, there was a guy from LA, and a bunch of guys from the south. And so they're talking about what they do for a living and my dad's an electrician and this other guy says, I erect steel. What do you do for a living? Well, I erect steel. And the guy's like, build a steel? I can build a steel. Erect a steel? You know, like a, like a still, who knows what a still is? Like distilling alcohol. Okay. So he's like, yeah, no, no, no. I erect steel. Yeah. I got a steel too. It's like, oh man. Wow. Here's the, what does it mean to erect something? To erect something is basically to stand it up or lift it up, right? Does everybody understand that word? So basically, you know, erecting steel is like when they're building a building, you know, they build like that steel framework, that steel skeleton structure. So the re at the beginning of resurrect, re means again. So resurrect simply means you're going up again. You're being raised again is what that means. Now there is a resurrection of life, Jesus said in John chapter five. And then there's a resurrection of damnation. So there's a resurrection of life and a resurrection of damnation. So people that are unsaved, they're not resurrected in the sense of brought back to life. They're just brought back up. They're just raised up dead, standing before God dead or undead, if you will, standing before God. And those people are there as part of the resurrection of damnation. So when it says the dead are being judged, the dead are staying before God, that no Christian is dead. Jesus said, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. So we are the living. We will stand before God living. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jesus said, rejoice to see his day and we're glad. And he said, God's not the God of the dead, but of the living. And so the dead, small and great, they've been resurrected, yes. Live again, no. The live again people are the saved people, the gleanings, et cetera. So I'll leave you with this thought as we read through this and understand about the millennium and the great white throne, we see that the millennium is characterized by the devil being taken out of the equation. Okay, put that in your armillennial pipe and smoke it because there's no way that anybody could say that the devil's bound right now. That's crazy. Okay. So we know today that the devil is highly active, deceiving the nations. And the other thing we learned from this chapter on the bookends of this chapter, on the one hand, the devil is highly active, deceiving right now. And on the other end, hell is a real place. It's eternal punishment and damnation. And whether we understand it, whether we can wrap our mind around it, whether we like it or not, there's heaven and there's hell folks. If you're going to say, well, I don't believe in hell, well, might as well just toss your Bible in the trash then, because there's a lot of talk about hell in this book. The Bible teaches hell. There's no way around it. Even if we can't grasp it, even if we don't like it, folks, it's not about what we like, it's about reality. God is going to punish. There's heaven and there's hell. And you know what, if you get the reality of hell and the reality of the devil out there deceiving people, you know what it makes me want to do? It makes me want to go out and get people out of his grip. You know, the people that have been deceived by him, I want to come in there and say, hey, here's the truth and show them the gospel. And you know what, there are a lot of people out there that have been deceived by the devil, but if we come to them, we can actually preach the gospel to them and get them saved that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him as well, that we would actually pull them out of the fire. And that's what we need to think about. And that's what we need to understand as the important thing in this chapter is that there's a real judgment coming. One life so soon has passed, only what's done for Christ will last. We want to have some works that are gold, silver, and precious stones, and we definitely want to pull people out of the fire that are deceived by the devil and on their way to hell. Let's pray and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for salvation, Lord, and thank you for the fact that you're never going to mention our sins to us, Lord, because how embarrassing that would be, how humiliating that would be to have all of our sins brought up and trudged out, Lord. Thank you so much for forgiveness and grace and mercy, Lord, and help us to preach that message of forgiveness, grace, and mercy to a lost and dying world. Help us to find those deceived Hindus and Muslims and others that have been deceived and pull them out of the fire and get them saved, Lord. And please just fill us with your spirit, Lord, as we go out and knock the doors of this area so that we can find that one person who wants to be saved, Lord, and we can get them to Christ. And it's in his name we pray, amen.