Dr. Peter S. Ruckman - The White Throne Judgment

The

White Throne Judgment

Dr. Peter S. Ruckman

President, Pensacola Bible Institute

B.A., B.D., M.A., Th.M., Ph.D.

COPYRIGHT 1980 by Peter S. Ruckman

All Rights Reserved

(PRINT) ISBN 1-58026-295-3

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P.O. Box 7135 Pensacola, FL 32534

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The

White Throne

Judgment

This Great White Throne Judgment is the last judgment of the unsaved dead. This is the judgment most people profess to believe in. I dont care if you are a Catholic, a Protestant, or a Jew; you know that sometime, somewhere, it is going to wind up. And that last judgment is right in front of your face in Revelation 20, beginning at verse 11. Get your Bible and turn to it.

Revelation 20:11 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.

Revelation 20:12 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.

Revelation 20:13 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.

Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Revelation 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Regardless of a persons religious upbringing, almost everyone believes that somewhere, sometime, a last judgment is going to catch up with him (if his was a religion at allor with the possible exception of an atheist who doesnt call his belief religion).

The Bible has seven separate judgments, but I am not going to talk about those right now. This message is just going to be on one of them, the last judgment of the unsaved dead.

If you have any sense at all, you know that sooner or later, sin is going to catch up with you. Maybe it wont catch up with you in this life. There have been people in this life that got away with meanness and devilment for fifty years, and, as far as the eye could see, it never caught up with them.

George Bernard Shaw lived to be about a hundred years old and was a practical atheist of the first order. After his death, they auctioned off his household belongings and among them was a Bible. In the fly leaf of that Bible, in Shaws handwriting, was this, Really this book is a most undesirable possession; I really must get rid of it. Thats how he felt about the word of God. And, as far as I know, he was only in the hospital twice in his life, and was in good health until his death.

There have been people in this world who have been mean as the devil all their life, and it appears that they got away with it; but of course they dont always. Sometimes it catches up with them now. If there is any God up there at all, young peopleand I say that with no doubt in my own mindif there is any God up there at all, then sure as you live and breathe, you are going to get what is coming to you. Believe me: YOU WILL get it. And that doesnt mean the bad things alone.

You know, there have been people on this earth who have suffered and sacrificed, worked their fingers to the bone, people who have done all they could for others, and never received any thanks or appreciation from anybody.

Listen, if there is a God up there, then the good things will catch up with you too. The good things and the bad things, thats just common sense. In other words, someday God is going to settle all accounts.

One time a preacher got a letter from a fellow, and it went something like this:

Dear Brother so-and-so,

I just wanted to tell you something about myself. Ive plowed on Sunday and sowed on Sunday. Now, it is September, and I have harvested on Sunday and have the largest bank account in this part of the country. How do you account for that?

The preacher answered his letter:

Dear so-and-so,

God doesnt settle accounts in September.

Thats how you account for that. God will settle at a later date. Someday, you are going to stand there, and you are going to be judged. Paul says in Acts 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

There is the Judge. You know, if you actually thought of being judged by Him you would quake in your boots. If I judged you, you would get by. You know why? Because you could find as much wrong with me as I could find with you. But God is going to judge you by a Perfect Man. God is going to let a sinless man analyze you and see how much you are worth. Some folks have a funny idea about judging. People in America got this baloney from over in Europe. They have the idea that when you get to judgment, God will take all your good works and put them in one hand and all your bad works and put them in the other hand, and if your good works outweigh your bad works, you go to heaven. Or if your bad works outweigh your good works, you go to hell. If you come out in the middle, you make a place for that. All that kind of stuff.

Do you really know what God is going to do? He is going to put you and all your doings in one hand and Jesus Christ in the other hand and weigh out. Never mind your Christopher; he isnt going to be there: he is a rascal just like you. Never mind Mary, she probably had just as many covetous thoughts as you. Never mind Joseph, he probably exaggerated just as much as you. God is going to put you in one hand and Jesus Christ in the other and check you out. He is going to read your meter! If a fellow really got to thinking about that, it would make him nervous, wouldnt you think?

But there are some folks you cant scare. No matter what you say, you cant scare them. I talked to a lady one time, and she said, I dont believe in scaring people into getting saved. If you cant win them with love, you wont win them at all.

I said, Well, what kind of Bible have you got?

She said, What do you mean? (And she had a King James Bible.)

I said, Your Bible says, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh (Jude 23); Noah...moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house (Heb. 11:7).

Why, Ive heard people get up and sing:

Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved.

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed.

Its better to be Hell scared than to be Hell scorched . Dont you know a good healthy fear is one of the best emotions you ever had in your life? Did you know that? People look kind of funny when they say, I dont believe in scaring anyone. Why, you big liar. You folks sitting here tonight, youre scared to death of things. Some of you kids are afraid you are going to flunk out next year in school. Some of you older ones are afraid you are going to get cancer. Some of you parents are afraid you are not going to be able to meet the bills. Some of you are afraid you wont find a partner for life. Why, you are scared all the time. In fact, you are afraid of everything except what you ought to be afraid of. The Bible says, fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt. 10:28). According to the Bible, a good, healthy fear is the best emotion you ever had. But some folks you cant scare; I know that. You wouldnt even try to scare some folks; they are too dumb.