Two Whosoevers

Eternity is a word we say casually but Revelation 20:11-15 refuses to let us treat it that way. We sit with the Apostle John at the Great White Throne judgment and face a scene where everything familiar fades, every soul stands exposed, and the Judge is Jesus Christ Himself. The passage turns on a single, unsettling line: “whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” That is the “whosoever” that brings eternal dread, and it’s meant to warn, not entertain.

We also slow down over the books that are opened. The message is blunt: God keeps perfect records, and anyone who rejects Christ is judged according to works, words, and even secrets. We talk about the lake of fire and the second death, why they are final, and why there are no appeals or do-overs once that judgment falls. This is serious Bible teaching, rooted in Scripture, meant to bring conviction and honest self-examination.

But the darkness of Revelation 20 is not the final note. We follow the second “whosoever” through the gospel: John 3:16, Romans 10:13, Acts 2:21, and the repeated promise that whosoever believes and calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. We emphasize salvation by grace through faith, the new birth, and why our “good works” cannot reconcile us to God while Christ’s righteousness can. If you’ve been numb to spiritual things, let this be the wake-up call.

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John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
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Transcript

Revelation 20 And Two Whosoevers

Standing Before The Great White Throne

The Books Opened And True Judgment

The Lake Of Fire And Second Death

The Gospel Whosoever And New Birth

Filthy Rags And Christ’s Righteousness

Invitation To Receive Christ Today

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Hello, welcome back to a ray of light from the word, a devotional series from the ministry, words from the word of God. As we gather together around the scriptures today, I want to anchor your hearts in the unchanging truth of God's Word, where the psalmist declares, Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. We step momentarily away from our series that we've been in in the 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 1 through 12. We step momentarily away from that into this ray of light from the Word because it is this word that we have from God. This lamp, this light, this eternal, infallible, inerrant, and incorruptible word that guides our steps, strengthens our hearts, shines into the darkness of this fallen world, shines into the darkness of the heart of men. And it is through this word that the Holy Spirit brings comfort to the believer, encouragement to the believer, admonishment to the believer, edification to the believer. Not only that, but he brings comfort or excuse me, conviction to the sinner. Conviction, the world, convicting the world of sin, of righteous sin, and judgment. And then mostly and most graciously important is the last thing it does, and that's bring glory to our Lord Jesus Christ. That is exactly what the Holy Spirit does with the Word of God. Those mighty things that He does in the hearts of men. And today, the gray of light from the Word shines to us from Revelation. Turn with me if you will to Revelation chapter 20. There we'll be reading verse 11 through verse 15, focusing on this uh this uh title today, the two whosoevers of scripture, the whosoever that brings eternal dread, and the whosoever that brings eternal deliverance from the word of God today. We began reading here in Revelation chapter 20, verse 11 through 15. Again, reading in verse 11. He said, and this now is the Apostle John. He's been uh exiled to the Isle of Patmus, where he is given this revelation. Uh, revelation simply means an unveiling or an uncovering, making something known. Uh as we look at this today. And revelation is none other than an unveiling, a revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ as you read through the book that is made known by the Holy Spirit completely. But the word of God tells us here in verse 11, and I saw a great white throne in 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 opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of the things which are written in the books for 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. Now you will hear me mention through this message today the lake of fire and the second death. In Scripture, they are synonymous with each other, one representing the other, one place representing the other place. In other words, the lake of fire is the eternal punishment for all who have rejected Christ. And we'll look at that today in great detail. But what I want to draw your attention to is the verse 15 here. And let's look at this verse right here closely as we go through this message, because this is kind of our focus of the scripture today. And whosoever, whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And whosoever, that's what we want to focus on today, the two eternal whosoever, as we journey through. As we begin to examine this dreadful truth from the Lord, I want to draw your attention to that verse and that word, whosoever. This is one of the most solemn, sobering, and terrifying verses of scripture and text of scripture in the word of God, as far as my heart's concerned. To me, it brings us to the very edge of eternity and pulls back the veil of eternity to show us the final judgment of all who reject Christ Jesus, all who refuse him, all who refuse and reject and refuse to come to the saving knowledge of his blessed gospel. The scripture makes this so ominous here. The word of God makes it so ominous and so utterly horrifying. And what is so horrifying about it is from this point forward, the destiny of every Christ-rejecting soul is fixed forever. There is no second chances from here. There are no appeals from this place. There are no rewinds, no do-overs, and certainly no escape. The destiny, the eternal destiny of the soul and the body which is resurrected and made suitable for this place, uh, there is no escape from the lake of fire, the second death. And that speaks of eternal separation from God as well. And yet, while this whosoever is so dreadful and stands as a warning of eternal judgment, there is another whosoever found throughout the gospel record, a whosoever that shines like a blazing ray of hope from the heart of God to lost men. One whosoever speaks of eternal dread, the other speaks of eternal deliverance. And we will see that as we go through the message today. Today, dear friends, I want you, I want to draw your full attention to these two whosoever, because your eternal destiny hinges on understanding the difference between them. Do you understand that? We have no concept of eternity. We have no concept of forever. You know, we say we love someone forever, but we honestly, in our finite minds, as far as the eternity spoken of and where we're brought to today, we have no concept of that. We can't form that concept because we're restricted by time. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years. We're restricted to a time frame. But what happens here, and these two whosoever will speak of today, is the internal destiny of every heart of every fallen man, every true born-again believer, and every Christ rejector who has ever lived. It stands at that point of eternity where there is no turning back. It's so sad to think that one day souls will be standing here as John sees the great white throne, and we'll look at this. He says, as we join in through this, he says, and we grasp these two destinies clearly, we must first stand where John stands before the great white throne. The great white throne, the final court of heaven. Here John says, right here in the beginning of verse 11, he says, And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it. This is not a human court. This is not a jury of our peers. This is the final, ultimate, absolute court of the universe. It is great because of its majesty, its authority, and its power. It is white because of its righteousness and purity. It is holy and completely, absolutely righteous. And there is one seated upon it. We must understand who this is, none other than Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom the Father has committed all judgment according to what the words of Christ tell us in John chapter 5. All judgment has been given to the Son, that He conduct all judgment. From His face the earth and heaven fled away. Everything familiar, everything stable, everything that man trusted in during their earthly lives is gone. One day all this we have that we see, the momentary things that we enjoy and hold so tight to will be gone. It will be nothing more than ash. The only thing that will matter in eternity is not how much money you have, how big your mansion is down here, what kind of car you drive, or what kind of social status you have. None of that will matter. All of that will be gone. And there is no place to hide. There is no mountain to crawl under, there is no cave to retreat into, no darkness to disappear in. The sinner stands exposed before the blazing holiness of God, Jesus Christ the Lord. And with this law now in full view, we must turn our eyes to those that will stand before it. John says right here, and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. Here they are, the small and great, the unknown and the famous, the rich and the poor, the bond and the free, the religious and the irreligious, the moral and the immoral, the churchgoer who has never received Christ and the Christ rejector. If you have never received Christ as your Lord and Savior, you haven't received him, believed, and become a child of God, you will, by no doubt in eternity, you will not have any other choice than to stand before this throne one day. All who died without Christ, regardless of their status, their culture, their background, their ethnicity, are now standing before Christ Jesus. No one will be missing. There will be no one that is overlooked, and no one is forgotten. The word of God tells us here the sea gives up the dead that's in it. Death and hell deliver up the dead which are in them. Every grave is empty, every soul is sung. And Scripture makes it clear that although these souls died without Christ, they do not appear before God as disembodied spirit. Jesus said there will be a resurrection of damnation in John chapter 5, verse 29. Paul tells us in Acts chapter 24, verse 15, both of the just there will be a resurrection both of the just and the unjust. Even Daniel spoke of those raised to shame and everlasting contempt in Daniel 12, 2. And here in Revelation tells us that death and hell deliver up the dead. In them, the soul and the body will be reunited here. A body given, eternal body that you will be given. If you have rejected Christ, you'll be given an eternal body just suited for the lake of fire, for the second death. And there is no guesswork here. God is making it very clear. He is pulling back the realm of eternity. Can you imagine what the Apostle John saw? You know, we hear about it, and we can only in our imagination come up with something that we think it might be like. But John actually saw this. He saw this, and he is telling us this, that we might turn. He writes in his gospel. He says, These things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life through his name. There's his gospel in his epistle and the book of Revelation are written for a purpose to turn the wayward heart, to turn the sinner's heart toward the saving knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This will be a resurrection of the body, and the soul and the body will be reunited. Every unrepentant sinner who rejected Christ now stands fully exposed before the very one they refuse. And now that they stand before God, we must see what He opens before them. The books and the book of life. The books plural and the book of life. He says right there, and a book, 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 are written in the books according to their work. You realize there is nothing that you do or say that you're going to get away with if you refuse Christ. You see, all of that is used in him on Calvary's cross. Jesus paid a debt he did not own for a debt we could not pay. And God made him to be sin for us and you know sin. In other words, if you receive Christ as your Lord and Savior, God looks at the cross, sees the blood of Christ, who died in your place and paid your sin dead in full, satisfied the righteous wrath of God upon our sins, upon his son there on Calvary's cross, as he placed all the sins of every sinner that would ever live upon him on the cross and judged that sin eternally in him. If you refuse him, you refuse that salvation. You refuse that, and then God will judge you according to what you have done in your life. Every thought will be judged. For the Word of God tells us in Ecclesiastes 12, verse 14, God shall bring every word into judgment, every secret thing. Every word will be judged. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 12 or 36, every idle word that man shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. Every deed will be judged. Romans chapter 2 verse 6 says, God will render to every man according to his deeds. Every secret will be laid down. Romans chapter 2 verse 16, God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ the Lord. Every sin, every sin. The word of God tells in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 13, all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Meaning that God, that the God before whom every soul must one day stand and give an account. Have you noticed the equality of deity here? We're talking about the stand before God, but the judge is Christ, because we know that He is God, God in the flesh, and He is God Himself. But He will judge the dead here at this place. Nothing that you've done, that you've done will be missing. Nothing will be misfilmed or created or imagined. All of your works, all of your words, all of your secrets, all of your sins. There is no mistake in what you will be judged for here because God keeps perfect records. The omniscient God has a perfect record-keeping way of doing things. Everything that you have ever done. Can you imagine? Oh, can you imagine? What have you done today, sinner friends? What have you done today? What idle words have you spoken? Have you cussed? Have you uh spoken his name in vain today? Have you uh lied about a coworker or a friend to someone else that in secret you think is secret? All things are open in the eyes of him who we have to do. We stand naked and open before him. There is nothing in our heart. God tries the heart, he tries the reins of every heart. And it is only by the blood of Christ that our sins are judged in him. If not, they will be judged in us in eternity. And this is where the Revelation 20, verse 11 through 15 takes us in that judgment. And then there is the book of life. The Lamb's book of life. Revelation speaks of the book of life, of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. It is the register of all who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ for only those written in the Lamb's book of life in the New Jerusalem, according to Revelation 21, verse 27. Paul spoke of believers whose names are in the book of life. And when Jesus sent out the 70 to go out and heal and to cast out demons, they came back rejoicing and saying, Oh Lord, even the demons are subject unto us. And Jesus told them in Luke 10, 20, he said, Notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. The dead judged out of the things written in the books according to their works. Their works will not save them. No, instead they will more than anything condemn them. Their works reveal the true condition of their hearts. Everything is open, nothing hidden. Their works prove that they are guilty before a holy God. And the very absence, do you understand this? The very absence of your name from the book of life will eternally silence every excuse you can ever come up with. Oh friend, how solemn, how heartbreaking this is. And believe, to receive his witness, to receive his testimony, and to believe on his finished work on the cross that he is the risen Son of God. Not just the cross, but his resurrection. He is the risen Son of God. Oh, how sad, how tragic, how unspeakably solemn. For here at this moment, it will be far too late to cry, Lord, Lord. For the only response you will hear is the dreadful sentence from him saying, Depart from me, you worker of iniquity, for I never knew thee. Oh, the horror of that moment. The tears, the cries, the desperate scream for mercy, yet mercy will not be found. Oh, and they must depart. They must depart. John says right there in verse 15, Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. It doesn't matter how loud you scream. It doesn't matter how much you plead for mercy. Mercy will not be found. It says his judgment, his wrath is poured out without mixture. There is no grace mixed with this judgment. There is no mercy mixed with this judgment. And his eternal love will not matter at this point because you refuse the one he sent, because he did love you in the first place. The one who came, the one who died in your place, you refused him. We must look at the second death and the lake of fire. John said right here, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. The first death is physical, but the second death is eternal separation from God and conscious torment in the lake of fire. Death itself is cast away. Hell itself is emptied and thrown into the lake of fire. This is the final, irreversible state of all who die without Christ. I can't stress that enough. And then we come to the terror, this terrifying, universal, encompassing statement. Whosoever, whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. The word whosoever here is terrible. It is dreadful. It is universal to all sinners. It leaves no lootholes. It doesn't say some, it doesn't say many, it does not say the worst. It says who so ever. It is an all-encompassing word. Yet it is an individual word. It speaks of individuality because it speaks of the person. Then a friend, where is your heart today? Where is your heart today? Is it written down in heaven? Is it written in the book of life? Have you received Christ as your Lord and Savior? Or is this your eternal destiny? Are you set on this path to destruction and condemnation? Cast into the electric fire for all eternity. It's not like life. You know, we always, when we mess up, we can turn around and change the situation. We can do better. We can make the things in our life better. But you must understand here, there is no other thing. There is no appeal. There's no second chance, no parole, no purgatory, no escape, eternal punishment, eternal separation, eternal regret, eternal darkness. Oh, but there is hope because there is a glorious whosoever of the gospel. I love that word, but it is a glorious theological word, but there is another whosoever in the word of God. Revelation 20, 15 gives us to whosoever of eternal dread. The gospel gives us to whosoever of eternal deliverance. Listen to these whosoevers in the gospel. John 3.15, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Romans 10 11, for the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him, Jesus Christ shall not be ashamed. Romans 10.13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Acts 2.21, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Acts 10.43, that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. And then finally, 1 John 4.15, whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, Galleth dwelleth in him, and he in God. Do you see it? One whosoever speaks of eternal condemnation. These whosoever speak of eternal salvation. One of the whosoevers ends in the lake of fire. These whosoevers we just spoke of in etern in the eternal life, forgive us and fellowship with God. The other whosoever, the first whosoever, is the destiny of all who reject Christ. These whosoevers are the promised to all who receive Him. Did you notice that pattern? Whosoever shall confess, whosoever shall call upon, whosoever believeth, and so on and so forth. The blessed whosoever of the gospel. And the great thing is the free gift. You can't earn it. You can't work for it. You can't be good enough for it. You're definitely not worthy, so don't worry about that. There's none of us worthy to receive it. He gives it to us freely by his grace. For by grace are we saved through faith and that not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into a lake of fire. The word of God that promises that also promises that whosoever believeth in him should not there, but have eternal and everlasting life. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This glorious whosoever of the gospel loudly proclaims that anyone, anyone from falling mankind can avoid the other whosoever. It gives us eternal hope for the hopeless, help for the helpless, life where there is death, salvation where there is condemnation, heaven where there is hell, justification where there is damnation, the second birth and statement of the second death. If I can get this right, I always kind of mess it up. But if you're born once, which is fixed of the natural birth, you will die twice. You'll die physically and then you'll suffer the second death. Well, if you're born twice, the natural birth and then born of the Spirit, as Jesus speaks to Nicodemus about and our hearts about in John chapter 3, you must be born again. The marvel not has said you must be born again. A man who is not born again cannot see or enter into the kingdom of heaven. That second birth, if you receive two births, you will never die. You'll die physically, but you only die once. You won't die twice. You see the greatness and the wonderful thing of the gospels, whosoever. The whosoever of Revelation 20:15 does not have to be your whosoever. You can be part of the whosoever of John 3.16, Romans 10, 13, Acts 2.21, and so on. The true condition of every man and the righteousness that saves. Dear friend, we must be honest about our condition before God today. The word of God tells us in Isaiah 64, 6 that our righteousness is nothing more than filthy rags before God. That is our works apart from Christ. All of our righteousness, not our worst deeds, if you notice that. Not our worst deeds, not our most dreadful iniquity of our heart, but our righteousness, our good works, our benevolence toward others, our giving to the poor, and so on and so forth. Going to church, sitting on the church queue, being in Sunday school every Sunday, uh, giving to the poor, so on and so forth. All of that is nothing but filthy rags before a holy and righteous God. Because the only way we can come to a right relationship with him is through his son, Jesus Christ. With that in mind, that our righteousness is filthy rags, Christ's righteousness is perfect, spotless, and saving. Our righteousness cannot reconcile us to God, but Christ's righteousness alone can reconcile us to the only true and holy God the Father. My question today is which whosoever will you be after this message? Will you continue in your sins? Will you continue to reject Christ and be the whosoever? That if Christ was to turn, return right now, you would have to go through the tribulation period. And if you made it through that, if you died during that period, or you uh made it through that period all the way through into eternity, you will be given a body resurrected to be cast into a lake of fire. Are you gonna be that whosoever today? Or are you gonna need the whosoever that believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life? It's an eternal question because your eternal destiny is at stake. And this is why we're giving the scripture this to not to scare you. Yes, it does bring fear into our hearts, but there's an answer to it. There's an answer, there's a security, there is an eternal gift of salvation that we can be reconciled to God, brought back into a right relationship with God the Father, because he sent God the Son in the person of Jesus Christ to die on Calvary's cross, to put our sin dead in full, to be resurrected the third day, to overcome death, hell, and the grave for all mankind. For scripture says in uh Corinthians, hold on a minute, let me get there, let me turn over there. Don't quote me with that, don't quote me with that. He says, for he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Forgive me if that's not the right address for that verse in scripture, but scripture does tell us, for he, God, hath made him, Jesus, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. That means that it he paid the debt that he did not owe for a debt that we could not pay. He paid it for us. He paved the way, he opened up the new and living way of salvation by the grace of God, for the grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men. His righteous right arm has been revealed from heaven. His righteous right arm that brings salvation to all men. All we have to do is look upon his cross and receive him, believing him in repentance, turning from our sin, turning to God by placing all of our faith, all of our trust, the weight of all of our trust upon Jesus Christ as the risen Son of God. Not only did he die on the cross and was buried, but he rose again the third day to guarantee life for all who will come to him. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on me, though he may die, he shall live. How sweet it is, folks, that we can be that eternal, receive that eternal gift of salvation, that we can be in the whosoever that lives eternally with him. My invitation to you is today, if you have not received Christ as your Lord and Savior, please, please allow the word of God to speak to you today. You don't want to be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. It is my heart's prayer for every lost soul. In the sound of my voice today, that if you have not received Christ, that this message, the Holy Spirit, is taking this message and bringing conviction into your heart today and bringing you to salvation, letting you know that you are in sin in your rejection of Christ, that the only righteousness that you can receive is through him. Receiving him and believing in him, repenting and believing in him. That's what my heart's prayer is today: that you will receive him. You will believe him, you will believe in him, and you will turn to God and be reconciled to him through Jesus Christ the Lord. The only way of salvation, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. Won't you receive him today? That is my heart's prayer for you today, sinner friend. And dear brother and sister in Christ, if you're truly born again, this should get you on fire today. Because this time is drawing nearer and nearer each, every second of every day. The time of the tribulation period is coming upon the sun. We see it, we know it, as we look around at everything happening today. All my brothers and sisters in Christ are saying, oh, Christ is coming back, Christ is coming back, Christ is coming back. That's the case. If you sense that in your heart, let this message put a fire in you to ignite that ember that used to burn those strong fire in you when you first got saved. You're telling everybody about the Lord Jesus. Let it wake you up. Let it put us on the wall watching for his return and be holy as he is holy, and be pleasing and live lives pleasing unto him, that we might be the light of this earth, and we might be the salt of this earth to a lost and dying world. Thank you so much for joining me today for this ray of light from the word. And I look forward to the next time that we can join together for a word from the word of God. God bless.