Participants: Pr. Jac Colon
Series Code: RN
Program Code: RN000011
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01:05 Martin Luther made a incredibly insightful
01:13 statement among many, but this particular one he 01:18 said, if I declare with the loudest voice and the 01:25 clearest exposition every portion of God's truth 01:30 except for the one little bit, which the world and 01:36 the devil are at that moment attacking, then 01:40 I am not confessing Christ at all. Isn't that 01:47 interesting? If I declare with the loudest voice and 01:53 the clearest exposition of every truth in scripture, 01:57 except the one little point that God, that the devil 02:02 and the world are attacking then I am not 02:04 confessing Christ. What is that one point that the 02:13 dragon, the devil is so focused and intent on 02:17 attacking in the last days. Revelation chapter 12, 02:22 verse 17, the dragon was angry at the woman and 02:27 he went off to make war against the remnant of her 02:30 offspring those who obey God's commandments 02:36 and have the testimony of Jesus. The dragon is at 02:40 war with the commandments of the 02:43 law of God. And if I preach every truth in the 02:48 Bible from Genesis to Revelation except the fact 02:52 that the dragon is attacking the law of God 02:55 then I am not confessing Christ according to 02:59 Martin Luther. The Bible, Revelation also predicts 03:04 that there will be a massive revival in the last 03:08 days. Verse 8, chapter 13, all of the inhabitants of 03:13 the earth will worship the beast all except those 03:16 whose names are written in the book of life 03:17 belonging to the Lamb, slain from the creation of 03:20 the world. The whole world is going to worship 03:23 the beast expect for the few that worship the 03:25 lamb. We are looking at a massive, at a global 03:30 revival in worship, but it is a false worship, 03:34 a counterfeit revival because they worship the 03:37 beast instead of God. God isn't silent during this 03:44 time. God has much to say and the Bible also 03:49 predicts that there will be a massive revival of the 03:52 true worship of the true God in the last days. 03:56 Look at it with me all the way back in the Book of 03:59 Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 2, verse 2, in the last 04:04 days, now we should ask ourselves first of all when 04:09 are the last days because this prophecy the prophet 04:12 Isaiah is looking forward into the future, into the 04:16 last days, one of the last days. Hebrews chapter 1, 04:19 verse 1, in the past God spoke to our forefathers 04:22 through the prophets and many times in various 04:25 ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us 04:31 by his son. So Isaiah is looking ahead in time to 04:37 when God speaks to us by his son and calls it the last 04:41 days in other words he is looking in our time now 04:45 We are living in the last days today. Amen. 04:49 So what's gonna happen in the last days? What's 04:52 going on, that Isaiah sees that's so important, in the 04:56 last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be 05:00 established as chief among the mountains, it 05:03 will be raised up above all the hills, and all of the 05:07 nations will stream into it. Many people will come 05:11 and say, "Come and let us go up to the mountain of 05:15 the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob and he 05:18 will teach us his ways, that we may walk in his 05:22 paths and the law will go out from Zion, the word 05:27 of the Lord from Jerusalem. Now that is 05:31 revival. Amen. That's when men come to God 05:36 to learn his ways and notice in the last days 05:40 Isaiah sees the time, when the Lord goes out from 05:44 Zion, when the light, when the Lord's 05:47 mountain, the Holy Mountain, is raised up 05:49 above all of the others. Now this does not mean 05:56 that the Holy Mountain over there in Israel Mount 06:00 Zion is going to grow in the last days. 06:04 And become taller then the tallest mountain on earth. 06:08 That isn't what he's talking about at all. So 06:11 what is this mountain and what does it mean when it 06:15 says the law goes forth from Zion. The mountain 06:19 is Mount Zion. In the Old Testament times that was 06:23 the temple mountain, that was the place where the 06:25 temple was. It was the focal point of Israel's 06:29 worship. The true worship of the true God 06:31 centered on Mount Zion, but that was in the 06:37 Old Testament. In the New Testament, we find 06:41 something different. Paul again in the Book of 06:45 Hebrews, turn with me to Hebrews, this time the 06:49 12th chapter, in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 22, 06:55 actually in verse 18 he says you have not come 06:59 to a mountain that can be touched comparing 07:02 Mount Zion to Mount Sinai where Moses went 07:07 up on the mountain remember with the two 07:09 tables of stone. You haven't come to that kind 07:11 of a mountain. That's a mountain that can be 07:14 touched, you have come, verse 22, you have come 07:18 to Mount Zion. Now what is this Mount Zion, 07:23 watch, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the city of 07:29 the living God. You have come to Mount Zion. 07:34 You have come to the heavenly Jerusalem. 07:37 You have come to the city of the living God. You have 07:42 come to the church of the firstborn, whose names 07:46 are written in heaven in the Lamb's Book of Life. 07:49 You have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new 07:53 covenant. So, according to the Bible in the 07:57 New Testament, Mount Zion, in the Old Testament, 08:01 in the New Testament is a symbol of God's Church. 08:05 The heavenly Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the 08:08 church of the living God, the church of the firstborn 08:11 to Jesus Christ. We, New Testament believers are 08:15 on Mount Zion when we are in Jesus Christ. And 08:21 the law he saw would go forth from Mount Zion. 08:26 And the nations would come and learn about 08:30 God's ways. So Isaiah sees a genuine Revival, 08:36 a true revival, where people come to Christ, to his 08:41 church, his church is lifted up and then they 08:45 learn God's ways and the law goes forth even from 08:49 the church of Jesus Christ. Isaiah sees the 08:54 true revival and we find that prophesy being 08:58 fulfilled in the Book of Revelation. In Revelation 09:04 chapter 14, verse 1, and then I looked and there 09:09 before me was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion 09:14 and with him 144,000, anyone who has ever 09:23 casually read the Book of Revelation has wondered 09:26 who are the 144,000. Does it mean that only 09:32 a 144,000 people are going to be saved in heaven, if 09:36 so boy that doesn't leave much of an opportunity 09:39 for us, well we can't go into all that the 144,000 09:44 means tonight, that's a special topic reserve for 09:48 our advanced seminar. But lets take a look just at 09:52 the surface of the prophesy and you can see 09:55 much there in chapter 14, verse 1, there before me 09:58 was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion. Now the 10:02 lamb is not a real lamb, but the lamb is a symbol 10:07 for Jesus Christ. Amen. So remember the Book of 10:11 Revelation is a symbolic book and it has to be 10:15 understood symbolically, so he is not saying. Well, 10:18 there is going to be a real lamb in heaven walking, 10:21 there may be, but that's not what John is looking 10:23 at right now. He sees the Lamb of God, 10:27 Jesus Christ. On Mount Zion, where Mount Zion we 10:32 have already seen in the New Testament is 10:34 symbolic for the church of the living God for 10:36 Jesus. So there is Jesus standing on Mount Zion 10:40 in the center of his church where Jesus always 10:43 belongs. Remember the Book of Revelation is 10:46 revelation of Jesus Christ. And he is the head 10:51 the body is the church. And so here we see the 10:55 church, Jesus among his church standing on 11:00 Mount Zion and with him 144,000. If the lamb is 11:06 a symbol and Mount Zion is a symbol, then the 11:09 144,000 must be a symbol also and so there 11:13 they are surrounding Jesus, he is standing in 11:17 his church, the 144,000's with him. There is much 11:20 more that we can look at about them tonight is 11:22 enough for us to know just one thing and that's 11:24 found in verse 4, who are the 144,000, verse 4, they 11:29 follow the lamb wherever he goes. That's all you 11:33 need to know about the 144,000. They follow the 11:37 lamb wherever he goes. Wherever Jesus goes they 11:40 are, wherever they are Jesus is there. Now it 11:48 isn't going to be that easy in the last days to follow 11:54 the lamb. Why not, because in verse 11, 12:00 another beast comes up out of the earth. He had 12:03 two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. 12:08 And this beast performs miracles, signs and 12:11 wonders and because of the signs and wonders he 12:14 was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, it 12:17 says in verse 14, he deceived the inhabitants 12:21 of the earth. He sets up an image in honor of the first 12:24 beast and he forces everyone to worship the 12:27 image or there will be threatened with the death 12:29 decree and no one can buy or sell unless he takes 12:33 the mark of the beast, which is the number of 12:36 the beast or the number of his name. We'll look at 12:39 that one coming up on Sunday night, but we can 12:42 easily see what's happening now. The first 12:45 beast comes up out of the water. The second beast 12:47 comes up out of the earth. He has two horns like 12:50 a lamb. He looks like the lamb, those who follow 12:53 him are deceived by the miracles, they think 12:57 they're following the lamb, but they're actually 12:59 following the beast. That's why it isn't always 13:05 easy to follow the lamb. How can we tell the 13:10 difference between the counterfeit lamb and the 13:14 true lamb? It says he spoke like the dragon. 13:21 You judge the difference not by what you feel and 13:26 not by what you see and not by any emotions you 13:30 may have, you judge the difference by the word of 13:33 God. That's why we must understand the scripture 13:38 for the last day because the lamb, because the 13:42 beast looks like the lamb and almost the whole 13:47 world goes after him. In fact using deception and 13:54 force, he is so powerful that everyone except 14:00 those whose names are written in the Lamb's 14:01 Book of Life will worship the beast. And those who 14:06 worship the beast, the Bible says in verse 4, also 14:10 worship the dragon because he gave his 14:13 authority to the beast. He is so powerful and so 14:20 effective that the whole world cries out, who is 14:24 like the beast, who can make war against him, 14:27 who can stand against the beast, well the answer is 14:32 found in Revelation 14. I looked and there before 14:37 me was the lamb who can stand against the beast? 14:42 The lamb. Who can make war against the beast? 14:46 The lamb. Where is the lamb? He is standing on 14:49 Mount Zion. In his church, who is with him? 14:52 The 144,000. You want to be among the 144,000, 14:59 just follow the lamb. You want to be victories over 15:02 the beast follow the lamb. Yes, there will be 15:05 massive world wide global revival, 15:08 a counterfeit revival in the last days. But God's lips 15:12 are not sealed. God has something to say. 15:16 In chapter 14, verse 6, I saw another angel flying in 15:20 the midair, he had the eternal gospel to proclaim 15:23 to those who live on the earth to every nation, 15:26 tribe, language and people. He said in a loud 15:28 voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the 15:32 hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who 15:35 made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the 15:38 springs of water." At the same time that the 15:40 counterfeit, the false prophet, who looks like 15:43 a lamb is deceiving the whole world into 15:45 worshiping the beast. God has a message "Fear God 15:49 not the beast," worship the creator not the 15:52 creature. Problem is that most people are gonna go 16:02 after the counterfeit. So we had better be sure that 16:09 we know the truth. Before we go into the three 16:15 angels messages in anymore depth, I want to 16:18 take a look at the setting. When do these three 16:23 angels sound their three messages to the world. 16:28 If you look at the last part of chapter 14 in Revelation, 16:33 the last part of Revelation 14, the 14th verse gives 16:39 us the time frame, the time setting for this, for 16:43 this, see in this battle, this cosmic conflict over the 16:48 true worship of the true God versus the 16:50 counterfeit worship of the counterfeit God, take 16:53 a look, verse 14 of Revelation 14, I looked 16:57 and there before me was a white cloud, seated on the 17:00 cloud was one like the son of man, who's that? 17:04 That's Jesus and with a crown of gold on his head 17:08 and a sharp sickle in his hand. And then another 17:10 angel came out of the temple and he said in 17:12 a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, 17:16 take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap 17:20 has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 17:23 And so he who was seated on the cloud, swung the 17:27 sickle on the earth and the earth was harvested. 17:31 Mathew, in Mathew the 13th chapter, Jesus said 17:35 the harvest is the end of the world. Now there is 17:42 another harvest that goes on at the same time. Look 17:47 at verse 17, another angel came out of the temple in 17:52 heaven and he too had a sharp sickle. And still 17:57 another angel, who had charge of the fire came 17:59 from the altar and called in a loud voice to the one 18:03 who had the sharp sickle he said take your sharp 18:06 sickle and gather the cluster of grapes from the 18:10 earth's wine, because the grapes are ripe. And the 18:14 angel swung his sickle on the earth and he gathered 18:18 the grapes, and he threw them into the great wine 18:21 press of God's wrath. And they were trampled in the 18:24 wine press outside the city, and blood flowed 18:28 from the press. You see there are two harvests, the 18:33 harvest of the grain and the harvest of the grapes. 18:42 I think it's safe to say that we want to be harvested 18:46 with the grain. Amen. "Amen." 18:49 So when are these three angels messages sounding 18:53 to the world immediately before the harvest, right 18:56 before the end of the world. God has three 18:59 messages for the whole world, but notice that the 19:03 world is divided into two camps, the grain and the 19:09 grapes, the righteous and the wicked, the believers 19:12 and the sinners. Two camps, there is no one in 19:18 between. You see there are two things that have 19:24 to happen before Jesus comes. Remember we 19:29 learned way back at the beginning of Revelation 19:32 Now that God could have just wiped out the devil 19:37 instantly the moment he rebelled in heaven against 19:40 him. God could have done that, he certainly 19:43 had the power to do it, why didn't he? The 19:46 reason was because if he did just zap Lucifer, that 19:51 perfect angel, the moment he rebelled in heaven. If 19:55 he would have just zapped him out then all of 19:58 the other beings in the universe would be 20:00 worshiping God out of fear instead of love. 20:05 And so God had to let him go. Remember, he had to 20:08 give him some slack, he had to give him room to 20:11 demonstrate how ugly and how awful and how 20:15 terrible sin is. So that when sin is finally 20:20 destroyed and removed from the universe forever, 20:22 everyone will know that it was an act of love. 20:27 So two things have to happen. First of all, the 20:30 grapes have to ripen. Wickedness, sin and evil 20:34 has to blossom and ripen fully so that everyone can 20:38 see how wicked sin is and how no one would 20:42 ever want to live in a kingdom ruled by sin. 20:46 And that's the harvest of the grapes, but the other 20:51 thing that has to happen the grain has to ripen. 20:57 God needs men and women on this earth to 21:00 demonstrate that human beings can in fact follow 21:07 the lamb, can in fact love God, can in fact serve 21:14 God, obey him, keep his commandments. No it 21:19 doesn't mean that they're perfect not yet, but we 21:22 will be perfect soon. Jesus is going to change 21:26 us when he comes and this corruption will put on 21:29 incorruptibility, but those the grain of the ones who 21:34 truly and completely surrender and submit 21:37 their lives to their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 21:40 they follow the lamb wherever he goes. 21:44 The grain is ripe. In the face of the severest 21:48 persecution, in the face of death they still follow the 21:53 lamb. And once the world, the grain is ripe 21:58 and the grapes are ripe then Jesus can come. 22:03 What is it that brings about the ripening of the 22:07 grain and the grapes and that's the three angels 22:13 messages? Notice that the world is divided into two 22:17 groups either the grain or the grapes, there is no one 22:21 in between. When Jesus comes, good news, when 22:25 Jesus comes, no one will be able to say God I never 22:30 heard of you before. God says too bad, you're in 22:34 the grapes. It's not going to be that way. The whole 22:39 world will be divided into two groups, the grain and 22:43 the grapes. How does it happen, now we are ready 22:50 to understand the three angels messages. Back to 22:53 Revelation chapter 14 verse 6, I saw another 22:58 angel flying in the midair, he had the eternal gospel 23:03 to proclaim to those who live on the earth. 23:08 I stopped here for a second. There is one more symbol 23:11 we need to understand. Remember the Book of 23:13 Revelation is a symbolic book. And here we see an 23:17 angel flying through the air proclaiming the 23:20 Gospel, which is the good news of Jesus Christ. 23:23 Now God never told angels to preach the 23:27 Gospel. In fact as we learned last night, the 23:32 very last words that Jesus had for his church before 23:36 he ascended to heaven was to what, to go to the 23:39 whole world and preach the Gospel to every 23:43 nation. Now we see the fulfilling of that 23:47 command that Jesus gave to his church before he 23:50 ascended to heaven, I saw another angel flying in 23:53 the midair, he had the eternal Gospel to 23:55 proclaim to those who live on the earth to every 23:58 nation, tribe, language and people. God did not 24:01 commission angels to preach the Gospel. 24:08 He told the church to preach the Gospel. Angels are 24:09 symbols, in the Book of Revelation like all other 24:11 things. He told in the first two chapters, the second 24:17 and third chapter of Revelation, he mentions 24:20 to the angel of the church in Ephesus, write this 24:23 message to the angel of the church in Sardis, 24:26 write this message, to the angel of the church in 24:29 Thyatira, to the angel of the church in Pergamum, 24:32 to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, to the 24:35 angel of the church in Laodicea, write this 24:37 message, so the angels are messengers, in fact 24:41 the word angel in Greek Angelos means 24:43 messenger. They had God's messages to give to 24:49 the churches so the church could proclaim it 24:51 to the world. Now the church becomes the 24:55 messenger. Proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus 24:59 Christ, flying through the air, in other words we see 25:02 an intensifying of the proclamation of the 25:05 Gospel, a massive global revival of the truth in the 25:08 last days just before Jesus comes. So no one can say 25:15 God I didn't know this? Because every tribe, 25:21 every language, every people, every nation will 25:24 hear the truth about God before Jesus comes. 25:29 And then it says in a loud voice fear God and give 25:34 him glory because the hour of his judgment has 25:37 come. Now remember the two points of attack that 25:41 the beast launches against the church are the 25:43 commandments of God and the Gospel of 25:45 Jesus Christ. The first angel has the everlasting Gospel. 25:49 The good news that would say by grace 25:51 through faith in Jesus, but he also announces that the 25:54 hour of God's judgment has come. James said, we 25:59 saw it the other night. James said in chapter 2, 26:01 verse 11, that we as a church should speak and 26:04 act as those who are going to be judged by the 26:07 law. And so now we see again a blending of the 26:11 grace of God, the Gospel and the law of God in the 26:15 proclamation of the first angel's message that goes 26:18 to the whole world and as a result he says worship 26:21 him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea 26:24 and the fountains of water. In other words, the 26:26 proclamation of the Gospel in the setting of 26:29 the judgment hour results in the call to worship 26:32 God, the creator of the heavens and the earth. 26:35 The God who made this world in six days and 26:39 then rested on the seventh day, blessed the seventh 26:42 day and made it holy. Worship that God, can't 26:46 you see how the Gospel, the law and the grace of 26:49 God are all entwined together in this last 26:53 message to the last world, to the perishing world. 26:59 And you wonder why we need to talk about the 27:01 law. You can't separate the law from the Book of 27:05 Revelation. That's why so many desperately try, 27:09 because at the heart of the law of God is the 27:12 Sabbath, the reminder that God is the creator. 27:18 Then we go to the next angel in verse 9, in verse 27:23 8, a second angel followed, now you would 27:26 think, bare with me, you would think that if the 27:30 whole world hears the truth about God and the 27:34 whole world learns the Gospel of the Jesus Christ 27:37 and the whole world is called to obey God and 27:40 not the beast, and the whole world is called to 27:43 worship the creator then you think that should be 27:45 the last thing that God should ever have to say to 27:47 the world that ought to be enough. You would think 27:51 the power of truth is enough. Well it is, but it's 27:59 not the last thing that God has to say because 28:03 remember the beast with two horns looks like the 28:07 lamb and he claims to have the truth from God 28:13 and so that makes it necessary for two more 28:16 angels to follow after the announcing of the true 28:20 worship of a true God, the second angel follows and 28:23 says "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, which 28:26 made all the nations drink the maddening wine of 28:28 her adulteries." In other words Babylon forces all 28:32 the nations to be unfaithful to God. 28:36 Now we are going to spend about five nights looking 28:39 at the prophecies about Babylon because they're 28:42 a major part of the Book of Revelation. Tonight it's 28:46 enough for us to recognize that if on 28:48 Mount Zion, men and women worship the 28:51 creator of the heavens and the earth, then in Mount, 28:53 in Babylon they must be worshiping someone else, 28:58 because Babylon has fallen. You see it's not, 29:01 it's no longer sufficient to merely announce the truth 29:06 God is saying in the last days I've got a message 29:10 that points out the errors of Babylon. Now no 29:15 wonder that's considered politically incorrect 29:19 today. But never the less God has spoken and he is 29:25 saying it's not enough to simply announce the 29:27 truth, we need to point out the errors, then even 29:33 that isn't enough. The third angel follows and he 29:38 said in a loud voice, notice God's messages 29:42 always come in a loud voice. If anyone worships 29:47 the beast and his image, and receives his mark on 29:51 the forehead or on the hand, he will also drink 29:56 the wine of God's fury which has been poured 30:00 full strength into the cup of his wrath and he will 30:04 be tormented with burning sulfur in the 30:07 presence of the holy angels and the lamb and 30:10 the smoke of their torment rises forever and 30:13 ever. There is no rest, day or night for those who 30:19 worship the beast and his image or anyone who 30:23 receives the mark of his name. No rest, day or 30:29 night, is it a coincidence that Jesus said, ''come to 30:36 me and I will give you rest,'' is it a coincidence 30:42 that Jesus said six days you will labor and do all 30:46 of your work, but the seventh day is the day of 30:49 rest on it you won't do any work, is it 30:52 a coincidence that after this massive assault on those 30:57 massive assault on those who want to be faithful to 30:58 the law and the commandments of God, 31:00 that John calls out, this calls in verse 12, for 31:05 patient endurance on the part of the saints who 31:08 obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. 31:15 And there you see the cosmic conflict laid out 31:18 before you, the issue is who will you worship 31:27 or it is easy for us to say I'll worship the lamb, 31:33 I'll worship God. I don't care if they point a gun to my 31:38 head, I'll worship God. Kind of reminds me of 31:42 what Peter said. Not me Lord, I'll never deny you. 31:50 But most of the world worships the beast, they 31:55 are deceived by the miracles, but that isn't all 31:58 he uses his force. He erects an image in honor 32:02 of the beast and causes all to worship the image and 32:05 those who refuse will be put to death. Now I want 32:09 you to see the force of what's happening and 32:12 how the world is divided into two groups. Right 32:17 now people can hear the truth about God and the 32:21 true worship of the true God and they can say 32:23 Well, you know, let me think about it a little bit or 32:28 Pastor, I just can't decide what to do, I can't make 32:32 up my mind. Well, bless your heart if you can't 32:36 make up your mind someone else is going to 32:38 make it up for you and it won't be God because he 32:40 doesn't work by force. I just can't decide, not at 32:49 this point, the time is coming when the whole 32:52 world will be forced to worship the image of the 32:56 beast and we'll identify that on another night. 32:59 Forced to worship the image with the threat of 33:02 a death decree. You see no straddling the fence 33:06 anymore. Who are you for, are you gonna follow 33:10 the lamb or you gonna follow the beast, you 33:12 can't say I can't decide. It'll be a death decree. 33:20 The problem is that those who do worship the beast 33:26 will also receive the wine of the wrath of God. 33:32 We may and some will, I wish, some will lose their 33:40 lives, I wish I could tell you that everyone who 33:42 follows the lamb will never die, but no, the 33:46 Bible says some are gonna lose their lives. 33:51 You'll see it happen, if you're here on this earth 33:54 at that time. Everyone present will be brought to 33:58 that point, worship the lamb or worship the 34:02 beast. If you worship the beast, you get his mark, if 34:07 you refuse a death decree. If you get the mark then 34:10 the wine of the wrath of God. Now, we know that 34:13 men and women are gonna die. They can take 34:17 our lives here on this earth, but they can't take 34:20 our lives up there. Amen. "Amen." 34:22 We may die here, but we rise again. The Bible's 34:27 clear about that and we know that by faith. You 34:30 see how important it is to know God and to trust 34:32 God. And that's how the world is divided into two 34:38 groups, who can stand against the beast. I looked 34:47 and there before me was the lamb standing on 34:50 Mount Zion and with him the 144,000. Oh! I long to 34:55 be among those who follow the lamb all the 34:58 way through to the end. But it won't be easy and 35:05 folks we need to be preparing ourselves right 35:08 now. Because I believe that time is rapidly 35:13 approaching and as we finish this next couple of 35:16 few nights together you're gonna to be 35:18 stunned at how fast it's happening. We need to be 35:21 preparing now, how can we prepare to stand 35:26 against the beast, the first and foremost is the 35:29 Gospel of Jesus Christ, that's the first angel's 35:31 message. You need to have assurance of 35:33 salvation in Jesus Christ. What's the Gospel, it's 35:36 the good news that we're saved by grace. 35:38 In Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 8 and 9, that's one 35:41 of the favorite verses in the Bible, we are saved 35:44 by grace through faith and not by works, it is 35:46 gift of God. The Gospel is the good news, that God 35:50 demands perfect obedience of the law, we 35:52 can't render that obedience. Jesus came as 35:54 a human being, he kept the law perfectly, he died 35:57 on the cross in your place, he was buried and raised 36:01 again on the third day ascended to heaven and 36:04 one day soon the Bible says he is gonna come to 36:06 crush the head of the serpent. In the meantime, 36:08 if we confess that we are sinners, if we repent of 36:11 ours sins then God forgives us and gives us 36:14 the free gift of eternal life, that's the good news 36:17 of the Gospel. Amen. "Amen." 36:19 And you know many want to just stop there, 36:21 I say all it means is that you're forgiven for your 36:24 sins, but the verse doesn't stop there it says we're 36:27 saved by grace through faith, it's a gift of God 36:29 not by works so that no one can boast for we are 36:33 God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to 36:37 do good works which God prepared in advance 36:40 for us to do. The reason that he saves us, the 36:43 reason he forgives us, the reason we are born again 36:45 is in order to do the good works that God wants us 36:49 to do. Yes, he saves us unmerited and 36:54 undeserved, but he saved us in order to obey him. 36:57 In fact in Hebrews, the 8th chapter, in Hebrews 37:01 chapter 8 verse, verse, lets start with verse 8, 37:05 God found fault with the people and he said the 37:10 time is coming, declares the Lord when I'll make 37:12 a new covenant with the house of Israel, the old 37:15 covenant, there was nothing wrong with 37:17 God's promise, there was nothing wrong with God's 37:18 law, the problem was the people, they kept 37:21 breaking the law, so now he said I'm gonna make 37:23 a new covenant with the house of Israel verse 10, 37:26 this is the covenant that I'll make with the house 37:29 of Israel after that time, declares the Lord, I'll put 37:32 my law in their minds, I'll put it on their hearts, 37:34 instead of writing it on stone he writes it on our 37:37 hearts, instead of writing it on stone, he writes it on 37:40 our minds. The same law that was written on stone, 37:43 now he puts in our minds, in our hearts, that's the 37:48 Gospel. We're saved in order to be obedient to 37:52 the law of God. Why it's so important about the 37:55 law of God, because it defines love for us, all of 38:02 his commandments including the fourth 38:05 commandment remember the Sabbath day to keep it 38:07 Holy, so that would be a great revival of genuine 38:13 Godliness in the last days. How do we stand against 38:16 the beast, by grace through faith in Jesus 38:21 Christ. But it means more than just claiming the 38:26 promise. He wants us to do God's will. In Titus the 38:31 2nd chapter, the little book of Titus chapter 2, 38:33 we find another secret to standing in the last days. 38:39 For the grace of God, verse 11, I am reading 38:42 now, for the grace of God that brings salvation has 38:47 appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "no" to 38:53 ungodliness and worldly passion, and to live 38:56 self-controlled, upright Godly lives in this present 39:00 age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious 39:03 appearing of our great God and Savior, 39:06 Jesus Christ, who gave himself up for us, to redeem us 39:10 from all wickedness and purify for himself 39:13 a people that are eager to do what is good. In other 39:20 words, the Gospel, the grace of God teaches us 39:23 to say no to ungodliness. Now it teaches us to live 39:28 self-controlled upright lives. Now, while we wait 39:32 for the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ. So what 39:36 is some of the ungodliness the Gospel 39:38 teaches us to say no to. Well, you don't have to 39:42 go very far just look at the Marquis on the 39:46 neighborhood theater and see the filth, the 39:49 immorality, the things that are portrait on the 39:54 movie screens today as something that are 39:56 beautiful and wholesome and good. The Bible says 40:00 to flee all immorality, but many Christians bring it 40:07 into their own homes feeding themselves on the 40:08 filth and the cesspools of this world. I believe that 40:13 as Christians, we should control what we put into 40:18 our minds, in our brains. Did you know that the 40:22 average young person watches hundreds of 40:28 thousands of brutal cold blooded murders before 40:34 he ever goes to school and we wonder why our 40:39 children don't get turned on anymore by a man 40:42 dying on the cross. Bible says we should say no to 40:57 ungodliness and worldly passions. Movies portray 41:06 drugs, crime, immorality, homosexuality, adultery 41:12 as something beautiful and special. And today 41:22 modern music and songs, songs about drugs, songs 41:30 about cheating on your wife, songs about 41:32 adultery, songs about immorality, songs about 41:35 demons, many popular songwriters even boast 41:39 about getting their music from demons. And we 41:43 hear the same music played in church socials 41:46 in Christian homes. And then you take the same 41:53 music and put it on a dance floor along with the 41:59 suggestive beat and the suggestive motions and it 42:06 only breeds one kind of thought. You know 42:10 Ann Landers wrote years ago not even writing as 42:15 a Christian author, but just from a common decent 42:19 person's point of view. She wrote years ago that 42:23 the modern dance floor is no place for decent young 42:28 people to be anymore, she said 90% of young ladies 42:35 who find themselves in moral difficulty can trace 42:39 the beginning of their downfall to the dance floor. 42:44 And so I wonder why should we have to 42:49 read in the newspaper, what ought to be 42:53 sounding from Christian pulpits, but why is it that 42:57 so many today seem tongue-tied, afraid to say 43:01 that you shouldn't be watching X-rated and 43:05 R-rated and even PG-rated movies, because they take 43:09 God's name in vain, they portray immorality, they 43:12 portray violence, you shouldn't even be 43:14 watching it in your own homes. Why is it that 43:18 people seem afraid to standup and say no to 43:22 ungodliness and worldly passion. People have 43:29 asked me sometime, well, Pastor, if you don't go to 43:32 dirty movies and you don't go to nightclubs and 43:34 lounges and listen to hard rock music, what you do 43:39 to have fun? You know, it's interesting, I used to 43:44 ask the same question, before I became 43:47 a Christian, I would ask the same question, how do 43:49 you, how do you Christians ever have fun? 43:51 What do you do? You know since I've become 43:54 a Christian, the question to me now has never been 43:58 what do you do to have fun, because you see they 44:02 don't understand when you become a Christian, 44:04 God changes the heart, doesn't he. I found out the 44:07 things that I used to really enjoy, I don't care about 44:10 anymore and the things I never care about before 44:12 I find myself enjoying and wanting to do. God 44:15 changes us. The question is never what you do to 44:18 have fun, the question now is how do you find 44:20 time to do everything that you want to do, Amen. 44:24 You see, we need to understand when you 44:26 come to Christ, he changes us and he puts 44:30 within us a desire to say no to ungodliness and 44:35 worldly passion, even now while we wait for the 44:37 blessed hope, the return of our Lord and Savior 44:40 Jesus Christ. Well, there's a little more that I could 44:44 say about preparation for the last days. Do you 44:51 want me to tell you? Well I need a little bit 44:57 more reassurance than that. If you want to 44:59 hear more raise your hand, nod your head say Amen or 45:02 something. "Amen." That's not enough, I need 45:06 to see a few more hands. "Amen." 45:08 Remember now, you asked for it, right? 45:13 We should not be afraid of knowing the truth, 45:17 Amen. God will never take anything away from us 45:24 that we wouldn't readily give up ourselves, if we 45:28 knew what he knew, and we can trust God. 45:32 Bible even tells us in First Corinthians chapter 3 45:36 verse 16, don't you know that you yourselves are 45:38 God's temple, that God's spirit lives in you? If 45:42 anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy 45:46 him, for God's temple is sacred and you are that 45:50 temple. In other words if anybody destroys your 45:54 body then the Bible says God will destroy him, 45:59 because your body is a temple of God we've 46:01 already learned that didn't we. And the Holy Spirit 46:03 wants to live in you. Look at chapter 6, verse, let's 46:07 look at verse 20, you are not your own, you are 46:10 bought at a price, therefore honor God with 46:12 your body. One lady told me one time, well my 46:14 body isn't anything, it's just a sack that holds my 46:18 soul. God doesn't care what happens to my 46:20 body, I said where did you read that? Your body 46:24 is not even your own, it was bought with the 46:27 price, the blood of Jesus. God created the body and 46:30 he breathe into the body the breath of life and it 46:33 became a living being and God said it was very good 46:38 and he wants us to take care of our bodies 46:41 because the Holy Spirit lives in us and then again 46:45 in chapter 10, three times in the same letter he 46:48 warns us, you think he is trying to make a point, so 46:50 whatever you eat, verse 31, whatever you drink or 46:53 whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. 46:57 God is interested in how we care for our bodies, he is 47:00 interested in the way we take care of ourselves. 47:02 He lives in us that means that he doesn't want to be 47:06 breathing all that smoke that we pour into our 47:09 lungs, because smoking causes lung cancer and 47:15 God has something better in store for you. Than 47:20 lying in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of 47:23 your chest, gasping for every breath. God has 47:27 something better for us, he wants our brains to be 47:32 alert and clear, alcohol clogs the brain and makes 47:38 it difficult to understand the wishes and the will of 47:42 God. Drugs do the same, even worse. As Christians 47:48 we should be health conscious, we should take 47:51 care of our bodies. I see worldly people before we 47:54 were on the road, my wife and I would go to a gym 47:57 that we belong to and we would see worldly people 48:00 working out with weights and jogging and running, 48:02 taking care, beating their bodies into submission, 48:05 Christians ought to be at the front of the pack, 48:08 Amen. Because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, 48:11 honor God with your body. And then there is 48:18 a little more about the body that God is interested in. 48:24 Now, let's take a look at First Timothy, First 48:28 Timothy chapter 2 verse 9, I also want women to 48:33 dress modestly now I think that if he was 48:36 writing today he would say men too. 48:38 Dress modestly, men too, now it seems like men 48:45 want to run around with their pants down so low 48:48 their underwear is hanging out and God says 48:52 dress modestly. He doesn't want us to look 48:55 like that. Women, dress modestly and decently, 48:58 that means none of these long-slits to come all the 49:01 way up to here and plunging neck lines that 49:03 go down to there. Dress modestly, so that men can 49:08 look at you and think about God and not other 49:11 things. He makes us responsible for the way 49:15 we dress, dress decently, the Bible says, and then 49:20 he goes on though not with braided hair, gold or 49:24 pearls or expensive clothes, but with good 49:26 deeds appropriate for women who profess to 49:29 worship God. You see that's what it's all about, 49:34 we need to dress like men and women who worship 49:38 God, the creator, not the creature. So, God is 49:46 interested in what we eat, he is interested in even 49:51 what we wear, he is interested in what we 49:56 watch, what we do, how we entertain ourselves, 50:00 what we put into our brains? God is interested 50:05 in everything about us, why? Because he wants 50:08 to take away everything that's fun. No, because he 50:11 wants you to stand against the beast. Well, 50:19 Preacher, one lady told me, I really been enjoying 50:24 Revelation Now up until now. But tonight you just 50:31 quit preaching and you're gone to meddling. 50:36 Sometimes people don't like what I've said here 50:40 tonight. When the Gospel touches our heart and 50:45 changes our lives, people sometimes don't like it. 50:50 Here the Bible talks about that too. Paul mentions 50:54 those who gather around them preachers who 50:57 preach what the itching ear wants to hear. And 51:02 they don't want sound doctrine. Well I feel 51:05 pretty safe because I know that you are here 51:08 because you want to know the truth, Amen. 51:11 And I would rather preach the truth and have 51:14 somebody stop coming then to not preach the 51:17 truth, and have to meet him in the judgment day 51:20 and answer the question, Pastor, why didn't you tell 51:23 me? We're here because we want to know the 51:28 truth. Jesus said, you know the truth and the 51:30 truth will set you free. You see the time is 51:34 coming when the truth is going to look like error 51:42 and error looks like the truth. The false prophet 51:48 works miracles. The false prophet can confuse the 51:52 brain into thinking that right is wrong and wrong 51:55 is right. He's been doing it for 6000 years and he is 52:00 getting pretty good at it. That's why we need to 52:05 have our minds clear. My wife just found an article 52:10 in the Seattle Newspaper that I thought was 52:14 appropriate for what we are looking at tonight. 52:17 A group of Dutch scientists discovered that just one 52:20 drink impairs reasoning. Listen to this even 52:25 a single drink of alcohol is enough to impair 52:27 someone's ability to reason quickly and detect 52:30 errors. According to this study, changes in brain 52:34 action were quickly detected even after one 52:37 single drink. Leading researchers have 52:40 concluded that alcohol even in modest doses was 52:44 enough to erode the mind's ability to detect 52:47 and correct errors. One drink, folks the 52:52 counterfeit is gonna seem so close to the real. 52:55 The power of the miracle is going to be so overwhelming 52:58 The threat against life is going to be so powerful. 53:01 That everything inside of you is going to be saying 53:05 that it must be true, but the word of God is saying 53:08 that it's false and I don't want one drop of 53:11 anything in my mind or on my body that will 53:14 impair my ability to hear that still small voice of 53:17 God saying "this is the way, walk in it," that's 53:22 why God says, not because he doesn't want 53:25 you to have fun. He wants you to be in that city and 53:29 that's when we'll have fun, Amen. You know 53:32 some people get it all backwards though and 53:35 they think that they are better than other 53:39 Christians because they watch what they put in 53:41 their bodies and they watch what they wear and 53:43 they don't watch television and they don't 53:45 go here or go there or do this or do that and they 53:48 think they're so much better than other 53:50 Christians. The Bible doesn't say that. 53:54 Bible says that we are all wretched in the eyes of 53:56 God and our righteousness is the righteousness of Christ 54:00 himself. There's not a righteous one among you. 54:05 These things don't make us better. They prepare us 54:09 to determine the deceptions of the enemy, 54:12 but they don't make us better. And there are 54:17 others who take the opposite extreme, it 54:19 doesn't matter become a Christian, Oh! It's a big 54:21 party, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord and I'm saved 54:23 and I can do whatever I want to do because I'm 54:25 saved by the blood of the Lamb, that isn't what the 54:28 Bible teaches either. You were saved by grace 54:30 through faith in order to do the good works of 54:33 God. You know I think that if you just focused on 54:40 Christ everything comes into focus. We just keep 54:46 our eyes on him. A man was on his way home 54:52 from work one Friday and it had been a rough week 54:56 and he was tired and all he wanted to do is just get 54:59 home, take his shoes off, put his feet up on the fire 55:01 place, read the newspaper and relax, but he had two 55:03 small children, and he knew that would be 55:06 impossible. Sure enough, so he started thinking 55:09 about it and on his way home he stopped at his 55:12 little store and he bought a present for them, and it 55:17 was a puzzle, a map of the United States, he 55:19 made sure that the age of that puzzle was older than 55:20 his children. So, he got home and sure enough the 55:25 kids come running up to the door, "Daddy, Daddy 55:27 lets play, lets play." Okay, Hey good, look, 55:30 kids I got a present for you. Oh! Good Daddy 55:32 what is in it? Gives them this puzzle, and he says 55:34 now look, you run upstairs and you put this 55:36 puzzle together, when you get finished come 55:38 call me. So feeling smug, he settles in his easy 55:41 chair, puts his feet up, shoes off, reading the 55:43 newspaper in front of fire place and just a few 55:46 minutes later, he hears them running down the 55:49 steps; "Daddy, Daddy we're finished, we're 55:50 finished." Feeling sabotaged he said who 55:54 helped you, your mother. No, no, no, we did it all 55:58 by ourselves, how do you do it? Well, we started to 56:05 put that map together and we don't know where 56:06 those states go. It was too hard for us. Though one 56:10 of those pieces accidentally flipped over 56:13 and on the back was a ear and so we turn the other 56:20 ones over and they all had different parts of a man's 56:22 face. We know how the face looks, so we put the 56:25 face together and turned it over and it was done. 56:31 You see sometimes we get I think a little too worried 56:35 about the different pieces, what we eat and what we 56:41 wear, what we drink and what we do and go? 56:45 If you just fix your sights on the lamb and follow him 56:53 then all of those pieces will come together. Just 57:02 turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his 57:08 wonderful face and the things of earth will grow 57:13 strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. 57:22 Just follow the lamb. |
Revised 2014-12-17