The Flying Scroll and The Filthy Basket – part 2
Zechariah 5:1-11
October 30, 2016

It seems we find ourselves in another one of those scheduling dilemmas
Where the normal routine of our study is chopped up by other activities.

We missed last Sunday night and we’re going to miss next Sunday night,
But hopefully we can gather back together here tonight
And find again the point that is being made through these night visions of Zechariah.

We actually started looking at these two visions last Sunday night,
And again I want to remind you that these visions are so important
To your understanding of what God intends for His church to be today.

Now for a quick recap.
• Zechariah is a prophet of God to minister encouragement to this group of refugees who have now left Persia and have returned to Jerusalem in order to rebuild the temple.

• That project has not come without it’s difficulties, but despite the hardships, God is succeeding in His purpose.

• In order to encourage the people God has given to Zechariah in one night 8 different night visions.

1) The Vision of the Angelic Patrol
Which was a vision meant to remind the people that God is extremely jealous for them.
They may not be treated all that well in the world, but that does not mean that God has somehow forgotten them.

2) The Vision of the 4 Horns and the 4 Craftsman
Which was a vision reminding these refugees that not only was God angry at those nations which oppressed them, but also that God was going to judge those nations that oppressed them.

3) The Vision of the Surveyor
This vision reminded the refugees that not only was Jerusalem the property and possession of God, but also that God would be a wall of defense around His people.

4) The Vision of Joshua’s Atonement
Here we saw Joshua standing before the Lord for the purpose of atoning the people and yet Satan was seeking to accuse him and wreck that work. However, despite Joshua’s obvious sin, the Lord chose to justify Him and make Him acceptable.

It was a reminder that God had chosen Israel and therefore God would redeem them.

5) The vision of the Lampstand and the Olive Tree
This vision was given to remind Zechariah and Zerubbabel that God Himself was at work to rebuild the temple and again make Israel a light in the darkness and that God was at work doing this through His chosen vessels, namely Joshua and Zerubbabel.

And then we came to these next two visions
Which we began looking at the last time we met together on Sunday night.
The vision of The Flying Scroll and The Vision of The Filthy Basket

And each of these visions really serve as sort of an extension
Of that vision which was given regarding the lampstand.

While we PRIMARILY LEARNED from that vision that
God is at work by His Spirit through His people
To accomplish His purposes

We also must recognize that
THE PURPOSE WAS to make Israel a light in the midst of the darkness.
Certainly that was the point of the lampstand.

This has always been the purpose for God’s people.

Now, as we said then, Israel often failed at that purpose.

Jesus said:
Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Jesus was there exposing Israel for claiming to be light
And yet failing to shine that light.

The reason that we noted that they were unable to do this
Was because they lacked righteousness.

This was the same point that Paul would make in his epistle to the Romans.
Romans 2:17-24 “But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.”

Paul was emphatic to the Jews that they were failing miserably
In their efforts to be a light in the darkness
Because they weren’t any different than the world.

In fact, instead of glorifying God through their obedience
They actually blasphemed God through their disobedience.

At some point the church has forgotten this very basic reality.
Namely that God has called us to be light in the darkness.
Instead the church has determined to be like the darkness.

• You should know that light is offensive.
• You should know that light exposes.
• You should know that light is uncomfortable to the darkness.

This is clearly stated in Scripture.
John 3:19-21 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

We were never called to blend with the darkness,
But rather to expose it.

Ephesians 5:11 “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;”

The shame of God’s people and the shame of the church today
Is that instead of shining into the darkness,
We are more prone to put a basket over our light
To make sure we don’t offend the darkness.

It is extremely backward and perverted.

Last time we met we talked about why our light often times fails to shine.
And the reason is because of wickedness.

• If we look like the darkness…
• If we talk like the darkness…
• If we act like the darkness…
• Then how can we claim to be a light in the darkness?

The church cannot concern itself with the approval of the sinner,
But only with the approval of God.
And that is really the point of these two visions.

Now we already started working through the first vision, but let’s hit it again quickly so as to make sure we remember what we learned.

#1 THE VISION OF THE FLYING SCROLL
Zechariah 5:1-4

• Here you will remember that we saw a flying scroll, which spoke to the swiftness of its travel.

• We also noted that this scroll was the same dimensions as the Holy of Holies which reminds us that this word is sanctified and inseparably linked to the presence of God.

• We also found that this scroll was filled with a “curse”.
This is a message of judgment.

Not so different than the scroll which Ezekiel ate or which John ate in Rev. 10
Or which Jesus is opening in the tribulation.
This scroll is covered with judgments.

And we found that this scroll was going after two specific people.
(3) “Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; surely everyone who steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side.”

We are dealing with “the one who steals” and with “the one who swears”

And we discussed each of these last time.
But the one who steals is one who is basically steeped in immorality. They commit sins against their neighbor.

These are those who claim to be God’s people
And yet they live lives just like the unredeemed of the world.
In short, there is no light shining there.

The second problem was those “who swear”. Verse 4 indicates it is those who “swear falsely by My name.”

These are those who have entered into a covenant agreement with the Lord whereby they took an oath that they would serve Him and yet they have not upheld their end of the agreement.
Their profession to obey God was a lie.

And what is the problem here?
What is the problem with someone who says they are a Christian, but then lives like the world?

THE PROBLEM IS THAT THEY BLASPHEME GOD!

And as we said last time, I can’t stress enough how wrong this is,
And yet how overlooked it has become.

The church has become far more concerned about the comfort of the sinner than they have about the glory of God.

We’ll let people sin all day long without confrontation,
Regardless of what their testimony does to God’s reputation,
If only we can maintain a good friendship with them.

• We seem to think it wrong any time a sinner gets offended
• We seem to think it wrong any time a sinner gets confronted
• We seem to think it wrong any time a sinner get rebuked
But what about when God gets offended?

I told you this morning, but tomorrow marks
The 499th anniversary of the start of the reformation.

October 31, 517 was the day Martin Luther nailed that 95 thesis
On the door of the castle church in Wittenburg, Germany.

Certainly we aren’t going through a history of the reformation here,
But out of the reformation came 5 statements of faith and 1 motto.

The 5 statements were:
• Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone
• Sola Fide – Faith Alone
• Sola Gratia – Grace Alone
• Solus Christus – Christ Alone
• Soli Deo Gloria – The Glory of God Alone

They fought and died for the belief that the true gospel comes only from Scripture and not from man’s logic or church tradition
And that this gospel as contained in Scripture clearly teaches that
Man is only justified by faith alone as a gift of God’s grace alone
Through the sacrifice of Christ alone.

But as an even more important cry than all of these was this final sola.

The Reformers understood that
• The reason that God saved sinners by grace apart from any work of the
sinner,
• The reason that God required only faith apart from any religious action,
• The reason that God used Christ to pay the debt of sinners apart from
any other payment

WAS FOR 1 REASON ALONE.
And that reason was so that God alone would receive the glory.

More important to them than any other thing
Was that God alone be glorified.
I’m not sure we can say that this is the passion of the church any more.

The motto that came out of the reformation was POST TENEBRAS LUX
“After Darkness Light”

In order to glorify God the reformers decided to shine the light of the gospel into the darkness of the world all for the glory of God.

There was no blending, there was no tolerating,
There was no unifying with that which was false.

They were more concerned about the glory of God
Than the comfort of sinners.
I’M NOT SURE THE CHURCH CAN SAY THAT TODAY.

Well you can see by this first vision
That shining light into darkness was certainly important to God
Even if it wasn’t important to His people.

He is about to take His word and “purge” from the among His people
All the blasphemers who live like the world while claiming to be believers.

(4) “I will make it go forth,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and consume it with its timber and stones.”

God will take His all penetrating word and with the accuracy of a double edged sword will exterminate the blasphemous from among His people.

WHY?
So that their light will once again shine into the darkness.

I just can’t stress this enough church.
• It is ok that you are different from the world
• It is ok that you hold views that the world says are wrong.
• It is ok to be scorned and rejected and talked about for standing for truth.

Jesus said:
Luke 6:22-23, 26 “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets…”Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”

It is clear where God stands.
He is about to purify His people.

The Vision of the Flying Scroll
#2 THE VISION OF THE FILTHY BASKET
Zechariah 5:5-11

It seems really peculiar and strange, but I promise you it isn’t that hard to grasp.

We see that there is something that “is going forth”
That is to say that there is something
That is spreading throughout the land.

What is it?
(6) “I said, “What is it?” And he said, “This is the ephah going forth.” Again he said, “This is their appearance in all the land.”

So in all the land we have this “ephah going forth.”
An “ephah” was a basket and it held about a bushel.

It was a symbol of commerce or treasure or valuables.

Think of in one sense like a purse.
• A woman’s purse is where she keeps the things that are valuable to her. Her money, or jewelry, or things she needs handy.

This ephah was just a symbolic picture of the things
That mattered to the culture in Israel.

Well, in verse 7 we get to see what is in the ephah.
(7) “(and behold, a lead cover was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting inside the ephah.”

And so here we find that this society likes this “woman”.

Now at this point I suppose we could just go crazy trying to figure out what it all means.
• Does it mean this culture loves woman? (sexual immorality)
• Does it mean this culture loves feminism?
• Does it mean this culture focuses on motherhood?

To make sure you do understand the clear explanation is given.
(8) “Then he said, “This is Wickedness!” And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening.”

We still don’t specifically know what the woman represented except that
Whatever she represented heaven says it is what?
“Wickedness!”

If you really want to push the envelope here I’d probably be most inclined to link this to the sin that would soon be exposed among the refugees.

• If you read Ezra 9-10 you will find out that one of the sins of the refugees was that they began to marry foreign wives.

• This was strictly forbidden in Israel because these pagan women would pull your heart away from devotion to the Lord to serve their gods (just look at Solomon)

Ezra 9:1-4 “Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. “For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.” When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.”

• Ezra was obviously bothered by the wickedness that was spreading throughout the land.
• Ezra actually commanded them to put those wives away and they did.

During the days of Nehemiah the problem surfaced again.

Nehemiah 13:23-27 “In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. “Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. “Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”

I think I’ll go with Nehemiah’s response instead.
Ezra pulled out his own hair, Nehemiah pulled out their hair.

But all because of their propensity to marry women who were forbidden.

It’s possible that this was the root issue here,
But we don’t even really know that.

All we know is that whatever it was it was “Wickedness!”
And it was going forth throughout the whole land.

THAT MEANS THAT
Instead of being people who were lights in the midst of darkness
They were a people who were blending with the darkness.

Righteousness wasn’t going for from God’s people, wickedness was.

And this angel sought to put an end to it.
(8) “And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening.”

So we are clear what’s going on.
Wickedness is spreading and this angel wants to put a stop to it.

But then look what happens.
(9-11) “Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and there two women were coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens. I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the ephah?” Then he said to me, “To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal.”

The woman in the ephah she was specifically called what? “Wickedness”.

So we know what the woman represents here in this vision.
• Well now we have two more “women” coming with the “wind in their wings”, indicating that they are moving fast.

And Zechariah goes on to say that “they had the wings of a stork”

I’m not sure the symbolism here.
Most commentators say something like “the stork was an unclean bird”
And so the stork is obviously playing to the wickedness.

I guess that works, but the eagle was also unclean
And it is referred to favorably many times in Scripture.

So honestly I’m not sure about the stork wings.

However understanding that isn’t essential
For WE SEE WHAT THESE TWO WOMEN DO.

“the lifted up the ephah between earth and the heavens;”

They rescued this woman.
They rescued this wickedness in a basket.

The angel sought to incarcerate her and stop her,
They rushed in and delivered her.

And that’s not all.
(10-11) “I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the ephah?” Then he said to me, “To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal.”

So not only did they rescue her but they also chose to honor her.
• They took her to “the land of Shinar” that was Babylon.
• And the will “build a temple for her” so that they can worship her.
• And she will be “set there on her own pedestal.”

This isn’t hard to understand.

Think now about the two visions.
• God wants His people to be a light in the midst of darkness.

• In order to do that He is sending His word to purge out His people all those who commit wickedness and who swear falsely.
He is purifying His people.
In a sense that is what the angel was doing to sense he took that wicked woman and sought to incarcerate her in that basket with a lead weight.

• However the world rescued her and took her to another land where they could worship and adore her.

WHAT ARE WE TO MAKE OF THIS?

THE SIN THAT IS ERADICATED FROM THE CHURCH
IS EXALTED IN THE WORLD.

• Do you see that point?
• Do you see that what God hates and seeks to remove the world loves and
seeks to exalt?

The sin that is eradicated from the church is exalted in the world.

Do you know who this woman really is?
You say, “well she’s wickedness.”

That’s true, but she’s wickedness with a temple,
She’s wickedness on a pedestal, she’s wickedness with a following.

Do you know what she really is?
SHE IS FALSE RELIGION

She is religion which gains its direction from the world.
As opposed to religion that gains its direction from God.

LISTEN YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THIS.

God and the world are NOT on the same page.
• They do not love the same things
• They do not honor the same things
• They do not seek the same things
• They do not produce the same things

Just because it seems right to the world
Does not mean it is right before God

God and the world are opposites at every point.
1 John 2:15-16 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

James 4:4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

God and the world are total opposites.
You cannot be like God and like the world at the same time.
You are either darkness or you are light.

The self-deception of the ages is
When people get involved in religion
And think they are the children of God
But in reality they are only people who love the world.

1 John 1:5-6 “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;”

Matthew 6:22-23 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

Do you see the self-deception that is prevalent?
We think we can be called the children of God because we are religious,
But in reality we just love what the world loves.

Is it any wonder then that our light does not shine in the darkness?

God was rebuilding this temple.
That is true; He was doing it by the power of His Spirit.

But it was going to take a lot more than a temple
To make His people a light that shines in the darkness.

They were going to have to actually be different.
They had to quit loving what the world loved.

And in order to accomplish that God was sending His word
To penetrate every home and purge out of His people
Those who say they love God but actually love sin.

I JUST DON’T KNOW HOW TO STRESS IT ANY MORE THAN THIS.
We must be different.
We must love what God loves and hate what God hates.

We cannot let the world dictate to us what is worthy of honor
Because the world clearly honors what is detestable to God.

• The world has its religion.
• The world has its own version of Jesus.
• The world has its own definition of sin.
• The world has its own definition of righteousness.
• The world has its own definition of eternity.

But it is all just darkness.

God has called us to be lights in the midst of darkness,
To be different, to stand against the flow, to expose what is false,
And to spread what is true.
And churches that will are growing fewer and fewer and fewer.

BUT THAT DOESN’T CHANGE THE FACT THIS IS GOD’S DESIRE.

Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

God’s Promised Judgment – part 2
Revelation 8:1-13 (3-13)
October 30, 2016

We actually began our study of this passage last week,
It just took me a little while to actually get into it.

We first took a look at the nature of God and His propensity to judge.
In fact God has repeatedly promised that judgment is coming.

Exodus 34:5-7 “The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

Romans 2:4-6 “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:”

Both of those passages (and a host of others) reminds us that
Despite the prevailing themes of HUMANISM & UNIVERSALISM
Judgment is NOT a myth.

GOD WILL JUDGE SINNERS.

In fact, if you listen to what Jesus said,
There will be MORE people who find themselves under judgment
Than there will be who find themselves in salvation.

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Luke 13:22-24 “And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem. And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

And therefore it can NEVER be the position of the church
To act like sinners won’t be judged.

To fall into such modes of thinking or preaching or acceptance
Is to totally malign the truth of Scripture
And this is something that the church just cannot do.

As I told you last week, this is a hill on which to die.

People who do not repent of their sin and submit their lives to Jesus Christ will be judged by God and punished for all eternity.
This is a very evident truth promised throughout Scripture.

And it is some of the SPECIFICS OF THAT JUDGMENT
That we are reading about here in the book of the Revelation.
These judgments are not all of God’s judgments,
But they are certainly a terrible part of it.

We are currently looking at the judgments that unfold
WHEN THE LAMB BREAKS THAT SEVENTH SEAL.

Last week we saw our first two points.
#1 THE ANTICIPATION OF JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:1

• You know that the scroll which the Lamb is unrolling is the title deed to the earth and it records the judgments that God will unleash upon sinners and upon the enemy in order to redeem the world back to Himself.

• We already saw the first 6 seals opened before we took our pause in chapter 7 to see how people are made able to stand before God.

There is only 1 seal left to open,
And when it opens all the judgments of God are revealed.

And in verse 1 we saw the initial response of heaven when they were allowed to see what was included in this final seal.
• Heaven literally held its breath.
• Heaven was speechless.
• Heaven had no words.

Included in this seventh seal are all 7 trumpet judgments
And all 7 bowl judgments.
HEAVEN NOW SEES THEM ALL.

#2 THE PREPARATION FOR JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:2

Here we saw those special 7 angels who have this specific purpose
Of ushering in these judgments of God.
(They are given trumpets by God because trumpets signify God’s intervention.)

And the point we made here is that it is God who instigates the judgment.
Those angels didn’t take the trumpets, trumpets were given to them.
Make no mistake who the catalyst behind all this is.

This is the promised judgment of God
And it is moving forward by God’s divine decree.

Anticipation of Judgment, Preparation for Judgment
#3 THE MOTIVATION FOR JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:3-5

Now we have “Another angel”
He is not one of the 7

And he comes and “stood at the altar, holding a golden censer;”

The altar here is the incense altar
And the censer is used for the purpose of burning incense.

After God detailed the dimensions of this altar, He commanded Moses:
Exodus 30:6-10 “You shall put this altar in front of the veil that is near the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is over the ark of the testimony, where I will meet with you. “Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. “When Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. “You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering or meal offering; and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it. “Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year; he shall make atonement on it with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD.”

This was the incense altar.
What was the purpose?

It was symbolic of intercessory prayer.
• When the priest went into the holy place to intercede for you he also burned
incense and as you saw the smoke rise from outside the tent it was symbolic of
your prayers ascending to God.

That is why Isaiah said:
Isaiah 1:13-15 “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”

God told them that He hated their incense because He hated their prayers.
That incense was symbolic of prayer.

It is the same thing we see in Luke 1
Luke 1:8-10 “Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering.”

Well here that angel has approached the incense altar
And he has a “golden censer” which is used for burning incense.

ONE MIGHT ASSUME AT THIS POINT
That the angel is going to intercede before God on behalf of the world
That God might calm His fury and not judge the world
As harshly as the writing on the scroll seems to suggest.

After all, we did see this happen many times in the Old Testament.
• We remember God ready to destroy the Israelites after the golden calf and
then Moses interceded.
• We remember God ready to destroy Israel in the book of Amos until Amos
interceded.

One might suppose that this is what is happening here.
This angel is going to intercede on behalf of earth’s sinners
That God not pour out His heavy wrath upon them.

But that isn’t what happens.
“much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.”

The angel sent prayers to God alright,
But it wasn’t intercessory prayers on behalf of the earth that he sent.

What prayers did he send?
“the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.”

Remember them?
Revelation 6:9-11 “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ” How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”

• There we saw all those people who had been slain for their faith and they weren’t crying out for mercy for earth’s persecutors they were crying out for vengeance.

• They wanted God to avenge them and to judge them.

• But if you will remember God’s answer was to wait just a little while longer because there more servants who would be killed like they had been.

• And it wasn’t until that number was completed that God would be willing to judge the sinners on earth.

You remember that?

Well who was it that we saw standing around the throne in Revelation 7?
Revelation 7:13-14 “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Apparently all those who would be slain have been slain
And so the prayer of those below the altar is now revisited.

They cry out again for vengeance.

It is the cry of the afflicted throughout the generations.
Psalms 7:6-11 “Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; Lift up Yourself against the rage of my adversaries, And arouse Yourself for me; You have appointed judgment. Let the assembly of the peoples encompass You, And over them return on high. The LORD judges the peoples; Vindicate me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me. O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; For the righteous God tries the hearts and minds. My shield is with God, Who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day.”

Psalms 9:19-20 “Arise, O LORD, do not let man prevail; Let the nations be judged before You. Put them in fear, O LORD; Let the nations know that they are but men.”

And those are but the tip of the iceberg regarding God’s people.

The ill-treatment of God’s people is a very common thing.
• Remember how the Israelites were mistreated in Egypt as slaves.
• How often did the pagan nations afflict them even in their own land?
• Do we remember Jezebel killing the prophets?
• What about the attacks of Assyria and Babylon and Greece?
• Do we remember the slaughter of the apostles?
• Or how about the many slain during the reformation?
• Or the more than 300 puritans burned alive by Bloody Mary?
• Or those who suffer today in Islamic nations?

Many times God’s people have cried out to God for Him to intervene
And judge those who blaspheme His name and persecute His saints.

And time after time the answer has been to wait.
God was not yet in the process of judging sinners
Because He was till undertaking the process of saving sinners.

He remained patient
And He asked the same of those who had suffered for His name.

Well apparently that day is over.
It is now the Day of Judgment and those prayers are once again
Lifted up to God that it might motivate Him to that judgment.

The ill-treatment of God’s people is no minor thing & it is never forgotten.

2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 “For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

That is the day we are looking at here.
God is about to vindicate His people and avenge their blood on the earth.

And once the angel sends the smoke of the incense upward to God,
He also sends the fires of judgment down to the earth.

(5) “Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”

That is heaven’s decision regarding this judgment.
The earth deserves it for how they have treated God’s people.
It is time for judgment to fall.

Anticipation of Judgment Preparation for Judgment Motivation for Judgment
#4 DESCRIPTION OF JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:6-12

Here we have the blasting of the first 4 trumpets
And honestly there isn’t a whole lot of explanation that is needed.
It is pretty clear and obvious what is occurring here.

THE FIRST TRUMPET wipes out 1/3 of the earth and trees and all the green grass.
(6-7) “And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them. The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.”

The one thing I would caution on here
Is trying to push too much natural explanation into this.
(By that I mean, don’t try to figure out this out with a natural explanation.)

Things like the hail is actual hail, the fire is probably lightning,
The blood could be like mud balls or the blood of the people hit with the hail.

I WANT TO CAUTION AGAINST THAT AND HERE IS WHY.
These judgments are not natural judgments.
These are supernatural judgments.

And unless John uses the phrase “like” hail or “like” fire or “like” blood
Then we have no reason to assume he was being anything but literal here.

These judgments are not a result of the curse, they are a result of the fury of God and they do not require a natural explanation.

We are much better off just to say that
God sent “hail and fire, mixed with blood” to the earth.

The effect here is staggering which is that “a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.”

It was a specific judgment targeted at the earth’s vegetation.

AND THEN THE SECOND ANGEL.
(8-9) “The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.”

Here again the themes of fire and blood.
Only this time instead it coming with hail it comes “like a great mountain”.

Call it a meteor if you want, call it an asteroid,
I just know it is a massive land mass that John compares to a huge mountain.

And again the effect is similar in that it brings destruction to 1/3 of what it hits, in this case the sea.
• 1/3 of the sea became blood
• 1/3 of the sea creatures destroyed
• 1/3 of the ships destroyed

AND THEN THE THIRD ANGEL
(10-11) “The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.”

This time the target is the world’s freshwater.
And we find that “a great star fell from heaven burning like a torch” and it polluted 1/3 of the fresh water.

Significant here is that the star actually has a name by which it is called, “Wormwood”

The word “wormwood” translates APSINTHOS
It is where we get our word ABSENTHE
Which is a drink created from the wormwood plant.
It is actually illegal in several countries because it is so dangerous.

In Scripture it is a word used of God making waters bitter and poisonous.

Jeremiah 9:15 “therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.”

Amos probably had the best handle on it.

We find what God desired of His people.
Amos 5:24 “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

But instead of a stream of righteousness, God only received a stream of bitterness.
Amos 5:6-7 “Seek the LORD that you may live, Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph, And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel, For those who turn justice into wormwood And cast righteousness down to the earth.”

Amos 6:12 “Do horses run on rocks? Or does one plow them with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,”

Here we have God returning the favor on the world.
For the world who turned His righteousness into bitterness
God is now turning their water into bitterness.

And the result is that “many men died from the waters.”

Unlike at Marah where God turned bitter waters sweet,
Here God turns sweet waters bitter.

AND THEN THE FOURTH TRUMPET
(12) “The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.”

I’m not sure how this happens, but when dealing with the supernatural judgment of the Creator we certainly don’t have to understand it.

John simply says that God struck the great lights in the sky.
The effect was not dimmer light, but shorter light.
• The sun shined for 1/3 less of the time than normal, as did the moon and stars.

What we have here then is specific and calculated judgments from God.
These aren’t random acts of natural disasters, these are specific.

God targets land, trees, sea, fresh water, and the sun
And each time He specifically only targets 1/3.
It speaks of divine control and precision.

It gives the appearance of God UNDOING CREATION
• The One who created the sun and moon and stars and ordained that they should shine is now undoing that.
• The One who created the sea and all it contains and the fresh water and the trees and the grass is here undoing it.

Zephaniah 1:2-3 “I will completely remove all things From the face of the earth,” declares the LORD. “I will remove man and beast; I will remove the birds of the sky And the fish of the sea, And the ruins along with the wicked; And I will cut off man from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.”

THE POINT?
• This is not random
• This is not accidental
• This is not chaotic
• Nor is this of human origin

Man couldn’t have that devastating of an effect if he set his mind to it.

These are not the result of
Human irresponsibility regarding the environment.
This is the result of an angry Creator who is unleashing divine judgment on His creation because of their sin.

LISTEN:
You should be concerned about global warming,
But it’s not the one they talk about on the news.

THERE ARE BIGGER ISSUES TO DEAL WITH THAN CO2 EMMISSIONS.
GOD HAS PROMISED JUDGMENT UPON THIS WORLD FOR ITS SIN.

• This world is in danger, but not because of too many water bottles or hair spray or Styrofoam.

• This world is in danger because by reason if it’s sin it has horribly offended the One who created it.

• And the God who created this world has enough power to destroy this world without even breaking a sweat.

You are seeing that here.
And this is just the first 4 of the trumpets.

And that leads us to the last point.
#5 THE DECLARATION OF MORE JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:13

We get another pause in the flow.
This time just one verse.
But it is given for perspective.

Hear we have an eagle flying with a message for the world.

“Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”

Now let that sink in.
You mean that’s not all?
• God has just wrecked this world with world war, famine, death, earthquakes, and has sent fire and blood to wipe out 1/3 of everything precious on the earth, and still He’s not done?

NOPE

TURN TO ISAIAH 9:8
We aren’t going to get deep into this passage,
But there is a point to be made that I want you to see.

In verses 8-12 God is telling Israel that He is going to punish them for their arrogance and refusal to repent.

The punishment will be an invading army.
(11) “Therefore the Lord raises against them adversaries from Rezin and spurs their enemies on. The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west; and they devour Israel with gaping jaws. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away and His hand is still stretched out.”

An invading army is not enough to satisfy God’s anger.

In verses 13-17 God refers to Israel’s lack of respect for God’s word so God promises to remove anyone who will give them the truth.

The punishment is having to live in a corrupt society.
(17) “Therefore the Lord does not take pleasure in their young men, Nor does He have pity on their orphans or their widows; For every one of them is godless and an evildoer, And every mouth is speaking foolishness. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.”

That’s still not enough to satisfy God’s anger.

In verses 18-21 God speaks of Israel’s spreading wickedness and how God is going to allow them to tear each other to pieces.

The punishment is God allowing them to tear each other to pieces.
(21) “Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, And together they are against Judah. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.”

In 10:1-4 God speaks of Israel’s ambition and how God will judge them accordingly.

The punishment is death and captivity.
(4) “Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives Or fall among the slain. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.”
PREACHER, WHAT’S YOUR POINT?

My point is that there is no amount of pain and suffering
That mankind can endure
That will ever fully satisfy God’s wrath on her sin.

When it comes to judging and punishing sinners,
GOD WILL NEVER SAY ENOUGH.

Matthew 25:41, 46 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels…”These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

God will inflict torment on sinners for all eternity
And they will never reach a point where God says,
“Ok, that’s enough, we’re even.”

Sinful humanity is incapable of paying off their debt before God.

That is the warning of the eagle here.
Yes you’ve suffered, yes it’s bad, but you ain’t seen nothing yet.
It’s going to get worse because God’s wrath on sin is NEVER SATISFIED.

EXCEPT FOR ONE PLACE

Can I read you a remarkable verse?
Romans 3:21-25a “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.”

I want to point out specifically that word “propitiation”.

Propitiation means “the turning away of wrath by an offering.”
You could look at it like “appeasement”

And Paul says that Jesus was such a propitiation.
Jesus turned away the wrath of God by an offering.
That offering was Himself.

Why is that so amazing?
Because Jesus there accomplished something that a sinner can’t accomplish in hell for all eternity.

Jesus satisfied God’s wrath,
And we’ve been seeing that His wrath is never satisfied.

What Jesus did on the cross is so effective and so powerful.
And you don’t have the slightest chance of ever duplicating it
Regardless of how much you suffer.

TOMORROW IS REFORMATION DAY.
On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis to door of the castle church there listing the abuses of the Roman Catholic church.

One issue Luther had was with the selling of indulgences.
• According to the Catholic church an indulgence is a way to reduce the amount
of punishment that one has to undergo for sin.

• According to Catholic doctrine if you don’t have enough righteous merit of your
own when you die, then you go to purgatory which is a place of purging until
you are purged from your evil and become righteous.

• To shorten that stay loved ones on earth can obtain indulgences which are
extra units of merit to apply to your account so you can get out earlier and go
on into heaven.

Luther vehemently opposed such notions.
And his 95 thesis against such practices began the great reformation.
(October 31 is a big day for the church, but not because of Halloween)

Luther was right to protest because according to Scripture
It is utter nonsense to think that any sinner
Can ever satisfy God’s wrath on his sin by his own suffering.

The only one to ever do that was Jesus Christ.
He fully propitiated the Father’s wrath toward all those who trust in Him.
(It is really quite remarkable!)
This morning I want to remind you again of the reality of God’s judgment.
THERE IS NO ESCAPING IT APART FROM JESUS CHRIST.

It is real
It is promised
It is terrible
It is eternal

Unless you repent of your sin and submit your life to Christ
Who already bore that wrath and fully satisfied the Father
On behalf of all those who trust in Him.

I would certainly encourage you to repent of your sin and trust in Jesus,
Because regarding wrath you ain’t seen nothing yet.

God’s Promised Judgment – part 1
Revelation 8:1-13 (1-2)
October 23, 2016

This morning we are returning to the chronological flow
Of the book of the Revelation.

(We’ve actually had a pause in the flow for the past 3 weeks so that we could listen as God answered a very important question that was posed at the end of chapter 6.)

IT ALL STARTED WITH
• A tremendous heavenly scene in which John saw the Lamb of God take the scroll from the One who was seated on the throne.

This scroll is the title deed to the earth, and as we are seeing, it contains the judgments by which the Lord will remove the usurper, destroy sinners, and redeem this earth back to Himself.

• There were 7 seals that were to be opened.
• The first brought 3 ½ years of false peace.
• The second brought world war
• The third brought terrible famine
• The fourth brought death (1/4 of the world’s population)
• The fifth brought motivation for judgment as we saw the martyrs
• The sixth brought a great earthquake

And that is where we paused.

God has just shaken the earth.
He shook the earth so hard that the sun went black, the moon turned to blood, the stars fell to the earth, the mountains and islands fled, the sky rolled up like a scroll and every creature on earth saw God on His throne in terrible anger.

Mankind accounted for the horror of this event by
Praying to the mountains to fall on them
And estimating that no one could stand before this terrible God.
It has been bad.

And yet: ONE SEAL REMAINS
And this final seal takes judgment to a whole new level.

For contained in this final seal are 7 trumpet judgments
And then 7 bowl judgments.
Things are about to get really bad.

And I want to remind you this morning that
All of these judgments are the process
By which God is judging the world for its iniquity.

AND AS I STUDIED THIS WEEK
I DECIDED THAT WE NEEDED TO SPEND A LITTLE TIME ON THIS.
I think this truth is a good truth for the church to hear.
Because I wonder if the church today really believes it or not.

Across Christianity today there are two false doctrines that are permeating and spreading throughout the church in a very rapid fashion.

Those two doctrines are HUMANISM & UNIVERSALISM

HUMANISM basically says that “the chief end of all things is the happiness of man.”

This entire story, this entire plan, all of creation, all of redemption, all of today, all of eternity…is really all for the benefit and happiness of man.
• The world was created for me
• Jesus was sent just because of me
• God’s intent is to bless me and make me happy
• Heaven is about my reward and enjoyment

The chief point of Christianity is about making Christians happy.
And all you have to do is look no further than 90% of
What is being published by Christian outlets to see that this is true.

We are bombarded today with the prosperity gospel
And promises of your best life now
And reminders that God has good plans for us,
(which is always interpreted to mean earthly happiness)
And that it’s really all about us.

The pinnacle statement probably comes when people explain the cross and say something like, “God loved you so much that He’d rather endure hell than to have to go to heaven without you.”

It’s all about you:
• Your worth
• Your joy
• Your happiness

That is the prevailing a theme.
Now, most people won’t own up to believing it, but if you watch their ministry and listen to their statements you’ll see that it’s true.

People increasingly believe today that
God would never do anything to a person
That would make them uncomfortable or unhappy.
God only wants good for you and we have taken it upon ourselves
To fill in the blank regarding what we think “good” is.

IT’S HUMANISM.

And incidentally it is because we have begun accepting humanism that we also are rapidly beginning to accept UNIVERSALISM

What is Universalism?
The theological view arguing that all persons will ultimately be saved. Some also teach that there is no such thing as a literal hell or eternal punishment.

Some even use the cross to defend this,
• Emphatically claiming that Jesus died for all and already paid the debt for all sinners. (If that is true then no one would go to hell)

Others just let their humanistic theology take the next step.
• If God really loves creation and longs for their happiness, then there is no way He’d ever send humans to hell for eternity.

Now again, you won’t find a lot of people who say they believe in universalism, but their ministry and actions prove it.

I can ask you today: DO YOU BELIEVE PEOPLE GO TO HELL?
Today, in here, probably everyone would say “yes”.

• What if I told you to name one person you know that you think is going to
hell.

• What if I asked you next if you have ever told that person about their
miserable condition and revealed to them the salvation of Jesus Christ?

That’s where the rubber meets the road.

There is so much talk today of God loving us and God being good
That people have run with it and I think quit believing
That God really does judge sinners.

Certainly our tolerance for sin proves that.
Certainly our lack of evangelism proves that.

Either we don’t really believe hell exists
Or we don’t really believe people will go there.

It is humanism and universalism and both are ENEMIES OF THE GOSPEL.

Because the gospel says that the chief end of all things is not the happiness of man, it is the glory of God. And that God will be glorified both by the salvation of sinners and the destruction of them.

The gospel also says that not all men are universally saved, but only those who have repented of their sins and trusted in Jesus Christ for His applied righteousness will be saved. Everyone else will spend eternity in hell.

And I’m just not sure that the church today really believes
That God is angry at sinners, or that God will destroy them in hell for all eternity if they refuse to repent and trust Christ.

So BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION this morning
I just want to take a moment and remind you of WHO GOD IS.

I would begin with God’s own announcement of Himself.
Moses is in the process of receiving his second copy of the Ten Commandments and God reveals Himself to Moses.

Let me show you what God says about Himself.
Exodus 34:5-7 “The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

We certainly love the compassion and grace and patience and mercy and truth
And faithfulness and forgiveness of God.
We certainly do not want to minimize those wondrous qualities.

But it is as though the LORD anticipated that we as humans
Would be prone to focus on them to the exclusion of the rest of who He is,
So He also reminds Moses
“yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished”

That is to say, don’t let God’s propensity to be merciful lead you to believe that God won’t judge sinners. He most certainly will.

That is God’s own declaration of Himself.

Psalms 7:11-13 “God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts.”

Those who paint a picture of a God who is not angry at all
Clearly are not referring to the God of the Bible.

There is no condemnation for those who are IN CHRIST JESUS.
Those are not in Christ Jesus are at enmity with God,
And God “has indignation every day” toward them.

Wasn’t that the very message of John the Baptist?
Luke 3:7-9 “So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘ We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. “Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

John was preaching that very same doctrine.
God offers forgiveness to those who repent,
• But if you don’t repent (and that means genuine repentance) John says God will chop you down and throw you in the fire.

John was preaching about the God who revealed Himself in the Old Testament.
• Go to the Garden of Eden and see God evict those two for their sin.
• Go to the ark and see God destroy the entire world save 8.
• Go to Sodom and see God rain down fire and brimstone.
• Go to Jerusalem and see God destroy His own temple.

It is clear that God judges sinners.
He always has and most certainly will.

Now somewhere along the line someone came up with this notion that
The God of the O.T. and the God of the N.T. must be different.

Because they don’t think the God of the New Testament is that angry.
Certainly Jesus would never be so harsh.

I’m starting to hear it more and more today, this notion that Jesus only loved sinners. In fact, the only people Jesus ever got mad at were the religious people.

There is certainly some truth to that,
But the application and insinuation is horrible.

• Jesus loved sinners in the fact that instead of stoning them to death He offered them forgiveness for their sin if they would repent.
• He was angry at religious people because they didn’t think they needed repentance or forgiveness.

But if you are insinuating by that statement
That Jesus won’t send sinners to hell for eternity
Then you clearly have not listened to everything Jesus had to say.

Matthew 13:41-42 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 13:49-50 “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”

Matthew 18:8-9 “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.”

Matthew 22:11-13 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

Are you following me here?
The God of the Old Testament is also the God of the New Testament.
• He was holy then, He is holy now.
• He was merciful then, He is merciful now.
• He was angry then, He is angry now.

He doesn’t change.

Do not let your conviction regarding God’s mercy
Cause you to ignore that His judgment is absolutely certain.

Romans 2:4-6 “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:”

God will glorify Himself either by the salvation of sinners
Or by the destruction of sinners.
Don’t buy into humanism and don’t buy into universalism.

Just because He is merciful and loving and kind and good
Does not mean He will not judge sinners.

TURN TO: 2 PETER 2:1-10
Peter starts by talking about the danger of false teachers (who are present today by the way) and who lead people into sensuality.
That means they tell people what their flesh wants to hear.

And then in verse 3 Peter says “their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

Now why would Peter say that?
Because the fact that God isn’t instantly judging those false prophets
Makes people think that He won’t judge those prophets.

And so Peter says, don’t assume that just because God doesn’t instantly strike them down that He has changed His mind about judgment. He hasn’t.
He is angry at them now and He will judge them soon.

And then Peter gives his proof to this statement. “For…”
(that’s Peter’s way of saying, this is how I know this)

(READ 4) – That was those straying angels in Noah’s day that God imprisoned in the pit.
(READ 5) – That was the sinners of Noah’s day whom God destroyed by flood.
(READ 6) – That was the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah whom God destroyed by fire and brimstone.
(READ 7-8) – God also knows how to deliver the righteous

But if God judged the sinners of Noah’s day and Lot’s day…
“THEN…”
(READ 9-10)

That is Peter’s way of saying, trust me God knows how to judge sinners.
He always has done it and He most certainly will do it.

God is holding His wrath for a coming day.
He is holding His wrath for a day that Jesus said
Would be just like the days of Noah and the days of Lot.

Luke 17:26-30 “And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. “It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.”

People were just living it up, doing whatever their flesh desired,
And they (like us) didn’t really think judgment would come.
• Did the people Noah preached to for 100 years while he built the ark think God would really destroy the world?

• Did the people in Sodom who were warned by Lot really think judgment would come?

Well it did.
And our day is just like their day.

People today are consumed with the gratification of their flesh
And have no real fear that judgment will ever really come.

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

It is bad enough that a sinful world believes this,
But it is absolutely inexcusable
When the church begins to believe it too.

• When we think sin no longer offends God…
• When we think sinners are somehow still pleasing…
• When we think God won’t really send them to hell…
• When we also get caught up in worldly preoccupation (eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage)…

That is absolutely shameful when the church loses sight of this.
• We are to be the light in darkness.
• We are to be the pillar and support of the truth.
• We are to be the salt of the earth.

There is no way we can fall into their line of thinking.

GOD’S PRESENT PATIENCE SHOULD NEVER INSPIRE APATHY!

2 Peter 3:3-10 “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”

Do you hear Peter there church?
He knew people would begin to doubt judgment.
God’s patience has always caused men to doubt His judgment.
But Peter says the church better not do it!

We, of all people, had better get this truth through our head
• That there is a day coming in which all of your friends, all your family members,
all of your co-workers
• Who have not repented of their sins and placed their faith in Christ will be
judged and will go to hell.

Judgment is coming.
GOD PROMISED THAT IT IS

That brings us back to where we are here in our study of REVELATION
FOR HERE WE GET TO SEE WHAT THAT DAY LOOKS LIKE
We are looking at (in great detail) the promised judgment of God.

• We saw it in chapter 6 through the breaking of the first 6 seals.
• We see it in chapters 8,9, & 16 through the breaking of the 7th seal.

This is God’s judgment poured out on sinners.

Currently we are looking at chapters 8 & 9 which contain the opening of the 7th seal and the first 6 trumpet judgments which come out of it.

And these two chapters reveal 2 very important things.
1) A Description of God’s terrible judgment on sinners
2) A Declaration of man’s blasphemous refusal to repent

Despite all these judgments
Let me go ahead and show you how the earth will respond:

Revelation 9:20-21 “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”

And that isn’t unique.
• After the 4th bowl men will blaspheme God again.
• After the 5th bowl men will blaspheme God again.
• After the 6th bowl men will gather together to go to war against God.

There are two very clear revelations here.
God will judge sinners and those sinners will deserve it.

Well let’s begin looking at it this morning.
(Don’t panic I know we used up a great deal of time on the introduction, but I do want to get started)

Chapter 8 can be broken into 5 easy points.
#1 THE ANTICIPATION OF JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:1

This doesn’t seem like much to us now, but I promise you in the day in which it comes I tend to think it will be almost unbearable.

“When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”

First of all, heaven has been anything but quiet up to this point.
• In 4:1 John heard a voice like a trumpet
• In 5:2 he heard a strong angel with a loud voice
• He also continually heard myriads of angels and unnumbered believers singing songs of praise
• In chapter 6 when the angels told the four horsemen to “come” their voice was like thunder
• In chapter 7 the saved of the tribulation cry out to God in a loud voice

Heaven has been anything but silent.

But Christ has just opened the 7th and final seal,
And heaven just received the first look at what it contains.
The magnitude of what is coming
Literally caused all of heaven to pause in reflection and anticipation.

• What do you say when you see what is about to happen to sinners?
• What do you say when you see the fury that is about to come forth?
THERE ARE NO WORDS.

I still remember September 11th.
Carrie and I had been at our first church (Shiloh Baptist in Crawford, TX) for 1 week. The church treasurer pulled up in the parking lot and said something happened a plane or something accidentally flew into one of the Twin Towers. Later for lunch I went home (Carrie and I were staying with John and Linda Heaton because we had not found a house yet) and they both sat before the TV with tears running down their faces in absolute silence.

And I promise you September 11th was nothing compared to this day.

But when that 7th seal was opened all of heaven paused.
It is the calm before the storm.

Zephaniah 1:7 “Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near, For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice, He has consecrated His guests.”

Zechariah 2:13 “Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for He is aroused from His holy habitation.”

However the silence of heaven will soon be broken,
For God’s judgment is not an idle threat.

His judgment is real and it will be poured out.
So after 30 minutes of anticipation it is time to begin.

The Anticipation of Judgment
#2 THE PREPARATION FOR JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:2
“And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.”

Heaven is in a state of awe and pause and anticipation,
But God breaks the silence.

He has here “seven angels who stand before God”.
These are definitely a special class of angels.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on angels, but it is obvious that there are different classes and different ranks.
We know of Cherubim, Seraphim, Archangels, Principalities, and so on.

Scripture doesn’t give us a real unique look into how all this works
Except we know that they are ranked in some way.

Daniel 10:12-13 “Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.”

Obviously Michael is stronger there being called “one of the chief princes”

We have Jesus make a statement in Matthew 18
Matthew 18:10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”

We know that Gabriel was an angel of higher rank
Luke 1:19 “The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.”

We also know that some angels have very specific purposes.

For example, when we get to the 6th trumpet we read:
Revelation 9:14-15 “one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.”

And I think that is the best way to view these 7
Who are currently standing before God.

These are 7 angels who have been
Specifically created and specifically placed before God
For the specific purpose of ushering in these specific judgments.

I tend to look at them sort of like a Special Forces unit.

THAT REINFORCES YET AGAIN THAT THIS JUDGMENT
HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE PLAN AND IT HAS NEVER CHANGED

And now, while heaven anticipates, GOD STARTS THE PROCESS.

“And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.”

WHY TRUMPETS?
Trumpets announce God’s intervention.

Sinai
Exodus 19:16-19 “So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.”

Jericho
Joshua 6:20 “So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.”

Or listen to the prophets:
Joel 2:1 “Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near,”

Zephaniah 1:14-16 “Near is the great day of the LORD, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of trumpet and battle cry Against the fortified cities And the high corner towers.”

Trumpets are a way of indicating that God is about to move.
God is about to intervene.

IN THIS CASE, GOD IS ABOUT TO JUDGE SINNERS.
Whereas the first 6 seals seemed general in scope,
Now the judgments get specific.

God is about to pour out judgments with the accuracy and detail of a commanding general who targets specific areas and specific targets.
God is going to war.

When we come back next week we’ll see how God’s fury gets kindled
And how His specific wrath begins to be poured out.

What I want to LEAVE YOU WITH this morning church
IS AN UNDENIABLE CONVICTION THAT GOD JUDGES SINNERS.
• It is not ok for us to treat sin like it is an insignificant thing.
• It is not ok for us to allow sinners to think God will not judge them.
• It is not ok for us to be more worried about how sinners view us than we are about how God views sinners
• It is not ok for us to know the way by which sinners can be forgiven and saved from that wrath and not tell them.

WE KNOW HOW THESE SINNERS CAN ESCAPE JUDGMENT
AND BE MADE TO STAND BEFORE GOD.

They can stand when they take their filthy garments
And wash them white in the blood of the Lamb.

THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE UNCOMPROMISING POSITION OF THE CHURCH.
This is the gospel.
This is absolutely a hill on which to die.
Absolute WOE to the church that compromises on this essential truth.

Church we know where sinners are headed
And we know how they can be saved
DO NOT DISTORT THOSE TRUTHS.

Acts 2:37-40 “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”

The Flying Scroll and the Filthy Basket – part 1
Zechariah 5:1-11
October 16, 2016

Last time we looked at that famous fourth chapter here in Zechariah
Where we were reminded that it’s
“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit” says the Lord.

But beyond that I would remind you of exactly what Zechariah saw.
• If you’ll remember he saw a sort of gravity fed candelabra which was tapped in directly to the olive trees that supplied the oil.

Now certainly we learned about how God works through His people
And accomplishes His purposes even when they seem impossible.

But it is also important that you remember
That it was a lampstand that Zechariah saw.

We are reminded by this that there is a purpose in all of what God is doing through His people and that is that they are a light to the world.
DON’T MISS THAT POINT.

God was rebuilding His temple
And promising to once again dwell in their midst
Namely so that they would be a light that shines in the darkness.

It is important that you grasp this to understand these next two visions.
Because these visions also address the issue of
Making God’s people a light to the world.

TO SORT OF SET THE STAGE let’s examine the Sermon on the Mount
Where He addressed this issue with the Jews to whom He was preaching.

Matthew 5:14-17 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

I know these verse are almost always quoted
In reference to the church being a light in darkness.
While it is true that believers do now shine as lights in the world,
That was not the whole point of what Jesus was saying there.

JESUS WAS ADDRESSING ISRAEL
AND MORE SPECIFICALLY HER LACK OF TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS.

That is in reality the theme of the sermon.
That Israel is not righteous and that she must be in order to please God.
It was a set up sermon meant to drive them to Him.

And in this process Jesus makes the statement about light in darkness.

You must understand that He is speaking with a certain SARCASM here.
He says, “You are the light of the world.”
The problem with that is that their light is hidden or not shining.

Which is why He immediately goes into rebuke mode.
“A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket.”

That was the problem.
Israel claimed to be the light of the world, but they weren’t shining.

The reason they weren’t shining according to the Sermon on the Mount, was a lack of righteousness.

Their light wasn’t really light and therefore could not shine.

See Jesus reference it again later in the sermon:
Matthew 6:22-23 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

That time referencing their carnal lust for the things of the world.
Jesus was reiterating that they had no light at all, but rather darkness
And thus were not fulfilling their purpose.

Their lack of righteousness kept their light from shining.

Paul reiterated this as well in Romans 2
Romans 2:17-24 “But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.”

There again you hear Paul reference the Jewish belief
That they were “a light to those who are in darkness”

And yet Paul says that they are anything but a light
Because of their unrighteous living.

They actually commit the sins they so openly condemn
And instead of bringing glory to God
They actually are guilty of blaspheming Him.

So we are understanding the problems we are facing.
• According to Zechariah’s last message we would say that we have no light to
shine without the indwelling Holy Spirit and that would be true.

BUT WE MUST ALSO LEARN THAT
We have no light to shine apart from a righteous life.

Obviously the two run hand in hand since it is the Holy Spirit
That accomplishes that sanctifying work in our lives.

And that is what makes these next two visions so fitting to the flow.
God will address Israel’s lack of light
And it is directly linked to their unrighteous lives.

Now we are going to try and cover these next two visions together
Because I really think they work together,
But there is no way we can get through them both in one sermon.

So let me give you sort of AN OVERVIEW
Which we can come back and flesh out a little more.

You have here two more visions (numbers 6 & 7 on the night)
• The first is the vision of THE FLYING SCROLL
• The second is the vision of THE FILTHY BASKET

(that’s what an “ephah” was, it was a basket used to hold grain or other valuables and thus became synonymous with commerce or treasure or valuable things)

I also want you to understand that the first vision
Is given in response to the second.
Now that seems backward, for we would think that the second vision would be given in response to the first, but that is not the case here.

Let me show you.
• In the vision of “The Flying Scroll” we have a scroll which is the word of God which is a penetrating force that is coming to purify Israel.

And of this scroll God says in verse 4,
“I will make it go forth, declares the LORD of hosts…”

So God is going to intervene according to His sovereign power
And cause His word to go forth throughout the land.

The reason is because something else is currently
Going forth throughout the land which should not be.

In verse 5 we read, “Then the angel who was speaking with me went out and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes and see what this is going forth.”

That is to say, there is something that is going forth in the world.

In verse 6, “I said, “What is it?” And he said, “This is the ephah going forth.”

Then later in verse 8 we find out that “This is wickedness!”

SO FOLLOW ME HERE.

• We currently have something that is going forth throughout the land and
it is wickedness.

• In response to that reality God will cause His word to go forth in order to
purify the people.

That is why I say that the first vision
Is actually given in response to the second.

God is correcting a terrible reality in the nation of Israel.
They are a people who love wickedness
Which will obviously prevent their light from shining,
And God is therefore going to purify them with His word.

He is going to turn them into a light in the midst of darkness
By means of the sanctification of His word.

And incidentally, this fits perfectly with the theme of this book.
We have said all along that the main point of the message is
“The Lord Remembers”
And we found out last week that this refers to His faithfulness.

He always remembers to accomplish the purposes which He has promised.
He never forgets, He always remembers.

Here we are reminded that God’s purpose
Also includes the purity and sanctification of His people.

Can I remind you of the conversation God had with Israel at Sinai?
Exodus 19:3-6 “Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”

• God chose Israel as the people of His own possession from all the other nations of the earth.
• And continually God revealed Laws to this nation that was for the purpose of setting them apart.
That has always been His intention.
The times when God became the angriest was when His people started to blend and assimilate into the world around them.
• When they adopted their customs…
• When they adopted their worship practices…
• When they adopted their gods…
• When they adopted their morality…

God was angry, because His people were supposed to be different,
They were supposed to be holy.

And it is clear that God is also REMEMBERING THAT PURPOSE.

Let’s look at it together.
#1 THE FLYING SCROLL
Zechariah 5:1-4

Both of these visions can seem a little difficult at first, but I assure you the point will become very clear to you by the time we are done.
(1) “Then I lifted up my eyes again and looked, and behold, there was a flying scroll.”

The scroll is obviously the word of God
And the fact that it is flying speaks to the swiftness of its travel.

It is not different from what Ezekiel experienced.
Ezekiel 2:8-10 “Now you, son of man, listen to what I am speaking to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.” Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was in it. When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe.”

God’s word has arrived.
God’s word is present.

(2) “And he said to me, “What do you see?” And I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.”

The significant thing is that it is the exact size of the Holy of Holies.
• It is holy
• It is consecrated
• It is set apart

There is also a link here to the glory of God which fills the Holy of Holies
And the word of God.
You don’t get one without the other.
You don’t get God’s presence without God’s word.

It harkens back to Jesus telling Peter in the upper room, that if I don’t wash you then you have no part with Me.
You don’t get Me without the word.

And those are just some basic and yet obvious observations.
God’s word is coming and coming swiftly.

We would ask: TO WHAT PURPOSE?
(3) “Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; surely everyone who steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side.”

And now we’re getting somewhere.

God’s word is not referred to here as a blessing, but rather as a curse.
(You probably noticed it was referred to the same way to Ezekiel)

God’s word is bringing with it a CURSE, bad news that is.
God’s word is bringing with it JUDGMENT.
And it is coming “over the face of the whole land”

This is not some “feel good” message of affirmation and encouragement,
This is a message of judgment.

This word is coming to expose and convict and condemn and to curse.

WHO?
“surely everyone who steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side.”

Two people this scroll is after.
The one who “steals” and the one who “swears”

You’ll see in a minute that swearing has to do with swearing falsely by God’s name.

So we are dealing with people who love the world
As proven by their stealing
And with people who have
Made a false profession of allegiance to God.

Let’s talk about the first.
God is going to use this word of judgment to “purge away” everyone who “who steals”

At this point I would remind you of the Ten Commandments.
• You are aware that the first 4 commandments relate to how man views God.
• The last 6 related to how man views man.

Each of these commandments do as well.
Here we are dealing with sin against humanity, it is the one “who steals”

That is to say that their lives are morally bankrupt.
• There is no love of their fellow man.
• There is no practical righteousness or evident morality in their lives.
• They are very simply sinful people.

They just do wicked things.
Certainly stealing is one of them, but I don’t think it’s limited to that.

We are simply talking here about people who
Claim to be God’s people and yet are living immoral lives.

And I must tell you that this is absolutely unacceptable.
THE ONE WHO FOLLOWS GOD MUST LIVE A HOLY LIFE.

1 Peter 1:13-16 “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”

Paul said:
Ephesians 4:17-24 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

The one who claims to follow God must not live in immorality.
In fact we are told that those who do must be disciplined.

1 Corinthians 5:11-13 “But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler — not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.”

A person who claims to be a follower of God
And yet who lives in blatant immorality is a major problem;

WHY?
BECAUSE THEY BLASPHEME GOD.

It’s one thing for a sinful pagan to live a sinful life, you don’t expect anything else.
But when one who claims to follow God does the same,
It is an absolute offense to the reputation of God.
And God will not have it.
1 Peter 1:17-20 “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you”

Those who claim Christ and yet live immoral lives
Actually do harm to the reputation of God.

It was as the old German philosopher said, “Show me your redeemed life and then maybe I’ll consider your Redeemer.”

How many times have we heard the old adage, “There ain’t nothing but a bunch of hypocrites at that church.”?

Why do you suppose they say that?
Because they reject Christ and yet people in the church confess Him
And those who are lost can’t tell the difference between the two.

It is absolutely disgraceful the way sin has become tolerated in the body.
It’s no wonder the light doesn’t shine.

Our light is hidden under our basket
By means of our immoral living and iniquity.

The world is desperately looking for
A true expression of a sanctified church
And all the while the church is doing everything they can
To blend in with the world.

Well I can tell you who won’t stand for it, and that is God.
One of the reasons that He sends His word
Is to purge out of his body the sinful man.

His word will either drive him to repentance or drive him away,
But it will refuse to allow him to remain here in his sinful state.

But that isn’t all.
“and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side.”

• This doesn’t mean that God is going after people who say, “I swear”.
• Nor does it mean He is opposed to people who use bad language and quote “swear” all the time.

The point explained in verse 4 where God says, “I will make it go forth,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name.”
What does He mean by that?
It is the danger of the false confession, the false oath, the false commitment.

Do you understand the nature of a covenant?
• We enter into a binding agreement.
• We take an oath.
• We swear.

Israel certainly did this with God didn’t they?
Exodus 19:7-8 “So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.”

These were people who entered into a covenant agreement with God.
They swore that they would do what God said.

Now, there was more to it even than that.
At that point at Sinai Moses then
Reiterated to the people the commands of God.
This was Exodus 20-23

Then we get to chapter 24.
Exodus 24:3-8 “Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!” Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD. Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, ” All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Two more times they agreed to enter the covenant and totally obey God.
And then Moses actually sprinkled the people with blood
As a means of ratifying the covenant.

It was a sign of judgment for a failure to uphold your end of the bargain.
• Incidentally in the book of Deuteronomy these judgments for failing to comply are explicitly spelled out. They are called “curses” which if you will remember is precisely what is written on this scroll we are looking at here in Zechariah.

Hebrews 9:19-20 “For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT WHICH GOD COMMANDED YOU.”

So these people entered a covenant
Whereby they promised to follow God under pain of judgment
If their oath turned out to be a false one.

Well, their oath did prove false.
They had sworn allegiance to God by means of their obedience and they broke that oath.

Isaiah 48:1-2 “Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are named Israel And who came forth from the loins of Judah, Who swear by the name of the LORD And invoke the God of Israel, But not in truth nor in righteousness. “For they call themselves after the holy city And lean on the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is His name.”

Jeremiah 5:1-3 “Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, And look now and take note. And seek in her open squares, If you can find a man, If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, Then I will pardon her. “And although they say, ‘As the LORD lives,’ Surely they swear falsely.” O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have smitten them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent.”

Isaiah 29:13 “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”

Isaiah 30:9-11 “For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD; Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions. “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

And that is really just the tip of the iceberg there.
Israel told God they would follow, but they lied to Him.

As a result they were a blasphemous testimony to the world around them.
• They weren’t lights in the midst of darkness, they were just like the darkness.
• They were a light hid under a basket.
• They were a flashlight without batteries.

They claimed it, but they weren’t it.
It was a false confession.

God’s word was coming to remove all such blasphemous problems.

And let me tell you this is just as serious today.
Do you understand that when you confessed Christ you also entered into a covenant with Him?
• Maybe you meant it…
• Maybe you didn’t…
• But it doesn’t change the fact that you said it.

And breaking that agreement is no small thing.

In fact, listen to this passage:
1 Peter 1:1-2 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”

Did you catch that?
• Peter is referring to the elect, the chosen.
• Those who have been sanctified by the Spirit to obey Jesus
• “and be sprinkled with His blood”

Peter is referencing that event that took place under Moses at Sinai.
When the people said they would follow
And the covenant was ratified by the sprinkling of the blood.

Peter says that when we submitted our lives to Christ we entered the same type of oath.
• This is not a confession that can be taken lightly.
• This is an oath
• This is to swear allegiance

And those who make such an oath and then fail to keep it
Are in great danger of punishment before the Lord.

For sure they are subject to the discipline of the church,
But they are also subject to being exposed as false by Christ
And even eternally judged.

Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”

These are false converts.
These are false believers.
These are those who lied about their commitment to Christ.

And in case you are sitting there thinking that this is no big deal,
Can I take you back to the church in Jerusalem to a story about a man and a woman named Ananias and Sapphira?

Remember they promised money to the Lord
Which they then held back and the Lord killed them right there in church.

What was the lesson?
You don’t go to church and lie to God!
You don’t make false claims or swear falsely to Him.

There are ramifications for making a false oath.
WHY?

Because those people blaspheme God!

And we spend a great deal of time today
Worrying about the feelings of sinful believers
And very little time worrying about the reputation of the God
They are dragging through the mud.

It is absolutely detestable!

I saw a Facebook video clip featuring R.C. Sproul this week.
He sat on a Q&A panel where the question was asked

The question: “Since God is slow to anger and patient then why, when man first sinned, was His wrath and punishment so severe and long lasting?

R.C. answered “Time out, didn’t we just have that question a second ago…That God’s punishment for Adam was so severe? This creature from the dirt defied the everlasting Holy God, after that God had said “The day that you shall eat of it, you shall surely die.” And instead of dying (Thanatos) that day, he lived another day, and was clothed in his nakedness, by pure grace, and had the consequences of a curse applied for quite some time, but the worst curse would come upon the one who seduced him, whose head would be crushed by the seed of the woman. And the punishment was too severe? What’s wrong with you people!?! I’m serious, I mean this is what’s wrong with the Christian church today. We don’t know who God is and we don’t know who we are. The question is, “Why wasn’t it infinitely more severe?” If we have any understanding of our sin and any understanding of who God is, that’s the question isn’t it?

(To watch the video: click here)

The implication there is that we have forgotten that
We are nothing but dirt formed out of the ground
And how dare we defy the living God.

• How dare we think that our feelings are more important than His glory?
• How dare we make ourselves equal with the Creator?
• How dare we make this all about man instead of about God?

See here we have people
• Who profess God’s name and then live immoral lives and drag God’s name through the mud.
• They blaspheme Him before the world by reason of their immorality and their false confession
• And we somehow end up taking the side of the sinner.

And we wonder why our light is not shining
And bringing glory to God
What light?

That is the problem with Israel.
• God intends to make them a light to the world, but He must first get rid of all the baskets that are concealing it.
• So God sends His word to purge from among His people all who are immoral and all who are false brethren.

And according to verse 4 God is going to make it happen.

(4) “I will make it go forth,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and consume it with its timber and stones.”

God will send His word and use it to purify this people;
To sanctify this people,
So that they are a finally a light in the midst of the darkness.

We’ll stop for now and pick back up here next time.

The Tribulation Believers
Revelation 7:9-17
October 16, 2016

As you know we are currently in the middle of
A parenthetical section here in the book of the Revelation.

That is to say that we have taken a break from the natural chronological flow of the book
In order to answer a very important question.

As the wrath of the Lamb was unleashed on humanity at the breaking of the 6th seal, humanity fell into a very hopeless condition.

Revelation 6:15-17 “Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

And the question that is asked is the reason for this parenthetical chapter.
God is answering the question, “Who is able to stand?”

We’ve been talking about this for a couple of weeks now.
Trying to figure who is able to stand before God
Is a very important question to answer.

• If there is a supreme authoritative deity who reigns supreme over all this world (and creation testifies that there is).
• Then it is imperative that all created beings seek to know what it takes to please Him since He has the power and authority to do with us whatever He desires.

So asking “Who is able to stand?” is a very important question.
And it is a question that God pauses to answer in Revelation 7.

And we’ve already given that answer.
Those who are able to stand are those whom God causes to stand
Through the work of Christ and the preaching of the gospel.

We made that point a couple of weeks ago.
Now we are seeing that fleshed out through the study of chapter 7.

We saw the first 8 verses last week.
#1 THE SEALING OF SLAVES
Revelation 7:1-8

Here we saw God sovereignly seal 144,000 Jews.
• God, by His sovereign will, chose to make these Jews off limits to the destruction and judgments of the great tribulation.

And we know that because in Revelation 14
When the Lord returns and is standing on Mt. Zion
All 144,000 are present and accounted for standing with Him.

Now ONE OF THE POINTS that we had to make,
And I want to state again so as to make sure you didn’t miss it is this.

• The seal they received here was a seal of divine protection from the current
judgments on earth.

• They were not affected by the judgments of God and they could not be
touched by the persecutions of the enemy.

But it is important for you to understand that this type of protection
WAS NOT UNIVERSAL TO ALL BELIEVERS.

There are many believers who do in fact die during the tribulation.
That is made clear even in this passage today.

There will be many believers die either as a result of the world wars, or famines, or sicknesses, or wild beasts, or earthquakes, or meteor showers, or just because of the persecution of the antichrist.

Many believers will die as a result of these things, but not the 144,000.

THE QUESTION WE HAD TO ANSWER WAS WHY?
Why would God make them off limits but allow other believers to die?

These 144,000 were SEALED FOR A PURPOSE,
And that purpose was to maintain a gospel presence
Throughout the great tribulation.

That is not to say that those believers who were martyred did not share the gospel,
I am confident that they did, and thus this is why they were killed.

But it is to point out the sovereign prerogative of God
To MAINTAIN A GOSPEL WITNESS that is untouchable by the enemy.

The sealing of the 144,000 DOES NOT THEN INDICATE
That God had some love for them which was greater than
The love He had for the rest of the believers.
The sealing of the 144,000 indicates God’s commitment to the gospel.

They were not sealed because God valued their comfort,
But because God values His gospel.

And we then made the obvious analogy of remembering why we are here.

The church remains for the purpose of spreading the gospel.
• We certainly aren’t left here for comfort
• We certainly aren’t left here for riches
• We certainly aren’t left here for pleasure
(if that is the goal then take me to heaven right now)
We are also sealed for a purpose, we remain to proclaim the truth.
God is maintaining a gospel presence on the earth.

And before we move on I want to illustrate that a little more.
TURN TO: JOHN 17

You know this as Jesus’ High Priestly prayer for believers.
This is really “The Lord’s Prayer”

Without working through this in detail
There are some things I want you to grasp regarding what He prayed.

The prayer begins with Jesus requesting a return to His state of glory.
That is unmistakably clear (READ VS 1-5)

Jesus wants to be glorified.
Make sure you catch that
Because THIS PRAYER IS GOING TO END THE SAME WAY.

Look down at verse 24 where Jesus prays that those who are His would be with Him “so that they may see My glory which You have given Me”

He wants to return to glory and He wants His people to see it.
This motivation has much to do with what He prays for.

Then He identifies His own. (READ 6-10)
And we see who are His.
• Those who are chosen of the Father (6)
• Those who were given to Christ by the Father (6)
• Those who have been entrusted with the word of God (8)
• Those who have been given for the glory of Christ (10)

That says a mouthful about who we are, and why we are here.

But Jesus is leaving and so He has a PRAYER REQUEST. (READ 11-19)

Jesus is praying that the Father “keep them”
And not let them “perish” like Judas did.

Incidentally “perish” does not mean die for Judas was not yet dead.
Perish would be to face eternal damnation which Judas did face.

The issue is not to make them off limits from pain and death,
But to not let them fall away from their commitment to Christ
Regardless of the difficulty.

In fact Jesus is adamant that
• We not be taken out of the world,
• But that while in the world we be protected from the evil one.
• That is not a protection from hardship but a protection from apostasy.
• His simply wants His own to be sanctified in the truth in this world
So things are becoming clear.
I’m leaving My own in the world but it is important Father
That You keep them in the truth even though they are being left there.

WHY?
Because their proclamation of truth is what will bring in My other children.
(READ 20-24)

Do you see the purpose there?
• Keep My own in the truth, keep them proclaiming the truth, because this is how
all of My other children will be drawn in.

And the total effect will be that one day all who are mine,
After having been drawn in through the preaching of the truth,
Will one day be with Me and will see My glory.

Does that help you understand your purpose a little better?

We are here for a purpose just like the 144,000 were.
Now, we may not be preserved from death like they were.
(And as we said, they had to be or Satan would have most certainly killed them)

We may not be preserved from death, but we are here for a purpose.
That is why your life continues.

Paul said it like this:
Philippians 1:21-26 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again.”

He understood what was favorable,
But he also understood why he was still here.

He was chosen and saved and sealed for a purpose
And that purpose was the proclamation of the gospel.

Colossians 1:24-29 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”

YOU GET THE PURPOSE.
Here in Revelation 7 we learned that
• God specifically sealed 144,000 with a special seal
• He made them immune to the attacks of the enemy
• So that they might proclaim the gospel during the great tribulation.

To the end that all those who are Christ’s might be with Him
Where He is, seeing His glory and worshiping Him accordingly.
Just like Jesus prayed in His High Priestly prayer.

So it underscores for us how important the gospel is.

That was the sealing of slaves.
This morning we begin to see THE OUTCOME of their ministry.

#2 THE SALVATION OF SINNERS
Revelation 7:9-17

Verses 9-17 are the effect of the ministry of the 144,000.
And that point is explicitly made to John by one of the elders.

It begins just with a tremendous heavenly scene.
(READ 9-12)

Here we have “a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues”

That is pretty remarkable.
Every nation, every people group, every language, every remote tribe, every indigenous people…every single one of them is represented here before the throne.

And it is so important that you recognize what they are doing.
They are “Standing before the throne and before the Lamb”

Wasn’t that the question of chapter 6?
“Who is able to stand?”

This is hope interjected into a hopeless situation.
Those sinners in chapter 6 who were begging for the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from God evidenced a hopeless situation.

If you think your best option is to have a mountain fall on you,
You have reached the utter pit of hopelessness.

They ask “who is able to stand?” not because they want to know the answer, but because they think there is no answer.

They don’t think anyone could pull this off.
It was a type of rhetorical question
Where they thought the answer was obviously “no one”.

And so God answers and says that is not true.
Look here!
There are people standing before God.
It is possible!

Well let’s examine these people a little
For surely these must be exceptional people.

Scripture says they were “clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;”

These two descriptors speak to their purity and their victory.
Garments always represent character in the Bible.
• Filthy garments represent sinful character, white garments represent holy character.

Their “white robes” indicate their purity.
“palm branches” indicate victory or triumph.

On one hand you could link it back to the Feast of Booths
• Every Jewish male was required on the 15th of the 7th month (after harvest)
• To appear before Jerusalem, cut branches, build a booth or tabernacle
• And live in it for a week.

This was a remembrance of when God delivered from Egypt
And had the children of Israel live in booths.

It was also a prophetic feast looking to the day
When all then nations would flock to the Lord in Israel and do the same.

Zechariah 14:16-18 “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”

So you can see a remembrance here, and I think that fits,
BUT IT IS EVEN MORE THAN THAT.

Do you remember the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem just before His crucifixion?
John 12:12-13 “On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.”

Now the timing here was Passover, not the Feast of Booths, so what where they doing here?

This was a tradition that began during the intertestamental period
(time frame between the Old and New Testaments)
When Simon the Maccabee recaptured Jerusalem from the Syrians,
They “entered it with praise and palm branches” (1 Macc. 13:51)
(sited in: MacArthur, John, [MacArthur New Testament Commentary, John 12-21; Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL, 2008] pg. 16)

The palm branch was a symbol of victory.
• Certainly as Jesus entered Jerusalem this was the picture in mind.
• They were waiving palm branches and shouting Hosanna!
• As Jesus came in appearing to be the conquering hero.

These in heaven are doing the same.
They are “clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands” thus indicating their triumph and their purity.

And if that is all we had, ONE MIGHT ASSUME that
These people are standing before God
Because they are clearly “a cut above”

These are just more capable people, who are stronger, tougher, more focused, more pure, etc.
And by reason of their own efforts and will
They have triumphed and made themselves able to stand before God.

If that were the assumption, it would be a false one.

That is made clear once we hear what they have to say.
(10) “And they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

They aren’t waiving those palm branches because they had the strength to triumph, they are waiving those branches on behalf of someone else.
They didn’t win the victory, someone saved them.

WHO?
• God saved them.
• The one “who sits on the throne” saved them.
• And “the Lamb” saved them.

They didn’t earn the right to stand, the right to stand was GIVEN to them.

It is as we said from the beginning.
Those who stand before God
Are those whom God makes to stand before Him.

When they stand before God they are giving God all the credit.
They are giving the Lamb all the praise.
They are not there by their own doing.

And HEAVEN AFFIRMS this to be true
Because after their declaration heaven joins them in their worship
And affirms their declaration.

(11-12) “And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Those standing before the throne proclaim that the only reason they are there is because they were saved by God and the Lamb
And all of heaven gives hearty agreement.

“Amen” they say. You’re right!
All “blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might” belong to “our God forever and ever.”

ONLY GOD GETS THE GLORY FOR SALVATION.

One of the things we talk about with our youth,
And will do again during the upcoming Disciple Now is this.

Why do you suppose that God determined salvation to be the way it is?
That is to say,
• Why is salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone?
• Why did God make salvation apart from any human effort or ability?
• Why did God save sinners purely by grace apart from any works that they may
do?

BECAUSE IN THAT WAY, GOD ALONE GETS THE GLORY.
There is not a person in heaven who will be able
To take one ounce of credit for their being there.

AND WE SEE THAT HERE.
• It is a great heavenly scene.
• A multitude of people in heaven only because God saved them.
• They are able to stand because God made them able to stand.

BUT THE CHAPTER DOESN’T END THERE:
(There is another very important piece of information that John must understand)

(13) “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?”

We know they are saved.
We know they are saved from every nation on earth.
But it is apparently also important that we know WHEN they were saved.
(14) “I said to him, “My lord, you know.”

The elder wasn’t asking John because John knew,
The elder brought it up because he wanted John to know.

(14) “And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Where did these come from?
They came from the great tribulation.

Think about it.
• We just saw people in the great tribulation (ch. 6)
• Feeling the weight of God’s fury
• And assuming that under such circumstances no one could stand.

And yet God reveals that this isn’t true at all.
• There is a multitude which no one can count from every corner of the earth who is able to stand
• And they are coming from the exact same circumstances that those sinners in chapter 6 were in.

WELL HOW THEN DID THEY DO IT?
How were they able to stand?

“they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

In short, they found forgiveness and imputed righteousness
In the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.

They trusted in Jesus.
(obviously someone preached the gospel to them)

• Jesus Christ lived a righteous life
• And then died a shameful death on the cross.
• In this death the sin of God’s children was imputed to Him and He paid that debt in full.
• The flip side was that His righteousness was then imputed to all those who are His.

To say “they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” is another way to say they trusted Christ for His saving work

And Christ saved them.
Christ bore their sin and imputed His righteousness to Him.
He in effect made their garments white.

And this alone is why they are standing.
(15) “For this reason, they are before the throne of God;”
That is to say, that this is the only reason
That they are able to stand before God.

It wasn’t that they were stronger people or better people or more self-disciplined people, it was that they were forgiven people.
They are people whom God made to stand through the work of Christ.

And if you will notice they are doing more than just standing.

THEY ARE ALSO SERVING
“and they serve Him day and night in His temple”
• This speaks of their gratitude.
• They have also (like the 144,000) become slaves of Christ.
• They serve Him because He is the only reason they are there.

THEY ARE ALSO SATISFIED
“and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.”

This means God accepts them under His provision.

Remember when Ruth went to Boaz to see if he would accept her?
Ruth 3:9 “He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative.”

That is what God is doing here, and the ramifications of that acceptance
Is PURE ETERNAL SATISFACTION.

“They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat;”

That is to say their days of pain and hardship are over.
The curse is finished for them.

“for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

You’ve heard that before haven’t you?
Psalms 23 “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

That is the reality here.

NOW LET’S DO A LITTLE WORK OF COMPARISON AND CONTRAST.
Let’s look at those great men and kings and sinners of chapter 6
And let’s look at these here in chapter 7.

What do they have in common?
• Well they are both in the great tribulation.
• They both began with filthy garments.
• They both felt the fury of God’s wrath.

How are they different?
• Those in chapter 6 are begging to be hidden from God choosing to live in a cave,
• These in chapter 7 are drawing near to God enjoying His full favor and provision.

One came to the Lamb for the cleansing of his sin,
The other chose to hold their sin and merely hide from the Lamb.

Do you remember what Jesus told Nicodemus?
John 3:16-21 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

There is the same difference isn’t it?
• One ran to the light, the other hid from the light.
• One turned from sin, the other turned from Christ.

SO LET’S CLOSE THE CHAPTER NOW AND GET THE POINT
• We heard a terrified sinner ask “who is able to stand?”
• God began the answer by sealing those 144,000.
• And we saw that they were sealed for the gospel.
• Those who were saved out of the great tribulation believed the gospel,
• Those who were judged rejected it.

That is why when we ask “Who is able to stand?” We say:
Those who God causes to stand through the work of Christ
And the preaching of the gospel.

Even during the darkest time the world has ever known
There was only one message that was able to genuinely save sinners
And that message is the gospel.

• That God sent His Son, born of a virgin, into this sinful world.
• He was in fact God made flesh, and He lived a perfectly sinless life, fulfilling the Law and the prophets.
• He then submitted Himself to death on a cross where He bore in full the sin of all God’s elect and suffered the full punishment for that sin before God.
• He bore the sin of God’s children that they might bear His righteousness and stand redeemed before God.
• The success of this transaction was proven when 3 days later Jesus rose from the dead validating His atoning work on the cross,
• So that all those who by grace through faith in Him might find forgiveness, righteousness, and the ability to stand before God.

This is the message of the gospel and this is the only reason
Sinners are ever able to stand before God.

This is also the truth we celebrate today.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

This morning we lift high the atoning death of Jesus Christ.
• We confess our need
• We confess His ability
• We relish in the fact that we can now stand before God solely because of what Christ accomplished on the cross and to Him goes all the glory.

That is also why this is a sacred time.
1 Corinthians 11:27-32 “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”

We don’t view the work of Christ as a trivial thing.
We don’t despise it, we honor it.
We partake through the honest examination of our lives.

We are not worthy to be here on our own,
But we certainly partake in a worthy manner,
Which is to take serious what He did and what He expects.

Failure to do this brings discipline from the Lord
In the form of weakness, sickness, and even death.

God intends for His church to honor the work of Jesus Christ.
So this morning we have a time of preparation.
A time for you to examine your heart (with the help of God’s Holy Spirit)
And to recommit your heart to the glory of Jesus Christ.