In Acts chapter 14, verses 16 and 17, the apostle Paul stood
before a group of people in a town called Lystra, and he was
conveying to this group of people who are evidently
idolaters, that the true God throughout every generation has
never, ever left himself without a witness.
Even Gentiles who, unlike the nation of Israel, received
direct divine revelation. We're not without evidence of
God. Paul goes on to explain that God
has made himself known through His providential and gracious
provision. He he sent rain, and he gave you
fruitful seasons and abundant crops and harvest, and even
satisfied the hearts of men and women with joy and gladness.
In other words, Paul is communicating by the Spirit that
in every generation God in some measure has revealed himself to
all nations. And as we continue to explore
what God has made known about the final chapter of human
history, there are many new things that we have discovered.
But one thing remains unchanged that God witnesses to the
nation's that God will still, even in that era, make Himself
so clearly known. The only difference is as the
world draws nearer and nearer to its end, God's voice will become
louder and louder. And one of the ways this will
occur is through ready for this unusual angelic activity.
This is what John sees next in the chapter that we started
together in Revelation 14 recently, after getting a
glimpse of Christ standing victorious with the redeemed on
Mount Zion shortly after the the brief reign of the Antichrist.
There's something else that he is going to see extraordinary
events during the Tribulation period.
And in this new passage, we're going to learn that at some
point there will be 3 angels dispatched from heaven, each
carrying a unique message for the world.
And we're going to look at these things more closely today.
And if you want a summary of what we're going to examine this
afternoon, it is this, the testimony of three angels, the
testimony of three angels, particularly in the last days.
Let's read about it in Revelation 14, starting in verse
6. Then I saw another Angel flying
directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to
those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and
language and people. And he said with a loud voice,
Fear God, and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment
has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea
and the springs of water. Another Angel a second followed,
saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, she who made
all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual
immorality. And another Angel 1/3 followed
them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and
its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he
also will drink the wine of God's wrath poured full strength
into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire
and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment
goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night.
These worshippers of the beast and its image, and whoever
receives the mark of its name. Let's pray.
Lord, we know that the testimony of these angels are Your words,
and we ask that You would help us understand them.
And though we know that we are looking into the future, we pray
that we would hear Your voice for today.
Give us Your guidance, Lord, through these passages.
Give us an attentive mind and a receptive heart.
We pray that Your word would build us up and that it would
destroy all lies, all deceptions, all dormant sins,
all these things that seek to captivate us and draw us away
from You. We pray that You would conquer
our hearts afresh this afternoon.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
You know, as I read this passage repeatedly earlier this week,
there were two main questions that arose in my mind that I had
to answer. Before looking at these things
in greater detail, the first question that came to me is
simply this. Are these angels that we just
read about? Are they to be taken literally?
Are they real angelic agents? Are they actual messengers from
heaven? And the reason why I say that is
because with a lot of revelation, there are many who
want to see this as symbolic. And there are strange ideas of
what these angels represent, Everything from printed bibles
to satellites in the sky to a picture of believers throughout
the ages. But we shouldn't find it so
difficult to see these as actual.
Angels, should we? Because this is not the first
time that we see something similar like this in the New
Testament. May I remind you who announced
the good news of the birth of the Messiah to a bunch of
shepherds on a quiet night? What did Luke tell us in Luke
chapter 2 verse 13? It was an Angel with a multitude
of hosts in heaven praising God. Now listen, if you're willing to
say that these angels in Revelation 14 are symbolic, are
you willing to say the same about Luke chapter 2?
I doubt it. So if you're willing to take the
Angel and a heavenly choir visiting a group of shepherds
literally, then why would you be hesitant to see these angels as
actual angels? And if we're willing to see
these angels as literal angels, which we should, then we can
then answer the second question. When will this celestial set of
proclamations happen? And though we don't have the
exact moment we are granted the general timeline, how, we'll
look carefully at the words of the warning of the third Angel.
Again, look at verse 9 of Revelation 14.
And another Angel 1/3 followed them, saying with a loud voice,
if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on
his forehead or on his hand. That's quite telling, isn't it?
Because of this warning determines the context of it.
What do we see here that clearly for the Angel to say this means
that the Antichrist marking system is already in operation.
And if we can accept that, then we know, according to Revelation
13, that the peak of the Antichrist control, his fiercest
control, will happen in the last 3 1/2 years before Christ's
return. And so we know that these angels
making their appearance, racing through the skies to make this
very important announcement, few announcements will occur in the
latter portion of the Tribulation period, namely the
Great Tribulation just before, shortly before Christ comes
back. But just because they are saying
these things in the future, just because this is predictive,
doesn't mean that they can't speak to us now.
In fact, they do, and I want to simply divide our thoughts here
with these distinct messages and consider what they have to say
about the world and what they have to say about us as
followers of Christ. So let's consider message number
one from Angel number one. What will be said to alarm the
world before the last set of judgments will be poured out and
Christ cracks open the sky and makes his way toward the earth.
It's. Not surprising.
The first message is the gospel. It shouldn't surprise us that
the first thing that is heralded to those who dwell on earth is
the eternal gospel. And look at that.
The Spirit of God is so precise. He didn't just say gospel, He
said eternal gospel. And that means more than just
the fact that this gospel is the means to eternal life.
It speaks about how it is the ageless message.
There is no room for alternative interpretations of what this
gospel can be. There is no room for any other
ideas. For it to be the eternal gospel
means it's the gospel that we've always known about.
It's the gospel that has been prepared from eternity past.
It's the gospel that the prophets of old have prophesied
about. It's the gospels that the
apostles spread to the nation's. It's the gospel, the same gospel
that is still saving souls today.
It's that very same gospel. And what moves me about that
very important detail is that even in the last hour of all
things, the Gospel is still the only hope for humanity.
That message has an altered, it hasn't diluted.
It's still the same saving message.
It's the eternal gospel. In fact, the ministry of this
Angel at this time could very well be the fulfillment of one
of the things Jesus said would happen before He returned.
Do you remember what he said on the Olivet Discourse in Matthew
24, verse 14? He promised in Matthew 2414.
And this gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout
the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end
will come. So it is true that up to this
point we've seen the ministry of the 144,000 who very likely were
preachers. And we know that there will be
believers here during this time preaching.
And we know that in Revelation 11, there are two witnesses in
Jerusalem with great power preaching the truth, preaching
repentance. But on top of all of that, you
have an Angel who's suspended in the sky, flying through the
skies and amplifying the gospel, ensuring that not one part of
the world, not one nation, not one tribe, not one hidden clan
would miss it. This is God's grace.
This is his incredible mercy to a very undeserving generation
who have ignored much of his warnings and his pleas.
And yet still 1 Angel is sent from heaven to declare this
gospel, which is an exception because we know that in this age
that privilege has been given to who?
Believers. Angels don't preach the gospel.
We preach the gospel. Even when the Angel visited
Cornelius, I've always wondered why set up a whole meeting with
Cornelius and fetch for Peter and give Peter a vision and have
them meet together in Cornelius's home.
I mean, you already made it there to Cornelius's house.
Why don't you just tell him the gospel, right?
Because that honor has been given to us.
So let's not waste it. Let's not hide it.
But this is a different era. This is a different time.
This isn't surprising. The gospel is the first message.
But what may surprise us is the content of the message.
Supposing that we didn't read these verses, this is just me
telling you upfront, without any further information, that there
will be an Angel preaching the eternal gospel to this last
generation. What would you think he would
say? Confess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead. What about there is no other
name given among men, no other name under heaven given among
men by which we must be saved. There is salvation and no one
else. Would you think that the Angel
would say something like that? Those are not wrong.
Those are indeed messages that pertain to the gospel.
But look again at verse 15, what he says.
Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment
has come, and worship Him. Fear God, Eternal gospel.
How did these true 2 truths relate?
Well to some they don't and that has LED some to actually say
because of this message, the gospel, this angels preaching
must mean something different than how.
The New Testament generally summarizes it, but remember,
this is the eternal gospel that's being explained here,
which tells us something very, very important about the good
news of Jesus Christ. Fearing God is the appropriate
response to it. There's a lot of misconception
about the fear of God, especially among Christians.
And as many of you already know, one of my favorite passages to
offer clarification is Psalm 33, verse 8.
In that verse we read here, let all the earth fear the Lord.
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
Poetry was different in that time, and we know here that this
is Hebrew parallelism at work. What's Hebrew parallelism?
Well, one way it works is when one line is given, the second
one either expounds on that first thought or clarifies it,
or repeats it with different words.
And that's what's happening here.
Let all the earth fear the Lord. And then the second line says
that all the inhabitants of the world which mirrors let all the
earth. Stand in awe of him, which is
the same as fearing the Lord. Fearing the Lord is being in awe
of the Lord. An awe is a complex emotion.
It can mean different things, but it definitely doesn't imply
that the fear God means to be an absolute slavish dread of Him.
That would cause a lot more problems in our Bibles.
And our understanding of how to worship and relate to God.
But if it means to be in awe of Him, then it makes complete
sense. Now you might still be
wondering, but hold on. I thought the fear of God is
more of like an Old Testament Mosaic kind of emphasis.
But I want to remind you that this Angel tells us that it's
the right response to the gospel.
In fact, this is something that the New Testament confirms
elsewhere. Turn with me to First Peter and
look at these verses with me in chapter 1, First Peter.
Chapter 1 Peter is obviously addressing Christians.
And notice what he says in verse 17 down through verse 19, Peter
says. And if you call on him as
Father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds,
conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your
exile, knowing that you were ransom from the feudal ways
inherited from your father's, not with perishable things such
as silver. Or gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
This is a fascination to me. This is staggering to me because
in between the glorious truths of calling God as Father in
verse 17 and being ransomed with the precious blood of Christ in
verse 19, you have the charge for us to fear God throughout
our pilgrimage on earth. Calling God his Father, being
ransomed by the precious blood of Christ, and in between, that
is what fear God. Well, again, you might run into
some issues that fear means to cower away from God, but if it
means to stand in awe of Him, then it makes sense.
I get to call this holy godfather.
That's awesome. I've been ransomed.
My soul has been paid for. Not with things like silver and
gold. But with the blood.
Of the Son of God, He's worthy of my awe.
So even in this we see that there are gospel realities
attached to the response of standing in awe of God, fearing
God. And that teaches us many things.
And one of the things that tells me that if someone professes
Christ but lacks reverence is void of seriousness, does not
even have a hint of majesty in their worship or on how they
relate to the Lord, I question if they've really tasted the
gospel. Professing Christians who are
overly casual make me nervous because fearing God is the
appropriate attitude that one will possess and grow in if they
really understand the gospel. You can't be trivial with this
gospel. You don't become buddy buddy
with Jesus because of this gospel.
You fear him, you Revere him. Yes, you embrace him as the
lover of your soul. But oh, he is still king.
He is still holy. And as we're about to find out,
even the Lamb supervises Hell. And so we consider these things
what the Angel is saying. Hopefully is becoming more clear
to us, but you may be wondering why this emphasis?
Why couldn't the Angel have highlighted a different
component of our faith? Why?
Why not come with a different angle concerning the gospel?
Well, when you factor in the state of the world, you realize
that this Angel is actually being very strategic with his
message. What's happening in the world at
this point? The Antichrist is ruling and
reigning. And because of that, you have
the masses standing in awe of him, glorifying him, adoring
him. And so this celestial being now
comes and he trumpets this message.
Fear God. Fear God.
Not this man, not this deceiver, not this false savior, fear God,
glorify him, worship him. And notice he highlights also
that God is the creator of all things.
This man didn't do anything even close to that.
So the problem with the nations at this point is not legalism.
The nations are not struggling with self righteousness here.
They're not drowning in their shame here.
What's their problem? Idolatry.
And it's being confronted with this message, misdirected
adoration. That's the issue that this
gospel presentation is pressing on, but it's still relevant for
us today. Listen, as a gospel people, you
and I are called to be God fears.
We're called to be God fears. And I want to exhort you before
we move on with this one thought from Proverbs 23, verse 17.
Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the
Lord all the day. I love that last part all the
day. Is it possible to fear God some
part of the day? I think so, depending on your
environment, like in this place right now, it's much easier to
stand in awe of God here with the right music and a sermon and
maybe even a building and its aesthetics may give us that
impression that we're in a holy space.
But you know what this charge says?
Fear God all the day. Not just on Sunday afternoon,
not just on Wednesday night, not just not just on Friday evening,
all the day. When your car, fear God.
When you're, when you're at work, fear God.
When you go on vacation, fear God.
Stand in awe of God always. And I can assure you this if you
and I fear God all the day. It's much more difficult to sin.
Throughout the day, so stand in constant awareness of the
majesty of God, the beauty of God, the holiness of God.
And the way you do that is you coat your mind with the
scriptures. You spend time with him, you
pray without ceasing, you include him in your plans and
your worries. Let him be in the forefront of
your thinking, your meditation. Fear God all the day.
I love Joseph in that story when he's alone with his boss's wife.
Nobody's insight. They could have gotten away with
it. But you know what?
Joseph had had it with a very difficult history and past.
He had an awareness that God is in this place.
How can I do this great evil against?
God, I wonder how Potiphar's wife reacted to that.
I would love to have gotten a picture of her face.
No, no, no, it may be you and me here.
But listen, I know God is here actually.
So we may get away with it with your husband, we may get away
with it from the employees, but God sees it all.
That's a man who fears God. That's a man who fears God all
the day. May we be the same.
So the first message that the first Angel preaches is the
eternal gospel. But the emphasis here is fearing
God, which teaches me that if I really know the gospel, there's
going to be in seed form this fear of God, and that's going to
grow. The more I know my God, the more
I understand the depths of the gospel.
Message #2 from Angel #2 Look back again in Revelation 14 we
go from the eternal Gospel. To the world will pass away.
That's the second message. Look again at verse 7 and verse
8. Verse 8.
Says another Angel. A second followed, saying
fallen. Fallen is Babylon the great shoe
made all nations drink the wine of passion of her sexual
immorality. Babylon.
Why is Babylon, this ancient capital city of a former world
empire, being mentioned here? Interestingly, this is not the
only time it appears in the Book of Revelation.
This is the first time. It's going to show up a total of
6 times in this book. And so we're considering this
Babylon, and we're going to see this in greater detail,
especially in chapters 17 and 18, where chapters 18 details
the destruction of this Babylon. Here's how we make sense of this
Babylon, according to the Bible, is more than just a historical
city. It is actually a symbol of a
worldly system that opposes God, that rebels against God, that
hates God. It is often a picture of a
center of idolatry that promotes hostility against God's Word,
His will, and His people. And that is something that is
acknowledged in this way elsewhere in the New Testament,
primarily with Peter. Turn in your Bibles to first
Peter in chapter 5 and look at how he ends this letter to his
audience. First Peter 5 verse 13.
Peter says as he is wrapping things up, she who is at
Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings.
And so does Mark, my son Babylon.
Some are satisfied to say that Peter's speaking about literal
Babylon here, but it's more likely that he's using coded
language to his audience. Describe a location of a
particular St. or a church that is sending their greetings.
This audience that Peter's writing to is aware of she who
is at Babylon. So you have to understand that
there was persecution in Peters day and even their letters could
have been confiscated by the government.
And so in order to protect those especially who are under
persecution, he would use cryptic language to identify
them. And that seems to be what's
happening here. But what's more important is
that this proves that this Babylonian analogy was common to
the early church, and it's no different with John in
Revelation. Why is John applying Babylon
here in Revelation chapter 14? Because he wants to use it to
describe the empire of the Antichrist.
That the system the Antichrist has built in these final hours
carries the same defiant spirit that we see in Genesis 10 with
Nimrod who founded Babel and the Tower of Babel in Genesis
Chapter 11. As though to say that what we
find here at the final moments is the culminating expression of
this Babylonian spirit. One of the main features of
Babylon in the Bible is that it seeks to create a one world
government and unified false worship.
Again, think about the Tower of Babel.
You have the collective world coming together to build this
edifice, to make a declaration that we want to have governance
apart from God. That's what that was.
Come, let us make a name for ourselves.
And you Fast forward and you go to Daniel, and you realize that
Babylon is still in existence and it's at its strongest point
ever. Nebuchadnezzar is the king, and
what does he do? He gets a dream of succession of
kingdoms. He's the first one, and he's to
be replaced. And that wants to be replaced,
and that bothers Nebuchadnezzar. And So what does he do?
Well, if I'm the gold part of that statue and I'm only part of
it, I'm going to make a golden statue of myself saying I'm not
going nowhere. No kingdom's going to replace me
from head to toe. If this statue symbolizes the
timeline of history, then Babylon is going to rule and
reign forever. Worship this image.
So again, this combination of one world government and unified
false worship. With the Tower of Babel, they
were dispersed by God's power. With Nebuchadnezzar, both he and
Babylon were humbled. Now we come to Revelation, and
Babylon is making a comeback. And it will reach the highest
point of its success. It will achieve what it's always
longed for, global dominance. Babylon is here, John is telling
us. And we're going to learn more
about it because the Revelation, the Book of Revelation, has a
lot to say about it. But what we have learned up to
this point is enough for now. What should grip us, however, is
how we see here that this Angel is speaking about the fall of
Babylon as though it had already taken place.
Did you notice the language? Fallen, Fallen is Babylon the
Great. Well, hold on for a second.
The fall of Babylon doesn't occur until chapter 17, namely
chapter 18. So why is it being spoken of
here in Revelation 14 as a past event?
And This is why this Angel is declaring that the future doom
of this evil wicked system is so certain that we can address it
as though it had already occurred.
Fallen. Fallen is Babylon the Great.
You can imagine just how astounding and alarming this
would be. For those who hear this
resounding proclamation, you got to remember the nations here are
going to be under a very complex infrastructure and a network of
commerce and military and policing.
It's going to be something that the world has never seen before.
It's going to be so impressive and so widely accepted that this
Babylonian system that the Antichrist is going to support
will appear indestructible. In fact, look back at Revelation
13 verse four, what the people said about the beast.
Revelation 13, verse four. And they worshipped the dragon,
for he had given his authority to the beast.
And they worshipped the beast, saying who is like the beast and
who can fight against it. So they're under the spell
thinking that no one can defeat Antichrist, and with that no one
can overthrow the empire that he has built.
And all of a sudden, this Angel whisked through the skies and he
says fallen. Fallen is Babylon the Great.
Why is he saying that? Remember, he's addressing the
nation's all the earth dwellers. He's saying that to help them
believe the first angel's message.
Fear God, Glorify Him, worship Him.
The world as you know it, with all its pomp and all its
possessions and all its pleasures and all its promises,
will come to nothing one day. This world is passing away, and
you're giving your soul to something that will vanish.
You're trading eternal life for somebody that's going to be
taken. Away.
For something that is so certain to be demolished and destroyed
that we can speak of it as though it already happened, this
is a message that the world needs to hear now.
And if we're honest, this is a message that Christians need to
hear from time to time. The same John who's telling us
what this Angel would say to the masses of unbelievers tells us
this in his first epistle and 1st John 2 verse 17.
And the world is passing away, and the world is passing away
along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God
abides forever. I love that.
This is in the same breath where he tells believers, do not love
the world or the things of the world don't love it.
And he gives the reason why, at least one reason, because it's
all passing away. You and I are just walking
through the corridor. There is a door that's going to
lead us into eternal life, which is true life.
Don't camp in the corridor. Keep walking.
Keep your eyes ahead. This world is passing away with
all its desires, all those cravings that keep you up at
night, all the things that you slave over, all the dreams that
you want to see fulfilled, all of that is going to disappear.
Those things that you think will bring fulfillment and identity
and wholeness, that's going to pass away as well.
It's not lasting. It's not designed to.
It has an expiration date on it. But those who do the will of
God, they will abide forever, forever and ever and ever.
This world will pass away. Then we come to the final
message, and you almost get the sense that they're building on
one another. We have the the eternal gospel.
Then we have a reminder of this world that has unfortunately
sabotaged so many people's faith and trust in Christ to this last
message. Here in verse 9 down to verse
11, hell is real and another Angel 1/3 follow them saying
with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast in its image
and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will
also drink the wine of God's wrath poured full strength.
Highlight that poured full strength into the cup of his
anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the
presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the land.
We'll pause there before we go to verse 11.
If you remember Revelation 13, what we have there is
instruction to believers of how difficult it will be for those
at that time to refuse the mark of the.
Beast, you won't be able to buy or sell.
You won't be able to do the things that you think are your
rights today. And the reason why I know that
it is in part addressing believers because in Revelation
13, verse 10, the last part of that verse, there's an there's a
call for the endurance of the faith of the Saints.
So yes, it's speaking about the future and yes, it is addressing
what the world will look like. But what God has in mind through
his word is the believers in that time to be able to endure
because it will be challenging to reject the mark of the beast
on a daily basis. But then you come to Revelation
14 and you have this Angel informing the unbeliever how
difficult they will be to embrace the mark of the beast.
And even though this is a warning to the lost, it still
carries instruction for the Christian.
How do I know that peak at verse 12 of Revelation 14?
Here is a call for the endurance of the Saints, those who keep
the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
He's talking about hell here in verses 9 down to verse 11 and
immediately after he addresses Christians.
What do Christians have to do with hell?
It's not really about hell. It's about comparing and
contrasting experiences. Again, Revelation 13.
It's going to be challenging for those to stand for the truth and
reject this mark, but it's going to be even more tragic for those
who take it. One thing to learn from this is
that we must view our sufferings from Heaven's point of view.
This Angel is not only warning the lost, he's also reminding
believers your suffering will be temporary.
Their suffering will be eternal. You know one of the ways for you
and I to endure anything, even the maniacal dictatorship of the
Antichrist. Is to frequently meditate on
eternity, to compare everything in light of eternity, to inform
your heart that there is something more real, more
lasting than whatever you're experiencing now.
And I wonder if one of the reasons why eternity is not
spoken of as much as it should in Christian circles is because
it forces us to confront an aspect of eternity that makes
people very uncomfortable, namely the reality of hell.
And if pastors and churches don't erase hell from their
teaching and their evangelism entirely, they try to redefine
it to make it more palatable. But whatever theologians or
podcasters may say about hell, no matter how clever or
compassionate they may seem, every claim and every conclusion
has to be measured with Scripture.
And given the recent debates about hell among prominent
evangelicals, my question is this Do the most prevailing
interpretations agree with the testimony of this Angel?
Is hell eternal? What does this word say?
Is hell a conscious place? What does this word say?
Is hell a place of uninterrupted torment?
What does the Bible say? And according to this testimony,
hell is eternal, hell is conscience, and.
Hell is unending torment for the wicked.
Doesn't mean it's easy to speak about it.
That doesn't mean that we should enjoy thinking about it.
But what it does mean is what God says is true and we need to
submit to the truth no matter what.
You know I've. Come to realize that one of the
main reasons we struggle to understand hell is because of
our inability to truly grasp God's holiness.
If we're honest, sin rarely outrageous us, even the best of
us, and that's partly because we are tainted by sin.
And if you can testify, however, that there are moments where you
have sensed righteous indignation and disturbance or
being unsettled due to wickedness around you or even in
you, then. How much more does the Lord feel
being infinitely more pure and holy than us?
There's something to say about the eternality and the severity
of hell and God's holiness and how sin is not.
Just about us fooling around here on earth.
It's an assault against God and His law.
I won't say more about hell now because we will see it again at
the end of this book, but one thing I want to highlight is how
Christ is identified in the sobering passage about hell.
Look with me here again in verse 10.
He will also. Drink the wine of God's wrath
poured full strength. You know what that means?
Full strength undiluted. There is no mercy mixed with
this wine. Full strength of God's wrath.
Into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire
and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of the Lamb. This would make more sense,
perhaps to us if it's said in the presence of the king capital
K, in the presence of the lion, in the presence of the judge in.
The presence of the ruler of rulers in the presence of the
Lamb. You know this very well, that
the Lamb is a consistent symbol associated with Christ's
substitutionary atonement and sacrifice.
It speaks of his humility. It speaks of his loneliness.
It speaks to his willful surrender for our salvation.
What is it doing here in a passage about eternal wrath?
And I believe one reason it's there.
Is to highlight as a reminder that hell is ultimately for
those who have rejected the one who drank the cup of God's wrath
on our behalf. That's what hell is ultimately
all about. Notice the imagery here.
The wine of God's wrath poured full strength into the cup of
his anger. That's a a very common symbol in
the Old Testament. A cup speaks of God's judgement
being poured out. There are different cups in the
Bible and this should remind us of the words of Jesus and Luke
when he was in the garden in chapter 22, verse 42.
And he said, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from
me. What was that cup?
It was the cup of God's wrath, God's anger and justice against
every sin that has and will ever be committed.
That was what was in the cup. And what Jesus asked here was if
it's possible, Father, let it be removed from me, yet not my
will, but yours be done. And guess what?
It was the Father's will for Christ to drink the cup, and he
drank every drop of it. You turn that cup over and there
is not one drop that will come out.
He absorbed all of God's justice for our sin.
And here's what the gospel looks like.
It's you being willing to admit and joyfully accept the truth
that Jesus Christ, the Son of God drank your wrath.
And here's what millions are doing today.
They reject that. And because they reject that,
there's another cup reserved for them, and that's the wine of
God's wrath. You reject the cup of salvation.
You will have the cup of God's wrath to drink and it is
eternal. It will never run dry.
It is ongoing. Jesus Christ drank the cup of
God's wrath and for those who choose not to believe it and
surrender to the truths associated with it, there is a
cup they will have to drink. It will be forced down their
throats and they will be reminded for all of eternity
that the reason why they are drinking it is because they have
denied the Son of God salvation, the Lamb of God.
And the question for us today, though I hope that all of us
here are followers of Jesus Christ, is if you have put your
trust in the finished work of Jesus.
You know what's amazing here is the first Angel began with the
gospel and he ends with wrath. The third Angel comes to
complete the message, and this is very descriptive, it's very
direct, but it's needed for a generation that has been lulled
to sleep because of a Babylonian empire and system.
Let's not think that we're more wise than God and how we should
address the lost. Are there different vantage
points and ways of communicating the gospel?
Absolutely. But for you and I to deny the
reality of hell is a great disservice to a people who need
to know what's coming if they don't receive the free love of
Jesus. The testimony of three angels
for a future time are so relevant for us today.
Are they not the eternal gospel? The world as we know it will
pass away, and hell is real. Let's pray.
Father, we thank You that you have given us a snapshot.
Another snapshot of how you're willing to go so far to get the
attention of a lost world. And Lord, we think about this
message this afternoon, how it is an extension of your grace.
Also because love warns, Lord, we pray that we would be
faithful to the word no matter what, no matter the trends that
are being set by people who have great platforms online.
Help us stay true to Your word, every part of it.
And Lord, thank you for the wisdom of Your word that in the
same imagery of hell, we have vision of the Lamb.
We pray that even through this message, people would see Christ
and his love and sacrifice and they would embrace him.
And Lord, for us who have put our faith and trust in You, help
us grow in our fear of You. Help us not get entangled by the
things of this world. Help us see it as all passing
away. Our money, our bank accounts,
our clothes, our cars, our homes.
It would all pass away and the only thing that will last.
Forever is the will of God, our service to you, our obedience to
you. So Lord, we pray that even this
message would recalibrate us. And Lord, even with the subject
of hell, help us to know how to communicate it, when to warn
about it. May that message even energize
us to be more zealous with the gospel, for so much was said,
but we trust that You'll help us retain it.
And now, though we want to worship you because you have
saved us from hell, we never have to fear going there.
It is not our portion. We will rest with You forever
and ever, and we are undeserving of it.
Thank you for drinking the cup of God's wrath.
Thank you that we don't have to take a sip of it.
We are free forever, and for this we glorify you.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
If you are free in this place because of the gospel, sing with
your heart, knowing that even though everything is taken from
you, no one can take your salvation.
No one can take my salvation. I'm secure forever in Christ
Jesus, and so are you. Let's stand and worship the Lamb
of God. I remember years ago after
preaching at a conference, somebody approached me and they
want to have a long talk about hell and how this was the
greatest struggle for them. This was not a Christian.
This person admittedly said that they were living in sin.
And after a long dialogue, one of the things that stood out to
me was this person saying, why can't God just leave us alone?
I just want to, I just want to live my life.
Why do I have to have this thought that I can go to hell?
Why? Why can't he just let me be and
do what I want to do? And I thought, that's exactly
it. People don't want God.
And whenever it comes to this debate or this discussion about
hell, you know, what's rarely brought up, what's really in
focus is our suffering. It's eternal, it's conscience,
all these things. Nobody ever talks about the
suffering Christ had to endure to help us escape it.
Nobody ever talks about it. That's what I've come to
realize. Nobody ever thinks about what
the Son of God had to endure. And people say, well, he endured
a few hours of suffering. That's blasphemy.
That's blasphemy because not of the duration of the suffering of
the one, rather who suffered, who didn't deserve a millisecond
of suffering and the the quality of that suffering.
Things so deep, things so profound that we dare tread even
exploring what happened on that cross for those hours.
Nobody talks about what Christ had to endure in order to rescue
sinners from hell. And today, perhaps you're in
this place and you don't believe on Christ.
I want you to at least think about the implications of what
he suffered on your behalf. And even if you're in this place
and you struggle with the concept of hell, take your eyes
off yourself for a moment and plant them on Calvary and ask
yourself, what did Christ suffer and why did he suffer?
And you'll come to different conclusions.
Lord, we pray that you would help us, although we're so
broken and fallen in our thinking, always thinking of
ourselves. Or thank you that you're not a
God who just threatens and warns.
You're a God who is much more willing to save us and redeem
us. You don't desire that any would
perish. Help us believe that.
Help us believe that hell itself was not created for humanity
intentionally. It was created for they, the
devil and his angels. Lord, so we just asked in this,
in this final moment, that you would win every heart to
yourself and that we would accept what you suffered for.
We thank you for your grace in this in Jesus name, Amen.
Amen. Would you be seated for a
moment, please? Last week we made a very
important update that a building came to our attention out in
Barrington and it is a beautiful building.
And we spoke to our members about the potential of this
building and we have had a majority approval, virtually
almost 100% people saying this is, this is what we desire.
We believe that this is an answer.
To God's prayers. And so with that in mind, the
leadership announced last Sunday that we would make an official
offer and we did do that this past Tuesday.
We made and we signed a purchase agreement for the church that
currently owns that property. Been an interesting week.
And the recent update is as of last Friday, they accepted our
offer. Yes, you could do that, yes.
So it is my absolute privilege to announce to the church
officially and for the first time, that we have a new church
home. We have a new church home, yes.
So here's what this looks like from this point forward.
The official closing date on paper is May 4th, so that's a
couple months from now. It could be earlier, it could be
later. These things get complicated
sometimes. So we are going to leadership is
going to be working very hard in these next few weeks.
There's inspections, there's paperwork, there's conversations
with the village and all these matters have to be addressed.
So please be praying for us in these next few weeks.
Also, Please remember that as we approach the closing that we're
still saving up and asking God that we would enter into this
new phase debt free. And so we're believing God for
1.5 million in the next 30 days or so.
And we trust that these funds will come in.
He's already proven Himself so strong.
I wish I can take the next 10-15 minutes to explain to you the
many miracles attached to all of this.
To deny it would be to deny a gift from God.
I'm, I'm, I say that with total confidence.
There is so much happening in the background in our favor that
it is absolutely astounding. And there will be a time where
we will be able to sit down together as a family and look at
all these details. But for now, I mean, it's
amazing to think that we've been looking and praying and
searching for 4 1/2 years and things turned around within a
matter of a. Week and a half, two weeks, and
so you've seen pictures. God willing, if all clears,
there will be a day where you'll enter into this property, and I
have no doubt that when you see it, you'll be even more happy.
It's an amazing piece of land. There's going to be, again, many
meetings that we're having, especially in the next couple
weeks. So Please be patient with the
elders and the deacons and others who are working because
this has already been a very busy time leading up to this
point, and it's only going to get busier.
So all hands on deck, you might be called upon to help us as
well because this is our home. This is our new home.
This is the home for your children, and this is going to
be the home for many other souls who will receive God's word.
This is going to be the home for fellowship and hopefully future
conferences. This is very likely going to be
the home of a school in the days to come.
Everything that we've ever hoped and dreamed for in a facility is
offered in this place, and God and His great mercy extended it
to us at this time. So rejoice in fellowship, give
glory to God, and we will keep you up to date as much as we
can. All right.
God bless you, God is good. Have a wonderful week.
Take care.