{"id":18974,"date":"2019-01-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-026-so-great-a-salvation\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:16:26","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:16:26","slug":"revelation-026-so-great-a-salvation","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-026-so-great-a-salvation\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 026 – So Great A Salvation"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18974","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 026 - So Great A Salvation","sermon_date":"20190113","sermon_month":"1","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":20005,"sermon_slides":20006,"sermon_mp3":20007,"sermon_id":"113191552265201","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"7:9-17","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSo Great A Salvation\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1-13-19\n\nRevelation 7:9-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 26\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles, if we could, and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 7 and verse 9, taking a look this morning at verses 9-17.\u00a0 The title of our message is So Great A Salvation.\u00a0 That\u2019s actually the title of one of Charles Ryrie\u2019s books, and I figure he\u2019s home to be with the Lord so he can\u2019t argue with me if I take his title\u2026 So Great A Salvation.\n\nWe are in or studying the Book of Revelation, in that futuristic section of the book which describes the judgments of God coming upon the earth.\u00a0 And we\u00a0 studied very early on in the Book of Revelation the opening of the seven sealed scroll.\u00a0 Every time a seal on that scroll is opened, as we\u2019ve talked about, another judgment comes to the earth.\u00a0 These judgments apparently are very severe, so severe that when the sixth judgment is unleashed you see at the end of chapter 6, which records these judgments, a question, \u201cWho is able to stand.\u201d\u00a0 Chapter 7 is an answer to that question because in the midst of the darkest hour of human history God provides a light through the sealing and the using of the 144,000 Hebrew evangelists.\n\nThis is something that\u2019s sort of (as we talked about last time) interrupts the chronology.\u00a0 There are about five times in this book where the chronology is sort of interrupted giving us a window into things that have happened before and things coming.\u00a0 And every time\u00a0 you hit a chapter 6 look for an interruption.\u00a0 We\u2019re at the end of chapter six and now we have our first interruption, answering the question that\u2019s been asked, who can stand.\n\nIs there anything any good going on in the midst of all of this darkness?\u00a0 And in fact what we discovered here in chapter 7 is yes, something very good is on the horizon.\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019m very confident to say this, that the greatest awakening in the history of the world is yet future, where God is going to bring untold masses of people to Himself.\u00a0 And it may be the earthshaking events of this time period that open the human heart to the reality of God.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting how times of distress have a tendency to do that to us, sort of like in the Book of Jonah.\u00a0 You know Jonah, chapter 1, Jonah was running from God.\u00a0 In chapter 2 though he was praying.\u00a0 Why was he praying in chapter 2 but running in chapter 1?\u00a0 Because God allowed a tribulation into his life, as you know, he was swallowed by the giant fish.\u00a0 And in Jonah chapter 2, Jonah says this: As I was fading away I remembered the Lord.\u00a0 [Jonah 2:7, \u201cWhile I was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple.\u201d]\n\nMaybe there\u2019s some great distress that\u2019s come into your life and\u00a0 you don\u2019t know why it\u2019s there. Maybe it\u2019s there to just sort of shake the ground beneath our feet to cause us to remember the Lord.\u00a0 Apparently there\u2019s a large group of people that are suddenly becoming God conscious interested in the things of God with the shaking of the earth.\u00a0 I found it interesting that after 9-11 two weeks at least after 9-11 our churches were full, weren\u2019t they.\u00a0 I mean, you even had the Republicans and Democrats on capitol steps together singing God Bless America.\u00a0 When was the last time you ever saw that happen?\u00a0 Now I wish it had lasted a little longer, this revival, but it lasted about two weeks.\u00a0 I\u2019ll take two weeks.\n\nAnd there\u2019s coming a tremendous awakening to this earth through the events of the tribulation period and that answers the question, \u201cwho can stand.\u201d\u00a0 We see chapter 7, verses 1-8 the instruments of this awakening, the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen their sealing, how they are brought to saving faith early on.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen their number which we believe is a literal number, 144,000, and then we\u2019ve seen their lineage\u2014they\u2019re Jewish, they\u2019re Hebrews.\u00a0 In fact, verses 5-8, as we saw last time describes 12,000 coming from each of the twelve tribes.\n\nAnd then we moved from the first part of the chapter into the second part of the chapter which really is a description of the awakening itself.\u00a0 What do these 144,000 preaches cause\u00a0 under God\u2019s power?\u00a0 They cause this awakening, they cause salvation as God uses them.\u00a0 So we see here it outlined, verse 9, salvation quantity, verses 10-12 salvation praises, verses 13-14 salivation\u2019s timing, verses 15-17 salvation\u2019s provision.\u00a0 And as we look at this I hope we come away from this saying \u201cso great a salvation,\u201d because the salvation that\u2019s going to be opened up to these people\u00a0 yet future is being opened up today and if we have received it we are basking in it today.\n\nNotice the quantity, first of all, of those saved.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, Revelation 7:9, \u201cAfter these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice this expression \u201cafter these things I looked\u201d and when that occurs in the Book of Revelation, the Greek there is meta tauta<\/em> with a verb of perception, God is showing John something else.\u00a0 So I\u2019ve shown you the servant that I will use, now let me show you their fruit is what God here is getting at.\n\nAnd what fruit it is, it\u2019s amazing.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count,\u201d an innumerable multitude.\u00a0 This multitude is obviously very different than the group that was described earlier in the chapter.\u00a0 I find this chart here very helpful.\u00a0 Group one is Revelation 7:1-8; group two is in the second part of the chapter, verses 9-17.\u00a0 In the first part of the chapter people are numbered, 144,000, 12,000 from each tribe.\u00a0 The group in the second part of the chapter they\u2019re innumerable, you can\u2019t number them.\u00a0 The group in the first part of the chapter are Hebrews; the group in the second part of the chapter come from all the nations.\u00a0 The group in the first part of the chapter are sealed by God; this second group though, as we\u2019ll see today, is slain and many of them suffer martyrdom.\u00a0 The first group is sealed before the tribulation period or at least towards the beginning of it.\u00a0 The second group, as I\u2019ll show you, is converted out of the coming tribulation period.\n\nYou sort of get the idea here of cause and effect.\u00a0 The cause is the first part of the chapter, the effect is in the second part of the chapter which explains to a large extent why these evangelists are Jews, Hebrews, coming from the twelve tribes.\u00a0 They are fulfilling, in essence, God\u2019s purpose for the nation of Israel.\u00a0 The nation of Israel began in Genesis 12 with the calling of Abram from the Ur of the Chaldeans, and as he began to walk by faith God began to disclose to him promises and from those promises would come forth the mighty Jewish nation, the nation of Israel.\u00a0 And God blessed them, the nation of Israel.\u00a0 For what purpose?\u00a0 We just sang about it in a song or two today.\u00a0 Blessed to be a what? a blessing.\u00a0 God said \u201cI will bless those who bless\u00a0 you and the ones who curses you I will curse, and in you all families of the earth will be blessed.\n\n[Genesis 12:3, \u201cAnd I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.\" And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 28:14, \u201cYour descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.\u201d]\n\nGod put His hand on a new nation that He had created, the nation of Israel, for the purpose of disseminating His blessings to the entire world.\u00a0 That\u2019s why when we get into this section of the Book of Revelation, after the church is in heaven, there\u2019s such a heavy focus on the nation of Israel and their usability unto God.\u00a0 We\u2019re seeing the first part of that here in Revelation chapter 7.\n\nIsaiah 42:6, of Israel, God says that she is \u201ca light to the nations.\u201d\u00a0 [Isaiah 42:6, \u201cI am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Isaiah 49:6, \u201cI will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.\u201d\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that when you study the pages of God\u2019s Word you see how Israel has never really lived up to her purpose.\u00a0 Certainly as you go through the Old Testament you see one failure after the next.\u00a0\u00a0 In fact the failures are of such a magnitude that many people argue that God is finished with the nation of Israel.\u00a0 And what we\u2019re here to say is this: God is NOT finished with the nation of Israel, God has always desired to bless the world through the nation of Israel and you start to see a glimpse of it here in Revelation chapter 7.\n\nAnd it\u2019s not just true with the nation of Israel, it\u2019s true with you.\u00a0 When God chose you, when God called you, when God gifted you He didn\u2019t just have in mind you, He wanted\u00a0 you to be a channel of blessing to other people.\u00a0 God blesses for the purpose of being a blessing.\u00a0 That\u2019s what our lives in the church age should be all about and we certainly see this pattern here with the nation of Israel.\n\nIt\u2019s interesting that in Revelation 14:4, this group, early in the chapter, is called \u201cthe firstfruits.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 14:4, \u201cThese are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.\u201d]\u00a0 Firstfruits was part of the Jewish harvest cycle; the initial harvest would come in and that would give them confidence that the general harvest was right around the corner.\u00a0 That\u2019s who these 144,000 are, they\u2019re the firstfruits of greater conversions and greater evangelism yet to come, described here in the second part of this chapter.\n\nAnd I think God sort of knows what He\u2019s doing, Amen, when it comes to selecting these Jews, 144,000.\u00a0 As I\u2019m understanding the events of the tribulation period they unfold very rapidly; there\u2019s not time to enroll in a seminary and learn Hebrew, which is an exhausting process, I can guarantee you that.\u00a0 What insight God has in selecting 144,000 that already know Hebrew, already understand Hebrew Bible, it\u2019s not like a Gentile conversion where a person comes to Christ knowing absolutely nothing and they have to be taught and schooled over a long period of time.\u00a0 Not so these Jews, they already have a working knowledge of Hebrew Bible that we call Old Testament and they just need someone, the Holy Spirit, to come along and connect the dots for them and to show them that the whole thing points to Jesus Christ.\n\nPaul, the apostle, was such a man.\u00a0 He was a Pharisee, he was steeped in Hebrew Scriptures and yet he did not fully understand who they pointed to before he became a believer in Christ.\u00a0\u00a0 And he was converted on the Damascus Road and the Lord personally tutored him (we believe probably around three years in Arabia, something like that, some quibble with that but the bottom line is the Lord personally instructed Paul so that his message lined up with exactly with what the other apostles were teaching.\u00a0 And I believe what the Lord did with the Apostle Paul, Saul now Paul, is He connected the dots for him.\u00a0 The blindness was taken away and he could begin to see Jesus in the Old Testament.\u00a0 No doubt part of that process was seeing Jesus in Isaiah 53; maybe he had never seen a suffering Messiah there and he began to see how all of these Scriptures meticulously detailed point to Jesus Christ, the Savior.\n\nAnd isn\u2019t it interesting what fire that lit under Paul.\u00a0 Once this illumination, once this realization came his way the Apostle Paul no doubt was the greatest missionary the world has ever seen.\u00a0 Can you imagine the Apostle Paul multiplied by 144,000?\u00a0 I mean, the same process goes on in the minds of these Hebrews and suddenly the veil is lifted and they get it and they see and they can\u2019t help but talk about Jesus.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to watch a Jewish conversion, it doesn\u2019t happen all the time but I\u2019ve seen some\u2026 it\u2019s almost like a fire is lit under them and they just can\u2019t help but often\u00adtimes the great persecution that comes their way from their own community, they can\u2019t help but talk about Christ and the things of God.\u00a0 And these are the instruments that God will use, these 144,000 evangelists.\u00a0 And what a harvest this is, a great multitude which no one can count, watch this,\u201d and all the tribes and peoples and tongues\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 7:9, \u201cAfter these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;\u201d]\n\nThis is universal.\u00a0 In fact, this is global and it helps us to understand what is revealed in 1 John 2:2 that Jesus died for the whole world.\u00a0 [1 John 2:2, \u201cand He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 The whole world, because of what Jesus did, is savable.\u00a0 Now they\u2019re not personally saved until they trust in the provision of Jesus Christ but they are savable\u2026 there is nobody that is outside the purview of evangelism.\u00a0 And we certainly see that here with this harvest coming from the 144,000.\n\nThere are people today that play all kinds of linguistic games with the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 Some today are arguing, the late R. C. Sproul argued this in a book, The Last Days According to Jesus<\/em>, you\u2019ll see it in his book there that the whole Book of Revelation except for a few little things has already happened.\u00a0 There\u2019s not going to be any future antichrist, he already came in the person of Nero, etc. etc. etc.\u00a0 They typically tie the events of the book back into Rome sacking Jerusalem in A.D. 70.\u00a0 We have a slight problem with that, the Book of Revelation was written 25 years after A.D. 70\u2026 A.D. 95, just a little detail!\u00a0 How could the book be a prophecy about A.D.\u00a0 70 when it was written 25 years later?\n\nBeyond that look at the manipulation of language you have to do to take this global event and ram, jam and cram it back into some sort of local first century happenstance.\u00a0 No, no, the language won\u2019t allow this; this is something that\u2019s never happened before, that is yet future.\u00a0 And you may be asking yourself, well, why isn\u2019t God using the church here?\u00a0 I mean, isn\u2019t the church the instrument that God has\u00a0 used over the last 2,000 years to reach a lost and dying world?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t Jesus tell the church, Matthew 28:19, \u201c\"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,\u201d isn\u2019t that what the church has been doing for the last 2,000 years?\u00a0 [Matthew 28:19, \u201c\"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, [baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,]\u201d\n\nWhy isn\u2019t God using the church?\u00a0 I mean, why does this whole thing look so Jewish?\u00a0 There\u2019s an answer to that\u2026 the church isn\u2019t here!\u00a0 The church is in heaven, as we talked about, glorifying Christ.\u00a0\u00a0 And yet God does not leave the earth without a witness of Himself and He puts His hand back on the firstfruits of Israel because the reality of the situation is you may love Israel or hate Israel, whatever your attitude is towards Israel the reality of the situation is God has made certain promises to Israel that have never been fulfilled\u2026 ever!\u00a0 And if God means what He says and says what He means and cannot lie, there has to come a point in history where He puts His hand back on that tiny nation and starts to use them once again.\u00a0 And we see that here, do we not, in Revelation chapter 7.\n\nWhat the church has left undone will be completed by the 144,000 and an innumerable multitude of Gentiles gets saved.\u00a0 Now don\u2019t confuse these salvations with something that Paul talks about in Romans 11:25-26, the fullness of the Gentiles, two different ideas.\u00a0\u00a0 [Romans 11:25-26, \u201cFor I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery\u2014so that you will not be wise in your own estimation\u2014that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; [26] and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, \u201cTHE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.\u201d ]\n\nPaul, in Romans 11:25-26 talks about \u201ca partial hardening that has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, [26] and so all Israel will be saved\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 You see, Paul there is talking about the completion of the body of Christ, the completion of the bride of Christ before the rapture.\u00a0 Once the very last Gentile that the church is destined to reach has been reached the body is complete, the bride has been made full, and she will be translated to heaven.\u00a0 But that doesn\u2019t mean that God\u2019s work on earth is finished without the church.\u00a0 He still plans on reaching countless others which He will do with this 144,000.\n\nWe get sort of bent out shape about this, how is poor God going to do this without us being around?\u00a0 I mean, He doesn\u2019t even use our stained glass windows any more and our baptismal pools and all of our literature and radio stations and TV stations and publishing houses.\u00a0 I mean, how can God do this without us being here?\u00a0 The reality of the situation is God doesn\u2019t need anybody.\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, remember what Jesus said when He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, when the Pharisees said quiet down\u00a0 Your disciples?\u00a0 He said if these are quiet the stones themselves are going to start crying out.\u00a0 God can use a rock to do His work.\u00a0 And that\u2019s sort of important to understand because we kind of, particularly in ministry, get into a mindset where boy, God is sure lucky to have me on His team.\u00a0 I mean, He uses us by His goodness and His grace; He doesn\u2019t need anything!\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t need the church, He uses the church because He loves the church.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet what the church leaves incomplete will be completed through these 144,000 Jewish evangelists.\n\nI have been asked by a couple of people what about the birth pangs of Matthew 24, the Olivet Discourse.\u00a0 [Matthew 24:8, \u201cBut all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs\u201d]\u00a0 Why do we call it the Olivet Discourse?\u00a0 Because it was given on the Mount of Olives.\u00a0 I asked that one time in a class and someone raised their hand and says that\u2019s because we get \u201call of it\u201d and that would not be the right answer.\u00a0 Jesus gave a discourse on the Mount of Olives, you can read about it in Matthew 24 and 25.\u00a0 He talked about these birth pangs and He talked about false Christs, war, famine, death, martyrs, earthquakes and the gospel of the kingdom being preached to the whole world.\n\nHave you been paying attention to the order of this seal judgment?\u00a0 We have a false Christ, war, famine, death, martyrs, earthquakes, and now we\u2019re seeing evangelism. In other words, Matthew 24 is a parallel passage with everything we\u2019ve been reading in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of interesting, isn\u2019t it, to watch the whole Bible kind of come together as one.\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice that these converts are standing before the throne and before the Lamb. What exactly does that mean?\u00a0 They\u2019re in heaven!\u00a0 They\u2019re in heaven with the Lamb Jesus Christ, who we know earlier in the Book of Revelation is seated on His Father\u2019s throne in heaven.\u00a0 In fact, that was what the whole scene was about in Revelation 4 and 5 concerning the source from which these judgments come, the Lamb in heaven and how He\u2019s worthy to bring these judgments.\n\nWell, how did these folks get into heaven?\u00a0 I mean it says here they\u2019re part of a great multitude that\u2019s converted, and then we find them standing before the throne and the Lamb apparently in heaven.\u00a0 [Revelation 7:9, \u201cAfter these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands.\u201d]\n\nHow did they get up there?\u00a0 The answer is in verses 13-14, they were martyred.\u00a0 [Revelation 2:13, \u201c'I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.\u00a0 [14] But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.\u201d]\n\nYou see, it\u2019s going to cost people to believe in Christ during this time period because the antichrist will be running the system.\u00a0 More on this martyrdom in just a little bit.\u00a0 But notice that in heaven they are portrayed, verse 9, as clothed in white robes.\u00a0 [Revelation 7:9, \u201cAfter these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;\u201d]\n\nWhat is that \u201cwhite robe\u201d?\u00a0 It\u2019s something that God puts on a person symbolizing their purity.\u00a0 I hope that\u2019s something that you have positionally, that white robe.\u00a0 Paul says in Philippians 3:9, \u201cand may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own\u201d are you planning on meeting God one day through your own righteousness?\u00a0 I\u2019m not, because I don\u2019t think my own self-righteousness really means a lot at the end of the day.\u00a0 I fall short constantly.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201con the basis of faith.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 We receive righteousness from God, not because we sort of sewed together our own loin covering as Adam and Eve were doing early on, but because we have been clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s the only way I ever plan on standing before God, not in what I have done but what He has done for me. We receive that as a gift by way of faith.\u00a0 It\u2019s the greatest gift you could ever have.\n\nApparently these martyrs that are converted have received that imputed transferred righteousness, \u201cclothed in white robes.\u201d\u00a0 And look at the end of verse 9, \u201cpalm branches were in their hands.\u201d\u00a0 Didn\u2019t Jesus ride into Jerusalem, John 12:12-13 and a large crowd was waving palm branches, branches from a palm tree?\u00a0 What is that all about?\u00a0 It\u2019s about victory.\u00a0 [John 12:12-13, \u201cOn the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, [13] took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began<\/em> to shout, \u201cHosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.\u201d]\n\nWhat is that all about?\u00a0 It\u2019s about victory.\u00a0 It\u2019s about the victory that Jesus could have had, had the nation of Israel in the first century received Him as their Savior.\u00a0 There were people that understood exactly what was happening, Christ was presenting Himself as King to the nation of Israel.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet tragically He was turned down.\u00a0 He was railroaded through the judicial system.\u00a0 The evidence brought against Him was manufactured.\u00a0 He was turned over to the Romans to be executed as a common criminal and He hung there, dying on that cross, the devil thinking he had won a decisive round not understanding that that death was paying for the sins of the whole world.\u00a0 And they took that crown of thorns and they put it in His head, pressing those thorns, no doubt, into His scalp.\u00a0 And how different it is when He comes back the second time, having not been rejected by the nation of Israel but received by the nation of Israel, no longer a crown of thorns on His head but\u00a0 having many crowns.\u00a0 Coming no longer on a donkey but on a white horse as a victor.\u00a0 And Jesus is going to get His victory, history is moving in that direction.\n\nAnd by the way, if Jesus is a winner what does that make you, if you\u2019re connected to Him by way of faith?\u00a0 You\u2019re a winner too!\u00a0 In fact, 1 John 4:4 calls you, calls us \u201covercomers,\u201d as does 1 John 5:4-5.\u00a0 We are\u00a0 overcomers.\u00a0 [1 John 4:4, \u201cYou are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.\u201d\u00a0 1 John 5:4-5, \u201cFor what\u00adever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world\u2014our faith.\u00a0\u00a0 [5] Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?\u201d]\n\nRomans 8:37 calls us super overcomers.\u00a0 [Romans 8:37, \u201cBut in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.\u201d]\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Why do I get that status?\u00a0 Because according to Revelation 5:5 He, Jesus Christ, has overcome.\u00a0 [Revelation 5:5, \u201c\u2026behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 The palm branches are a signification of His victory; He\u2019s going to win, He\u2019s on the winning side of history.\u00a0 He\u2019s an overcomer.\u00a0 And that means little old me and little old you are winners too, not because of some great potential within us, it\u2019s because of who we are united with, who we are yoked to.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus, to the disciples, said, \u201cTake courage, I have overcome the world.\u201d \u00a0[John 16:33, \u201cThese things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about it guys, I\u2019ll do it in your place.\u00a0 And what a time of celebration that will be and the victory of Jesus Christ.\n\nWe move away from salvation quantity to salvation\u2019s praises.\u00a0 And we see praise coming from Gentiles, verse 10, and then from the heavenly realm, verses 11-12.\u00a0 Are you excited about your salvation?\u00a0 I mean, is your salvation something that\u2019s so real to you that you can\u2019t wait to praise the Lord for it?\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s happening here in heaven.\u00a0 It says in verse 10, \u201cAnd they,\u201d who\u2019s \u201cthey\u201d?\u00a0 That\u2019s this innumerable multitude arising in heaven following martyrdom, \u201cthey cry out with a loud voice saying, \u2018Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice this expression \u201ccry out,\u201d the Greek is krazo<\/em> [\u03ba\u03c1\u03ac\u03b6\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd].\u00a0 This is not just mildly raising their voice, this is someone screaming out.\u00a0 It\u2019s the same words that are used to describe the demons screaming out at Jesus in Matthew 8:29, \u00a0\u201cAnd they cried out, saying, \u2018What business do we have with each other, Son of God? \u00a0Have You come here to torment us before the time?\u2019\u201d\u00a0 They\u2019re yelling it out at the top of their lungs, these demons, and consequently so are these martyred saints yelling it out.\n\nRemember what they were yelling, the martyrs, in Revelation 6:10.\u00a0 \u201cHow long,\u201d same word, krazo<\/em>, \u201cHow long until You avenge us, and our deaths,\u201d and now they\u2019re in heaven praising God for what?\u00a0 Verse 10 is very clear, how long until You avenge us and our deaths, and now they\u2019re in heaven praising God for what?\u00a0 Verse 10 is very clear\u2026 \u201cSalvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 7:10, \u201cand they cry out with a loud voice, saying, \"Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.\u201d]\n\nIn fact, it\u2019s says when \u201cthey cried out with a loud voice,\u201d the Greek there, you know what it literally means?\u00a0 Megaphone, loud speaker, yelling out, screaming out, crying out, praising the Lord for what they have received, for their salvation, because once you have salvation you have the ticket necessary to beat the enemy which has held humanity hostage for so long, the last enemy called death.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hebrews 2:15 says, \u201cand might free\u201d Jesus that is, \u201cthose who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.\u201d\n\nYou know what made the Apostle Paul the force that he was?\u00a0 He could care less whether he died.\u00a0 He says it over and over again, \u201cFor me to live is Christ, to die is\u201d what? \u201cgain.\u201d\u00a0 [Philippians 1:21.] He said, \u2018absent from the body is to be\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cpresent with the Lord.\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 5:8, \u201cWe are confident, I say<\/em>, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.]\u00a0 Get your\u00a0 mind wrapped around that and what can people do to you when you think about it?\u00a0 You\u2019ve got the ticket by which we arrive into heaven.\n\nAnd I think they\u2019re also praising the Lord not only for personal salvation but for the liberation of planet earth because what\u2019s happening in this book is Satan is being evicted leading to the establish\u00adment of God\u2019s long awaited\u00a0 kingdom, now in the clouds somewhere but on planet earth.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 11:15 says, \u201c[Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,] \u201cThe kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.\u201d]\u00a0 The earth itself is redeemed to what God wanted it to be before the fall of man.\u00a0 I mean look at how salvation is so essential to worship, personal salvation which beats death itself.\u00a0 And then there\u2019s a salvation coming to the whole world at the eviction of Satan.\n\nThis is worship folks; worship here in heaven is not about whether they\u2019re going to sing my favorite song, whether I\u2019m going to get my preferences met, whether I\u2019m going to get the liver quiver today.\u00a0 It\u2019s all about Christ and what we have in Him by way of salvation and salvation yet future for the earth and they\u2019re just shouting this out as they\u2019re praising the Lord.\n\nSo the Gentiles are praising the Lord, and now verse 11 you see the other entities in heaven praising the Lord as well.\u00a0 Take a look, if you could, at verse 11.\u00a0 \u201cAnd 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.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice it mentions angels, and then it mentions elders, which would lead me to conclude that the elders are not angels and the angels are not elders.\u00a0 You say well where did these elders come from?\u00a0 I mean why is it that every single heavenly scene we see in the Bible, whether it\u2019s Isaiah or Ezekiel or wherever, we see the four living creatures, we see angels, but we never see elders.\u00a0 How do these elders get into the mix?\u00a0 Well the elders, as we have demonstrated back in Revelation 4 sound an awful lot like the church that\u2019s described in Revelation 2 and 3.\u00a0 So the elders is representative, I believe, of the church.\n\nNow how does the church get up there into heaven?\u00a0 And why is God using the 144,000 on the earth and not the church?\u00a0 Because the church has been translated, that\u2019s why.; it\u2019s been taken into heaven itself.\u00a0\u00a0 And these four living creatures, I have a difficult time understanding exactly who they are; they seem like some kind of well-developed angelic class of some kind but they\u2019re praising the Lord as well.\u00a0 And notice that they\u2019re not doing it from the comfort zone.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like sitting on you sofa and channel surfing\u2026 oh, I guess it\u2019s time to praise the Lord.\u00a0 They fell on their faces before God and praised the Lord.\u00a0 In fact, this happens, when you track this down, I don\u2019t know how many times, this has happened a number of times already as we\u2019ve moved through the Book of Revelation.\n\nWell, what are they praising the Lord about?\u00a0 No doubt salvation, verse 10, but they\u2019re praising the Lord for God Himself because He has certain attributes that the others don\u2019t possess, verses 12, \u201csaying,\u201d what\u2019s the content of their worship, \u201csaying, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God\u201d in other words their relationship with Him, He\u2019s not their God, He\u2019s our God, \u201cto our God forever and ever. Amen.\u201d\n\nWhat does Christ say to the woman at the well?\u00a0 He says, \u201cWorship the Lord in spirit and\u201d what? \u201ctruth.\u201d\u00a0 A lot of people have a very mystical idea of what worship is.\u00a0 Eastern mysticism, to some extent, has crept into the church where people think worship is sort of emptying your mind of all content and the first idea that comes into your head is the Holy Spirit telling you what to worship about.\u00a0 Anybody that tells you to empty your mind of content is not teaching biblical worship.\u00a0 Biblical worship is content rich, you just have to have the right content, content about God, content about theology, content about who God is.\u00a0 As you start grasping that how could we do anything other than verbally praise the Lord?\n\nThey notice here that blessing, glory, wisdom, honor, power, and might and eternality itself is sourced in God.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice here in verse 12 that the word \u201cthanksgiving\u201d is used, they are thanking God for who He is. When was the last time we ever did that in prayer?\u00a0 Lord, I\u2019m going to just forget my own needs and requests just for a minute and by the way, there\u2019s a place obviously in the life of the believer to present needs before God, that\u2019s acceptable and that\u2019s appropriate and God wants us to do that, but I think so much of our prayer time is about\u00a0 us.\u00a0 So much of our worship time is about us.\u00a0 How about just pausing for a minute and reflecting about who God is.\u00a0 And all of the attributes of God and praising Him and thanking Him.\u00a0 In fact, it says here \u201cAmen.\u201d What does that mean?\u00a0 It is certain is what it means.\u00a0 In fact, I think there\u2019s an \u201cAmen\u201d at the beginning of verse 12 and at the end of verse 12 Amen, Amen, it is certain, it is certain.\u00a0 That\u2019s like when Jesus says, \u201cVerily, verily I say to you.\u201d\u00a0 In Greek that\u2019s amen, amen.\n\nAnd then we move away from salvation\u2019s praises to salvation\u2019s timing.\u00a0 When exactly are these salvations going to occur?\u00a0 You have a very clear answer here in verses 13-14, in the form of a question and answer.\u00a0 Verse 13, \u201cThen one of the elders answered, saying to me,\u201d now this is John who in a vision is seeing all of these things, \u201cThen one of the elders answered, saying to me, \u2018These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0John sees this massive conversion taking place and that prompts his prayer, or one of the elders I should say asked John who are those clothed in white?\u00a0 I mean, why are they clothed in white we\u2019ve talked about, but who are they and where did they come from?\u00a0 I may have said that wrong, I think it\u2019s one of the elders asking John.\u00a0 \u201cThen one of the elders answered \u2026 me,\u201d there we go, \u201cThese who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?\u201d\n\nHave\u00a0 you ever been asked a question you can\u2019t answer?\u00a0 I love John\u2019s answer there in verse 14.\u00a0 I think we ought to answer in this way more.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI said to him, \u2018My lord, you know.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 In other words, John is saying look, I\u2019m just seeing this vision, I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on here, but \u201cyou know.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m reminded very much of the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 37 and verse 3, where Ezekiel was shown in a vision that valley of the dry bones which we know from that chapter represents the nation of Israel and her regathering in the last days into a skeleton and then breath comes into that body and speaking of not just the political restoration of Israel but her regeneration, the divine program for Israel..\n\nAnd what an encouragement that must have been for those Jews who received that vision through Ezekiel while they\u2019re 300 miles to the east in a place called Babylon, modern day Iraq, with their temple destroyed thinking that God had forsaken them.\u00a0 And suddenly they see this through Ezekiel, Ezekiel sees this vision of these bones assembling themselves and God asked the question before He assembles the bones, \u00a0\u00a0[Ezekiel 37:3] \u00a0\u201cHe said to me, \u2018Son of man, can these bones live?\u2019\u201d\u00a0 I like how Ezekiel answers, \u201cAnd I answered, O Lord GOD, You know.\u201d\u2019 I don\u2019t know, but You know.\u00a0 That\u2019s how John seems to be answering this as well, I don\u2019t know but I know what the attributes of God are, verse 12, and He\u2019s got this whole thing under control.\n\nI mean, do I really have to know everything; I mean, do I have to understand every curve in my life?\u00a0 Do I have to understand every roadblock, every success?\u00a0 Do I have to demand an answer from God to everything?\u00a0 I mean, aren\u2019t there sometimes in the Christian life where circumstances come upon you that\u00a0 you can\u2019t figure out?\u00a0 And you just say to the Lord, I don\u2019t need\u00a0 that now, You know, because You\u2019re eternal and You possess all of those other attributes in verse 12 and I\u2019m not.\n\nLook at the answer there.\u00a0 \u201cI said to him, \u2018My lord, you know.\u201d And he said to me,\u201d here\u2019s the answer, \u201c\u2018These 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.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 7:14]\u00a0 Where do these people come from?\u00a0 They came \u201cout of the\u201d tribulation period. Well how did they come out of the tribulation period and get into heaven?\u00a0 You see an answer to this, it\u2019s called martyrdom.\u00a0 I\u00a0 think it\u2019s sort of a description of these martyrs that are described in Revelation 6 you\u2019ll recall, arriving in heaven having experienced martyrdom, wondering when is God going to vindicate them.\n\nAnd I want you to notice something very important here because this will save you a lot of confusion in your Christian life.\u00a0 \u201c\u2018These are the ones who come out of the\u201d definite article, \u201cgreat tribulation\u2026. For years and years and years and years as a Christian I used to think that you know what, the first half of the tribulation period is not that bad because Jesus said in Matthew 24:21 that things will get really, really severe in the second half of the tribulation period, after the temple has been desecrated.\u00a0 [Matthew 24:21, \u201cFor then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.\u201d]\u00a0 So I used to think first half not so bad, second half pretty bad.\u00a0 I used to think the first half is just tribulation but then based on Christ\u2019s words the second half wad great tribulation.\n\nAnd isn\u2019t it interesting how reading the Bible sort of throws monkey wrenches in all of our charts and graphs.\u00a0 I mean, this is connected to the conversion of the 144,000 which happens when?\u00a0 Early, early, early in the tribulation.\u00a0 I mean, this conversion is connected to their ministry which happens with their sealing before, chapter 7 verses 1-3, any harm comes to the earth.\n\n[Revelation 7:1-3, \u201cAfter this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.\u00a0 [2] And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, [3] saying, \u2018Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.\u201d\u2019]\n\nSo what is happening in the first half of the tribulation period is just as much the great tribulation as what is happening in the second half of the tribulation.\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s got to be that way, doesn\u2019t it, because look at all the severe things that happen in chapter 6, antichrist, war, famine, death, martyrdom, cosmic disturbances.\u00a0 Are we saying that\u2019s not going to be so bad?\u00a0 I mean, that seems to me to be a pretty great tribulation.\u00a0 And so we believe that yes, the first half of the tribulation is the great tribulation, the second half of the tribulation, Matthew 24:21, is the great tribulation, my goodness, the whole thing is the\u201d what? The \u201cgreat tribulation.\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 24:21, \u201cFor then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.\u201d]\n\n\u201cFor the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 6:17] When was that statement made?\u00a0\u00a0 Towards the beginning, with the seal judgments.\u00a0 This statement here, \u201cthe great tribulation period\u201d connected to the 144,000 that are sealed early on; \u201cearly on\u201d then, the first half is the great tribulation period as well.\u00a0 So if that\u2019s true then why in the world did Jesus, in Matthe24:21, Olivet discourse, which as we have said is a parallel passage to what is happening here in the Book of Revelation, why did He say this after the temple is desecrated which is the mid-point?\u00a0 Why did He say in Matthew 24:21, \u201cFor then there will be great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s giving the impression that the great tribulation starts in the second half.\n\nSo if it starts in the second half why would Revelation 7:14 call it \u201cthe great tribulation\u201d (first half).\u00a0 Why would people say (first half) \u201cfor the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 1:17]\u00a0 And people are saying to me, you\u2019re the pastor, you give us the answer.\u00a0 Well, here\u2019s my best shot at the answer.\u00a0 When Jesus made the statement \u201ca great tribulation\u201d in Matthew 24:21 following the desecration of the temple he was talking to who?\u00a0 Israel!\u00a0 That\u2019s why he says, \u201cPray that your flight,\u201d Matthew 24:20, what flight?\u00a0 The flight they\u2019re going to make into Jordan to be protected from the antichrist during the tribulation.\u00a0 Pray that your flight will not take place on the Sabbath.\u00a0 [Matthew 24:21, \u201c\u201cBut pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.\u201d] That sounds pretty Jewish to me.\n\nYou see, for Israel\u2026 first half, peace.\u00a0 Why peace?\u00a0 Because they have the protective custody of the antichrist.\u00a0 Second half\u2026 bad, because he betrays the treaty and he pursues them as Satan himself indwells the antichrist.\u00a0 For the nation of Israel the first half very much is a time of peace as they\u2019re in His protective custody and covering and it\u2019s the second half when things dissolve.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not what it\u2019s like for the world; it may be like that for Israel but it will not be like that for the world.\u00a0 As far as the rest of the world is concerned the whole thing is the great tribulation.\n\nYou say why is this important?\u00a0 It\u2019s important because God says to the church I have not appointed you unto wrath.\u00a0 Everybody out there is saying we\u2019re going to be here for part of it because it really doesn\u2019t get bad until later.\u00a0 Yeah, that\u2019s true for Israel but we\u2019re not Israel.\u00a0 When it says \u201cPray that your flight will not take place on the Sabbath,\u201d does that affect the church. \u00a0\u00a0I mean, the Sabbath is the last day of the week, I thought we were worshipping the Lord today on the first day of the week.\u00a0 People, when they try to develop their doctrine of the rapture are fishing in the wrong pond.\u00a0 I mean, they\u2019re fishing in areas that are clearly addressed to Israel.\u00a0 For Israel it\u2019s peace and prosperity for three and a half years, things fall apart the last three and a half years but that\u2019s not how it\u2019s going to be for everybody else. The whole thing, the whole enchilada, maybe that\u2019s not the best metaphor, I\u2019ll\u00a0 use a Jewish metaphor, the whole shawarma for the world is the tribulation period.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you can\u2019t be here for any of it, because God has specifically said, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:9, Romans 5:9, Romans 8:1, we\u2019re not appointed unto wrath.\n\n[1 Thessalonians 1:10, \u201cand to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.\u201d\u00a0 1 Thessalonians 5:9, \u201cFor God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0 Romans 5:9, \u201cMuch more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.\u201d\u00a0 Romans 8:1, \u201cTherefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.\u201d]\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice that when these martyrs arrive in heaven there\u2019s another reference there, verse 14, to their white robes.\u00a0 \u00a0[Revelation 7:14, \u201cI said to him, \u2018My lord, you know.\u2019 And he said to me, \u2018These 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.\u201d]\n\nThe time of this is the events of the tribulation period itself.\u00a0 Salvation\u2019s quantity, salvation\u2019s praises, salvation\u2019s timing, the tribulation period itself beginning early\u2026 well what about the provisions, verse 15-17?\u00a0 I mean, what exactly do you get because you\u2019re saved?\u00a0 Ephesians 1:3 says we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, at the point of faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0 [Ephesians 1:3 \u201cBlessed be<\/em> the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places<\/em> in Christ.\u201d]\n\nAnd we say God, I want a little bit more, and God says I don\u2019t have anything else to give.\u00a0 You have all the spiritual blessings you can imagine, it\u2019s just a matter of dialing into those and accessing those in daily life.\u00a0 And we see here three provisions coming to these saved martyrs.\u00a0 A. Their service, verse 15; B, their satisfaction, verse 16. C, their shepherd, verse 17.\n\nNotice their service, verse 15,\u00a0 \u201cFor this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him\u201d when they feel like it\u2026 it doesn\u2019t say that, \u201cthey serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.\u201d\u00a0 The first provision is service.\u00a0 Serving God, think about that, forever, in what looks like to me a description of the heavenly tabernacle, the tabernacle in heaven that Moses patterned under God\u2019s direction the earthly tabernacle from.\u00a0 And there\u2019s also a heavenly temple there as well.\n\nDo we understand that\u2019s our destiny in God?\u00a0 Not just sit around on a cloud somewhere strumming a harp but perpetual service in God.\u00a0 Do we understand that this is why God gives to the church spiritual gifts, to serve Him?\u00a0 And everyone has a spiritual gift, at least one, because of the word \u201ceach.\u201d Ephesians 4:7, 1 Corinthians 12:7; 1 Peter 4:10.\u00a0 [Ephesians 4:7, \u201cBut to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ\u2019s gift.\u201d\u00a0 1 Corinthians 12:7, \u201cBut to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.\u201d\u00a0 1 Peter 4:10, \u201cAs each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.\u201d]\n\nDo we realize that the use of our spiritual gift today is just the warm up act for eternal service unto God?\u00a0 That\u2019s why you were saved, by the way.\u00a0 Your salvation is not to just keep you out of hell.\u00a0 Ephesians 2:8-9, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is<\/em> the gift of God; [9] not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.\u201d\u00a0 Most people shut off the verse right there, but verse 10 comes after verse 9, Amen!\u00a0 [10] \u201cFor we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m not saved by good works but I\u2019m saved for good works.\u00a0 I mean, the desire of God in my life is to use me to bless other people; that\u2019s His desire for you!\u00a0 When He saved you He was thinking about all the people that would be blessed through you and the gifting that He\u2019s given\u00a0 you.\n\nAnd it\u2019s very interesting in the Greek, \u201cFor we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we\u201d might\u201d is what it should say, \u201cso that we might walk in them.\u201d\u00a0 You say well how can you say that?\u00a0 Because the verb \u201cwalk\u201d peripat\u0113o, is in the subjunctive, which is the mood of possibility. Got wants you to walk in the good works but are you going to walk in the good works or not?\u00a0 That depends on a lot of things; are you going to grow in Christ or not. \u00a0Are\u00a0 you saying, pastor, that I\u2019ve got to do a bunch of good works to prove I\u2019m saved?\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying that at all, I have preached against that every chance I get.\u00a0 Your salvation is 100% inalterable, but birth needs to be followed by growth.\u00a0 If\u00a0 you grow or\u00a0 you don\u2019t grow you\u2019re still born.\u00a0 If you grow correctly or not correctly you\u2019re still born.\u00a0 The birth can\u2019t be reversed.\u00a0 But are\u00a0 you going to walk in the works that God saved you for.\u00a0 That we\u2019ve got to leave up to time to see what happens in our lives, depending on our volition.\u00a0 Am I going to submit to God in areas of my life or not?\n\nAnd so this mass of people is serving the Lord.\u00a0 \u00a0Notice also number two, their satisfaction.\u00a0 Look at verse 16, \u201cThey\u201d that\u2019s all these martyrs, will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus said in John\u00a0 6:35, \u201c\u2018I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.\u201d \u00a0Jesus said in John 4:13-14,\u00a0 \u201cEveryone who drinks of this water will thirst again; [14] but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.\u201d\n\nThere is no satisfaction in life and in this world without a relationship to the God that made you and redeemed\u00a0 you.\u00a0\u00a0 You know why?\u00a0 Because you\u2019re functioning outside of\u00a0 your purpose, I mean, try to assemble toys for the kids on Sunday morning, try to use a hammer when you\u2019re supposed to be using a screw driver, or whatever,\u00a0 I\u2019m the expert at messing all these things up.\u00a0 I mean, using something outside of its purpose actually can be destructive.\u00a0 How do you ever find your purpose of why you exist if you have no relationship with the God that made you and the God that redeemed you, and the instruction manual.\u00a0 Have\u00a0 you tried to assemble something without an instruction manual?\u00a0 You know why so many people are so frustrated in life?\u00a0 They\u2019ve never read the instruction manual, we call this the Bible.\u00a0 What does that stand for?\u00a0 B<\/u>asic I<\/u>nstructions B<\/u>efore L<\/u>eaving E<\/u>arth.\n\nAnd so we move into that purpose and suddenly we find a satisfaction of hunger and thirst which can\u2019t be satisfied any other way.\u00a0 And then it even says here in verse 16, \u201c\u2026 nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat.\u201d\u00a0 Now I thought about this, why would it say that?\u00a0 Because in the eternal state you know what there isn\u2019t?\u00a0 There\u2019s a son, s-o-n, but there\u2019s no sun, s-u-n.\u00a0 Revelation 22:5, Revelation 21:23.\u00a0 [Revelation 22:5, \u201cAnd there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 21:23, \u201cAnd the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.\u201d]\n\nThere\u2019s not even a moon which reflects the sun.\u00a0 He\u2019s saying well, if there\u2019s no sun and there\u2019s no moon how in the world is God going to illuminate everything.\u00a0 Do you think poor little God is dependent on the sun, s-u-n, to illuminate His creation?\u00a0 In fact, do we not understand that Genesis 1:3, the very beginning of the Bible, \u201cThen God said, \"Let there be light\"; and there was light.\u201d\u00a0 But wait a minute, hold the phone, the luminaries, the sun and the moon and the stars don\u2019t show up until creation day 4, Genesis 1:14.\u00a0 [Genesis 1:14, \u201cThen God said, \"Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;\u201d]\u00a0 How did poor God get by those early days without His sun, s-u-n, and the answer is He doesn\u2019t need the sun\u00a0 And in fact, He\u2019s designed history in such a way that humanity will understand that the source of light comes from Him, not something He\u2019s created, because God understands that we, as human beings, have a propensity to worship the object rather than God.\u00a0 In fact, the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 4 and verse 19 says, \u201cAnd beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, [those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.]\u201d God understands the wickedness of the heart, He understands the wickedness of the heart, He understands that we worship things rather than Him, so He says I want you to read the first two chapters of the Bible very carefully and the last two chapters of the Bible very carefully; there was a time where light existed without the sun s-u-n, and there will be a time when light will forever exist without the sun, s-u-n, because it will be illuminated by Jesus Christ the Son, S-o-n.\n\nI wonder what object in your life you\u2019re worshipping, looking to that thing, that whatever it is, career, house, car, I\u2019m not sure what is, it\u2019s different for all of us, but we have a tendency to look at that thing or that person or whatever it is, as some kind of source of satisfaction for us.\u00a0 And here we\u2019re reminded God doesn\u2019t need a secondary source to bless us.\u00a0 He is our source!\u00a0 Who are you looking for for your provision?\u00a0\u00a0 Your job?\u00a0 Your retirement account?\u00a0 Don\u2019t we understand that God has provided for us through those secondary things?\u00a0 And yet He doesn\u2019t need those things.\u00a0 In fact, your 401K could become a 201K and your job could disappear tomorrow and\u00a0 yet the provision of God never stops in your life because He\u2019s teaching us where these blessings come from.\n\nSo they have their service, they have their satisfaction, lastly, verse 17, they have what it\u2019s really all about, the shepherd; \u201cfor the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life\u2026.\u201d \u00a0[Revelation 17:17] \u00a0You might want to jot down Psalm 23:2, \u00a0\u201cHe makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.\u201d\u00a0 What a description of the shepherding role of Jesus Christ. And look at the last part of this verse, \u201cand God will wipe\u201d 95% of the tears\u2026 NO, \u201cevery tear from their eyes.\u201d\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing to be upset about, nothing to cry about, nothing to mourn over.\n\nNot only is there no sun or moon in the eternal state, there\u2019s no crying, mourning or pain, Revelation 21:4 says He will wipe every tear from their eyes.\u00a0 [Revelation 21:4, \u201cand He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.\u201d]\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because He\u2019s removed all of the things that are worth mourning over, death, pain, the first order of things.\u00a0 I mean with the restored earth all of those things are forever gone; with Satan banished those things are forever gone so what is there to mourn over?\u00a0 And so it\u2019s a wonderful description of the provision that we have in salvation.\u00a0 Service, verse 15; satisfaction, verse 16 and most importantly the shepherd Himself, verse 17.\u00a0 Membership has benefits, doesn\u2019t it?\n\nA quick question as we close.\u00a0 Have you received those benefits? Are you a member of this exclusive group, the blood bought saints of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 How do you become a member?\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to crawl over broken nails and broken glass to get this.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to give God your New\u00a0 Year\u2019s resolution.\u00a0 In fact, salvation is you not giving God anything.\u00a0 In fact, if you came to God and said here Lord, here\u2019s what I\u2019m going to give you in exchange for my salvation, aren\u2019t we doing the works of Cain, Genesis 4, whose sacrifice is not accepted?\u00a0\u00a0 No!\u00a0 \u201cFor God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.\u201d\u00a0 Well if He gives what am I supposed to do?\u00a0 I\u2019m supposed to receive.\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m going to pick up my cross and follow Jesus.\u00a0 No one is saved because they picked up their cross; we\u2019re saved because He picked up His cross.\u00a0 And we, John 1:12, chapter 1, verses 12-13, \u201cas many as received Him to them He gave the right to become children of God,\u201d we receive what He has done.\u00a0 And you can do that right now as I\u2019m speaking, in the quietness of your own heart as the Spirit of God places people under conviction to do this, to receive what Jesus has done for them.\u00a0 Receive it as a free gift.\u00a0 You say well how do you do that?\u00a0 The Bible says about 150 times it\u2019s by faith.\u00a0 Faith plus what?\u00a0 Faith plus nothing, because without faith it is what? impossible to please God.\n\nWell, how do you demonstrate faith?\u00a0 Faith is another word for trust.\u00a0\u00a0 A synonym for that would be reliance; another one would be dependence, you sort of come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and you recognize that you can\u2019t save\u00a0 yourself and God has provided for us the provision and you trust in what He has done.\u00a0 What else do I have to do?\u00a0 That\u2019s it.\u00a0 No money involved, no pledges involved, no good intentions involved, it\u2019s completely paid for and you receive it.\u00a0 So my question is have you done that, because that\u2019s what gives you access to these heavenly privileges we\u2019ve been talking about.\n\nI would challenge people, even as I\u2019m talking if they\u2019ve never done this the best\u00a0 you know how and in the quietness of your own mind and heart that they would trust in Christ and Christ alone for salvation.\u00a0 And for those of us that are in Christ now the issue becomes growth, developing to the full stature of Christ as God would have us to live our lives here on the earth.\u00a0 And what we do in that area is a \u201cmight\u201d it\u2019s a subjunctive, we \u201cmight\u201d walk\u00a0 therein, maybe we will, maybe we won\u2019t but the salvation is 100% guaranteed.\u00a0 So my hope and prayer is that even as I\u2019m speaking you have trusted in Christ and Christ alone for salvation.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service for a one on one conversation.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we are grateful for the Book of Revelation and the things that it teaches us.\u00a0 I pray you\u2019ll continue to guide us and be with us as we move through this very important, very neglected but very important book.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t