{"id":18996,"date":"2019-08-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-04T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-047-can-god-be-trusted\/"},"modified":"2019-08-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-04T05:00:00","slug":"revelation-047-can-god-be-trusted","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-047-can-god-be-trusted\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 047 – Can God Be Trusted?"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18996","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 047 - Can God Be Trusted?","sermon_date":"20190804","sermon_month":"8","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":6949,"sermon_slides":6950,"sermon_mp3":6952,"sermon_id":"8319143185866","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"15:1-4","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nCan God be Trusted?\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a08-4-19\n\nRevelation 14:14-20\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 47\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 15 and the title of our message this morning is Can God be Trusted..\u00a0 And as you\u2019re turning there this morning I want to thank Gabe for filling in for me last Sunday while I was in Australia; it\u2019s my understanding Gabe finished up his study on the Book of Jude so he took about 20 weeks to go through one chapter because there\u2019s only one chapter in Jude.\u00a0 Right!\u00a0 So he\u2019s been trained correctly\u2026 Amen!\n\nThe Book of Revelation, chapter 15.\u00a0 I always like to start by kind of reminding you of where we are in the book.\u00a0 By the time\u00a0 you get to chapter 11 the trumpet judgments have been sounded bringing various judgments to the earth.\u00a0 [Revelation 11:15, \u201cThen the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,\u00a0 [16] And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, [17] \u00a0<\/sup>saying, \u201cWe give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.\u201d]\n\nAnd a legal transfer has been announced; the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. \u00a0\u00a0Ownership over the planet is finally moving back into its rightful hand, the hand of God. \u00a0The problem is the adverse\u00a0 possessor, Satan, doesn\u2019t like that.\u00a0\u00a0 So what you have is sort of an interruption in the chronology explaining Satan\u2019s last stand.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what chapters 12-14 are all about, that we have completed.\u00a0 Chapter 12 is Satan\u2019s attack against God\u2019s instrument in those last days, Israel.\u00a0 Chapter 13 is about the two people he will use, Satan will use, called the two beasts.\u00a0 And chapter 14 is about six themes of hope and that\u2019s where we left off las time.\n\nAnd now what happens, after you have these sort of insertions into the chronology, the pattern gets picked up right where God left off, where we now move into the third and final series of judgments, the bowl judgments.\u00a0 And that\u2019s really what chapter 15 and 16 are about in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 Chapter 15 is heavenly preparation for the bowl judgments.\u00a0 Chapter 16 is the bowl judgments themselves.\n\nNow most readers of the Book of Revelation are so eager to study the bowl judgments people just skip right over chapter 15 of the Book of Revelation and pay it very little attention. I myself have been guilty of that and I was sort of shocked at some of the things I was learning in chapter 15.\u00a0 So we\u2019re not going to be skipping over chapter 15, we\u2019re going to be looking at it very carefully.\u00a0 But the thing to keep in mind is this is heavenly preparation for these coming bowl judgments.\u00a0\u00a0 And you know, there\u2019s a lot of people out there in the Christian world that for whatever reason they don\u2019t like music and they don\u2019t like singing.\u00a0 And I think heaven is going to be sort of a miserable place for them\u00a0 because as we\u2019re going to see here heaven is filled with worship and praise and singing.\n\nSo here\u2019s sort of our outline of chapter 15.\u00a0 We have the manifestation of the seven plagues, verse 1.\u00a0 Then we get a description of some martyrs, verses 2-4, and that\u2019s probably as far as we\u2019ll get today, just those four verses.\u00a0 And then next week we\u2019ll be looking at the opening of the heavenly tabernacle.\u00a0 So notice, if you will, Revelation 15, and notice, if you will, verse 1.\u00a0\u00a0 What heaven is being prepared for the final seven judgments.\u00a0 Notice what it says: John writes, \u201cThen I saw another angel in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last because in them the wrath of God is completed.\u201d\n\nNow John sees in this vision another sign.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting, he calls this sign or this part of the vision \u201cgreat and marvelous\u201d because it\u2019s the summation of God\u2019s judgments to the earth.\u00a0 And he also sees in this vision in heaven \u201cseven angels\u201d holding these \u201cseven plagues.\u201d\u00a0 As we\u2019re going to see each angel is holding a bowl.\u00a0 And as each angel is told to dump out the contents of their bowl upon the earth another judgment comes to the earth., just like with the sounding of a trumpet, each angel sounded a trumpet and another judgment came to the earth.\u00a0 And just like Jesus, towards the beginning of the sequence back in chapter 6 opened a seven sealed scroll and every time he broke a seal another judgment came to the earth.\u00a0 And so we\u2019re going to see that same pattern, it\u2019s just this time here it\u2019s seven angels holding seven bowls.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting that it says once these angels pour out their bowls the wrath of God is finished.\u00a0 Now if you\u2019re a careful listener of what we\u2019ve been saying\u00a0 you might recall back in Revelation, verse 7, we were in chapter 10 five years ago or something\u2026 [laughter] \u00a0\u00a0And what does it say there in Revelation 10:7.\u00a0 It says, \u201cbut in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished,\u201d\u00a0 you say well hold the phone, I thought back in chapter 10 we were told that the final trumpet judgment would complete every\u00adthing and now\u00a0 you\u2019re telling us that everything is not complete because the bowls haven\u2019t been poured out.\n\nWell, this is where it becomes very helpful to understand the sequence and pattern of these judgments.\u00a0 I call it telescoping because the judgments sort of pull out like a telescope in this sense\u2014seal seven will release the trumpets.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen that.\u00a0 Seal seven is their silence in heaven for half an hour and then the trumpets are introduced.\u00a0 So seal seven unleashes the trumpets and we have the exact same pattern here, the seventh trumpet unleashes the bowl judgments.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Revelation 10:7 could say this is the last because Revelation 10:7 is assuming that the last trumpet is about to be sounded and once that is sounded automatically it includes the bowl judgments, which occur right after that.\n\nThere are, I would think, according to my old math, seven times three is what?\u00a0 Twenty-one.\u00a0 Twenty-one judgments here, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven golden bowls of wrath.\u00a0 But wait a minute, two of these judgments involve silence because seal seven unleashes the trumpet and trumpet seven unleashes the bowls so twenty-one minus two is nineteen.\u00a0 There\u2019s actually nineteen judgments here because of this telescoping phenomenon.\u00a0\u00a0 So I just kind of wanted to bring that to your attention in case you\u2019re a chronologist and you\u2019re still bothered by Revelation 10:7 and why it says this is the last when it surely doesn\u2019t read like the last.\u00a0 I know you guys have been worrying about that all week so I wanted to assuage your nerves on that.\n\nBut it\u2019s interesting that we move away from the manifestation of these seven plagues in heaven to verses 2-4 where we\u2019re going to spend our time this morning on the martyrs.\u00a0 We have with these heavenly martyrs now in heaven their identity, verse 2, and their praise to God, verses 3-4 and this is where music comes in.\u00a0 We start to get the mind of God here on worship and music.\n\nBut notice first of all the identity of these figures.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to call them martyrs, but notice Revelation 15 and notice if you will verse 2.\u00a0 John continues, and he says: \u201cAnd I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding\u201d what? \u201charps of God.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t you play music with a harp?\n\nYou\u2019ll notice he says, John says \u201cI saw something like a sea of glass,\u201d now we\u2019ve seen that \u201csea of glass\u201d before as the heavenly scene is described.\u00a0 John uses the word \u201clike,\u201d a simile, the comparison of two things with the word like or as because he\u2019s doing his best to follow the instructions to record what he has seen in this vision.\u00a0 And he\u2019s revealed to us heavenly scenes before and he say when I got into heaven I saw something like a sea of glass.\u00a0 So that\u2019s not brand new news; what is interesting though is this time when John describes the sea of glass he says it was \u201cmixed with fire.\u201d\u00a0 We haven\u2019t had that description yet.\n\nWhy does he say \u201cmixed with fire.\u201d\u00a0 Well, I don\u2019t know exactly but I can hazard a guess; my basic guess would be these are the martyrs that have come out of the fire of the tribulation period.\u00a0 These are people that have been obedient unto Christ to the point of death.\u00a0 Aren\u2019t our trials as Christians analogized to a refiner\u2019s fire?\u00a0 1 Peter 1:6-7.\u00a0 [1 Peter 1:6-7, \u201cIn this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, [7] so that the proof of your faith, being<\/em> more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.\u201d\n\nWhat can a refiner\u2019s fire do?\u00a0 It cannot destroy, the only thing it can do is purify.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a proper way of looking at adversity that comes into our lives.\u00a0 God is using that adversity not to make us bitter but to make us better.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re not a Christian and\u00a0 you don\u2019t have that frame of reference then you have not proper vantage point for understanding suffering that we go through.\u00a0 You\u2019re just sort of left to your own devices.\u00a0 But the Christian life is so much different because you understand that this suffering would not have occurred had it not passed through the permissive will of God and God is using it as a refiner\u2019s fire.\u00a0 And these are people that have gone through the ultimate fire in the tribulation period, martyrdom itself and they appear in heaven.\n\nAnd\u00a0 you\u2019ll notice there in verse 2, as they\u2019re standing on this \u201csea of glass mixed with fire\u201d it talks about them being victorious.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been victorious over a number of things.\u00a0 Number one, they\u2019ve been victorious over the beast, the antichrist that\u2019s been described in Revelation 13:1-10.\u00a0 Number 2, they\u2019ve been victorious over his image that we studied in Revelation 13:15.\u00a0 Remember anyone who did not bow down and worship this image was killed.\u00a0 And they\u2019ve been victorious over his number or his numbering system.\u00a0 Recall that those who do not take the mark of the beast are sort of shut out of economic life during this terrible time period.\n\nAnd now the martyrs have paid this ultimate price of debt and consequently they\u2019re away from the beast, they\u2019re away from his image, they\u2019re away from a numbering system and so their status here is that of a victor.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how to look at death; death for the Christian is not the end but it\u2019s just the beginning.\u00a0 It\u2019s a victory because it frees you from all of these terrible things in the world that we\u2019re reading about.\n\nYou might recall Revelation 14:13, which says, \u201cBlessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!\u2019\u201d \u00a0Revelation 20:4 talks about the dead participating in what\u2019s called the first resurrection which is a blessing.\u00a0 [Revelation 20:4, \u201cThen I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.\u201d]\n\nAnd one of the points we\u2019ve tried to make as we\u2019ve gone through this study is I think we\u2019re looking at death completely wrong as Christians.\u00a0 We look at it as something to fear many times, something to be avoided, like\u00a0 the plague, but the more I study the Bible the more I see the opposite perspective.\u00a0 What does Paul say?\u00a0 \u201cTo be absent from the body is to be\u201d what? \u201cpresent with the Lord.\u201d Death is a victory.\u00a0 Paul, in Philippians 1:21-23 says, \u201cFor to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. [22] But if I am<\/em> to live on<\/em> in the flesh,\u201d in other words if God keeps me alive, \u201cthis will mean<\/em> fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, if I continue to live God can continue to use me to be a blessing to you but if I die I\u2019m at a better place.\u00a0 So Paul says in Philippians 1:23, \u201cBut I am hard-pressed from both directions,<\/em> having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that<\/em> is very much better.\u201d\n\nBeloved, if you are living today fearful of death I would just say this\u2014you\u2019re living beneath your privileges!\u00a0 You\u2019re living beneath the promises that God has given you, because the Book of Hebrews, chapter 2 and verse 15 describes one of the great purposes for which Christ came into the world.\u00a0 It says, \u201cand might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what the fear of death is, it\u2019s slavery, it\u2019s bondage.\u00a0 It\u2019s fear because you have no real insight without God what happens after the grave.\u00a0 But isn\u2019t it interesting to get the perspective and the vantage point of the Bible and be liberated from that fear, and to not fear death, to see death as more of a home going, or of a promotion as a person finds themselves in Christ.\u00a0 And that\u2019s sort of the status of these martyrs.\u00a0 That\u2019s why they\u2019re called victorious.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t call them defeated here; it calls them victorious.\u00a0 Where did these martyrs come from anyway?\u00a0 Well, they are the product or the fruit, as we have studied, Revelation 7, of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists that will blanket the world with the gospel during this time period.\n\nIn fact, the evangelistic effort of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists are so effective that there\u2019s a crowd described at the end of Revelation 7\u00a0 that\u2019s innumerable, coming from all people and all nations and all tongues.\u00a0 Revelation 7:13 says this: \u201cThen one of the elders answered me, saying to me, \u2018These who are clothed in white\u00a0 robes, who are they, and where did they come from?\u201d\u00a0 Verse 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.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 These are the victors and that\u2019s why these martyrs are portrayed as doing what?\u00a0 Verse 2, they\u2019re in a standing position, they\u2019re victorious.\u00a0 [Verse 2, \u201cAnd I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God.\u201d]\n\nAnd what else do these martyrs start to do?\u00a0 Well, if we keep reading verse 2 it says, they\u2019re \u201cholding harps.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, isn\u2019t a harp (the last time I checked) a musical instrument.\u00a0 What would they be doing with harps?\u00a0 Well, they would be singing praises unto God.\u00a0 Why are they singing praises unto God?\u00a0 Because they are victors.\u00a0 And that sort of gets to the root of what Christian music and worship is all about. Why do we worship?\u00a0 Why do we just go through that section of singing in our service this morning?\u00a0 Why do we do that?\u00a0 Is it just ritual?\u00a0 Is it just to fill up an item in the bulletin?\u00a0 NO, we should sing unto the Lord because we also \u201cin Christ\u201d are victorious.\u00a0 The victory has already been announced, the victory is yours as you find yourself in Christ.\u00a0 Christ has conquered the grave and so therefore \u201cto be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to fear death, I\u2019m on the winning side of history.\n\nWell, if all of that is true how could I not want to sing to the Lord?\u00a0 How could I not want to honor the Lord?\u00a0 How could I not want to praise the Lord?\u00a0 The music is not so much about a liver quiver or a psychological state, it\u2019s simply a mechanism or medium by which the redeemed child of God opens\u00a0 up and praises the Lord for the victory that He has gained for them.\u00a0 And that\u2019s exactly what these martyrs are doing in heaven as they\u2019re standing on this glassy sea mixed with fire.\u00a0 And it\u2019s really what our purpose should be as a Christian community in terms of worship as well.\u00a0 And you say well what exactly are they singing?\u00a0 And I\u2019m glad you asked because verses 3 and 4 are in depth concerning what worship is and what it\u2019s supposed to be about.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got three things going on here; they\u2019re singing the song of Moses, verse 3.\u00a0 Number two, they\u2019re singing the song of the Lamb, the second part of verse 3.\u00a0 And then finally you get to the end of verse 3 and you complete verse 4 and they explode into a doxology.\n\nYou say well what is a doxology?\u00a0 The word \u201cdoxology\u201d comes from the Greek word \u03b4\u03cc\u03be\u03b1, which means glory.\u00a0 Doxology is a praise and glory to God.\u00a0 And we think well how should we sing and what should we sing and why should we sing?\u00a0 And the reason we asks those kinds of questions is we haven\u2019t really studied these sections of the Bible which reveal hymnology, worship, Christian music, solely to the glory of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s what these martyrs are doing.\n\nSo let\u2019s look at this point by point.\u00a0 The first thing they\u2019re seeing there, these martyrs, is the Song of Moses.\u00a0 And notice, if you will, verse 3, \u201cThey sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God,\u201d and then it says, \u201cand the song of the Lamb, saying, \u2018Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice that they\u2019re singing \u201cthe song of Moses\u201d and as this is described it\u2019s revealed here that Moses was the servant of God.\u00a0 In fact, the Greek word for servant is \u03b4\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 (doulos<\/em>) <\/a>meaning a slave.\n\nYou might recall all the way back in the very first verse of Revelation chapter 1 (that might have been twenty years ago we looked at that) John describes himself with that same Greek word, doulos<\/em> servant.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to me that the most choice servants of God that we read about in the Bible, they don\u2019t count their credentials or their intelligence, or their gifting, they just call themselves servants of God,\u00a0 I\u2019m a servant.\u00a0 In fact, the word \u201cservant\u201d doesn\u2019t even capture the word doulos<\/em>, it\u2019s a slave, enslavement, someone who exists to do the will of his master.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Christian walk of discipleship is about. Yes, we\u2019re saved by grace alone through faith along, all that is true.\u00a0 But God has something more for us; He wants us to grow in the walk of servanthood, doulos<\/em> and that\u2019s what Moses was.\u00a0 Moses put up with a lot, didn\u2019t he?\u00a0 How would you like to be out there in the wilderness with all those complaining kids for forty years who keep saying on vacation, \u201care we there yet?\u201d\u00a0 I mean, forty years of that, can you imagine that?\n\nAnd yet Moses was a servant of God, he endured that and so he\u2019s called here a doulos<\/em> and notice also that he has a song. \u00a0It\u2019s called the Song of Moses.\u00a0 Now here\u2019s where it gets just a little bit tricky.\u00a0 In the Old Testament we have two songs of Moses.\u00a0 The first one was sung when the nation of Israel left Egypt, there in the left hand column, the top circle, and they had been there for four hundred\u00a0 years and they were let loose from that bondage in the events of the Exodus and they passed through the Red Sea.\u00a0 and you know the story, how God closed the waters on the pursuing Egyptians and there the Israelites got to the opposite side after the Egyptians had been drowned.\n\nAnd what could they do other than to praise God for their deliverance?\u00a0 \u00a0Exodus 15:1 says, \u201cThen Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and said, I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s song of Moses number one and I think Moses was about 80 years of age when he sang that song, the whole thing is, it\u2019s beautiful, in Exodus chapter 15.\n\n[Exodus 15:2, The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father\u2019s God, and I will extol Him.\u00a0 [3] The Lord is a warrior; The Lord is His name.\u00a0 [4] Pharaoh\u2019s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea.\u00a0 [5] \u201cThe deeps cover them; they went down into the depths like a stone. [6] Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power, Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.\u00a0 [7] And in the greatness of Your excellence You overthrow those who rise up against You; You send forth Your burning anger, and<\/em> it consumes them as chaff.\u00a0 [8] Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord,]<\/sup>and said, \u201cAt the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up, the flowing waters stood up like a heap; the deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.\u00a0 [9] The enemy said, \u2018I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My]<\/sup>desire shall be gratified against them; I will draw out my sword, my hand will destroy them.\u2019\u00a0 [10] You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them; They sank like lead in the]<\/sup>mighty waters. [11\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cWho is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?\u00a0 [12] You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them.\u00a0 [13] In Your lovingkindness You have led the people whom You have redeemed; n Your strength You have guided them<\/em> to Your holy habitation. [14] The peoples have heard, they tremble; anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia.\u00a0 [15] Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; the leaders of Moab, trembling grips them; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.\u00a0 [16] Terror and dread fall upon them; by the greatness of Your arm they are motionless as stone; until Your people pass over, O Lord, until the people pass over whom You have purchased.\u00a0 [17] You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, the place, O Lord, which You have made for Your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.\u00a0 [18] The Lord shall reign forever and ever.\u201d]\n\nAnd then, as\u00a0 you know the story, the Jews failed in terms of their faith, in terms of entering Canaan, and Moses, you remember, struck the rock twice, he wasn\u2019t supposed to do that, and so that whole group is wandering around there for forty years.\u00a0 And now Moses, at the age of 120, forty years later, in Deuteronomy 32 breaks out into a second song.\u00a0 That\u2019s song of Moses number 2.\u00a0 This is the song he sang, you recall, he was never allowed to enter Canaan, he sang it there in the area called the Transjordan, on a mountain, called Mount Nebo, and he was looking back over his life over the faithfulness of God to him over his whole life.\u00a0 And what could he do other than just explode into praise unto God.\n\nPsalm 1, age 80, look at how God delivered us from the Egyptians. Psalm 2, age 120, recorded in Deuteronomy 32, ready to die, looking at the faithful hand of God and the only thing he could do is praise the Lord.\n\nSo here\u2019s the twenty dollar question: when these martyrs sing the song of Moses which song are they singing?\u00a0 Are they singing song A or song B?\u00a0 Or maybe the answer is both.\u00a0 I have a tendency to think they\u2019re singing song B because Deuteronomy 32:4 to me looks an awful lot like Revelation 15:3.\u00a0\u00a0 [Deuteronomy 32:4, \u201cThe Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.\u00a0 I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 15:3, \u201cAnd they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, \"Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!\u201d]\n\nAnd beyond that, of that song, the final song of Moses\u2019 life God said he would sing it in the latter days, Deuteronomy 31:29.\u00a0 [Deuteronomy 31:29, \u201cFor I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.\u201d]\u00a0 And then God, in Deuteronomy 31:21 says that song will never be forgotten.\u00a0 [Deuteronomy 31:21, \u201cThen it shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants); for I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.\u201d]\u00a0 Psalm B will never be forgotten.\u00a0 And you sort of put this together and I have a tendency to think that these martyrs who have achieved this victory are exploding into praise of God, singing a song largely derived from something Moses sang at the very end of his life, age 120.\n\nBut they\u2019re also singing something else.\u00a0 Not only are they singing the song of Moses they\u2019re singing the song of the Lamb.\u00a0 Now who is the Lamb?\u00a0 It\u2019s Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Do you think Jesus has a song?\u00a0 I try to figure out, where did Jesus sing a song?\u00a0 And the only verse I have is Matthew 26:30, which is in the Passion Week, the crucifixion and the betrayal of Christ and all of these things that we celebrated today at the Lord\u2019s Table are imminent. And Jesus is there in the Mount of Olives with His disciples; actually they were getting ready to go to the Mount of Olives and as they were making their way to the Mount of Olives it says this, Matthew 26:30, \u201cAfter singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, as all these events are going down He just gathers His little group together in intimacy and as I understand it He leads them in a song, He leads them in a hymn.\u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019d like to know what are the words, what does it sound like?\u00a0 None of that\u2019s given.\n\nBut apparently these martyrs know about it because they not only sing the Song of Moses they sing the Song of the Lamb.\u00a0 They\u2019re recognizing by singing the song of the Lamb that it\u2019s all about Jesus, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 It\u2019s not about them, it\u2019s not about their preferences, it\u2019s not about what they would like to see done.\u00a0 It\u2019s about Jesus!\u00a0 And I think that becomes sort of a snare to us in the 21st<\/sup> century because so many people come to church looking for their own preferences to be met.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t go to church this morning, I mean, my goodness, you guys don\u2019t even have carpet on the floor.\u00a0 And you sent out an\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 e-mail telling me there wasn\u2019t going to be carpeting on the floor so how could I come to church.\u00a0 Well, is church about you or is it about Jesus?\u00a0 I mean, is about me and my desires or is it about Him?\u00a0 And I think so many times little squabbles that Christians can get into would disappear when we keep the focus and the spotlight on the right place.\u00a0 It\u2019s all about Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd so these martyrs are singing this song of the Lamb, and as you move into the end of verse 3 and the beginning of verse 4 here we get the actual details of a doxology which is a hymn from heaven glorifying God.\u00a0\u00a0 And it has a few parts to it.\u00a0 What area they singing about?\u00a0 Well here we go!\u00a0 Number one, they\u2019re singing about His works.\u00a0 Look at verse 3, \u201cGreat and marvelous are Your works.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 15:3, \u201cAnd they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, \"Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s interesting that the word \u201cgreat and marvelous\u201d were used to introduce this new vision at the beginning of chapter 15 and verse 1 and the exact same Greek words, \u201cgreat and marvelous\u201d are being used as these martyrs are describing the works of God. They\u2019re great and they\u2019re marvelous!\u00a0 \u00a0Why would you praise God because He\u2019s almighty?\u00a0 A very simple reason\u2014God has an attribute that we don\u2019t have, it\u2019s called omnipotence, He\u2019s all powerful.\u00a0 I had to get to bed early last night because I was tired.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think God has that problem.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think God gets tired because He is omnipotent.\u00a0 He is all powerful.\u00a0 And if God is all powerful, as this song narrates, then why am I so bothered by a little problem in my life, whatever that may be?\u00a0 The trial in your life, the setback in your life, the situation in your life, why does that even bother us?\u00a0 Why don\u2019t we just take that the way the Bible tells us to do it and to deposit it into the hands of an almighty God, and praise Him for His omnipotence.\n\nAnd then they praise the Lord for something else; I found this very interesting.\u00a0 They praise Him for His ways; not just His acts or His works, but His ways.\u00a0 [Revelation 15:3] \u201cGreat and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty.\u00a0 Righteous and true are Your ways,\u201d\u00a0 how do you look at the ways of God?\u00a0 Crooked?\u00a0 Corrupt?\u00a0 Flawed?\u00a0 That\u2019s how a lot of people look at God.\u00a0 That\u2019s not how these martyrs are looking at God; they call His ways \u201cRighteous and true.\u201d\u00a0 They are perfectly upright.\u00a0 And not only that, everything God does is true.\u00a0 You know, philosophers they get into this conversation, \u201ccan God make a rock so big that He can\u2019t move it\u201d and things like that.\u00a0 You know, really important things to think about I guess\u2026.\u00a0 I just have a simple answer to that.\u00a0 The answer is NO, because God is always sovereign over His creation.\u00a0 Creation can\u2019t get out of control or He wouldn\u2019t be God.\u00a0 So everything God does is right and it\u2019s absolutely true and there are some things God can\u2019t do, like make a rock so big that He can\u2019t move it.\n\nOne of the things God can\u2019t do is He can\u2019t lie.\u00a0 Hebrews 6:18 says this, \u201c\u2026it is impossible for God to lie.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 6:18, \u201cso that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 A pastor could lie, a board could lie, a church could lie, a Christian could lie.\u00a0 God can\u2019t do that.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to build your life on what God says, NOT what man says.\u00a0 God is always going to tell you the truth.\u00a0 In fact, Jesus said in John 14:6, \u201cI am THE way, THE truth, and THE life, no man comes to the Father but by Me.\u201d\u00a0 So God\u2019s ways are righteous and His ways are true.\u00a0 That\u2019s why these martyrs, in their position of victory are praising the Lord.\n\nI ran into this very interesting Psalm this week as I was looking at this, Psalm 103:7, \u201cHe made known His ways to Moses but His acts to the nation of Israel.\u201d\u00a0 What is God being praised for here?\u00a0 He is being praised for His ways.\u00a0 Moses didn\u2019t just know the acts of God, he knew the ways of God.\u00a0 The acts of God everybody knew; today, if you were to walk around our city and interview people and ask for information on the acts of God you could probably get people to rattle off all kinds of data\u2026 the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, the Exodus crossing, the Canaan conquest, on and on we could go but it\u2019s more intimate not just to know His acts but to know His ways.\u00a0 To know His ways is more personal.\u00a0 Everybody else knew what God did but Moses had such a close walk with the Lord that he actually knew not just God\u2019s acts but His ways.\u00a0 How does God think?\u00a0 How could you recognize the hand of God in something?\u00a0 You have to have more intimate knowledge than just His acts; you have to know His ways, how He does things.\u00a0 And I think that\u2019s the type of disciples and Christians we should be aspiring to be.\u00a0 Those with such an intimate walk with the Lord that we not only recognize what He does, what He has done, what He will do, His acts, but also His ways, and then praising the Lord because of His knowledge.\n\nAnd then they\u2019re praising Him because of His regal authority.\u00a0 Look at the end of verse 3, \u201cRighteous and true are Your ways\u201d and they described Him as the \u201cKing of the nation.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 15:3, \u201cAnd they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, \u201cGreat and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s who Jesus is.\u00a0 Jesus is the King of the nations.\u00a0 Now the mistake that people make is they think He\u2019s exerting that kingly authority right now.\u00a0 No He\u2019s not!\u00a0 There\u2019s someone else running the world system, and who would that be? Satan.\u00a0 The story of the Book of Revelation is how Satan is evicted from the planet and how God establishes His authority over the earth as He always intended.\n\nSo this is what we would call a proleptic statement; it\u2019s a statement about the coming reign of Christ over the earth even thought that reign hasn\u2019t materialized yet.\u00a0 It\u2019s like when we sing the song Crown Him With Many Crowns.\u00a0 Why do we sing that when He hasn\u2019t been coronated yet?\u00a0 Because it\u2019s proleptic.\u00a0 It\u2019s so certain that it\u2019s going to happen you can speak of it in the present tense.\u00a0 It\u2019s obvious that this reign hasn\u2019t happened yet because when you go down to verse 4 it says, \u00a0\u201cWho will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?\u201d\u00a0 And then it says in verse 4, \u201cFor all the nations will come and will worship \u2026.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0[Revelation 15:4] \u201cWho will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.\u201d]\u00a0 When you study \u201ccome and worship\u201d in verse 4 you\u2019ll see those are in the future tense in the Greek language.\n\nSo just because the elders are praising the Lord for His regal authority doesn\u2019t mean that regal authority has been exerted\u00a0 yet.\u00a0 That\u2019s coming!\u00a0\u00a0 And that\u2019s what the Book of Revelation is driving us to.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen kinds of things like this, earlier on in the book, Revelation 1:6, \u201cHe has made us to be a kingdom of priests.\u201d Did you know you\u2019re a kingdom of priests; that\u2019s your position in Christ.\u00a0 Well does that mean we\u2019re ruling the world right now?\u00a0 NO, because chapter 5, verse 10, a little bit later says, \u201cYou have made them to be a kingdom of priests to our God; and they\u201d what? \u201cwill reign upon the earth.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 5:10]\u00a0 In other words Revelation 1:6 is a proleptic statement, your authority in Christ is so certain that Revelation 1:6 can present it as if\u00a0 it\u2019s already happened, even though we know from the rest of the Book of Revelation that it is yet future.\n\nI mean, you want to talk about something to praise God for, praise Him for this, that this world in its sickened state is not always going to be this way.\u00a0 One of these days right is going to be exalted; justice is going to be exalted over the earth.\u00a0 You say well, I don\u2019t know what newspaper you\u2019re reading because I just saw a few headlines last night of mass shootings.\u00a0 Well,\u00a0 you look at that through the lens of God\u2019s Word and you recognize that His reign is so certain, even though it\u2019s future we can speak of it as happening in the present.\u00a0 Therefore the things that happen in our world are abnormal.\u00a0 The day is coming when things will be made right.\u00a0 What\u2019s happening today is an abnormality.\u00a0 And you live that perspective and that gives you something to praise God about in a depressing world.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 And it gives you something that people desperately need today, which is hope, optimism for the future.\n\nPeople criticize our view of eschatology, they say oh, you guys are always talking about the antichrist and the one-world religious system and the one-world money system and you\u2019re so negative, and you\u2019re so pessimistic, it\u2019s always gloom and doom.\u00a0 Sometimes we get labeled pessmillennialist.\u00a0 But I\u2019m not sure what Bible everybody is reading.\u00a0 To me, I\u2019m a flaming optimist; I\u2019m about as optimistic as a person could be.\u00a0 I don\u2019t trust man in terms of his ability to fix the things of this world; I trust the coming reign of Jesus Christ which will make everything right.\u00a0 And that is a biblical\u00a0 certainty.\u00a0 So if\u00a0 you want to praise the Lord, praise the Lord for that.\u00a0 That\u2019s what these martyrs are doing, they\u2019re praising the Lord for His regal authority.\n\nAnd this continues on into verse 4 where they begin to praise the Lord for His doxological purpose.\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 The purpose of God, the purpose of human history, the purpose for my life, the purpose for your life.\u00a0 Why were you conceived?\u00a0 Why do you exist?\u00a0 Why are you here?\u00a0 You have a purpose and what is that purpose?\u00a0 It\u2019s to glorify God.\u00a0 Now we glorify Him in different ways but that is the overarching purpose of every human being.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re living outside or your purpose you\u2019re living outside of your design.\u00a0 See that? \u00a0\u00a0And that doxological purpose begins to be unfolded there in verse 4; it says, \u201cWho will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.\u201d\n\nWhat you have here is a description of the doxological purpose of mankind which is go glorify God.\nAnd how exactly do you do that?\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice there in verse 4 it says, \u201cWho will not fear, O Lord,\u201d what does that mean?\u00a0 Does that mean I get myself into a state of anxiety, sweaty palms, I\u2019m really afraid of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what fear means!\u00a0 What it means is respect, respect for God, respect for God\u2019s truth, respect for the ways of God.\u00a0 And if a person has that in their heart then they have knowledge because Proverbs 1:7 says, \u201cThe fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, fools despise wisdom and instruction.\u201d\u00a0 What is wisdom?\u00a0 It\u2019s knowledge applied.\u00a0 Well how do I get knowledge to apply?\u00a0 \u201cThe fear of the LORD.\u201d\u00a0 If a person won\u2019t respect God, won\u2019t fear God the way it\u2019s described here in the Bible, they don\u2019t have understanding, and if you don\u2019t have understanding how could you have wisdom, which is simply knowledge applied.\u00a0 Boy, we\u2019ve really missed out on the fundamental purpose for our existence when we don\u2019t fear God.\n\nAnd what else am I supposed to do?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t just say fear the Lord, verse 4, it says glorify Him.\u00a0 That\u2019s our doxological purpose; everything we do should be a reflection of glory unto the Lord.\u00a0 Why am I up here preaching?\u00a0 To draw attention to myself?\u00a0 I sure hope not!\u00a0 I hope I\u2019m here to glorify God.\u00a0 Why do you show up to work every day, Monday through Friday?\u00a0 To earn a paycheck?\u00a0 That\u2019s part of it, but your job itself is a ministry, glory unto the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0 Why do we have elders and deacons and musicians in this church?\u00a0 What are we doing here exactly?\u00a0 Well through different ways that God has made us and gifted us we are directing glory to God.\u00a0 That\u2019s where you find fulfillment in your life, because you\u2019re living within the design that God gave you.\u00a0 You know, there\u2019s so much emptiness, brokenness, unhappiness in the human heart and it really has to do with the fact that people are living outside of the box God made them for.\n\nWe exist to give glory unto the Lord.\u00a0 In fact,\u00a0 you might remember Revelation 14:7, remember the angel that was flying to and fro giving men the eternal gospel?\u00a0 What did that angel say?\u00a0 \u201cAnd with a loud voice he said, \u2018Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the springs of water.\u201d\u00a0 What is he saying?\u00a0 \u201cFear God,\u201d glorify God which translates into worship unto God.\u00a0 That\u2019s why these harps are here and these musical instruments are here, because that\u2019s what these martyrs who are now victors are doing.\u00a0 They\u2019re fearing God which gives them knowledge and then wisdom and they\u2019re giving God the glory that He rightfully deserves.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not just attaching it to some kind of never world, they\u2019re giving it to an object\u00a0\u00a0 because it mentions here His name.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWho will not fear, O LORD, and glorify Your name.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 15:4, \u201cWho will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.\u201d]\n\nThe name of God is a big deal.\u00a0 In fact, the Book of Acts, chapter 4 and verse 12 says, \u201cAnd there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other\u201d what? \u201c name<\/u> under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.\u201d\u00a0 Apparently the name of God is a big deal; His worship is not just some kind of casual spiritual experience, giving praise to some\u00a0 undefined entity; it\u2019s focused to a specific name, the name of Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd they move on and they begin to talk about the holiness of God, verse 4, \u201cWho will nor fear, O LORD, and glorify Your name for You are\u201d what? \u201choly.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Think of the angels, the seraphim, that surround the throne room of God. What do they say day and night?\u00a0 \u201cHoly, holy, holy is the LORD GOD Almighty,\u201d Isaiah 6:3, Revelation 4:8.\u00a0 [Isaiah 6:3, \u201cAnd one called out to another and said, \"Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 4:8, \u201cAnd the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, \u201cHOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.\u201d]\n\nI mean, that is who God is!\u00a0 That is His dominant character! That is His dominant attribute!\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting they don\u2019t sit around and says love, love, love is the Lord God Almighty.\u00a0 Now He is loving.\u00a0 Gracious, gracious, gracious is the Lord God Almighty.\u00a0 By the way, He is gracious.\u00a0 But they\u2019re attracting attention to His dominant attribute, His attribute of holiness.\u00a0 And who else can possess that other than God?\u00a0 What is holiness?\u00a0 It\u2019s perfect uprightness.\u00a0 It\u2019s very clear here, it says, \u201cFor you alone are holy.\u201d\u00a0 You know, when a Christian falls or fumbles and\u00a0 you hear other people say I can\u2019t trust Christ look at what happened to that person\u2019s life.\u00a0 Or look at how that person fails or folded or look at the hypocrisy in that person or this person.\u00a0 And by the way, we have a lot of hypocrisy in our church, like there is in any church where people just say I\u2019m not going to go to church because there\u2019s too many hypocrites in the church, I just like to say well we always have room for one more.\u00a0 [Laughter]\n\nAnd what happens is we look at a Christian that\u2019s failed and we lose our faith because of that when in reality our eyes are on the wrong object. Why are we looking at people?\u00a0 We should be looking at God because it\u2019s very clear here that \u201cYou alone are holy.\u201d [Revelation 15:4, \u201cWho will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy;\u201d]\u00a0 Remember the man that came up to Jesus and said \u201cGood Master\u201d and what Jesus said?\u00a0 \u201cWhy do you call Me good, no one is good except God alone.\u201d\u00a0 [And Jesus said to him, \u201cWhy do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.\u201d Mark 10:18.\u00a0 And Jesus said to him, \"Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.\u201d\u00a0 Luke 18:19]\u00a0 Now in the process Jesus revealed Himself as God but it\u2019s a reminder to us to keep our focus on the right object.\n\nWe move away from His holiness to His regal destiny.\u00a0 We see that in verse 4, \u201cWho will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name for You are holy\u201d and watch this, \u201cfor all the nations will\u201d future tense, \u201cfor all the nations will come and worship before\u00a0 you.\u201d\u00a0 Now back in verse 3 we learned that He is the King of the nations; now in verse 4 we\u2019re moving away from His identity, His regal identity to His actual regal destiny, that Jesus Christ is destined to sit on David\u2019s throne in Jerusalem and all of the nations of the earth will come and worship Him.\u00a0 In fact, what about people that don\u2019t want to come and worship Him.\u00a0 Zechariah 14:16-18 indicates that they will not receive rain for their crops.\n\nZechariah 14:16-18, \u201cThen it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. [17] And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth\u201d this is in the thousand year kingdom, \u201cthat does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.\u00a0 [18] If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.\u201d\u00a0 So God is going to make sure that all of the nations of the earth during this thousand year kingdom are going to worship His Son, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That is not just the identity of Jesus, that\u2019s His destiny.\u00a0 He is destined to be worshipped by the whole planet.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s true why not get a head start?\u00a0 Why not worship Him now?\u00a0 Because that\u2019s who He is and that\u2019s what His destiny is.\n\nAnd one more, His \u201cRIGHTEOUS ACTS,\u201d the martyrs are praising Him because of His righteous acts, \u201cYOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.\u201d\u00a0 Notice that God\u2019s acts\u00a0 in history are \u201cRIGHTEOUS.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0And notice that these acts \u201cHAVE BEEN REVEALED.\u201d\u00a0 Where are they revealed exactly? In this Book, the Bible.\u00a0 They are also revealed in the whole Book of Revelation that we\u2019ve studied.\u00a0 I mean why even bring this up now?\u00a0 Why do we have to have a tutorial on the righteous acts of God?\u00a0 I think it partly has to do with the fact that the judgments that are coming in the Book of Revelation are of such a severe quality that humanity is raising its collective fist against God and arguing what right do You have to do this?\u00a0 I mean, what right do You have to take the ocean and turn it to blood red, which is coming in Revelation 16?\u00a0 What right do you have, God, to usher in the greatest earthquake in human history, which is coming in Revelation 16?\u00a0 What right do you have, God, to topple the empire of the antichrist, called Babylon, which is coming in Revelation?\u00a0 Who do YOU THINK YOU ARE!!!\n\nWell, the reminder is given that everything God does is right.\u00a0 In fact, if I ever get to a position in my Christian life where I\u2019m reading God\u2019s Word and I\u2019m second guessing God the problem isn\u2019t with God, the problem is with who?\u00a0 The problem is with me!\u00a0 Isaiah 55:8-9 says this, God says, \u201cFor My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,\u201d declares the LORD.\u00a0 [9] \u201cFor as<\/em> the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.\u201d\u00a0 WOW!!!!\u00a0 Do we understand that compared to God our intellects are just a little [can't understand word] if I could put it that way.\u00a0 It\u2019s like an ant on an ant hill looking at the human race and saying how dare you.\u00a0 That\u2019s humanity\u2019s rebellion against God, second guessing God.\u00a0 How in the world could we second guess God when His ways are higher than my ways and His thoughts than my thoughts.\u00a0 [Isaiah 55:9, \u201cFor as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 After all at the end of the day He\u2019s the Creator, I\u2019m the what?\u00a0 The creation; who am I to second guess God?\n\nBeyond that even the things I think are corrupted by my sin nature.\u00a0 Not only am I finite in terms of my knowledge but even the thoughts I think are corrupted because of my Adamic nature.\u00a0 And compare that to God who is not just omnipotent, not just omnipresent but omniscient and knows everything?\u00a0 And His thoughts are not tainted by a sinful nature.\u00a0 And we think we can second guess God which is silly when you think about it.\u00a0 So yes, these judgments are difficult and they are severe but they\u2019re right!\u00a0 What God is executing on this earth is right!\u00a0 And so these martyrs begin to explode into praise unto God.\n\nSo we\u2019ve seen the manifestation of the seven plagues and the martyrs hymn or doxology unto God and when we reconvene the next Lord\u2019s day we\u2019ll take it up there in verse 5 and see what is happening in the heavenly tabernacle.\n\nBut you know, you may be here today and you may not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and you\u2019re saying what does all this stuff you guys celebrated earlier with the cup and the bread, I just don\u2019t understand all of that.\u00a0 It\u2019s all very simple, it\u2019s called the gospel.\u00a0 \u201cGospel\u201d means good news.\u00a0 It\u2019s good news because Jesus did everything necessary to bridge the gap between fallen humanity and a Holy God.\u00a0 He took the penalty of our sin and our place.\u00a0 The story of the Bible is not man reaching up to God; it\u2019s God reaching down to man in the person of Jesus Christ with a gift.\u00a0 And what were the final words that Christ said on the cross?\u00a0 \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 Everything\u2019s been paid for. \u00a0The only thing left for us as lost people to do is to receive it as a gift.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something you can work for.\u00a0 \u201cFor by grace you have been saved by faith.\u201d\u00a0 It is \u201cNot of works, lest any man should boast.\u201d\n\nIsaiah 64:6 says our works of righteousness are as filthy rags unto God.\u00a0 [Isaiah 64:6, \u201cBut we are all as an unclean thing<\/em>, and all our righteousnesses are<\/em> as filthy rags;\u201d KJV]\u00a0 God is not interested in my religiosity, He\u2019s not interested in my good works, He\u2019s interested in me receiving a gift from Him.\u00a0 And so many people can\u2019t do that because it\u2019s hard to receive a gift, isn\u2019t it? \u00a0It\u2019s much easier to give a gift than to receive a gift.\u00a0 But a gift is just that, it\u2019s a gift, it\u2019s something you can\u2019t work for.\u00a0 If I buy my daughter a brand new car for her 16th<\/sup> birthday (and don\u2019t tell her I said that because don\u2019t put any thoughts into her mind) but let\u2019s say hypothetically I do that, take her outside, here\u2019s a car, here\u2019s the keys, oh, by the way, when are you going to start making payments? It\u2019s no longer a gift, is it?\u00a0 A gift only has value to someone if they receive it.\u00a0 How do you receive a gift from God? It\u2019s very clear in the Bible\u2026 by faith!\u00a0 \u201cFor the one who does not work but believes, his faith is accounted unto righteousness.\u201d\u00a0 [Romans 4:5, \u201cBut to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.\u201d]\n\nBelieve simply means trust, it means to rely upon, it means to depend upon.\u00a0 There comes a point in\u00a0 your life where the Spirit convicts you and you simply rest or trust in what Jesus did for\u00a0 you 2,000 years ago.\u00a0 That's how simple it is to become a Christian.\u00a0 It is not a twelve step program; it\u2019s a one step program!\u00a0 It\u2019s not something you have to walk an aisle to do, join a church to do, give money to do, it\u2019s just a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you rest or trust in what Jesus did for you 2,000 years ago.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s something that you have done or are doing even as I speak and you can do it right now even as I speak, in total privacy, then on the authority of the Word of God you\u2019ve just changed\u00a0 your whole eternal destiny.","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