{"id":19012,"date":"2019-12-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-063-two-invitations\/"},"modified":"2019-12-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-08T06:00:00","slug":"revelation-063-two-invitations","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-063-two-invitations\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 063 – Two Invitations"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19012","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 063 - Two Invitations","sermon_date":"20191208","sermon_month":"12","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":7360,"sermon_slides":7361,"sermon_mp3":7363,"sermon_id":"1281934074580","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"19:15-21","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nTwo Invitations Revelation 19:15-21\n\nLesson 63\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 19 and verse 15.\u00a0\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is Two Invitations.\u00a0 And as you\u2019re turning there, I think Ed made reference to the \u201cWhat? No Angels<\/em>\u201d play that we\u2019re going to have tonight at 6:00 p.m.\u00a0 I\u2019d encourage you to think about attending that; my daughter is so excited about it and she\u2019s part of the group there, amongst many others.\u00a0 And we\u2019re really looking forward to that.\n\nAnd this Wednesday\u00a0\u00a0 I had announced that I won\u2019t be here because I was going to the Pre-trib Conference but it turns out I am going to be here teaching this Wednesday and it really relates to my wife who, as some of you may know, she was out playing softball with our youth group kids here at the church and she took a nasty fall, kind of news flash we\u2019re not in our twenties any more, but that\u2019s all right.\u00a0 And she ended up breaking her ankle and that\u2019s healing okay but she ended up damaging two fingers (I think) which were misdiagnosed; a local facility told her that they weren\u2019t broken.\u00a0 It turns out they are broken and they\u2019re growing in correctly and so the whole thing could have been [can't understand word] if we had a good diagnosis to begin with.\u00a0 So tomorrow she\u2019s being rushed into surgery, tomorrow morning, Monday morning.\u00a0 So if you can keep her in your prayers during that time our family would really appreciate it.\n\nAnd it\u2019s not just us that are having struggles, as you look at the list of health issues in the yellow insert you\u2019ll see all kinds of people that are struggling with different difficult ailments and there\u2019s nothing more comforting when you go into those situations to know that there\u2019s a lot of people behind you in prayer.\u00a0 And so the prayer for all these people, and my wife also, is that God would give the surgeon wisdom and the Lord would work through that.\u00a0 Do you guys believe in the power of prayer?\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t ask you for prayer on this if I didn\u2019t believe in the power of prayer and I asked my wife if you don\u2019t mind me sharing this and she said fine, because she believes in the power of prayer.\u00a0 So the more prayer we have and others have the better.\n\nThe Book of Revelation, chapter 19, we are at the end (believe it or not) of a series of momentous events that have been described in the Book of Revelation called the Great Tribulation period.\u00a0 We\u2019re in chapter 19 which is the end of that tribulation period.\u00a0 And so we can take the information in chapter 19 as Babylon has already fallen, verses 1-6, and heaven has celebrated Babylon\u2019s fall.\u00a0 We can divide the rest of the chapter as follows: there is something called the marriage supper\u00a0 \u00a0of the Lamb.\u00a0 That\u2019s the first supper indication, verses 7-9, sort of describing the church returning with Christ in glory having already experienced the Bema Seat Judgment and the marriage supper\u00a0 \u00a0of the Lamb.\u00a0 And then from there we moved into verse 10 where John himself responds to the revelation that he has received by worshipping (not God) but the angel dispatched from God that gave John these insights.\u00a0 And we got into the subject there of idolatry and how we are not to worship God\u2019s servants, we\u2019re to worship God!\n\nAnd now what we\u2019re looking at, we started this last time, is what was called the main event.\u00a0 What is the main event?\u00a0 \u00a0What is human history being pushed towards?\u00a0 It\u2019s the bodily return of Jesus Christ to planet earth.\u00a0 Do you believe that\u2019s going to happen one day?\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we\u2019re all looking forward to; that\u2019s what we\u2019re all yearning for.\u00a0 We have a description of that in verses 11-16.\u00a0 Last week verses 11-14 we looked at the ten qualities of that main event, the Second Advent. And now this morning we move into verses 15 and 16 which are the activities, five of them, that Jesus will execute upon His bodily physical visible return to planet earth to establish His long awaited kingdom at the end of this seven year tribulation period that we have been studying.\n\nSo here are the activities we\u2019ll look at and as time permits we\u2019ll be moving into verses 17-19 where we\u2019ll see an invitation to a second supper.\u00a0 That one\u2019s called (not the marriage supper of the Lamb) that one\u2019s called the supper of God.\u00a0 And that\u2019s not a good one to go to I might say.\u00a0 If you get an invite to that one you might want to turn that one down.\u00a0\u00a0 But the first supper is something that you will want to go to and that\u2019s why I\u2019ve entitled this message Two Invitations.\n\nBut before we get to that second supper notice first of all the activities of Jesus Christ. What is He going to do upon His return to the earth or even as He is returning to the earth.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, verse 15.\u00a0 \u201cFrom His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will\u00a0 rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the\u00a0 wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.\u201d\u00a0 WOW!\n\nWhat\u2019s Jesus going to do when He comes back?\u00a0 Number one, the world is going to see an exposition or an exhibition of His spoken Word.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what\u2019s happening in verse 15, I believe, when it talks about a sharp sword protruding from His mouth.\u00a0 We know, for example, from the Book of Hebrews, chapter 4 and verse 12, that \u201cThe Word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged\u201d what? \u201csword.\u201d\u00a0 This, I think, is most likely a reference to what He\u2019s going to say when He comes back.\n\nAnd it\u2019s not just here that this is predicted.\u00a0 There are other places where the breath of Christ, the words of Christ, are highlighted.\u00a0 Isaiah 11:4 describes the return of Christ this way:\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 2 Thessalonians 2:8 of the coming antichrist describes the antichrist\u2019s demise.\u00a0 And it says there, 2 Thessalonians 2:8, \u201cThen that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the splendor\u201d or \u201cappearance of His coming.\u201d\u00a0 The spoken word, the very words that spoke in the heavens and the earth leapt into existence.\u00a0 Jesus, of course, created ex nihilo<\/em> the heavens and the earth through a spoken word.\u00a0 And you can see that spoken word coming forth from His mouth, directed at the antichrist and this is really no contest; the antichrist is defeated instantaneously.\n\nThe second thing that Jesus is going to do is He is not only going to speak forth His Word but He is going to smite the nations.\u00a0 That also you\u2019ll find a description of it in verse 15.\u00a0 It says, \u201cso that with it He may smite\u201d or \u201cstrike down the nations.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 19:15, \u201cFrom His mouth comes a sharp sword, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.\u201d]\u00a0 And if you want a description of His striking down of the nations you\u2019ll see a reference to that in a verse that\u2019s coming, in verse 19.\u00a0 It says, \u201cAnd I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.\u201d\u00a0 And it talks about this army that\u2019s actually going to go out and oppose Jesus Christ, the beast and ten kings, and Jesus is going to smite them instantaneously.\n\nOf course, the nations have always been at war with God.\u00a0 Genesis 11:1-4 essentially describes the origin of the nations.\u00a0 [Genesis 11:1-4, \u201cNow the whole earth used the same language and the same words. [2] It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. [3] They said to one another, \u201cCome, let us make bricks and burn them<\/em> thoroughly.\u201d And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. [4] They said, \u201cCome, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach<\/em> into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.\u201d]\n\nWhere did these nations come from?\u00a0 They owe their origin to the tower of Babel which talks about (there in Genesis 11:1) a time period when the whole earth spoke the same language.\u00a0 And they all came together as one, I call this sort of the first United Nations Conference, and they wanted to build a one world system of\u00a0 economics, politics and religion that excludes the knowledge of the true God.\u00a0 It\u2019s what today we call the New World Order.\u00a0 They were attempting this on the plains of Shinar all the way back in the Book of Genesis and God, as you know, confounded the language so that they couldn\u2019t communicate with each other.\u00a0 That\u2019s where we get the name Babel from, they couldn\u2019t talk.\u00a0 And God shut down the whole project and all of these nations that we see today owe their origin to this corrupted system.\n\nAnd so consequently the kings of the earth and the nations of the earth have, ever since that point in time always been railing against Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting that as Jesus returns we see, verse 15, Him speaking and smiting these nations.\u00a0\u00a0 And then what is described as He begins to rule the nations with a rod of iron.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, verse 15, \u201cFrom His mouth comes a sharp sword that He may strike down the nations\u201d now watch this, \u201cand He will rule them with a rod of iron.\u201d Up to this point in time the nations have always thought that they\u2019re going to have the upper hand on God.\n\nIn fact, if you look at their rulings and their decisions and the things that they say they\u2019re always saying things against Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And yet what we learn here is that the nations in their rebellion against God have that upper hand in history temporarily because the time in history will come where they will not be ruling Jesus Christ, they will not be throwing Jesus Christ out of the school class-rooms for example, but He actually will be ruling them.\u00a0 And we have a description of this all the way back a thousand years before the time of Christ in Psalm 2:9.\u00a0 In fact, Psalm 2 is a description of the conspiracy.\u00a0 You say well, you don\u2019t believe in conspiracy theories do you?\u00a0 Yes, I do!\u00a0 They\u2019re in the Bible.\u00a0 The nation, Psalm 2, conspiring against God.\u00a0 [Psalm 2:9, \u201c\u2018You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.\u2019\u201d]\n\nIn fact, that\u2019s what the nations are doing today; that\u2019s what they\u2019ve always done.\u00a0 And what is the reaction of God as these nations conspire against Him?\u00a0 Psalm 2 talks about how God just sits in the heavens and laughs.\u00a0 It\u2019s like little ants building their little thing or whatever and they\u2019re kind of conspiring against God.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure God is really got sweaty palms over that one\u2026 God just sits there and laughs because the time in history is coming where He will not only smite them but He will rule over them.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Psalm 2 exhorts the nations to kiss the Son lest He grow angry.\u00a0 [Psalm 2:12, \u201cDo homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in<\/em> the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled.\u00a0 How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!\u201d]\n\nIn other words, if you\u2019re going to get on the right side of things you\u2019d better do it now because the smiting and the ruling is coming and you don\u2019t want to be caught on the wrong side of that power structure.\u00a0 That\u2019s the exhortation of Psalm 2.\u00a0 In fact, Psalm 2:9, of Jesus Christ, says, \u201c\u2018You shall break them with a rod of iron,\u00a0 You shall shatter them like earthenware.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 And as these survivors of this tribulation period go into the millennial kingdom and begin to repopulate the earth we have a unique period of time, which is not the eternal state, where people will still possess a sin nature, and it will be necessary for that thousand year time period for these survivors, believing survivors of the tribulation period to still be ruled for a thousand years with this rod of iron.\u00a0 That\u2019s what keeps everything under control for a thousand years.\n\nNow that need won\u2019t exist anymore during the eternal state because by then the resurrections all will have taken place, the sin nature won\u2019t exist anymore, and so this information that we have about ruling with a rod of iron, it\u2019s not so much showcased in the eternal state because it\u2019s unneeded.\u00a0 But it certainly will be needed during this unique period of time that\u2019s coming, we\u2019re about to discover a lot about it as we\u2019re moving through the Book of Revelation, in Revelation 20:1-10.\u00a0 So one of the things that Jesus Christ is going to do is He\u2019s going to rule and subdue these nations.\n\nSomething else He\u2019s going to do, number four, is He\u2019s going to tread the winepress.\u00a0 Look, if you will, at verse 15.\u00a0 It says, \u201cAnd He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty.\u201d\u00a0 Now what is a winepress?\u00a0 It\u2019s very interesting imagery.\u00a0 I\u2019ve actually been to Israel and actually seen a winepress in operation.\u00a0 A winepress basically takes grapes that are ripe and it crushes them and that\u2019s sort of is a description, this winepress, of the end of the tribulation period, the end of the age when humanity has gone so far in its rejection against God, so far in its rebellion against God that it\u2019s really not good for anything anymore other than to be crushed like grapes because the grapes are now ripe, it\u2019s now ripe or time or the right season for this crushing because of the sin of the human race.\n\nI\u2019m reminded of Genesis 15 verse 16, the prediction that the nation of Israel four hundred years later under the days of Joshua will reenter the land of Canaan and eradicate the Canaanites.\u00a0 And it says there reenter the land of Canaan and eradicate the Canaanites and it says there in Genesis 15:16 this four hundred year period is allowed because the wickedness of the Amorites is not yet full.\u201d\u00a0 [Genesis 15:16. \u201cThen in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.\u201d]\u00a0 \u00a0In other words, the grapes are not ripe yet, they\u2019re not as wicked as they can possibly be.\u00a0 And yet there was a time when the grapes became ripe; they weren\u2019t good for anything other than to be crushed.\u00a0 And when they\u2019re crushed the wine flow takes place and that wine flow is analogized to the blood that is spilled when the Lord God Almighty treads this wine press.\u00a0 The grapes become ripe and have to be crushed, humanity becomes so ripe in its rejection of God and its rebellion against God, its wickedness against God that it\u2019s not good for anything other than to be crushed and as that wine flows the blood will flow.\n\nRevelation 14 tells us as high as the horse\u2019s bridles.\u00a0 [Revelation 14:20, \u201cAnd the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses\u2019 bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.\u201d]\u00a0 And so this winepress imagery is so rich in terms of what it\u2019s communicating and it\u2019s so interesting to actually go to Israel today and see the actual crushing of grapes.\u00a0 This was all imagery that a Jewish reader would grasp and would understand.\n\nAnd as these people in their rebellion, these grapes if you will, are being crushed what does it say?\u00a0 It says, \u201cHe treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 19:15, \u201cFrom His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.]\u00a0 It\u2019s actually two Greek words, it\u2019s anger plus wrath.\u00a0 There\u2019s actually two words there, anger plus wrath orge<\/em>, two words to describe the wrath of God against the human race when He returns the second time.\n\nNow you read things like this in the Bible and aren\u2019t\u00a0 you glad for the top of the screen, that the church is raptured or removed from the earth before these things happen.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 Because we are promised, are we not, over and over again an exemption from divine wrath as the church. The wrath of God has been absorbed in our place.\u00a0 And as you move through \u00a0the various passages that speak of the tribulation period, it always describes it as a time of divine wrath, fierce wrath, right up to the very last verse that we just read, Revelation 19:15.\u00a0 No, beloved, you\u2019re not part of those grapes that are going to be crushed; in fact, if I\u2019m understanding my Bible correctly God is actually using\u00a0 you as a member of His previously raptured church in a resurrected body to help Him (not that He needs our help but he gives us the privilege of functioning under His delegated authority.\u00a0 We will be actually helping Him execute this long awaited wrath on planet earth.\u00a0 So you are not appointed to wrath, in fact, the Bible says the day will come when you will judge the angels.\n\nI think part of the instrument of His wrath will be His church\u00a0 that He will use to banish Satan from the earth and execute His wrath on planet earth.\u00a0 And God is going to get exactly what He wants because if you look at the end of the verse He\u2019s called \u201cGod, the Almighty.\u201d\u00a0 How do you stand up against that?\u00a0 He is omnipotent, all powerful, and thus the foolishness of living one\u2019s life against God.\u00a0 This is why Psalm 2 says Kiss the Son lest He grow angry.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Psalm 2:12 KJV, \u201cKiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from<\/em> the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are<\/em> all they that put their trust in him.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 This judgment from an almighty God is coming; Psalm 2 says get on the right side of history now, \u201cKiss the Son,\u201d honor Him in other words, \u201clest he be angry.\u201d\n\nThis is an amazing description of the Second Advent of Christ, His spoken Word, His smiting of the nations, His ruling of the nations, His trampling down of the peoples of the earth at this time, like a winepress.\u00a0 And then also He\u2019s going to rule as King.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, verse 16, \u201cAnd on His robe and on His thigh\u201d two places in other words, \u201cHe has a name written,\u201d what does it say here in capital letters? \u00a0\u201c KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 These are what we call superlatives, meaning the ultimate, the highest.\u00a0 It\u2019s like when Solomon calls his Song of Solomon at the beginning of the book he calls it the Song of Songs.\u00a0 Solomon wrote a lot of songs but when he calls this one (it\u2019s in our Bible by the way) the \u201cSong of Songs\u201d he\u2019s saying this is the\u00a0 ultimate song, this is the highest song of all the songs I\u2019ve written!\n\nIt\u2019s like when the Bible uses the expression of the inner sanctuary in the temple area and the tabernacle area, it uses the expression \u201cHoly of Holies.\u201d\u00a0 This is not just a Holy Site we\u2019re talking about here, this is the ultimate Holy Site!\u00a0 This is the highest of Holy Sites!\u00a0\u00a0 And that\u2019s what you have here with this description of Jesus as not just a king, but the KING OF KINGS.\u00a0 He\u2019s not just a Lord, but He is the LORD OF LORDS, superlative, the ultimate King, the highest King and the highest Lord.\n\nAnd isn\u2019t it interesting how our pluralistic culture has totally lost sight of this because in the minds \u00a0of many people today many people think Jesus is just an option, He\u2019s just one sort of path of many.\u00a0\u00a0 You talk today to people about Christ and they\u2019ll sort of give you this answer that I\u2019m glad that you found enlightenment in your particular guru, in your life coach, in\u00a0 your ascended master, and completely oblivious to the fact that we\u2019re dealing with Jesus here, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.\u00a0 He\u2019s not one of many options, He is the ultimate King, and He is the ultimate Lord.\n\nThat, by the way, is how you can always recognize false teaching because it will somehow take Jesus and demote Him to something that He is not.\u00a0 In fact, that\u2019s what the whole Book of Colossians was designed to address where the Colossian heresy took Jesus and just made Him one of many angels in what is called the Chain of Being.\u00a0 [The Great Chain of Being is a hierarchical structure of all matter and life, thought in medieval Christianity to have been decreed by God. The chain starts with God and progresses downward to angels, humans, animals, plants, and minerals.\u201d]\n\nAnd the Book of Colossians comes along, Paul writing that book, and saying Jesus is not one of many angels, He created the angels.\u00a0 The angels themselves owe their origin to the ex nihilo<\/em>, something out of nothing Word of God.\u00a0 When (not if) WHEN the Mormons come to your door they\u2019re going to try to sell you on the idea that Jesus is just one of many, He\u2019s just a created being. The Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses teach the same thing.\u00a0 Islam, by the way, teaches that Jesus is coming back with Allah as sort of his sidekick, kind of in the role of a consultant.\u00a0 And such ideas are totally foreign to the Bible; the Bible knows no such doctrine, it knows no such teaching.\u00a0 All of these false religions I have been talking about clearly are false because they take Jesus and they demote Him to something that He is not.\n\nWe\u2019re dealing with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.\u00a0 And He is coming back to this earth to rule as King.\u00a0 Everything that He did not receive at His First Advent He is receiving now in His Second Advent.\u00a0 You know, it\u2019s interesting that when\u00a0 you study the writings of the prophet Daniel, six hundred years in advance predicting the first coming of Christ.\u00a0 It says there in Daniel 9:25, \u201cSo you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem\u201d now if you understand this correctly it\u2019s pinpointing the exact day that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey and proclaim Himself as the Messiah to the Jewish people.\u00a0 This was predicted to the exact day.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Luke 19 verse 42 Jesus said to the Christ rejecting Jews, \u201cIf you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.\u201d\n\nOne of the interesting things that makes Jesus stand out is His whole life was revealed in the form of a script called Bible prophecy written, in this case, six centuries in advance.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSo you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem\u201d watch this, \u201cuntil Messiah the Prince\u201d not king, \u201cthere will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice that Jesus, in this prophecy, is referred to as \u201cthe Prince\u201d not the king.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0\u00a0 Because he never received His kingdom.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because the nation of Israel rejected Him.\u00a0 Daniel 9:26, the next verse, says, \u201cThen after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah\u201d Jesus, \u201cwill be cut off\u201d that\u2019s the crucifixion, \u201cand have nothing,\u201d what does it mean \u201cinherit nothing\u201d?\u00a0 He would not receive in his First Advent His long awaited\u00a0 kingdom.\n\nIn fact, as He is adorned with crowns here in Revelation 19 the only crown He ever received in His First Advent was the crown of thorns, crown of mockery.\u00a0 Matthew chapter 27:27-30 of the crucifixion of Christ, says, \u201cThen the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him.\u00a0 [28] They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.\u00a0 [29] And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, \u201cHail, King of the Jews!\u201d\u00a0 [30] They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head.\u201d\u00a0 Talk about a crown that you received in His first coming that was it.\u00a0 He was the prince, never the King.\u00a0 His inheritance was cut off.\n\nAnd isn\u2019t it interesting, everything is changing now in Revelation 19.\u00a0 The nation of Israel is receiving Christ; the kingdom is now His which He will reign over for a thousand years and He is adorned with many diadems and crowns, completely different situation than what we read about in the first coming.\u00a0 It\u2019s astounding what the Bible reveals concerning exactly what is going to happen when He comes back, His spoken Word, His smiting of the nations, His ruling of the nations, His treading down of the winepress, and His rulership as King, none of which we take for granted because all of that was denied\u00a0 in His First Advent.\n\nAnd we continue on in Revelation 19 and we learn now about a second supper.\u00a0 The first supper is the supper of the Lamb, verse 7-9.\u00a0 [Revelation 19:7-9, \u201cLet us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.\u201d [8] It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and<\/em> clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.\u00a0 [9] Then he said to me, \u201cWrite, \u2018Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.\u2019\u201d And he said to me, \u201cThese are true words of God.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 By the\u00a0 way, if you\u2019re a believer in Christ your invite is in your inbox waiting for you.\n\nBut then there\u2019s a different supper here.\u00a0 Verses 17 and 18, a supper, if you will, of destruction.\u00a0 We have two invitations.\u00a0 And notice what it says in verse 17, \u201cThen I\u201d that\u2019s\u00a0 John, \u201csaw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, \u201cCome, assemble for the great supper of God,\u201d look at that invitation.\u00a0 Here you have an angel standing in the sun, he cries out with a voice, not a small voice, not a soft voice, not a great voice, and this time he\u2019s summoning the birds and it talks about how the birds are flying in mid heaven, I\u2019m not exactly sure what that means other than the fact that the Greek typically took the heavens and divided them into three parts, the distance from the ground to the clouds, which would be heaven one, then from the clouds to the stars would be heaven two, and then then beyond the stars is heaven three.\n\nPaul, in 2 Corinthians 12:2 was caught up into the third heaven, where God is, where God dwells.\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 12:2, \u201cI know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago-- whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows-- such a man was caught up to the third heaven.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 And so these birds flying in mid heaven may have something to do with the Greeks and how they stratified the atmosphere.\u00a0 But you\u2019ll notice whatever this means that these birds are summoned and they\u2019re summoned to a particular invitation.\u00a0 This is not the marriage supper of the Lamb which was described earlier; this is the supper of God.\u00a0 They\u2019re assembled for a supper called the supper of God.\n\nNow what are these birds going to be eating exactly?\u00a0 \u00a0I mean, what\u2019s on the menu?\u00a0\u00a0 Notice, if you will, verse 18, it\u2019s very descriptive;\u00a0 \u201cso that you\u201d that\u2019s the birds, angels speaking to the birds, \u201cyou may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0These birds are summoned to gorge on the corpses that will exist.\n\nWhy are there going to be so many human corpses?\u00a0\u00a0 Because of what\u2019s been described in the prior verses\u2014Jesus returning, speaking His Word, ruling with a rod of iron, the nations themselves opposing Him and there\u2019s going to be dead bodies everywhere.\u00a0 And consequently the birds themselves are summoned to gorge on these corpses.\u00a0 I believe that this supper of God is not just described here in Revelation 19, you\u2019ll also find a reference to it in Ezekiel 39:17-18 which says, \u00a0<\/sup>\u201cAs for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, \u2018Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field, \u201cAssemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood.\u201d Speaking to these birds!\u00a0 \u00a0[18] \u201cYou will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, as though they were<\/em> rams, lambs, goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.\u201d\n\nWe also, I believe, have a description of this supper of God in Matthew 24:27-28.\u00a0 Verse 27 describes what we\u2019re reading about here, the second advent.\u00a0 [27] \u201cFor just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.\u201d\u00a0 And then the next verse, verse 28 says, \u201cWherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.\u201d\u00a0 And so these birds are now summoned to gorge on the corpses of all of the deceased that were slain and slaughtered at the Second Advent of Christ.\u00a0 In fact, you\u2019ll see the word \u201cflesh\u201d which is the Greek word sarx<\/em>, mentioned four times just in verse 18.\n\nAnd verse 18 describes nine classes of people that will be killed and their corpses gorged upon by the birds.\u00a0 Number one, kings.\u00a0 Number two, commanders.\u00a0 Number three, mighty men.\u00a0 Number four, horses.\u00a0\u00a0 Number 5, riders.\u00a0 Number 6, the three.\u00a0 Number seven, the slaves, and then the free.\u00a0 Is that nine.\u00a0 Kings, commanders, mighty men, horses, free, slaves, the small and the great.\u00a0 I think that comes out to nine.\u00a0 If not you guys will give me a little grace, which we all need.\n\nOne of the things that\u2019s interesting to me as I look at this is it talks about slaves.\u00a0 Apparently there will be slaves on the earth when this happens and this is not the first time in the Book of Revelation that you see the reality of slavery.\u00a0 You\u2019ll also find it in Revelation 18:13 regarding the destruction of Babylon.\u00a0 It says, \u201cand cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep, and cargoes<\/em> of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives.\u201d\n\nToday when you bring up the issue of slavery in the United States they\u2019re talking about something that happened at our nation\u2019s inception that we, through the providence of God in western civilization corrected.\u00a0 And yet they use the issue of slavery over and over again to tear down the institutions of the United States, to teach the youth that the United States really is a genocide culture.\u00a0 And I\u2019m not here to defend everything that our Founding Fathers said or did.\u00a0 But I will say this, it is unique amongst the nations of the earth for a nation to rise up against it and fix it.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s called\n\nThe Emancipation Proclamation under then President Lincoln.\u00a0 And as much as everybody today is saying that the Constitution is a racist document are they not understanding that our constitution has been amended three times.\u00a0 Those are called the post-Civil War Amendments, the 13th<\/sup>, the 14th<\/sup>, and the 15th<\/sup> amendments which were designed to free slaves and give them rights.\u00a0 And as much as people keep bringing up the issue of slavery today, two hundred years ago, to tear down the United States they\u2019re totally ignoring the fact that the slavery that exists in the Middle East under Islam right now.\u00a0 You want to talk\u00a0 women\u2019s rights?\u00a0 Let\u2019s have that discussion.\n\nLet\u2019s talk about the Middle East.\u00a0 You want to talk about slavery?\u00a0 Let\u2019s have a conversation about that; let\u2019s talk about what Islam is doing and has always done right now in that part of the world.\u00a0 I just find people to be very selective in how they\u2019re using this issue of slavery.\u00a0 And I would under\u00adstand this as the growth of Islam being factored into these prophecies because Islam legitimizes enslavement and mistreatment of other human beings.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think the Bible does, as much as people want to blame the Bible for slavery.\u00a0 The last time I checked the Bible teaches that all people regardless of color or race or national origin are image bearers of God.\u00a0 Does not the Bible teach that?\n\nIn fact, what the Bible teaches is there are no races; there\u2019s one race, the human race!\u00a0 There are different pigmentations of skin coloring but those aren\u2019t different races.\u00a0 There is one race; there is no theological or biblical basis for understanding that one race has a right to enslave another.\u00a0 Every- where the Bible has gone it\u2019s always been the opponent of slavery.\u00a0 Of course there are always people that twist the Bible and misuse the Bible and that\u2019s not what we\u2019re talking about here; we\u2019re talking about the basic biblical teachings of the Bible.\u00a0 Where this book goes slavery is on the run and that\u2019s not true with the Quran, or the Hadith, or any number of false religions.\u00a0 It\u2019s the exact opposite.\u00a0 Apparently these false religions have some sort of upper hand in the last days and that\u2019s why there\u2019s a couple of references, I think to slavery, in the Book of Revelation.\n\nBut isn\u2019t it interesting how all of these people, regardless of their status, whether they\u2019re slave or free, small or great, kings or commanders of mighty men are just ordinary people, all of them now are equal under the judgment of God.\u00a0 And I\u2019d like to say all of the heroes are now zeroes.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that what happened when we studied the destruction of Babylon?\u00a0 It says in Revelation 18:23, \u201c\u2026for your merchants were the great men of the earth,\u201d it\u2019s kind of like going to your high school reunion, all the heroes are now zeroes and class nerd is now the multibillionaire.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s interesting how things change.\n\nAnd when the judgment of God comes it\u2019s going to be equal, it\u2019s going to be applied across the board.\u00a0 That\u2019s what death and judgment is, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 It\u2019s the great equalizer, it affects everybody regardless of status in society.\u00a0 Death, judgment, affects the rich.\u00a0 Job wrote about it in Job 1:21, he says, \u201cNaked I came from my mother\u2019s womb, and naked I shall return there.\u201d\n\nPaul talks about it in 1 Timothy 6:7, he says, \u201cFor we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.\u201d\u00a0 The last time I checked there\u2019s no You Hauls behind the hearse, you leave it all behind, it doesn\u2019t matter what your status is, it doesn\u2019t matter what your title is, it doesn\u2019t matter what your asset ledger looks like, what your investments are, bank account. It doesn\u2019t even matter how people look at you, look\u00a0 up to you or look down upon you, it\u2019s all equal,\u00a0 under death and under the judgment of God.\u00a0 \u00a0Apparently this judgment of those living on the earth at this time is very, very severe resulting in so many corpses that the birds themselves are summoned to gorge themselves on these corpses.\n\nAs I mentioned before this is your second invitation that you see in this chapter.\u00a0 Do you remember Revelation 19:9, there was invitation A, \u201cThen he said to me, \u201cWrite, \u2018Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.\u2019\u201d And he said to me, \u201cThese are true words of God.\u201d \u00a0That supper is attached to a blessing, makarios<\/em> in the Greek.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of the seven, as we\u2019ve talked about, beatitudes in the Book of Revelation.\n\nThen as you drop down to verse 17 you see invitation number two.\u00a0 \u201cThen I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid-heaven, \u201cCome, a<\/strong>ssemble for the great supper of God,\u201d\u00a0 A supper of bliss and a supper of\u00a0 judgment.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I\u2019ve entitled this message Two Invitations.\u00a0 The real issue is which one are you going to attend.\u00a0 If a person is in Jesus Christ then what happens is they are part of that glorious supper of the Lamb.\u00a0 But if a person is not in Jesus Christ then even assuming that they make it to the end of the tribulation period they\u2019re slain by Jesus Christ with the breath of His mouth and the splendor of His coming, and there\u2019s nothing left for them other than for their rotting corpse to be consumed by the animal world, the birds in this case.\n\nI can\u2019t think of a clearer contrast in the Bible than what I just described.\u00a0\u00a0 This is one of the things that\u2019s always attracted me to the Bible because in our culture and our civilization everybody is talking in gray type areas.\u00a0 We don\u2019t\u00a0 use right or wrong anymore, we don\u2019t have absolutes, everything is \u201cif\u201d.\u00a0 Everything\u2019s a matter of debate.\u00a0 Everything is a matter of discussion.\u00a0 We have endless talk shows and radio shows where the talking heads are debating something that used to be common sense.\u00a0 I mean, you need a whole cadre of experts to be told whether you should come in out of the rain today.\u00a0\u00a0 [Laughter] \u00a0Common sense is gone, absolutes are gone, everything is in, everything is a gray area, and don\u2019t assert yourself over someone else because you will be called arrogant and prideful very, very quick.\n\nAnd how refreshing it is to turn to the pages of God\u2019s Word and you start seeing absolutes.\u00a0 There is a broad road that leads to destruction and there is a narrow road that leads to life.\u00a0 That\u2019s a contrast.\u00a0 There are sheep and there are goats.\u00a0 There is wheat and there are tares.\u00a0 There are children of God and there are children of Satan.\u00a0 There are angels and there are demons.\u00a0 There is God and there is Satan. There is heaven and there is hell.\u00a0 When you start to understand this you start to understand what [can't understand word] this book taught.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want it in the schools and if they get their way through all of these so-called hate speeches they\u2019re going to eventually shut down sermons just like this.\u00a0 You can\u2019t post them anymore; can\u2019t put them on social media and we may even come into your church and yank away your taxes of status.\n\nWhy are they doing this?\u00a0 Because this Book doesn\u2019t fit with the Esau\u2019s or the culture of the day where everything is just sort of up in the air debatable.\u00a0 That\u2019s not true with the Bible.\u00a0 One of the things that refreshes me about the Bible, one of the things that convinces me that this book had to be from God because of how counter cultural it is.\u00a0 You know, we have our youth today always wanting to be counter cultural.\u00a0 You want to be counter cultural?\u00a0 Become a disciple of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019ll make\u00a0 you about as counter cultural as you can possibly be.\u00a0 If\u00a0 you\u2019ve got some need to be counter cultural God will fit you in with that program pretty quick because this Book is counter cultural.\u00a0 And so we see here two clear supper invitations and what gets you invited to supper A that keeps you out of supper B is the gospel, believing or trusting in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nSo we\u2019ve seen the marriage supper of the Lamb, we\u2019ve seen John\u2019s response to the revelation, we\u2019ve seen the second advent, we\u2019ve seen the S<\/strong>econd A<\/strong>dvent, we\u2019ve seen the supper of God and how does this chapter end?\u00a0 It ends with Jesus Christ defeating the beast and his armies and the false prophet.\n\nTake a look if you can at verses 19-21.\u00a0 Notice verse 19, \u201cAnd I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice that the beast is aligned with the nations or the kings.\u00a0 That\u2019s should not shock us at all, that\u2019s what we saw in Revelation 17:3, the beast with ten horns for the ten contemporaneous kings that arise with him, this ten king confederacy.\u00a0 [Revelation 17:3, \u201cAnd he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.\u201d]\u00a0 And they\u2019re coming at Jesus Christ with their armies, as He\u2019s returning to the earth.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a problem for them because Jesus, verse 19b and verse 14 He\u2019s coming back with His armies.\u00a0 Their armies versus His armies!\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice what it says in verse 19, they\u2019re coming \u201cto make war.\u201d\u00a0 Notice verse 19, \u201cAnd I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled\u201d against his army, and it talks here about the war that they will seek to wage on Jesus Christ.\u00a0 These people have a big problem because Jesus is coming back to wage war.\u00a0 \u00a0We saw that last week in Revelation 19:11, He\u2019s coming back to wage or prosecute a just or righteous war.\n\nVerse 19:11 says, \u201cAnd I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is<\/em> called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.\u201d\u00a0 So they have their army, He\u2019s got His army.\u00a0 They have their war, He\u2019s got His war.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m not a betting man but who do you think we ought to bet on here?\u00a0 I think we ought to bet on Jesus Christ.\u00a0 I like the second part of verse 19, it says \u201cthey are\u00a0 coming against waging war,\u201d the Greek word polymos<\/em>, where we get the word polemical, they\u2019re \u201cwaging war against Him,\u201d that\u2019s Jesus, \u201cwho sat on the white horse against His army.\u201d\u00a0 We know who the rider on the white horse is, there\u2019s no doubt, the rider on the white horse is none other than the Word of God.\u00a0 John 1:1, John 1:14.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [John 1:1, \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0John 1:14, \u201cAnd the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.\u201d ]\n\nThis is not an angel, this is not a lower ranking servant.\u00a0 They are declaring war on Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ and His armies are declaring war on them.\u00a0 Now who would be the armies of Jesus Christ?\u00a0 The armies of Jesus Christ no doubt would be the angels because Matthew 25:31 describes Jesus returning with His angels.\u00a0 But the armies that He is speaking of I think would also be you.\u00a0 It would also be me and those of us that have trusted in Jesus Christ as our Savior.\u00a0 We are returning with Him; we are a kingdom of priests.\u00a0 And we will rule and reign with Him upon the earth.\u00a0 There\u2019s a war in your future. There\u2019s a conflict in\u00a0 your future.\u00a0 God is actually going to use you as part of His bride and His church returning to the earth He\u2019s actually going to use\u00a0 you to sway the armies of Satan himself. But that doesn\u2019t seem to deter them, does it?\n\n\u201cI saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the white horse and against His army.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 19:19]\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of interesting that the Lord would have us, in this passage, around the advent season, around Christmas time, because Christmas time and the Second Advent of Christ both are descriptions of the human heart that\u2019s bent against God, because when Jesus Christ came the first time there was really no room for him in the heart.\u00a0 In fact, Luke 2:7, a passage we always read this time of the year, says this, \u201cAnd she\u201d that\u2019s Mary \u201cgave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.\u201d\n\nHow could a human mind have come up with a story like that?\u00a0 God incarnate enters this world and He can\u2019t even check into a hotel?\u00a0 They\u2019ve got to put Him in a manger somewhere, which I think a lot of our pictures have sort of destroyed this idea if you\u2019ve actually seen a manger in Bethlehem, it\u2019s basically something, it\u2019s like a cave, something hewn out of a rock.\u00a0 It\u2019s a place of humility, that\u2019s where Jesus was born because there\u2019s no room for Jesus, not even in the hotel system, or the motel system.\u00a0 He\u2019s pushed out of everything.\u00a0 And as you go through human history what is the human mind always doing against Christ?\u00a0 Pushing Him out, push Him out of the schools.\n\nIn fact, most of us, if we\u2019re honest with ourselves are really too busy this time of the year celebrating His birthday to give Him the place of prayer and honor and meditation that He deserves.\u00a0 This is why Jesus, in the Book of Revelation, chapter 3, is portrayed as outside the door of His own church.\u00a0 He\u2019s pushed out of the church, He\u2019s pushed out during His first coming and here it\u2019s the same pattern.\u00a0 Jesus is coming back to this earth in glory, they have no hope of winning this battle, and they actually go out and they fight Him when He comes back?\u00a0 I mean, everything that Jesus has done on planet earth has been resisted and opposed by the wicked heart of man over and over and over again.\n\nAnd so I think Christmas and the Second Advent are very nice bookends describing the hatred of the human heart towards Jesus.\u00a0 We resisted Him when He came the first time; we\u2019re going to resist Him when He comes back the second time.\u00a0 The hostility of the human heart towards this man, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And so there\u2019s a battle\u2026 well, not really, not even a battle here folks!\u00a0 I mean, to be honest with you I\u2019ve been reading verse 20 for years and it\u2019s been sort of disappointing (if I can say that).\u00a0 I mean, I want to see a battle, I want to see a cosmic conflict, I want to see all these dead people, I want their guts to spill everywhere, I mean it\u2019s on the video games and the movies, I\u2019ve got to see it here in the Bible.\n\nAnd I\u2019m waiting for this great conflict to happen.\u00a0 There\u2019s not even one in verse 20, the whole thing, to my mind, is terribly anticlimactic (if I can say that without God hitting me with a lightning bolt).\u00a0 It says, \u201cAnd the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two\u201d these twelve prophets, \u201cwere thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.\u201d\u00a0 We know that Jesus is almighty God, verse 15 and verse 16, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and so we know that this army that the devil and the beast and the false prophet have organized against Christ is not going to avail.\u00a0 And rather than describing the battle that supposedly took place here, it just says He returns, He grabs beast A, beast B, rounds them up and tosses them into the Lake of Fire. \u00a0That\u2019s all it says.\u00a0 No great cosmic conflict, the whole thing is somewhat anticlimactic.\n\nAnd for years and\u00a0 years and\u00a0 years of my Christian life I paid more attention to the movie Rocky than the Bible, because I thought God and Satan were really equals.\u00a0 That\u2019s a belief called dualism and it\u2019s why everybody went to see the movie Rocky, because you\u2019ve got these two heavyweights duking it out for the title.\u00a0 You don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to win exactly.\u00a0 We, of course, would give the slight edge to Apollo because he\u2019s the reigning heavy weight champion.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m talking about Rocky 1, I\u2019m not talking about Rocky 27 now where their great grandkids are fighting and all this stuff.\u00a0 I\u2019m talking about the real thing Rocky, not this imitation stuff that they have today.\n\nSo we\u2019re sitting on the edge of our seats the whole time because we don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to win.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why this [can't understand word] starts chanting what?\u00a0 Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, at least I \u00a0was (when I wasn\u2019t eating popcorn).\u00a0 The reality of the situation is you can\u2019t analogize this conflict between Jesus and Satan from a dualistic world view for the simple reason that Satan, Ezekiel 28:13, Ezekiel 28:15, is a created being.\u00a0 [Ezekiel 28:13, \u201c\u201cYou were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you.\u00a0 On the day that you were created they were prepared.\u201d\u00a0 Ezekiel 28:15, \u201cYou were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.\u201d]\n\nThis is no contest.\u00a0 We know exactly who is going to win this for the very simple reason that Satan is a creature and God is the Creator.\u00a0 And I think that\u2019s one of the reasons why there\u2019s not much of a war that\u2019s described here.\u00a0 It\u2019s just sort of a done deal.\u00a0 Jesus returns, overthrows His adversaries, but the overthrow is never really described.\u00a0 And the kingdom of God begins.\n\nWho does Jesus subdue when He returns the second time?\u00a0 Two entities, the beast, that\u2019s the anti\u00adchrist and number two, the false prophet.\u00a0 And countless commentators will tell you that the beast and the false prophet aren\u2019t real people, they\u2019re just systems, systems of thought, systems of philosophy.\u00a0 The problem is when you go to the next chapter, Revelation 20:10 it talks about the beast and the false prophet in the Lake of Fire a thousand years later and it says where they are.\u00a0 [Revelation 20:10,\u00a0 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.\u201d]\n\nThese people are real people; they have eternal souls.\u00a0 A system would have just disintegrated in the Lake of Fire. But because God has fashioned eternity into the hearts of men these two entities are described continuing on in the Lake of Fire.\u00a0 The miracles are described here, that the beast and the false prophet performed.\u00a0 2 Thessalonians 2:9 uses the same words that are described in Christ\u2019s earthly ministry, of the powers and the signs and the wonders that these two have used to subdue the earth.\u00a0 [2 Thessalonians 2:9, \u201cthat is<\/em>, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders.\u201d]\n\nAs we mentioned in Sunday School this morning there exists within the realm of the Satanic and the demonic a capacity for miracles.\u00a0 You see it there very clearly in verse 20, \u201cThe beast was seized, and with him, and with him the false prophet who\u201d did what, \u201cperformed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with Sulphur.\u201d\u00a0 The mark of the beast is described here, that enslaved the world.\u00a0 The miracles that they performed under Satan\u2019s power is described here, which enslaved the world.\u00a0 The image that was set up in the temple of the beast, the image that spoke. Revelation 13:15 is described here.\u00a0 [Revelation 13:15, \u201cAnd it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.\u201d]\n\nAnd these two are taken, with all the problems they caused and they\u2019re just immediately put into the Lake of Fire.\u00a0 Now here\u2019s something that\u2019s very interesting and with this I\u2019ll stop.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice that Satan here is not put into the Lake of Fire.\u00a0 God has a future purpose for Satan; he is placed in a place called the Abyss, which is different than the Lake of Fire, and you\u2019ll see that in Revelation 20:2-3.\u00a0 [Revelation 20:2-3, \u201cAnd he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; [3] \u00a0<\/sup>and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it<\/em> and sealed it<\/em> over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.\u201d]\n\nAnd why isn\u2019t Satan put into the Lake of Fire with his two companions?\u00a0 After all, aren\u2019t these three called the unholy trinity?\u00a0 I mean, why aren\u2019t they all just put in the Lake of Fire?\u00a0 Because, as we\u2019ll be studying when we get to Revelation 20 there is a final lesson that God seeks to teach the human race, and the existence of Satan is necessary for this object lesson.\u00a0 More on that lesson down the road.\u00a0 But it actually is one of the most important lessons\u00a0 you could ever learn.\u00a0 It\u2019s about to be taught but I need Satan, God says, as part of my presentation so he doesn\u2019t go into the Lake of Fire right away, he goes into a place called the Abyss.\u00a0 God is so sovereign over Satan that He actually uses Satan for His own purposes.\n\nAnd here is one other thing that occurred to me as I was reading this and studying this week.\u00a0 God take the whole eternity, false prophet, beast, and Satan, and divides it.\u00a0 The false prophet and the beast go into the Lake of Fire but the head of the trinity, Satan, goes to a different location, called the Abyss.\u00a0 God just took the unholy trinity and divided it.\u00a0 Now why does God do that?\u00a0 Because that\u2019s what Satan tried to do with Jesus.\u00a0 In fact, in Matthew 4:3-4 it says this: \u201cAnd the tempter came and said to Him, \u201cIf You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.\u201d [4] \u00a0<\/sup>But He answered and said, \u201cIt is written, \u2018Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.\u2019\u201d\n\nWhat did Jesus say all the time in His earthly ministry?\u00a0 I\u2019m totally submissive to the will of the Father.\u00a0 Everything that I do the Father does.\u00a0 And Satan says let me derail that, let me get you to step outside of the will of God by consuming bread after fasting for forty days, it\u2019s a temptation; that\u2019s why Satan here is called the tempter.\u00a0 And let me get you to exercise your will against God the Father and let me drive a wedge in the Triunity of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s happening in Matthew 4.\u00a0 And Jesus did not succumb to that temptation but simply responded, \u201cIt is written.\u201d\u00a0 So Satan\u2019s attempt to divide the Trinity or the Triunity of God failed.\u00a0 And what does God do at the end of human history?\u00a0 God says I know something about dividing trinities, in this case Satan your unholy trinity consisting of the beast, the false prophet and the dragon and I\u2019m going to divide it up.\u00a0 You two\u2014lake of fire!\u00a0 You into the abyss.\u00a0 And God now divides the satanic trinity which is the very ambition that Satan had with the real Trinity.\u00a0 And so almost at every juncture in this second advent of Christ God is defeating or winning in the very area where Satan failed.\n\nWow!\u00a0 I looked at that this week and I said I\u2019ve never seen that in that light before.\u00a0 Praise the Lord for the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Well, we\u2019re going to commit the unpardonable sin here, we\u2019re not going to finish verse 21 because there\u2019s a lot of stuff in there and that might take us another hour and a half.\n\nBut we want to conclude with the gospel.\u00a0 The gospel puts you into supper A as opposed to supper B.\u00a0 You want the marriage supper of the Lamb, you don\u2019t want anything to do with this supper of God and so you transfer your invitation from one supper to another by trusting what Jesus did for you.\u00a0 You have to do it now though, you have to kiss the Son now lest He becomes angry.\u00a0 You have to honor Him now and the way you honor Him is you receive a gift from Him, the greatest Christmas gift you could ever receive, salvation, which can only be received as a gift.\u00a0 If\u00a0 you won\u2019t receive it as a gift you can\u2019t have it.\u00a0 So the only way to receive a gift from God, Romans 4:4-5, is to trust or believe in whom He has sent.\u00a0 [Romans 4:4-5, \u201c\u00a0<\/sup>Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. [5] \u00a0<\/sup>But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.\u201d]\n\nBecause those verses say \u201cthe one who does not work, but believes.\u201d\u00a0 Because if you can work for it it is no longer a what?\u00a0 It\u2019s no longer a gift!\u00a0\u00a0 You have to receive this by way of faith and\u00a0 you receive something from God by way of faith by what we would call not just intellectual ascent,\u00a0 you\u2019re not believing about somebody, you\u2019re believing in somebody.\u00a0 You\u2019re trusting Him with your eternity and the safe keeping of your soul, and\u00a0 you\u2019re trusting in what He has done as being sufficient or enough for rectifying or remedying the sin barrier which exists between a holy God and sinful humanity.\n\nThe problem has been fixed, the problem has been bridged.\u00a0 Jesus says trust in what I have done in\u00a0 your place, don\u2019t trust yourself, you can\u2019t, you have to receive it as a gift and you can only do that by way of faith.\u00a0 Our exhortation to you here at Sugar Land Bible Church and maybe even people listening online is to do that right now because the Spirit will convict you of your need to do it.\u00a0 That\u2019s what John 16:8-9 says, \u201c\u2026 He comes to convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Sin because they do not believe; the Holy Spirit (I hope you understand this) is not busy morally reforming unbelievers.\n\nHe\u2019s not convicting them of profanity, spousal abuse, drug abuse.\u00a0 He\u2019s not convicting them of any of those things.\u00a0 He\u2019s convicting them of the one sin that they are now committing against God, which is the only sin that will send you into hell, which is not believing in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Now once Jesus is inside of you the profanity and all those other things He\u2019ll start to work on in a process called progressive sanctification.\n\nBut that\u2019s not what the Spirit is doing now in the unsaved.\u00a0 He\u2019s convicting them of the sin that they\u2019re committing right now,\u00a0 which is not believing or trusting in the One God has sent.\u00a0 So our exhortation to you is to respond to the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit and trust in Christ.\u00a0 You can do it right now in the quietness of your own mind, thought and heart without raising a hand, walking an aisle, joining a church, doing New\u00a0 Year\u2019s resolutions, pledging to do better.\u00a0 That has nothing to do with it.\u00a0\u00a0 It has to do with the matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you trust in the One whom He has sent. And you can do it now, even as I am speaking.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more explanation on we are available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we are grateful for this Book and these truths that are coming to this earth and the hope that it gives us in the present age.\u00a0 Help us to keep these truths in the front of our minds during this very hectic season as we celebrate Your birth.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026.\u00a0 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