Good morning. How are you all doing today? Awesome. Well, if this is your first time
visiting Hosanna here, whether you're here in our sanctuary or if you're
watching us online, we always like to say welcome to all of you. We're so glad you're
here to worship with us today. I am Pastor Nathan and this morning we're
going to see three angels speak truths that many consider politically incorrect.
You know, our modern culture has worked pretty aggressively to govern and dictate
what people are or should be allowed and not allowed to say. And you know, I would
say granted there are many things that people can say that probably
really shouldn't be, really unkind things, inappropriate things, wrong things, but
when it comes to truth, truth is truth and that's a very important truth, okay?
Truth is truth and sometimes truth, when spoken, can be very uncomfortable for
people. Yes, anytime we're called to speak truth we should employ tact and
sensitivity and even, you know, the idea of just being gentle when we speak hard
truths, but sadly much today that is true is now considered politically incorrect
and thus it's just censored, wholesale. It's censored by media control, it's
censored by social media engineering, it's social, or it's controlled by
canceling, it's controlled even by legislation and that's only going to get
worse as time moves forward. The danger however comes when we start to define
what people should and shouldn't say in different circumstances based not out of
a desire to maintain propriety, to maintain appropriateness, to maintain
sensitivity, but out of a desire to outright deny and rewrite truth simply
because that truth offends somebody, simply because that truth is disagreed
with. And I don't know if you would agree but in today's society I think the
ability to dialogue when we disagree is under attack. People are trying to remove
that. The ability to even point to medical science when it comes to a
dialogue about things is being shouted down and replaced with my feelings,
replaced with my truth, replaced with I'm offended by truth therefore actual truth
should be changed and modified to fit my worldview. And being politically correct
in lieu of actually correct has created a lot of serious issues in our
world today. Now truth be told some restating of things can be humorous,
right, in the in the concept of trying to be appropriate, you know, instead of bald
we might say you're follicly challenged, right, instead of calling someone old
we say they are chronologically experienced, right, but some of the
rewriting and redefining is dangerous. In our world today instead of baby it's
more politically correct to say no it's just a fetus, it's just a clump of cells
so that we don't offend when someone wants to murder that baby in the womb.
Instead of male and female we now live in a culture that is just infinitely
inventing brand new genders so we don't offend and the result is an entire
generation of serious mental health issues being ignored, being celebrated by
many, a culture where minors are being medically mutilated by the very adults
who are supposed to protect them. And then instead of the word and this is the
one that just really gets under my skin in our current culture, instead of the
word pedophile there is a push to change that to minor attracted person to not
offend because after all the culture we live in if anybody can be with anybody
they want well we can't discriminate, it's foul. Worst of all because it
affects eternity is saying you can't say Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the
only life, you can't say he is the only way to salvation, how offensive, how dare
you suggest such a thing you shouldn't even be allowed to say those things in
the public square. And the result is let's take Christian prayer out of our
public schools but put pornography in the libraries and call it progressive.
The world is dark, it's getting darker and in the tribulation period we're
going to see today in Revelation chapter 14 three angels show up who don't care
about what's politically correct, they simply don't care, they care more about
what is spiritually correct. They come with a message from God to deliver to
everybody on the earth, a message that is unpopular but true, a message that that
hits hard and deals in confronts but is true. It's an event we're going to be
looking at that has never happened before in the world up until this time
in tribulation where angels will appear to the world directly, visibly, audibly
and give a universal message that everybody on the planet will hear. Their
message directly confronts the wrong thinking that the people of the world
have at that time and their message directly contradicts many of the
philosophies and assumptions that mankind has today about man's origin,
about Satan, about hell, about death and eternity. That's what we're going to be
looking at today so buckle up but first we're going to spend some time
worshiping God because he is worthy. Our God is perfect, he is just, he is
righteous, he is holy and he deserves the praise and worship of all of his
creation and those of us that know him and call him Lord and Savior what a
great privilege and honor it is for us to worship him. Amen? Let's pray. Father,
Lord we love you so much and we thank you God for your word. Lord we've been
blessed and challenged Lord as we've been studying this revelation of Jesus
Christ. Lord as you gave John the Apostle this glimpse of what is to come in the
future Lord. God it's been both good and bad in ways Lord. God it is it is hard to
see what is coming Lord but it reveals Lord just who you are that in your
perfection and your holiness Lord sin must be judged and so God we live in a
world today Lord that is is trying to even move towards outline the very
concept of identifying sin and pointing out sin not to be difficult or unkind
people Lord but to preach the gospel of salvation that because of sin salvation
is necessary and that salvation is found in Jesus Christ. Lord we are still people
here on this earth that are called to preach that gospel to be a light on the
hill and I pray God that you would encourage us today Lord that although
the truth of the gospel the truth of what scripture says is becoming
increasingly more politically incorrect that we wouldn't care about that because
we're concerned with being spiritually correct preaching the truth of who you
are. Lord we want to worship you now we want to praise your name we thank you
God for our salvation we thank you for saving our souls we thank you for the
hope of heaven and God we just want to praise you for all of that we love you
it's in Jesus name we pray amen. But we are in Revelation chapter 14 today and
we are going to be continuing our study here looking at these three angels you
know I mentioned earlier that three angels are coming on the scene here
through Revelation 14 and angels are very active throughout scripture we see
angels all over the place throughout the Bible they were present in the giving of
the law back in the Old Testament when Moses got the law Hebrews chapter 114
tells us this in the New Testament are they not all ministering spirits sent
out to serve those who are going to inherit salvation and the answer that
question is yeah they are the angels are active today in the church ministering
to those that that are that belong to Jesus Christ right they're they're active
all around us all the time specifically in Revelation we have seen angels very
active in fact we're in Revelation chapter 14 and angels have been
mentioned in every single chapter of Revelation except chapter 13 we've seen
them active in God's plan carrying out God's plan we've seen angels ministering
God's will we've seen angels fighting demonic hordes and demon armies we've
seen angels even enacting the judgments and carrying out the judgments that are
taking place during tribulation time and now here in Revelation 14 starting in
verse 6 they are announcing messages from God to the entire planet and so
read with me starting in Revelation 14 verse 6 then I saw another angel flying
high overhead with the eternal gospel to announce to the inhabitants of the earth
to every nation tribe language and people he spoke with a loud voice fear
God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come worship the one
who made heaven and earth the sea and the springs of water and so this is the
first angel of the three we're looking at today this first angel is a preacher
he is a preacher he's proclaiming the message of the gospel and he preaches it
tells us from the skies above the earth you see in the beginning there when he
John says I saw another angel flying high overhead that word flying means
continuously flying so he's like moving through the skies and he's moving
through the skies of the whole planet that that word or that phrase high
overhead in the original language it refers to the zenith of the sky right at
the highest point of the sky you would kind of select go high noon right when
the when the Sun is at the highest point well that's the idea here that the angel
is high up in the sky flying throughout the earth broadcasting a message
worldwide and the picture that gives us here is at this point in tribulation we
are now in the second half of tribulation as we have been looking at all these
different things taking place with the Antichrist being revealed as this
grotesque beast and his lackey following with him the false prophet all that's
been taking place here this angel is now flying through the heaven and the idea
is that everybody is gonna hear what this angel has to say everybody on the
planet nobody will be able to get away from the message they won't be able to
walk away they won't be able to change the channel they won't be able to shut
down the app they won't be able to click off the video right they are going to
hear what this angel is proclaiming and you know throughout history if you study
history in church history specifically you might see that that there have been
times when mankind was seemingly successful in silencing God's preachers
you know over the course of history people that have proclaimed God's Word
have been vilified they have been persecuted they have been killed they
have been exiled today in our world they get shadow banned across social media
constantly they get deplatformed as the social media platforms want to say you
know no longer have an account here and so your message is cut off and then
specifically during the tribulation period many that are preaching gospel and
proclaiming Jesus Christ as our Savior will be martyred as we have seen
throughout the study of Revelation that they will be killed and specifically
during the last three and a half years of tribulation there will be an active
genocidal advance towards those who would dare proclaim Jesus as we see that
they are getting killed now this persecution this worldly attempts to
stop the message of the gospel going forth Paul experienced this we see in
second Timothy chapter 2 verse 9 Paul says I suffer to the point of being
bound like a criminal but the Word of God is not bound you see Paul was in
jail for preaching the gospel and in jail he didn't want to be in jail he
wanted to go out and preach he wanted to go out and do what God had called him
and equipped him to do he wanted to go tell people about the hope that is found
in Jesus Christ the salvation available in Jesus Christ yet he says I am bound
like a criminal I can't do what I need to do but then he says this very very
important thing but the Word of God is not bound there will never be a time
when that statement is truer than during the tribulation period when the world
falls under a global government that hates God hates Jesus hates the gospel
when the world is controlled by a global one-world religion that says
everything else is permissible except Christianity when the oppression is so
thick the world is gonna see that it doesn't matter the Word of God is not
bound they'll see these angels flying through the sky one of them specifically
preaching the gospel and there is nothing anybody can do to stop it I
just a great encouragement even today right it's it's somewhat unfortunate
that today when we have the freedom to go pass out tracts and we have the
freedom to go share our faith with people we have the freedom at least from
a legal standpoint to go up to someone and just be like hey can I can I share
Jesus with you or to say hey can I pray with you and then why would you want to
pray with me I'm a Christian I believe that that God answers right all of these
ways that we might interact with people to share the hope that is in Jesus
Christ we live in a time where we can still do that actively and and so many
of us don't and in there and there's all kinds of reasons for that you know
sometimes we're just scared and then that's real right I mean I'll confess to
you guys like put me in a room in front of a thousand people I could preach
Jesus all day long put me one on one okay it's it's fearful I still do it I
still hand out those tracks I still do the thing but but I but I get it you
know ironically we were at a men's conference yesterday the Calvary Chapel
SoCal men's conference it was it was amazing if you missed it just don't miss
the next one it was it was great but at all of these events there's always some
person I want to be kind that is out there protesting the Christian event as
a Christian you see it at Harvest Crusade sometimes and there's this guy
out there with a megaphone yelling at all the Christians all the guys that are at
this men's conference to be encouraged and edified in the Lord in their
walk he's out there on the megaphone screaming out that evangelism needs to be
done the church needs to be doing evangelism but evangelism
biblical evangelism is only one-on-one conversations that is it and that is
only what it is and then he goes and what I'm doing is evangelism while
you're yelling at the crowds through a megaphone pray for that individual so
but the Word of God is never going to be bound and yes there is truth that God's
Word will go out even if you don't do it but that's disobedience if God's calling
you to do it and disobedience is not okay but the idea is that there's this
time when when the oppression oppression that we don't even fathom right now like
when it's not just like oh the person might get mad at me they might spit in
my face they might yell at me but no no no you'll get put in jail and you'll get
killed for proclaiming the gospel during this time there's still angels flying
through the sky proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and incidentally as I
mentioned in our intro this is a unique event this is something that has never
happened up to this point angels preaching the gospel it's a very unique
event you see we don't see angels preach in the gospel anywhere in scripture
until this point I'm sure they've wanted to okay I'm sure there's been times
where we're standing in the line at the grocery store and God the Holy Spirit
is going hey give that person in track and the angels are like yeah this is
awesome watch this and you're going uh-uh no I can do it and the angels just
like get out of the way let me do it right I'm sure there's times like that
but but the angels that that's not their call that that's our call right I mean
in the book of Acts there's a story in the book of Acts where there was this
man named Cornelius and it tells us that he was praying every day and he was
praying and he wants to know who God is and he wants to know the truth of God and
salvation he's praying and he's praying and in that story in Acts it says an
angel appears to him and tells him Cornelius this is what I want you to do
send some guys to Joppa and ask for a guy named Peter and tell your guys to
ask Peter come back with us to our master and then Peter will tell you what
to do Cornelius now here's the question why didn't the angel just tell
Cornelius the gospel right then and there how effective would that have been
right God I really want to know you angel with wings let me preach the
gospel I'm saved you had me at you just arrived with a with feathery wings right
but no he says go tell Peter to come right this whole process now yes we know
that God was doing a work in Peter's life and teaching Peter some things but
but why didn't the angel just preach the gospel to Cornelius because that's not
the task of angels at least right now that's not the task of angels it's the
task of men and women you and me who have met Jesus Christ had our lives
transformed it's our task now now here in Revelation 14 at the last half of
tribulation period yeah we see that the angels are now getting the opportunity
to preach the gospel but remember that the next time you're wondering as as
Rick was sharing should I hand this track to this person no don't do it
remember that it's it's your task it's not the angels task it's our call as the
people of God so what does this angel preach it tells us that the angel
preaches the eternal gospel that's a phrase that simply means the good news
the gospel that has always been preached and will always be true that's what it
means by the eternal gospel there is never a time it never will be a time
where the gospel is false the gospel that God has revealed there are false
gospels out there but the one we know and learn from the Word of God it will
always be true it's the good news of Jesus Christ the gospel who he is he has
God in the flesh what he did lived a perfect life went to the sin went to the
sin went to the cross to die for sin to pay the price for our sin as a perfect
sacrifice the perfect atonement and then he went into the grave and he was risen
from the grave three days later it means it's it's it's the whole message of
salvation and hope and the only way the only truth the only life that's the
gospel we preach it's not that Jesus is one of the ways no he's the only way and
doesn't that make people upset when we say that well my version of Jesus and
then you let him continue and then if you have a relationship you go is fake
there is no your version of Jesus there is only the revealed Jesus in God's Word
and so it's about faith in Christ it's about his death for you it's about him
being the atonement for your sin paying your penalty for breaking the law right
the gospel that truth never changes that truth never will change he is the only
way to salvation he is the only way to the father there is salvation in none
other but Jesus Christ God in the flesh who died for you and me on the cross the
glorious gospel now he brought this eternal gospel and it says he announced
it to the inhabitants of the earth that word announces where we get the concept
of preaching right it's the idea of declaring its proclamation it literally
means to bring good news and so the angel is flying through the skies of
earth saying forgiveness is still available salvation is still available
in Jesus Christ right this is what the angel is saying and then it says that he
was announcing this to the inhabitants of the earth and then it defines those
inhabitants as every nation every tribe language and people now that phrase
we've seen it a few times in Revelation and it's often a phrase that means
everybody on the planet right to break it down that word nation in the original
language is ethnos we get our English term ethnic group from this so it's
every ethnicity the word tribe is a word that that refers to people groups as
defined by their governance or national identity right so you would say
Americans or you know South Americans or or Russians you know the idea there
language that word literally means dialects and so it's saying people
groups as defined by by the dialect of their language because we know that even
within a nation you could have different cultural people groups different
divisions of groups by based on the dialect of the language they speak and
then it says people in that word in the original language means people groups
defined by cultural or geographical ties sometimes there are people groups that
straddle boundaries of nations right but they identify as one people group and so
so the word here is making sure we understand that it includes everybody
everybody every ethnicity no matter where they live no matter what their
national identity no matter the distinctions by culture or dialect every
single person on earth at this time is going to hear this announcement of the
good news from this angel and it's like God making one last final attempt
to reach the world right as we've been studying through tribulation the
judgments are being poured out in a very real way they're escalating they're
getting worse and more devastating and more dramatic and when we get to the
bold judgments wow we're gonna see just how destructive those final seven
judgments are and in a way it's almost like God being like I'm judging sin but
he's holding back just a little bit so that people would get saved and hold
just a little bit right saying through the whole thing look the time is come
and we're gonna see that here in a moment in the verses where the full
power of God's wrath is poured out but there's one last opportunity and this is
always the heart of God to give you one last opportunity to get saved he wants
to save your soul that that's his heart that's his his his mission he's just and
being just he must judge sin and those who commit it but right before he pours
out these final judgments the bowls that we're gonna look at in chapters 15 and
16 of Revelation this final gospel message goes out this final invitation
this final opportunity to repent to change to be just cleansed by God maybe
think about it at this point in tribulation the world has already
rejected the hundred forty four thousand in their evangelism the world has
rejected the two witnesses in Jerusalem and all their their miraculous signs
they were doing the world even celebrated had a national holiday when
the Antichrist murdered those two witnesses and now there's an actual angel
flying through the sky and visible and audible to every single person on earth
this tells us something very important that the gospel is for everyone the
gospel is for everyone some like point to Christianity at times ago
Christianity is just a Western religion right it's only for the United States
but but Jesus said for God so loved the world all of it that world that that
word world there literally is referring to everything in God's creation God God
loved every everything he created every person every one of us he loved us so
much the gospel isn't just for the West it's not just for America it's not just
for this ethnicity it's not just a white religion or a black religion or an Asian
it's it's not any of that the gospel is for everybody of every culture regardless
of where they live on planet earth the gospel is for everyone Jesus said to his
disciples go into the whole world they make disciples of all nations that's
everybody after his resurrection in mark 16 15 Jesus said to them go into all the
world and preach the gospel to all creation that's everybody and it's the
eternal gospel because it's forever it's good news for everyone through all time
the gospel isn't just for this area of history or this era of history it's for
everybody of all time and it's the commission of the disciples and it's the
commission of the church today that the gospel goes out to everyone that's why
I'm bringing Rick up here every week to to just walk you guys through gospels
try this one try this one try this one try something do something not all of us
have the have the personality to go out and and stand on a soapbox some of us do
praise God for that but we're all called to be a part of the work of evangelism
in the church because the gospel is for everybody and really what that says to
us is the cure for sin is the same for all regardless of ethnicity of culture
of nationality of language spoken the cure for sin is the gospel of Jesus
Christ salvation through faith in his death and resurrection so why the church
sends out missionaries some object why does the church send people to another
culture and trying to push their religion on him because sins in that
culture too and the cure for sin is the same Jesus Christ so included in this
eternal gospel is a call to worship God as the creator verse 7 read with me says
he spoke with a loud voice fear God and give him glory because the hour of his
judgment has come worship the one who has made heaven and earth the sea and
the springs of water what's interesting is often in scripture we see that that
when those who are preaching God approached the pagan world they often do
it from the point of view or they start the starting point is is God is creator
that's that's a familiar trend when Paul went to Athens and he went to that
place where they had statues to every God they could think of and then Paul
saw that they even had a statue to the unknown God right that's worldly
spirituality we're gonna invent infinite gods and then just in case we
missed one we'll have a statue to him too and what did Paul say there I want
to speak to you about the God who created heaven and earth right he
approached from this point of view now why do we see this why why is this often
the starting point when we see preachers and evangelists going out and sharing
their faith they start with God created everything I think it's because of the
foundational question that every human being has the foundational question I
think every human being has when they look around they go where did this all
come from then they go what's the purpose of all of this and then that
naturally leads to where did I come from what's my purpose why do I exist
and the reality is is God created everything it says here God created the
heaven and the earth and the sea and the springs of water saying everything you
see is his he made it it belongs to him and what that means is everything in it
also belongs to him which includes you and me we are God's creation and all
glory and all worship and all praise and all adoration it's due to him and him
alone as creator glory is not for us it's not to us it's not for our pride our
ego it's not to to the gods of our own creation it's not to strange philosophies
and wrong assumptions it's to God Almighty the creator of the universe and
one of the biggest lies that that has perpetrated mankind for centuries at
this point is this idea that that that things just evolved right our society
kind of grew out of gods and superstitions and then we became a
scientific knowledgeable culture and we understood that no we just evolved and
randomly came to be through accidents of accidents and that was a great lie of
the devil because it perpetrated the idea that you know ultimately nothing
matters there is no right there is no wrong there is no truth there is no
false there is no morality because why well whatever one can think up if we
just evolved and there's no purpose then whatever one can think up must be
permissible because suggesting that whatever anybody wants to do is right or
wrong assumes that there's a standard to measure against and if we were just
accidents of evolution there is no standard and we see that humanistic
thinking in our world today we've seen it for a long time the angel here is
directly confronting the wrong thinking of a lost and diluted mankind a
politically correct mankind and the angels saying let me take your political
correctness and throw it out the window Jesus is the one to be worshiped God he
is God the creator and he is the only way to salvation and he's emphasizing
that fact that there is a creator and he did create and define right and wrong
and true and false and moral and immoral and because he's the creator of all
things he has the authority to judge all things that word judgment it uses there
because the hour of his judgment has come that word judgment means a legal
determination of right and wrong a legal determination the one who started it all
as creator is the one who has the legal right to end it all as judge and that is
part of the message that we take to people and so what does the angel say
here so fear God and give him glory that word fear means to to grant great
reverence or respect why because final judgment is about to fall and so this
angel is out there flying around saying you can be saved still but only through
the terms of the eternal gospel salvation is only through faith in Jesus
Christ which is a direct contradiction to the philosophies and assumptions that
mankind has today and will have even more strongly then so verse 8 we get to
the second angel it says on another a second angel followed saying it has
fallen Babylon the great has fallen she made the nations drink the wine of her
sexual immorality which brings wrath so we see a second angel following the
first the idea is there that the angel is also flying through the skies around
the globe and announcing for the whole world to hear Babylon has fallen now
again this statement here is is much like the the first part of Revelation 14
this is a glance to the end of the tribulation period this is a glance to
the very end where everything is being wrapped up and so he's saying look
Babylon has fallen everything it's about in the big picture of eternity God wins
it may look like Babylon is having success right in this moment but in the
big picture God wins and so the first angel gave an invitation to salvation
before the bold judgments fall on the earth this angel is not preaching the
gospel there's no invitation here is simply a declaration of fact Babylon the
great has fallen so what is the angel referring to here well in Revelation 17
and 18 when we get here we're gonna see a very lengthy description of what
Babylon the great is to summarize Babylon the great is pictured as a or is
presented as a city that is pictured as a promiscuous woman a prostitute a
harlot okay and so when you look at Babylon the great in Revelation 17 and
18 this picture this city being being being pictured as this promiscuous
woman it could be referring to and I believe it's referring to an actual
rebuilt city of Babylon Babylon that is a headquarters of just grave
immorality and that's actually coming to pass there's this thing called the world
monument fund it's an independent organization that exists to quote
safeguard the world's most treasured places in 2008 the world monument fund
started the future of Babylon project and this project was to document assess
and develop conservation plans for ancient Babylon in Iraq in July 5th 2019
this was just a few years back Babylon as a city was officially inscribed on
the United Nations educational scientific and cultural organization
world heritage list they're rebuilding it now some of you remember back when
Saddam Hussein started rebuilding it and of course Bible scholars got all excited
at that point Babylon's coming back right and then he didn't and others have
taken up that cause so far you can actually go see it there today they have
rebuilt an ancient statue of a lion trampling a man called the lion of
Babylon right super family-friendly attraction there they've rebuilt what's
called the Ishtar gate which is this large double gate that was led into the
inner city of Babylon this gate was actually said to be built by Nebuchadnezzar
himself and what's in progress what they're still working on as of today is
the Nimbak temple which was a temple to the mother goddess worship that took
place all the way back in ancient Mesopotamia the mother goddess what do
we call that today mother earth Gaia so in Revelation 17 and 18 as I said this
city is pictured as this woman and so this woman is not only representative of
the city itself but she's also representative of the entire debauched
system of depravity of the end times that that this city is a headquarters
of so and that's kind of the picture that we saw in Revelation 13 much like
the first beast in Revelation 13 represented both the Antichrist as an
individual and the government that he led this woman here represents or the
woman in Revelation 17 and 18 represents the actual city of Babylon and the foul
world system that that city is head of head of and so that's the whole economic
system of oppression the persecution of believers the whole ideology and
philosophy of it so the picture we see in the end times is while worship of the
beast is largely going to be headquartered in Jerusalem in the Jewish
temple that the Antichrist goes and sits in and desecrates during the abomination
of desolation the governmental and economic and cultural control of earth
will likely be headquartered in a rebuilt Babylon and this is very
interesting because in Daniel's vision of the end times in the book of Daniel
his visions came during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon so it's
very interesting connection there so all that to say that Babylon the great that
it's referring to here the Babylon the great has fallen as a collective
reference to the entire cultural and political system and the city that the
whole thing is governed from and so the angel is declaring all of this has
fallen now notice the accusation in the declaration here she has made all the
nations drink the wine of her sexual immorality which brings wrath if you're
with us last week in the first part of Revelation 14 we looked at the hundred
and forty four thousand that had been sealed with the seal of God and we
talked about how these hundred forty four thousand were specifically pointed
out as having maintained their purity during this time they maintained their
purity in contrast to the sexual perversions that are likely going to be
a part of the world worship at that time that they kept their purity and all that
but the rest of the world it says drank the wine of her sexual immorality when
it says all the nations there it's it's literally referring to this world system
is going to be global and this world system literally deceives and intoxicates
the entire planet we see glimpses of that it's already been referenced in the
scripture in first John 5 where it said the whole world is under the sway of
the evil one right now it's a little more subtle the devil is not trying to
outwardly and overtly say I'm the devil worship me as God which is gonna take
place during tribulation times and but we do see that even in our time the world
is under the sway the influence of the evil one and the world simply going to
continue on this path and it's going to get worse and worse and end up with a
united world system of perversion and sin and impurity now this combats a
thought that that some have that they say well you know if the majority
believes something that must be right have you ever heard that or thought that
it's easy to think of in in our system of democracy right when when we vote and
you know the idea is like well if more people vote for this than this then this
should win right but that concept isn't true across the board just because the
majority thinks something is true doesn't mean it is just because the
majority might say something is politically correct doesn't mean it's
spiritually correct and we have plenty examples of that throughout scripture
remember Moses sent 12 spies into the promised land 10 came back and said
impossible there's no way we can take that land there's no way we could live
there they were the majority it was only two of them Joshua and Caleb that's like
we could take the land God's with us and the minority ended up being right Israel
did take the land you might remember in Jerusalem when Jesus Christ was to be
crucified it was the majority that were saying crucify him they were wrong the
majority of scientists were wrong when they once believed that the earth was
flat so moving on we've had an invitation from one angel we heard
a declaration from another angel now we have an admonition from the third angel
verse 9 and another a third angel followed them and spoke with a loud
voice if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his
forehead or on his hand he will also drink the wine of God's wrath which is
poured full strength in the cup of his anger he will be tormented with fire and
sulfur in the sight of the holy angels in the sight of the lamb and the smoke
of their torment will go up forever and ever there is no rest day or night for
those who worship the beast and its image or anyone who receives the mark
of its name Wow that's heavy the third angel is not preaching the gospel he's
not saying there's still opportunity to be saved he's not declaring the fate of
this anti-god anti-christ world system he's warning about the damnation for all
those who choose the wrong team who choose the wrong thing he's warning
about the damnation to come for those who worship the beast and the
anti the beast who is the Antichrist now it's interesting the way this is worded
the angel seems to be pointing out a conscious decision that that people will
have to make the idea here is is one will choose to worship the beast and
reject Jesus they will choose to receive the mark of the beast and reject
salvation in Christ the idea is that indicates that there's there's not going
to be at the end of tribulation anybody going I wasn't really worshiping the
beast I didn't know that it was worship I wasn't really following him those who
choose to bow to the image those who choose to take the mark will never be
able to say I didn't mean to I didn't know what I was doing I didn't know what
it meant at the end of the tribulation period there will be clarity there will
be understanding at what worshiping the beast is and means there will be clarity
and understanding at what taking the mark means and by doing so will consign
those who do it to damnation and there will be no blaming God for it yes there
will be deception during the end times yes there will be lies put forth by the
Antichrist and the false prophet but again we've already mentioned it there
was 144,000 Jewish evangelists preaching the gospel the whole time there was two
witnesses and their miraculous signs and then for heaven's sake you had an angel
fly through the sky preaching the gospel what excuse do you have and so this third
angel is saying if you insist and persist in rejecting Jesus Christ if you
insist in participating in the immorality of this world system if you
insist in drinking of the wine of Babylon the great then you will have no
excuse and you will drink the wine of God's wrath his judgment and the
destiny of those who reject Jesus during the tribulation period it's it's the same
destiny if you reject him today it's the same destiny God's judgment will fall it
will be hell forever judgment forever notice there it said that he the the
wine of his wrath he said will drink the wine of God's wrath which is poured full
strength into the cup of his anger this is a wine metaphor obviously we're
talking about wine but the idea is that in ancient times the water was so
terrible that they would often mix wine with the water to kill the germs that
were in the water but it was very diluted you know it was it was still
mostly water but the idea here is he's going look the judgment will no longer
be diluted it will not be watered down it will be full strength and what does
that tell us about hell and judgment well he says here the the judgment
they'll be tormented with fire and sulfur and the smoke of torment will go
up forever and ever and there'll be no rest day or night this contradicts
another false assumption that the world has today and people try and put forth
there there is no hell hell is not real some cults even say that Jehovah's
Witnesses there's God and then there's you cease to exist and I told one once
I go if there's no consequence for sin why do I want your God I could just live
a life in sin and then poof out of existence with no judgment and they
couldn't give me an answer people say hell is not real people say hell is just
a metaphor people say hell is what you experience here on earth but the Bible
is very clear that hell is real and of all the things that these three angels
are proclaiming this is the one that people seem to have the hardest time
with you see it's one thing to say to someone Jesus loves you and wants to
have a relationship with you and people go oh that's nice I'm not in the market
for a relationship right now but it's something entirely different to say look
if you don't put your faith in Jesus and repent of your sin and be saved you will
be judged whoa whoa don't say that how offensive that's not very nice to say
and there are many churches in the world today incidentally that they just want
to talk about all the blessings that Jesus gives like he's just a cosmic
vending machine there to kick out goodies whenever we want to ask but they
never mentioned the truth of rejecting him or living in willful regular
disobedience to him they only want to mention Jesus as a as a potential
supplemental addition to your otherwise okay life rather than who he is a holy
righteous creator that we have sinned against whom as holy righteous judge
will rightfully find us guilty and condemn us as guilty sinners unless we
receive the free gift of salvation we receive the free gift of forgiveness and
salvation by receiving and submitting our lives toward the Lord Jesus Christ
as our personal Lord and Savior and people don't like hearing that message
you don't like hearing that judgment will come for their actions but hell is
real Jesus spoke of hell more than any other person in Scripture to the
hypocrites Jesus said depart from me you who are cursed into eternal fire
prepared for the devil and his angels Jesus said do not fear those who kill
the body but cannot kill the soul rather fear him who is able to destroy both
Jesus described hell as a place of unending fire and wailing and gnashing
of teeth it's a horrible fate for those who don't know Jesus Christ and that's
why sometimes we talk about like Lord give me a heart for the lost because
that that that care and concern for their fate is often the motivator that
causes us to say I'm a little nervous I'm scared but hey I want to give this
to you will you read it well what is it it's a gospel tract gospel tract hey
Jesus changed my life I just want to share that with you God bless you right
because without Christ it's eternity in hell torment forever now he goes on in
verse 12 he says this calls for endurance from the Saints who keep God's
commands and their faith in Jesus then I heard a voice from heaven saying right
blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on yes says the Spirit so they
will rest from their labors since their works follow them now these Saints here
are the same Saints that are referenced in Revelation or yeah Revelation 13 10
I believe the Saints that are referenced here when he says this calls from
endurance from the Saints these are the tribulation Saints these are people who
have given their life to Jesus Christ during the tribulation period during
the seven-year period those who are saved through the preaching of the
hundred forty four thousand the witness of the two witnesses and then of course
those getting saved and telling others about their faith these are people who've
gotten saved during this time he says this calls for endurance why because
they're under heavy persecution like the world has never seen they're under heavy
heavy violence for their faith that the world has never seen before but notice
the contrast between the followers of the beast and those who die in the Lord
the followers of the beast we read are tormented forever and ever with no rest
but the followers of Jesus it says they will rest they will rest yes those who
follow Jesus during the tribulation period will suffer persecution like
never seen on earth before and many will die violent horrible deaths murders for
their faith after laboring to remain faithful during this time of debauchery
but in the end they will rest they will be at peace they will be blessed it says
here that word blessed you've heard it said means oh how happy it means to be
envied to be filled with an inner satisfaction where people would go man
you're just everything is so great right blessed and you might think well how is
dying in the Lord how is dying a violent death in the Lord blessed it's because
the perspective needs a shift to eternity when we look at the eternal
picture they died with promise they died with hope when we look at the eternal
picture we see that they are experiencing what Paul said to be
absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and how glorious that will
be man stops with the outward appearance in the outward circumstance
we're so narrow focus sometimes we only look at what's in front of us and we
don't zoom out to see the big picture but God who lives on the other side of
the time-space continuum sees the rest that is available to those who would
call him Lord and Savior he sees the reward of the righteous the resurrection
of the body the glory and the bliss of the heavenly kingdom so yes the spirit
says yes they are indeed blessed because they are with the Lord forevermore
I'll close with this last story I read a story about a pastor who once approached
a man who had lost his wife and pastor was like I'm so sorry for your loss and
this man looked up at the pastor and he goes you're wrong you don't lose
something when you know where it is there's no loss they just moved and I
haven't moved yet you know when you lose someone in the Lord they're not really
dead but rather I think they're really actually finally fully alive they won
they beat us there they're already there and you know when my time comes I don't
want anybody saying oh Nathan is died he's gone forever please don't say that
what I want you to say is he moved and if you know the Lord too I'll see him
later I'll see him later this is the reality of death in the life of a
Christian right you guys have heard it many times the greatest statistic ever
one out of one people will die right nobody makes it out of this life without
dying we're all going to come to the end of this mortal coil this physical life
we have here and if the Lord doesn't come back in our lifetime every single
one of us are gonna face death it's inevitable the question for this life
here on earth is not will I die the question is will I die in the Lord or
will I die apart from the Lord that's the question will you be blessed as the
spirit says of these who died in the Lord or you be cursed like those who
don't know Jesus looking to hell forever you know it's it's sad how so many live
their lives apart from Jesus and they pay no attention to God at all and they
don't believe in him at all and they deny him but but when when they pass
people want to be like oh they're they're in a better place and that's
really hard because the truth is they're not and it's heartbreaking oh they're in
a better place they rejected Jesus and here's the truth if you want nothing to
do with Jesus in this life he is not gonna force you to live with him forever
but the alternative to Jesus is hell and that's the admonition and the warning is
that without him even today judgment will fall upon you and it will be
perfectly right and it will be perfectly appropriate and it will be perfectly
just that may not be politically correct to say in the world today but it is
spiritually correct and it's the message we need to carry out however if you are
in the Lord in this life if your loved ones that have passed were in the Lord
in this life forgiveness is theirs forgiveness is already yours the penalty
of sin has already been paid forever in heaven awaits in the presence of God
your creator Jesus Christ the lover of your soul hallelujah we have something
great to look forward to so take heart Christian as bad as things may seem at
times heaven awaits take heart Christian for those who have lost those dear to
them your loved ones are in heaven waiting for you to get there and when
you get there you will see them again and they will smile and embrace you and
you guys will together worship God forever let's pray father we love you
and God we we we can't wait to be with you Lord there's so much in this world
that is that is disheartening and dark and evil and wicked and Lord we just we
want to be with you in paradise forever we want to be with you in perfection and
glory looking into your faith your face and nothing else for eternity God just
the glory the love the all that you are Lord for those of us that know you as
our Lord and Savior that is what awaits us but God there are some that don't
know you and what awaits them is judgment while we're praying right now
with heads bowed and eyes closed if you're in this room and you don't know
Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior maybe you went forward at an altar call
at some point maybe you prayed a prayer but but in your heart of hearts you know
you know I've never changed God's not really my Lord if you're online and I'm
describing you Jesus wants you to know him to be saved from the judgment that
will fall upon sin and so if you know you need Christ today I just want you to
pray this prayer with me say father God I know I've sinned against you I know I
broken your law Lord I want to know beyond a shadow of it out that I am
saved sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise that when I die I know I'm going
to heaven Lord save my soul be my Lord and master be my Savior be my friend
teach me how to live for you fill me with the Holy Spirit that I would live
in obedience to you give me a heart for those that don't yet know you that I
would share the gospel the hope the salvation I have now with them as well
thank you for loving me so much thank you for coming into my life thank you
for dying for me use me as a vessel to share that with others in Jesus name I
pray amen well God bless you guys I pray the Lord to give you many
opportunities as we're providing tracks and stuff for you guys I'm excited
every time I hear a story especially those of you that may have never done it
it's like I handed out a track praise God how cool you know one brother here a
year ago we did a track challenge right and at that time he's like I didn't pass
out tracks I didn't do any of that the guy's like a raging fireball of the
gospel now preaching everywhere he goes and it's just like man how cool is that
to see that God would use us as much as we give ourselves to him and he will
fill you and equip you and teach you and do all of it but what's behind all of
that is such a deep gratitude for the salvation he gave you that he gave me
that we can't help but to tell others about it that they would be saved too
amen let's worship God for what he's done let's praise him for who he is and give
him our thanks God bless you guys