Revelation Now (new)

Three Angels Messages

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jac Colon

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Series Code: RNN

Program Code: RNN000011


00:19 Martin Luther once said,
00:24 "If I declare with the loudest voice
00:28 and clearest exposition every portion of God's word
00:34 except for that one little bit
00:37 which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking,
00:42 I would not be confessing Christ."
00:47 Interesting isn't it? Listen again.
00:51 If I declare with the loudest voice
00:53 and the clearest exposition, every portion of God's truth
00:58 except for that one little bit
01:01 which the world and the devil are attacking at the moment,
01:04 I am not confessing Christ, and he is right.
01:10 Either we're with Him or against Him.
01:12 Either we're all the way with Him or against Him,
01:16 so the real question for us in these days is what is,
01:22 what is that one little portion of truth
01:26 that the devil is attacking in the last days?
01:32 What is he attacking now?
01:33 Let's step back and see the big picture once again.
01:37 Genesis 3, we discover God had just created the world
01:44 and he put Adam and Eve in the garden.
01:47 He told them they could eat the fruit
01:49 from any of the trees in the garden,
01:51 except that one tree in the middle.
01:53 If you eat from it God said you are going to die.
01:55 Well, you know, the story, they ate from it.
01:57 Now God had a dilemma how can He save them.
02:02 He doesn't want them to die
02:03 but they choose to step outside of that circle,
02:07 according to the way God made them
02:09 and the consequences if you step outside of that circle
02:12 you are going to die, they did it.
02:14 He doesn't want them to die, He loves them.
02:16 So what could He do?
02:18 How could He unfold a plan that would enable Him
02:21 to be telling the truth and at the same time
02:24 save those whom He loves?
02:28 And then we discover the first prophecy
02:30 right there in the Garden of Eden.
02:32 God said to the serpent Genesis 3:15.
02:35 "I will put enmity between you the serpent and the woman
02:40 and between your offspring and hers,
02:42 he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
02:45 Now we know that the offspring of the serpent
02:48 the serpent being the devil, his offspring,
02:51 those who choose to follow him.
02:55 The offspring of the woman symbolizing God's people
02:59 is Jesus Christ and those who are in Him.
03:04 The Bible says that He would receive a wound on the heel,
03:08 He did when He died on the cross
03:10 but praise the Lord three days later He rose again,
03:13 ascended to heaven.
03:14 One of these days He is going to come back
03:16 and crush the head of the serpent.
03:21 All the rest of the Bible is unfolding this prophecy.
03:25 How is God going to finally and ultimately
03:30 crush the head of the serpent?
03:32 How is it going to happen?
03:36 Well, we come to climax of that prophecy in Revelation 12,
03:42 in Revelation 12 another bit of background verse 7.
03:45 "There was war in heaven,
03:46 Michael and his angels fought against the dragon,
03:48 and the dragon and his angels fought back.
03:50 But he was not strong enough,
03:52 and they lost their place in heaven.
03:54 Ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan,
03:56 who leads the whole world astray was hurled to the earth,
03:59 and his angels with him."
04:00 Bad news for earth, bad news for us.
04:04 What's he doing?
04:05 When he was hurled down to the earth,
04:06 he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
04:09 Now, the woman symbolizes God's people.
04:13 So he peruses the woman who had given birth to the male child.
04:17 Then in verse 13, "When the dragon saw
04:19 he had been hurled to the earth,
04:21 he perused the woman who had given birth to the male child."
04:24 And then verse 17, "The dragon was angry
04:27 at the woman went off to make war against the rest,
04:31 as the King James says, the remnant,
04:33 the last of her offspring--those who obey God's commandments
04:37 and hold to the testimony of Jesus."
04:39 So now we see the climax of that battle,
04:43 that climax of this conflict where the dragon,
04:47 the devil is at war against those
04:50 who are the last of God's people on this earth.
04:54 This is it, this is just before the end,
04:58 so what is the point of attack?
05:02 What is that one little bit of truth as Luther said,
05:06 that if we were not preaching it,
05:08 we would not be preaching Christ at all, what is it?
05:12 And he tells us right here.
05:14 Chapter 13:1, "I saw the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.
05:18 And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea.
05:22 So here is the dragon
05:24 and he is standing looking out over the sea
05:28 and he sees a beast coming up out of the sea.
05:33 What is the point of attack?
05:36 The dragon is angry at the woman,
05:38 went to make war against the remnant of her offspring,
05:42 those who obey God's commandments
05:45 and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
05:48 The point of attack is the law of God
05:53 and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
05:56 That is the whole issue in the Book of Revelation.
06:01 That's the issue that's been at the center of this conflict
06:05 ever since it began in the Garden of Eden.
06:08 The commands of God and the grace of God,
06:12 that's the issue, that's the point of attack.
06:16 And he stands on the shore.
06:17 How does this battle unfolds?
06:19 He sees this beast come up out of the water.
06:21 At the end of two, "The dragon gave the beast his power,
06:25 his throne and great authority.
06:27 The dragon is the devil, but he never works as the devil,
06:31 he works through human instruments
06:33 and in Revelation 12 we discovered
06:36 he was the pagan Roman Empire.
06:38 He was working through the Roman Empire
06:40 and it was Rome who gave his authority to the beast
06:45 when Constantine gave the bishop of Rome his power,
06:49 his throne, his great authority.
06:51 We discover that Rome became a nation
06:54 but not just a nation, it was a church,
06:57 joining together of the church and state
06:59 to enforce her doctrines,
07:01 to enforce her particular brand of worship.
07:06 How effective was it in verse 8,
07:09 "All of the inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast,
07:12 except for those whose names are written
07:14 in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb."
07:17 That's all powerful.
07:18 All most every person on earth
07:21 is going to be willing to worship the beast.
07:29 How, how does it happen?
07:32 Verse 11, "Another beast, comes out of the earth.
07:34 Now this one is the false prophet we know that.
07:37 We haven't identifying it,
07:38 that's coming up here quicker than you think,
07:41 but we still don't need to know who he is to see what he does.
07:44 He has two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon.
07:49 So he looks like a lamb, a Christian power.
07:52 Remember a beast is a nation, so here is a Christian nation,
07:55 a Christian power that looks like the lamb
07:58 but he speaks like the dragon and he made the earth
08:01 and its inhabitance worship the first beast.
08:03 How does he do it?
08:05 Verse 13 two weapons, verse 13,
08:08 "He performed great and miraculous signs,
08:10 and by the power of the miracles
08:12 he deceived the inhabitance of the earth.
08:14 The second weapon and he cause all
08:17 who refused to worship the image to be killed."
08:19 So the false prophet uses deception and he uses force.
08:24 He uses force to try to force with the death decree
08:28 the world into worshiping the beast,
08:30 he is so successful that practically
08:33 the whole world is going to acknowledge Rome's authority
08:39 and demonstrate that by the way they worshiped.
08:43 The whole world except for those whose names are written
08:46 in the Book of Life belonging to the lamb.
08:49 We need our names written in that book. Amen.
08:59 And then in Revelation 14,
09:04 we discover the answer to the question
09:09 that was raised in verse 4 of chapter 13.
09:15 This beast this power, this church state nation
09:21 is so powerful that men worship the beast
09:26 asking in verse 4 who is like the beast,
09:31 who can make war against him?
09:35 Who can stand against him?
09:38 The answer to that question is surprising.
09:43 The beast is portrait as a beast with seven heads, ten horns,
09:48 horrible looking monster.
09:52 Who can stand against him? He is so powerful.
09:55 Who can stand against him?
09:56 The answer Revelation 14:1,
09:59 "I looked in there before me was the Lamb
10:03 standing on Mount Zion,
10:05 and with him 144,000 who had his name
10:09 and his Father's name written on their foreheads."
10:11 Who can stand against the beast?
10:15 The lamb. Don't you loved it, the lamb.
10:23 And he is standing on Mount Zion and with him 144,000.
10:28 Anyone who has ever read the Book of Revelation
10:29 has wondered at one point or another,
10:32 who are the 144,000, what does that mean?
10:35 One person asked me, well, does mean that
10:37 only 144,000 people are going to be saved?
10:40 I'm afraid that leaves me out.
10:43 Not very many will notice one thing.
10:47 Remember our principles,
10:48 our guiding principles interpreting Revelation,
10:51 it has to be centered upon Jesus, no private prophecy,
10:54 we need to let the scripture interpret itself.
10:56 Are you with me now? Amen.
10:58 By comparing scripture with scripture.
10:59 And then the third thing, the Book of Revelation
11:02 quotes the Old Testament over how many times?
11:05 Over good, over 600 times.
11:07 We have to put all these together.
11:09 Number four, that Book of Revelation is a symbolic book.
11:12 He symbolized what is going to happen in the future,
11:15 so we have to interpret the symbols and assume
11:18 that Revelation is symbolic unless it's obviously that,
11:22 obviously clear that it isn't.
11:24 So here is the 144,000
11:26 the lamb standing on Mount Zion with 144,000.
11:29 We know that the lamb is the symbol, isn't it?
11:35 I mean he is not concerned about the real lambs
11:38 standing on the mountain.
11:39 The lamb is Jesus Christ. So the lamb is a symbol.
11:45 Mount Zion, what is mount Zion?
11:48 In the Old Testament and this is very important to see.
11:52 In the Old Testament Mount Zion was the temple mountain,
11:57 that's the place where it was the focal point
12:02 of Israel's worship,
12:04 that's where the sanctuary, the temple was,
12:09 that's where they offer the sacrifices of the lambs.
12:13 So Mount Zion was the center of Israel's worship,
12:16 that's where the temple was.
12:20 But in the New Testament that temple was destroyed,
12:23 the sacrifices are ended.
12:25 Jesus is our Passover, Jesus is our lamb.
12:30 So what is Mount Zion now?
12:32 Hold your place in Revelation.
12:34 Turn to an awesome verse in Hebrews,
12:37 Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12:18,
12:43 "You have not come to a mountain that can be touched.
12:47 Moses went up on the mountain
12:49 that could be real mountain that could be touched,
12:51 it was shaking and lightning strike.
12:54 No, you haven't come to that kind of a mountain.
12:57 What have we come to?
12:59 Verse 22, "You have come to Mount Zion,
13:04 to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the city of the living God.
13:12 You have come to the church verse 23 of the firstborn,
13:17 whose names are written in heaven.
13:20 You have come to God, you have come to Jesus.
13:24 Now notice, he is writing to the church and he is saying,
13:28 you don't go to a mountain that can be touched, a real mountain.
13:33 No, you come to Mount Zion the heavenly mount Zion,
13:38 the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
13:42 You have come to the church of Jesus Christ,
13:45 you have come to Jesus.
13:46 So all of those in the New Testament times that's us,
13:51 who have come to Jesus, all of us
13:54 who have come to Jesus have come to Mount Zion.
13:59 Mount Zion then is a symbol in the New Testament
14:03 for the church of Jesus Christ.
14:06 You have come to Mount Zion,
14:08 you have come to the church of the firstborn,
14:11 so those who come to Christ are on Mount Zion now.
14:17 You say, well, I don't feel like I am on Mount Zion right now?
14:21 No, but you are citizens of Mount Zion right now.
14:26 You are citizens of the New Jerusalem right now.
14:30 One of these days when Jesus comes,
14:33 He is going to take us and we are going to be there physically
14:38 but in the mean time we are legally
14:41 citizens of the New Jerusalem and we are on Mount Zion,
14:46 because it's a symbol for the church of Jesus Christ.
14:49 It's like adopting a baby,
14:53 you can go through all the paper work,
14:54 you can pay all the fees.
14:55 You can sign on the bottom line
14:57 after months and months of work
14:59 and that baby is yours... already.
15:07 But not until you go to where he is and pick him or her up
15:14 and bring her back into your home and put her in her bed.
15:21 Now, she is, she is finally yours.
15:28 You see, you singed the papers,
15:30 she is there already yours, but not yet.
15:36 Not until you put her in the bed.
15:38 Now you know, she is really yours.
15:40 Well, we come to Christ, we are citizens right now,
15:44 legally we are citizens in the New Jerusalem,
15:47 that is your home, you have the deed,
15:49 you belong there, not yet because not until He comes
15:53 and we are walking on those golden streets.
15:55 Now, we will really be there.
15:58 So Mount Zion then it's a symbol for the church.
16:02 Let's go back to Revelation 14.
16:04 The Lamb is standing on Mount Zion,
16:06 that's Jesus in the center of His church.
16:09 Right exactly where you were expecting to be, isn't it?
16:14 144,000 who are they?
16:17 If Jesus, the Lamb is a symbol for Jesus,
16:20 Mount Zion, a symbol for the church,
16:24 then the 144,000 must be a symbol too.
16:29 You want to know what it symbolizes, we'll keep coming.
16:35 Those you're watching on TV keep watching
16:37 don't have time to do all that now.
16:40 Lamb is a symbol, Mount Zion is a symbol for the church,
16:43 the 144,000 are with him on Mount Zion.
16:49 What else does it say about them? Verse 4.
16:53 Well, actually at the end of verse 3,
16:55 they are singing a song.
16:57 No one could learn that song except the 144,000
17:01 who had been redeemed from the earth.
17:06 So they have already been redeemed form the earth.
17:09 Here is a picture, a snapshot of those
17:13 who are going to be redeemed from the earth
17:16 but it's a picture in advance of them,
17:20 they had been redeemed.
17:21 So John is looking way into the future to the end of time
17:26 and he sees those who have been redeemed
17:28 from the earth standing on Mount Zion with Jesus.
17:36 These are those who did not defile themselves with women,
17:40 for they kept themselves pure.
17:43 Now, that's an interesting one and then they, here is the best.
17:48 Do you want to know who the 144,000 are?
17:50 These is really all you need to know.
17:53 They follow the Lamb where ever He goes.
18:00 They follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
18:03 They were purchased from among men
18:05 and offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb.
18:09 No lie was found in their mouths they are blameless.
18:13 So who are they?
18:15 They are the ones who are ultimately going to be redeemed,
18:18 then John is seeing them in advance on Mount Zion.
18:22 They are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes,
18:25 they are first fruits of the harvest.
18:27 Now in the Old Testament every harvest they had
18:31 they would take the first fruit, the first cutting of grain,
18:35 the cream of the crop the best
18:37 and they would offer that to God,
18:39 where Jesus was the first fruit.
18:44 Now, those who are in Christ are shown as being with Him.
18:49 The first fruit of the final harvest
18:53 when Jesus come to take His people.
18:56 Watch, the end of chapter 14:14,
19:01 "I looked, and there before me was a white cloud,
19:03 and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man."
19:06 Who is that? Right, that's Jesus.
19:09 "And then he had a sharp sickle in his hand.
19:11 An angel came out of the temple
19:12 and said the time to reap has come put in your sickle
19:15 and reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe,
19:17 so he swung his sickle on the earth
19:19 and he harvested the earth, the grain is ripe."
19:23 Jesus said in Mathew 13,
19:25 "The harvest of the wheat,
19:26 the harvest is the end of the world,
19:28 the grain is ripe.
19:30 Jesus comes to take his harvest,
19:34 that's what we are looking forward to, amen.
19:38 And so the 144,000 offered its first fruit to God,
19:43 they are part of the harvest.
19:46 But there is another harvest in Revelation 14:17.
19:52 "Another angel came out of the temple in heaven,
19:55 and he too had a sharp sickle,
19:58 and another voice called in,
20:00 a loud voice called out to him with the sharp sickle,
20:02 Take your sharp sickle,
20:03 gather the clusters of grapes from the earth,
20:07 because the grapes are ripe.
20:10 And verse 19, "The angel swung his sickle on the earth,
20:13 and he gathered the grapes
20:15 and he threw them in the winepress of God's wrath
20:19 and they were trampled in the winepress outside the city,
20:23 so we have two harvests, don't we?
20:25 A harvest of grain and the harvest of grapes.
20:29 The grain is the harvest of those who follow the Lamb,
20:33 Jesus Christ where ever He goes.
20:36 The grapes are those who don't follow the Lamb,
20:41 that righteous, the wicked, the good, the bad,
20:43 however you want to call them.
20:44 God's people, the devil's people,
20:46 those who follow the devil, those who follow Jesus,
20:49 two distinct groups at the harvest time,
20:52 so the harvest is good news for the grain
20:56 and bad news for the grapes.
20:58 I don't want to be a grape,
21:01 I want to be grain, don't you?
21:06 The grain is ripe, the grapes are ripe,
21:13 the harvest time has come.
21:18 Notice the picture when Jesus comes,
21:24 the whole world is divided into two groups,
21:30 the grain and the grapes, the righteous and the wicked.
21:37 There is nothing in between.
21:47 But if Jesus would have come right now,
21:51 He would discover three groups,
21:57 grain, the grapes
22:01 and a massive sea of humanity
22:07 who never even heard anything about God.
22:13 They didn't know the truth about God,
22:18 so if Jesus would have come right now at this instant,
22:22 there would be people who could legitimately say,
22:26 Lord we never heard of you.
22:29 Help us, what we gonna do?
22:31 We never heard of you Lord.
22:35 But it isn't going to be that way when Jesus comes.
22:40 There will be grapes and there will be grain.
22:46 Something has to happen to dry up
22:49 this massive sea of humanity.
22:56 Remember, we learned from the very beginning,
23:00 if there was only one thing preventing God
23:04 or Jesus from coming right now.
23:08 And it was the same thing that prevented him
23:11 from destroying Adam and Eve
23:12 and starting over in the Garden of Eden
23:15 and it was the same thing that prevented Him
23:18 from destroying that serpent in heaven
23:20 when he first rebelled against God, same thing.
23:25 And that was if Jesus would have destroyed
23:27 that serpent right then,
23:30 then all the rest of the angels and other beings
23:33 would be worshiping or obeying God
23:35 out of fear instead of love,
23:39 so God couldn't do that.
23:40 Remember we learned that he had to give Lucifer time
23:44 to demonstrate what it would really be
23:47 like if he was on the throne, if he had his way
23:51 and so God send him down to planet earth.
23:53 We happen to be the stage for this drama
23:56 to unfold and you could say not fair,
23:58 I don't want to be in that drama.
24:00 No, we don't have any choice.
24:02 No, it isn't fair, there is nothing fair about sin
24:05 but the cross more than makes up for the short time
24:09 that we have to go through here
24:10 in order to be a part of God's plan
24:12 to finally and ultimately deliver that death blow
24:16 to the head of the serpent and when it's all over with
24:19 and we look back through what we have been through,
24:22 we will sing hallelujah, we will sing praise God
24:26 just and true are your ways because we will have
24:29 an experience that no other beings in the universe
24:33 will have ever been through.
24:34 I think we will understand and have a love for God
24:37 that no one else can fully understand.
24:42 But in the mean time
24:46 Satan has time to demonstrate
24:51 what his kingdom is like.
24:54 Now the grapes are ripe, Revelation 14.
24:59 Now he has shown at that point in time,
25:01 he will have shown what his kingdom is like.
25:06 What is it that ripens the grapes?
25:11 It's the grain.
25:14 You see the more the grain matures,
25:19 the more God's people follow the Lamb
25:23 and demonstrate what is like to follow the Lamb,
25:29 demonstrate what is like to trust God.
25:34 The more they do that,
25:36 the more it arouses the wrath of the wicked
25:41 and they turned against them demonstrating
25:44 what it's like when you don't have God.
25:49 So now we see in Revelation 14
25:51 the world has come to a point
25:53 where God finally has the people
25:55 that can demonstrate to a sufficient degree
25:59 what it's like to follow the Lamb
26:01 and it bring out the wrath of those who reject the Lamb,
26:05 so that the grapes are ripe, the grain is ripe.
26:08 It doesn't mean that we are no longer in need of a Savior.
26:12 It was so perfect, we never make mistakes.
26:14 It means that we are so close to God
26:17 that we've shown the world that there is
26:19 once and for all shown there is a better way,
26:22 follow the Lamb, it's so much better
26:25 and the wicked are showing out,
26:26 here is what happens if you don't.
26:32 So what is it that brings this point about?
26:36 How do we ultimately get there and that's our topic finally.
26:44 The three angels of Revelation,
26:46 I've gone all around it like a sandwich,
26:48 144,000 and then the harvest scene.
26:51 Now we are at the middle of the two.
26:56 We have to understand this,
26:57 the Book of Revelation is not written in chronological order.
27:03 The Book of Revelation is written by Jews,
27:06 even tough they use Greek to write,
27:08 they were Jews and they thought like Jews,
27:10 and the Jews think in what we call parallel principles
27:14 but in the parallel principles what they will do,
27:16 they will give you the big picture of what happens
27:18 and then they go back
27:20 and fill in the details of how it got there.
27:24 The 144,000 on Mount Zion with the Lamb,
27:27 that's the big picture.
27:28 They are redeem, they have been redeem,
27:31 they are there, that's what John sees
27:32 it's going to be in the future. How do they get there?
27:35 Now he comes back and shows how it happens.
27:39 It's like if I can use the worldly illustration,
27:44 it's like watching a football game on television.
27:47 I mean some of you have done that right?
27:50 So let suppose the quarter back steps back
27:53 and throws a long touch down pass,
27:56 what is the next thing you see on the screen,
28:01 I heard it, instant replay.
28:04 Instantly the cameras go back and show you what happened.
28:08 Usually it's not exactly the same thing you just saw.
28:12 Usually they will go back
28:13 and show you from a different angle or perspective,
28:16 may be they will show the line man blocking
28:19 or the receiver running his route
28:21 or the quarterback getting clobbered
28:23 before he has a chance to finish.
28:28 And when you put all of these instant replays together,
28:31 then you can see the whole picture
28:34 of what happened on that play.
28:36 Well that's the way Revelation is.
28:38 He gives you the big picture,
28:40 the broad sweep and then he comes back
28:42 and saying here is how it happened.
28:44 The Lamb, 144,000 on Mount Zion,
28:46 how did they get there?
28:47 Well, there was a Three Angels' Messages
28:49 and then the harvests scene,
28:51 then they are on Mount Zion.
28:53 See he comes back to fill in the details, so here we are.
28:58 How to they get there?
29:00 In chapter 14:6, "I saw another angel flying in midair,
29:08 and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those
29:11 who live on the earth to every nation,
29:13 tribe, language and people."
29:15 Now here's another point that we need to make.
29:17 Revelation is a symbolic book. Remember its symbols.
29:24 Here he shows an angel
29:25 flying through the air preaching the gospel.
29:30 Jesus never commissioned angels to preach the gospel.
29:36 He told the church, you.
29:40 He said, go and preach the gospel to the whole world,
29:43 teach them all things, baptize them
29:46 and so angel the Greek word angel
29:49 aggelos really means messenger.
29:52 The angel is God's messenger to the world.
29:58 In the last days God's messenger is his church.
30:03 He shows it as an angel flying through heavens to demonstrate,
30:08 to symbolize the importance
30:10 and the urgency of this last message
30:15 that God has entrusted to the church before Jesus comes.
30:23 So let's look at it. What is the message?
30:26 The everlasting gospel to proclaim to those
30:29 who live on the earth. What is the gospel?
30:32 The good news, we are saved by grace
30:34 through faith in Jesus Christ.
30:36 And this message goes to the whole world.
30:38 The fact that God demands perfect obedience to His law
30:42 because if we break the law and step outside of that circle,
30:45 we are going to die, but the problem is
30:47 we can't keep the law Jesus did.
30:49 He lived His whole life inside the circle,
30:52 He died on the cross in your place
30:54 and He rose from the death, He ascended to heaven,
30:57 He is going to come back if we confess our sins,
31:00 if we repent of our sins.
31:02 Jesus forgives us and looks at us
31:05 as though we had never sinned
31:07 and then he gives us the perfect life
31:09 that he lived while he was here on this earth
31:12 and that's our title to heaven, that's the gospel.
31:18 So this angle has a good news about Jesus,
31:21 the everlasting gospel,
31:22 same gospel that was preached in the Old testament.
31:27 It's that gospel that we preach today.
31:29 But there is something unique
31:30 about this gospel not the message,
31:33 the message of the gospel never changes
31:36 and that is that you are saved by grace
31:39 through faith in Jesus Christ,
31:40 that will never change but there is something different
31:44 about this proclamation of the gospel of the first angel,
31:49 what is it? Listen.
31:51 He had eternal gospel to proclaim
31:53 to those who live on the earth,
31:54 who does He preaches to, every nation,
31:55 tribe, language and people.
31:57 Who does that leaves out?
31:59 Every living being on this earth is going to have the opportunity
32:02 to hear the truth of our God before Jesus comes.
32:05 Every living being, no one will be able to say
32:09 God I didn't know, I never heard before.
32:13 No one because every nation, tribe, language and people
32:17 are going to have the opportunity
32:19 to hear the good news about Jesus
32:21 before He comes, no excuses.
32:25 Not everyone is going to listen
32:27 but they will have an opportunity to hear.
32:33 What is the difference about this gospel
32:35 and all the others before, no difference in the gospel.
32:39 Here comes the point that I was trying to make.
32:43 He said in a loud voice did you hear that,
32:48 he said in a loud voice sometimes people ask me
32:51 preacher, why do you preach so loud?
32:57 Well, I don't know if you noticed it or not
33:00 but every place in Revelation
33:01 where God has something important to say,
33:04 He says it in a loud voice.
33:06 Oh, I have something important to say,
33:09 so I have a loud voice.
33:13 He said in a loud voice, Fear God and give Him glory,
33:19 because the hour of His judgment has come,
33:23 that's it, the hour of His judgment has come.
33:27 Up until this time,
33:29 no one could say here is the gospel
33:31 because the hour of God's judgment has come
33:35 but now we are looking at a time
33:38 when those preaching the gospel
33:39 can say the hour of God's judgment has come.
33:42 James in James 2 said,
33:45 "Speak and act as those who are going
33:47 to be judged in the future by the law."
33:51 But John sees the time when the gospel is preached
33:54 in the setting of the hour of God's judgment has come,
33:58 so something happened between what John saw
34:01 and what James wrote
34:03 and that is that it is now the judgment hour.
34:07 So we are looking ahead from John's point of view
34:10 to the judgment hour and I'm going to show you
34:13 we are living in the judgment hour right now.
34:16 So we are looking to our own time
34:18 and the gospel is being preached
34:20 for the hour of God's judgment has come.
34:23 If there was ever a time
34:24 that we need the gospel of Jesus Christ,
34:26 that time is during the judgment hour, amen.
34:31 So if you are God, remember this is the same time
34:36 that the beast is doing his work
34:40 and the whole world is scared of the beast,
34:42 saying who can stand against him so God has a voice,
34:45 God as a people, it says fear God, not the beast.
34:50 May be he can take your life on earth,
34:54 but there is more, there is more.
34:58 Second angel follow and he said,
35:01 well, I'm about to skip the most important part here,
35:03 I don't want to do that.
35:05 He said, he said, "Fear God, give Him glory
35:08 the hour of His judgment has come,
35:10 worship Him who made heaven and earth,
35:13 the sea and springs of water."
35:14 So just at this right time
35:17 and I'm going to show you coming up here,
35:19 it started about the time Darwin published his book
35:21 the Origin of Species,
35:23 God would have a people that would go to the whole world
35:26 and say the everlasting gospel
35:29 announce the hour of Gods judgment has come,
35:31 a sense of urgency worship God,
35:34 the Creator of the heavens and the earth.
35:38 Worship the Creator. The beast is just a creature.
35:43 Don't be afraid of the beast worship the Creator, fear God.
35:47 Now the fear of the Lord is not like, I'm scared of God.
35:53 Fear of the Lord is to stand in awe of God.
35:58 A God who is just who can't allow people,
36:02 who don't trust him to live their lives in a certain way
36:06 that hurts other people,
36:07 He can't allow that to go on and on for ever.
36:09 He is just, He will put an end to sin,
36:13 but He is a God who has demonstrated
36:15 by sending His own Son to die on the cross
36:17 that He loves you and no one needs to be lost.
36:21 We stand in awe of a God like that, not to be afraid.
36:27 But the Bible says that's His strange act,
36:31 when He finally destroys the wicked.
36:32 One day I was visiting out with the pastor,
36:36 he came to pick me up that we gonna visit some people
36:39 and when we are getting in the car,
36:41 I saw my neighbor's dog and he was shaking you know,
36:44 how dogs get something in their mouth
36:46 and they shake their heads hard.
36:48 Here is this black fluffy thing in his mouth
36:50 and he was shaking his head like that,
36:52 so I went over to take a look and it was just
36:55 a tiny little black baby kitty
37:01 and I got angry.
37:04 I had a stick, I grabbed that dog,
37:09 I began betting with the stick,
37:14 and want to beat him until he dropped it.
37:18 If you wouldn't let that kitty go.
37:24 See sometimes God looks down
37:29 and he sees the devil beating up on you.
37:33 He sees him doing everything he can to get you discouraged,
37:39 to give up, to hurt you.
37:44 One of these days God's going to say, devil that's enough.
37:49 I did all that I can do.
37:51 The grain is ripe, the grapes are ripe, I'm coming.
37:57 It isn't because he wants to destroy any one,
38:00 but true love can't allow the suffering to go on for ever.
38:07 Praise God for out, amen. So God is a God of love.
38:13 And then the second angel followed and said,
38:16 "'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,'
38:18 which made all the nations drink
38:19 the maddening wine of her adulteries."
38:21 Babylon has fallen, that on Mount Zion
38:27 men worship the creator of the heavens and the earth.
38:31 Babylon, since Babylon has fallen,
38:34 in Babylon men worship the creature, who is the beast.
38:41 And that's why the third angel says,
38:44 "If anyone worships the beast and his image
38:46 and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand,
38:48 he will also drink the wine of God's fury,
38:50 poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.
38:53 He will be tormented with burning sulfur
38:55 in the presence of the angels and the Lamb.
38:56 Smoker of their torment rises for ever and ever.
38:59 There is no rest day or night
39:01 for those who worship the beast."
39:02 Interesting, those who worship the beast, no rest.
39:07 Those who worship God, rest.
39:11 Wonder why He said it that way,
39:14 but now we can see that it isn't enough
39:17 to just proclaim the truth,
39:20 isn't enough to say the gospel Jesus loves you,
39:22 He died for you, it's not enough
39:24 because John and God knew the time was coming,
39:28 the God knew it was going to happen
39:30 when there would be so many false prophets
39:32 proclaiming a false gospel that he needed someone
39:35 to point out the difference between truth and error.
39:38 And it isn't a coincidence that it's happening at a time
39:41 when practically everyone now is saying
39:44 that if you teach that someone is wrong
39:46 especially their religion, their faith,
39:48 then you are hateful.
39:54 But I would rather let somebody know
39:55 that they are being led down the wrong path
39:57 and be called hateful than to just let them go.
40:02 And that's why God said,
40:04 He has three messages and then a warning.
40:07 If you don't listen, if you do worship the beast,
40:11 some bad things are going to happen
40:13 that you really don't want.
40:14 Please worship the Creator,
40:19 because God pouring his heart out.
40:22 You see the Three Angels' Messages force the whole world
40:26 to either one side or the other, follow me.
40:32 The beast is doing miracles, deceiving people
40:35 into acknowledging his authority over God's
40:41 and the whole world is going for it.
40:45 Not just with deceptions but with a death decree we learn.
40:49 Worship the beast or you will die.
40:55 So you see there can be no straddling the fence.
40:59 No, sometimes people say to me,
41:01 pastor, I don't know what to do,
41:03 you know, I have been studying the Bible.
41:04 She is so much different from everything
41:06 that I have been taught and yet it's true,
41:08 I can read it in there but I can't change,
41:11 I have been doing this too long,
41:13 I can't make up my mind, I can't decide,
41:15 can you help me bless your heart.
41:16 If you can't decide, somebody else is going to do it for you
41:19 and it won't be God because He doesn't force,
41:21 only the beast forces.
41:25 So worship the beast or you will die,
41:28 that's going to go to the whole world,
41:30 there will be no straddling the fence anymore.
41:32 Oh, well, I don't know what to do?
41:34 Bang, you are gone.
41:36 Worship the beast or you will die.
41:39 But at the same time third angel says
41:42 but if you worship the beast,
41:46 you are separating yourself forever from the love of God.
41:50 Now they make take our lives here on this earth
41:54 but they can't take our place up there,
41:58 but folks you have to believe that by faith,
42:00 the time is coming when you may see people die
42:02 because of their faith.
42:06 And the only way we can know that,
42:08 hey, if I die here I have a place up there,
42:11 is by faith in Jesus Christ.
42:13 That's why we have to spend time in this book.
42:17 The whole battle is over faith and trust in God.
42:23 And so this is God's way
42:25 of forcing the whole world to decide,
42:28 He will never force you to love Him.
42:30 He will never force you to worship Him,
42:32 but you will be forced to choose
42:35 and that's what the mark of the beast is all about.
42:38 It's all about those who try to straddle the fence.
42:43 Now it's time to, like they say either fish or cut bait.
42:50 It's decision time.
42:53 I just want to go back for a moment
42:56 and review the gospel of Jesus Christ
42:58 because we've talked about some hard things
43:01 and I like to leave on a positive note.
43:03 My favorite place, my favorite text that talks
43:06 about the gospel that's a first angel's message,
43:08 it is by grace, Ephesians 2,
43:10 you know that one verse 8,
43:12 "It's by grace you have been saved,
43:14 through faith not from yourselves,
43:15 it is the gift of God, not by works."
43:18 Praise the Lord, hallelujah, amen.
43:20 You can't be good enough
43:22 that's why it's by grace through faith in Jesus.
43:26 So that no one can boast
43:28 because we are God's workmanship
43:31 created in Christ Jesus to do good works
43:35 which God prepared in advance for us to do.
43:38 We are saved by grace through faith
43:39 everybody knows that verse but what about verse 10.
43:43 You are saved by grace in order to do good works.
43:47 We are not saved because of good works,
43:49 we are saved by grace,
43:50 but we are saved by grace in order to do good works.
43:55 You see in Hebrews 8, he says about it as plainly as he can,
43:58 when he is talking about that temple and the sanctuary.
44:02 He said in Chapter 8:8, God found fault with the people,
44:06 the fault wasn't with the promise
44:08 or the covenant God made in the Old Testament.
44:10 No, the fault was with the people.
44:13 And he said, "The time is coming,
44:14 declares the Lord, when I will make
44:15 a new covenant with the house of Israel."
44:18 Now we know the house of Israel
44:20 is the church of Jesus Christ
44:22 and so he says now in the New Testament times
44:25 so the new covenant is with the church
44:27 is with the house of Israel. That's the church.
44:31 You're beginning to see how all these pieces fit.
44:33 This is the covenant verse 10
44:34 that I will make with the house of Israel
44:36 after that time says the Lord.
44:38 I will put my laws in their minds,
44:39 I'll write them on their hearts.
44:41 In the Old Testament they had them written on stone.
44:43 Now in the New Testament when we come to Christ
44:45 in the New Testament on Mount Zion,
44:47 He puts them in our heart.
44:49 The same law that was written on stone,
44:51 He writes in our heart.
44:53 That means He creates within us
44:55 a new desire to follow the Lamb.
44:58 Then we are saved by grace through faith
45:00 in order to live a life that trusts God
45:04 and stays within the circle.
45:07 We're not saved because we stay in the circle,
45:10 we can't stay and we are already outside.
45:13 He puts us in and we stay in
45:16 because we trust Him because we love Him
45:19 by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
45:25 So we keep the Sabbath not in order to get saved,
45:29 because it's written in our heart.
45:31 It was on stone, now it's in our heart
45:34 and we have a desire to rest in God
45:40 and enter into His rest.
45:42 Those who worship the beast never get that, we do.
45:50 But the gospel I think is more than that.
45:52 We have learned that the gospel
45:55 when God writes His law in our hearts,
45:57 it's not just the letter of the law,
46:00 the gospel embraces the spirit of the law.
46:04 A person who follows the letter of the law
46:06 thinks they are obedient, they never murdered anyone
46:08 Jesus said, I got news for you.
46:10 If you get angry, you've murdered,
46:12 so that's the spirit of the law.
46:16 And the sprit of the law is far more
46:19 and far more far reaching than the letter of the law.
46:22 Look at Titus and the reason I'm going to do this now
46:25 is because we are looking ahead to a time
46:28 when the deceptions and the force
46:30 will be overwhelming
46:32 for those on this earth to worship the beast,
46:34 the whole world is going to after him except for a few.
46:37 We want to be among the few whose names
46:39 are written in the Book of Life. Amen.
46:42 And so now, I want to talk about
46:44 what it is going to be like
46:45 those who follow the Three Angels' Message,
46:47 what they are going to be like?
46:48 What can they be to strengthen themselves
46:50 and let God strengthen them to be strong enough
46:53 to stand against the beast?
46:55 In verse 11 in the little book of Titus 2:11,
46:59 "For the grace of God that brings salvation
47:03 has appeared to all men." That's Jesus.
47:06 But watch this.
47:08 Here is the gospel, the grace of God verse 12,
47:12 "It teaches us to say no to ungodliness
47:16 and worldly passions, and live self-controlled,
47:18 upright and godly lives in this present age
47:21 while we wait for the blessed hope that is the glorious
47:24 appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ
47:27 who has give himself for us to redeem us
47:30 from all wickedness purify for himself
47:33 a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
47:37 These, then, are the words you should teach encourage
47:40 and rebuke with all authority
47:42 and don't let anyone despise you."
47:45 So the gospel is more than just a little tickly good feeling
47:49 we get when we accept Jesus.
47:53 The gospel teaches us to say no to ungodliness
47:59 and worldly passion to live upright lives now
48:03 in this present age while we wait for the blessed hope.
48:07 What is the blessed hope of the church?
48:09 He tells us the glorious appearing
48:11 of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
48:14 So while we the church are waiting
48:16 for the glorious appearing of Jesus,
48:19 the gospel teaches us to say no to ungodliness
48:22 and worldly passion and living upright life.
48:24 What is the ungodliness? What is the worldly passion?
48:27 The gospel teaches us to say no to.
48:29 Well, you don't have to go far,
48:31 just look at the Marquis at the neighborhood theater
48:34 or don't look at them, you don't really need to,
48:36 you know what's there.
48:37 The filth, the immorality,
48:41 the godlessness is portrayed on the movie screens today
48:47 are the things that the Bible is teaching us to say no to.
48:53 The movies portray drugs, crime, violence,
49:01 immorality, homosexuality, unfaithfulness
49:07 as something that's normal, natural.
49:12 And God says flee from it all,
49:17 I want you to know that the Hollywood script writers
49:21 do not have your spiritual wellbeing in mind
49:24 when they plan a movie.
49:28 And I believe that as Christians its time
49:30 that we stand on our guard
49:32 and watch what we put into our minds
49:35 because the devil is trying to do everything that he can
49:39 in order to deceive you into thinking
49:42 that wrong is right and right is wrong.
49:50 Modern music again songs about demons and immorality, cheating.
50:02 Now let me show you,
50:05 I found this news paper article years ago.
50:09 Boy I can image what the guy would be saying now.
50:12 This was about Madonna, you heard of her, right?
50:17 The material girl going to far is the title,
50:21 she just put out a new DVD
50:24 and there was a lot of controversy
50:26 about in fact even MTV wouldn't show it.
50:28 That must have really been bad.
50:31 So it says how far will she go?
50:33 Well, this particular Hollywood critic said
50:37 after talking about the news the TV,
50:41 prime time TV programs going more and more
50:44 towards nudity even in prime time.
50:47 Now he says comparing this to Madonna.
50:52 What is happening on the fringe is influencing the centre,
50:59 this is profound you really need to get this.
51:02 While the public might not want Madonna's antiques
51:05 on prime time television it changes the overall paradigm
51:12 and it paves the way.
51:15 In other words the worse it gets out on the fringe,
51:20 the more acceptable things seen
51:24 that were not seen as acceptable before.
51:29 This is a movie critic writing and this was 15 years ago.
51:35 What would he say today?
51:38 And yet I see Christians going to watch these same movies,
51:42 listening to the same kind of music
51:44 even here sometimes at Christian socials.
51:50 It reminds me of a poem I heard one time,
51:55 "Vice is a monster of so frightful and mean to be hated,
52:02 it need only be seen but seen too often,
52:08 we become familiar with its face,
52:11 first we abhor, then we endure,
52:15 then we embrace. And it's so true.
52:22 Ask yourself you are watching things today
52:24 you never would have watched five years ago.
52:27 I think it's time that we start paying attention
52:29 what we put into our minds.
52:32 What else can we do? How can we be prepared?
52:35 Turn to 1 Corinthians
52:36 and remember keep it in the context.
52:38 We are not trying to figure out what we can do
52:40 to make ourselves acceptable to God,
52:41 that's a done deal, Jesus already did it.
52:44 What we want to know,
52:45 we want to know what can we do to enhance
52:49 and strengthen our walk with God
52:51 to be able to distinguish the difference
52:52 between the counterfeit and the truth?
52:58 In 1 Corinthians 3:16, "Don't you know
53:01 that you yourselves are God's temple
53:03 and that God's Spirit lives in you?
53:04 If anyone destroys God's temple,
53:06 God will destroy him because God's temple is sacred,
53:08 and you are that temple."
53:10 God wants us to watch what we put into our bodies
53:13 because our bodies are the temple of God.
53:16 Here is another one in 1 Corinthians 6
53:19 this time in the last verse of the Chapter 20.
53:23 He says, "You are not your own, you were bought at a price,
53:25 therefore honor God with your bodies."
53:27 Take care of your bodies you are not your own,
53:30 Jesus paid for you.
53:32 And then in Chapter 10:31,
53:33 "Whatever you eat or drink do it all for the glory of God."
53:36 Three times here in this letter he is letting us know
53:39 that our bodies are important,
53:40 they are important part of who we are.
53:42 God made us with the body
53:44 and everything He made was very good.
53:46 One lady said, wow, this isn't anything,
53:47 it's just a sack that holds my soul.
53:50 So what verse is that?
53:53 In Genesis it says that God created
53:55 the man and woman with the body and God said everything
53:57 that He made was very good
54:01 and He wants us to take care of our bodies
54:02 because our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
54:05 and that means that what we put into our bodies matters to God
54:10 because what we put into our bodies determines
54:12 how much we can understand and commune with God.
54:15 The Holy Spirit lives in me, Jesus lives in me,
54:17 he doesn't want to smoke cigarettes
54:19 so why do I force him to do it.
54:22 He doesn't want to get stoned on drugs
54:23 in marijuana and other so why do I make him do it?
54:26 He lives in me. You see what I'm saying.
54:30 He doesn't want to get boozed up on alcohol
54:33 and pickle his brain and why do you want to do it?
54:38 The time is coming the Bible says
54:39 when we are going to need to determine
54:41 difference between truth and error,
54:42 it's going to take every brain that we have.
54:44 Why do we want to destroy them
54:45 with few fleeting moments of pleasure?
54:51 One day a man roughly came home and said
54:56 Lord I don't want to do anything,
54:57 I just want to go home and sit in my big easy chair,
55:00 put my feet up in the fireplace and read the paper, relax
55:05 but he had two little kids,
55:08 he knew that wasn't going to happen.
55:10 So he got the bright idea on the way home,
55:13 he would stop in at his Wal-Mart or Kmart
55:18 or whatever kind of mart you live in
55:19 wherever you are in the world watching,
55:22 and he bought a puzzle but he checked the age,
55:28 you know every puzzle has a age limit on it.
55:31 So he checked the age group to make sure
55:33 that it was older than his kids.
55:37 So feeling smug he comes home
55:40 and they sure off come running at the door
55:41 daddy, daddy let's play, he said oh, yeah
55:43 fine we are going to play
55:44 but here I brought you a present
55:46 what is it? What is it?
55:47 Here it's a puzzle map of the United States,
55:49 now go upstairs and put it together
55:51 when you finish you come down and we will play.
55:54 So they ran upstairs, he sits in his easy chair
55:56 in front of the fire place, puts his feet up
55:59 and reads the paper all relaxed ready for relaxed evening,
56:02 when just a few minutes later
56:04 they come running down the steps,
56:06 daddy, daddy, daddy we are done.
56:08 Feeling sabotage he said who helped you, your mother?
56:11 No, no, no we did it all by ourselves we did it, we did it.
56:14 Well how did you do it?
56:16 They said well we got that puzzle out and it was a map
56:19 and we don't know where all those pieces went,
56:22 we don't know the states but one of the piece turned over
56:26 and it was a man's ear and we turned another one over
56:31 and it was a nose and another one was a eye and a mouth
56:35 and we kept turning the pieces over
56:37 and putting the man's face together
56:39 when we got that all done,
56:41 turned the puzzle over and it was finished.
56:45 See some people focus on this piece or that piece
56:48 and what they eat, what they drink,
56:49 what they wear, what day they go to church
56:51 and they think that if they do all these things
56:53 that makes them holy and righteous and good
56:57 and then the others say, no, no it doesn't matter
56:59 about those things, eat what you want,
57:01 drink what you want, go where you want,
57:02 do what you want, and any old day would do.
57:09 But those who focus on the man's face
57:13 spend their time thinking about Jesus.
57:16 We'll discover what to do and what not to do
57:22 because they love Him, they trust Him.
57:26 See the whole idea is
57:32 to turn your eyes upon Jesus.
57:38 Look full in His wonderful face
57:42 and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
57:47 in the light of His glory and grace.
57:53 Follow the Lamb.


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Revised 2014-12-17