WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.370 I want to invite you to Revelation, chapter 14 is where we're at together today. 00:00:04.940 --> 00:00:07.240 In Revelation chapter 14. 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:14.680 And this is a very significant, impactful difficult section 00:00:14.680 --> 00:00:20.160 through the book of Revelation we've gone through together, especially as you have read chapter 12 and 13. 00:00:20.200 --> 00:00:25.400 There's a part of you sometimes that when you get through Revelation, you're about to read chapter 12 and 13. 00:00:25.400 --> 00:00:27.330 You think, well, we're going to do 12 this week. 00:00:27.680 --> 00:00:34.780 13 then 14 after people get through 12 and 13, I wonder who's going to show up for 14, because in chapter 12 and 13 00:00:34.780 --> 00:00:36.900 are some heavy sliding chapters. 00:00:36.900 --> 00:00:41.160 If you were here last week and you left encouraged at all, I'm going to count that as a victory. 00:00:41.440 --> 00:00:41.800 Okay? 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:43.640 Because we're talking about chapter 12. 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:49.880 You're talking about the dragon that is Satan and his dominance on the world, this fallen, broken Babylonian world. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:57.640 And then chapter 13, the henchmen that he uses to execute his plan, which are described as the two beasts and 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:00.700 the devastation it brings against God's people. 00:01:00.860 --> 00:01:04.900 And it's a very difficult section of Scripture to work through. 00:01:05.099 --> 00:01:10.280 And if the Book of Revelation ended in chapter 13, we should all just take our ball and go home. 00:01:10.360 --> 00:01:12.100 That's how that's how that should work. 00:01:12.100 --> 00:01:15.140 Because it is it is a devastating section of the Bible. 00:01:15.140 --> 00:01:22.140 In fact, if you didn't know how the story ended, like if you let's say you're in the first century and the first book of the New Testament given to 00:01:22.140 --> 00:01:27.560 you was the Book of Revelation, and you got to chapter 13, you would be looking at this thing and oh my gosh, like what? 00:01:27.720 --> 00:01:29.140 What are we going to do about this? 00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:30.790 How can these people move forward? 00:01:30.820 --> 00:01:33.360 How what is what is God's plan for his people? 00:01:33.360 --> 00:01:36.250 Maybe you're even skeptical as to whether or not you want to belong to that plan. 00:01:37.160 --> 00:01:41.100 Chapter 14 is that chapter that you want to hurry up and get to, right? 00:01:41.100 --> 00:01:48.100 This is the this is the chapter that now God helps helps us have a healthy perspective in 00:01:48.100 --> 00:01:51.100 light of a broken, fallen world. 00:01:51.860 --> 00:01:56.880 How do we respond knowing there's going to be struggles in the world that we find ourselves in? 00:01:56.880 --> 00:02:01.380 In fact, if we follow Jesus, we recognize Jesus went through adversity. 00:02:02.260 --> 00:02:04.800 Yet in the Christian life, there's also a tremendous joy. 00:02:05.720 --> 00:02:08.130 And in joy is important for God's people to discover. 00:02:08.419 --> 00:02:10.699 It's much deeper than happiness. 00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:12.690 I hope this morning you're happy. 00:02:13.020 --> 00:02:17.160 And I hope if your team wins the Super Bowl or whatever, your emotions don't ride on this. 00:02:17.220 --> 00:02:20.100 But I think it's un-American to not cheer for an eagle, just so you know. 00:02:20.220 --> 00:02:21.260 But I'm just kidding. 00:02:21.260 --> 00:02:25.560 But your happiness, it's important, right? 00:02:25.580 --> 00:02:31.020 But I want you to know God's more, far more interested in something greater than your happiness. 00:02:31.060 --> 00:02:32.200 Right? 00:02:32.780 --> 00:02:35.180 I know some people might say that, just. 00:02:35.220 --> 00:02:36.220 I just want to be happy. 00:02:36.880 --> 00:02:39.940 God's really more interested in your holiness than your happiness. 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:41.760 And with your holiness. 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:45.500 I think we need to understand that what God ultimately desires to pursue is your joy. 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:47.780 And joy is much deeper than happiness. 00:02:48.920 --> 00:02:52.880 And joy is something that we find that endures beyond the circumstance. 00:02:52.980 --> 00:02:56.800 Happiness is fleeting, and it's often dictated by the moment. 00:02:57.580 --> 00:03:00.380 But joy is something that endures beyond the circumstance. 00:03:00.780 --> 00:03:03.070 And so how, as God's people do we have joy? 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:04.410 How do we discover joy? 00:03:05.140 --> 00:03:09.020 And for us, it's fixated on something more than just the moment. 00:03:09.720 --> 00:03:16.960 And fallen Babylon is going to lead to a lot of brokenness in people when they've put their hope in 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:18.450 what the dragon and the beast represents. 00:03:19.020 --> 00:03:21.650 But for God's people, there is this enduring joy. 00:03:22.220 --> 00:03:25.650 And one of the things I reminded us of is we started in the book of Revelation. 00:03:25.880 --> 00:03:32.980 I think it's helpful just to repeat, in case we weren't here for some of this, or maybe we've forgotten is, as you start to read the book of Revelation, you remember the 00:03:32.980 --> 00:03:33.830 first three chapters. 00:03:34.020 --> 00:03:37.830 It's written to the seven churches, which is a picture of really all of God's people. 00:03:38.460 --> 00:03:40.660 And then in chapter four, he starts to pull back. 00:03:40.660 --> 00:03:43.190 John starts to pull back this picture of heaven. 00:03:45.140 --> 00:03:52.180 And knowing the what God's people are going to endure the things that might be before us, he wants us to have this refreshing view of who 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:59.360 God is And the reason for that is to help us understand what our posture should be, because who we are is determined 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:00.920 by who he is. 00:04:01.620 --> 00:04:08.730 And when we think about who God is, if God is in a panic over circumstances, or if God's in disarray or he's not reigning in his sovereignty, 00:04:09.500 --> 00:04:11.000 then we should panic ourselves. 00:04:11.320 --> 00:04:12.640 And we should be like, oh no, we're in trouble. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:15.480 If God God doesn't feel like he has this, then what? 00:04:15.780 --> 00:04:18.079 Our future is looking bleak. 00:04:18.140 --> 00:04:18.260 But. 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:22.280 But when we see a God who stands confidently, it gives us. 00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:25.400 What we would say in Christians is a very important four letter word. 00:04:25.700 --> 00:04:26.720 And it's not a cuss word. 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:26.860 Right. 00:04:26.900 --> 00:04:28.140 It's the word hope. 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:31.390 As long as we have hope, we know we have a future. 00:04:32.020 --> 00:04:38.700 And when it comes to hope, biblically speaking, in the English language or languages in general have this way of morphing over time. 00:04:39.300 --> 00:04:42.880 And what hope originally meant versus what it means today is different. 00:04:43.620 --> 00:04:45.760 When we say hope today, it's more like wishful thinking. 00:04:46.380 --> 00:04:47.540 You know, I sure hope so. 00:04:47.620 --> 00:04:50.870 That's kind of how we talk about the idea of hope today. 00:04:51.740 --> 00:04:52.340 But when? 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:56.150 When God's people in the New Testament we talk about hope in Scripture. 00:04:56.180 --> 00:05:00.120 Hope is this great anticipation, this place of certainty. 00:05:00.260 --> 00:05:01.820 It's just a matter of letting it play out. 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:03.780 We know the way it's going to end. 00:05:03.780 --> 00:05:05.180 We just have to let it play out. 00:05:05.940 --> 00:05:13.060 And when we talk about hope as God's people, that's what we're describing is this great anticipation because of who God 00:05:13.060 --> 00:05:13.540 is. 00:05:14.140 --> 00:05:18.700 And so when you read chapter 13, you come away with this question of man, how are God's people even going to survive this? 00:05:19.860 --> 00:05:24.340 And then when you get to chapter 14, it starts to demonstrate that idea to us. 00:05:24.960 --> 00:05:26.160 What do we do in light of this? 00:05:26.180 --> 00:05:33.130 And it really it reminds me when you read throughout the Bible and God's people, time and time again, find themselves in difficult places. 00:05:33.900 --> 00:05:36.320 But the one who sustains them in that journey is always the Lord. 00:05:37.260 --> 00:05:44.280 If God can lead his people through the wilderness and feed them with manna, you just provide out of nothing something pretty sure 00:05:44.280 --> 00:05:45.440 he can take care of us too. 00:05:46.400 --> 00:05:48.520 And chapter 14 is the reminder of that. 00:05:49.300 --> 00:05:54.020 And so we're going to talk about two practices to sustain us in challenging seasons. 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:59.480 And it's not to say, take these two pills and all the challenging seasons will just go away. 00:05:59.900 --> 00:06:03.860 But rather it's to understand in a fallen world, we're going to go through seasons that are challenging. 00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:11.840 And so how do we find ourselves moving through those with this enduring hope and joy as God's people? 00:06:12.580 --> 00:06:12.680 Right. 00:06:12.760 --> 00:06:20.300 And so point number one in your notes is this genuine worship from a secure identity 00:06:21.740 --> 00:06:22.400 for God's people. 00:06:22.400 --> 00:06:27.660 It's important for us to step into this place of genuine worship from secure identity. 00:06:27.900 --> 00:06:30.880 Worship reminds us where we find our worth. 00:06:31.840 --> 00:06:32.080 Right. 00:06:32.100 --> 00:06:33.140 We're in worship. 00:06:33.140 --> 00:06:35.260 We're really attributing worth to something. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:43.300 But when it's not in a fallen Babylonian world that we're going to see the demise of, but rather in a God who endures, we find 00:06:43.300 --> 00:06:45.020 ourselves secure in that. 00:06:45.020 --> 00:06:48.580 So genuine worship from a secure identity. 00:06:48.660 --> 00:06:50.580 And this is exactly where John starts. 00:06:50.640 --> 00:06:57.560 And we have we have this way as people, when we go through hardship, it can often disorient us. 00:06:58.400 --> 00:07:05.600 And so when we go through difficult circumstances, we need this perspective, this healthy, proper perspective of how we 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:12.120 are to respond in light of our situation, because our situation does not dictate who we are, but rather God does. 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:17.200 And worship is this way of reorienting ourselves to remind us of our identity. 00:07:17.200 --> 00:07:22.360 As we go through the circumstantial experiences of life, knowing we have a greater hope. 00:07:22.600 --> 00:07:25.640 And so when you look at the first five verses, here's what John's going to do. 00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:28.600 He's going to talk about verse one, what you see. 00:07:29.580 --> 00:07:29.720 Right. 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:32.800 So what's your what's your perspective then what you hear. 00:07:33.660 --> 00:07:36.560 And then in verse that's verse two and three what you hear. 00:07:36.640 --> 00:07:39.740 And then verse four and five what you do in light of that. 00:07:40.700 --> 00:07:40.920 Right. 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:44.720 Because what you do is determined by what you ultimately, ultimately believe. 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:48.700 But all of this is helping us understand, okay, difficult circumstances. 00:07:48.700 --> 00:07:54.820 I need to worship in a way that completely engages me from the identity identity I have because of who he is. 00:07:55.640 --> 00:07:59.660 And John starts off this way in light of all the things that we saw in chapter 13. 00:07:59.660 --> 00:08:00.960 Look at chapter 14. 00:08:00.960 --> 00:08:08.060 He says it like this starts off and says, then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the lamb, 00:08:08.200 --> 00:08:15.500 and with him 144,000 who had his name, and his father's name written on their 00:08:15.500 --> 00:08:16.800 foreheads. 00:08:17.320 --> 00:08:22.020 So John is seeing from a perspective of a godly identity here. 00:08:22.680 --> 00:08:29.740 So he starts off okay in light of everything, all the difficult things, the fallen Babylon, the destruction that's going to happen, this dragon who wants to dominate people 00:08:29.740 --> 00:08:31.340 and destroy them. 00:08:31.420 --> 00:08:36.370 This is your this is your perspective or your view that you should have as God's people. 00:08:36.539 --> 00:08:43.960 It is an enduring view with not just simply wishful thinking, the certainty of who you are because of who God is and 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:51.740 the way that he begins this idea of seeing for us is through this lamb who is standing 00:08:51.740 --> 00:08:53.020 on Mount Zion. 00:08:53.020 --> 00:08:54.520 Right? 00:08:54.680 --> 00:09:01.020 This lamb who's standing on Mount Zion is this picture of the authority of God. 00:09:01.460 --> 00:09:07.020 If you remember, over chapter 12 and 13, chapter 12, it described to us the dragon. 00:09:07.040 --> 00:09:11.160 And in verse 17 it said something unique about the dragon at the very end of chapter 12. 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:13.200 It told us he was standing on the sand. 00:09:14.380 --> 00:09:14.760 Right. 00:09:14.800 --> 00:09:18.000 And that is an important idea to think about. 00:09:18.040 --> 00:09:19.660 Because if you know anything about sand. 00:09:19.940 --> 00:09:25.100 Sand is constantly shifting by whatever water might hit it, whatever breeze that might go by. 00:09:25.180 --> 00:09:26.210 Sand is always changing. 00:09:26.380 --> 00:09:29.070 It's nothing that you can really build anything enduring upon. 00:09:29.460 --> 00:09:30.260 It was. 00:09:30.540 --> 00:09:37.760 I don't know if you've ever been out to the salt flats, but if you've ever gone out to the salt flats and you take the opportunity to kind of observe the remains of 00:09:37.760 --> 00:09:44.820 things around as you go out to the salt flats, you'll see on that journey, at least the least last time I drove out there, I saw the 00:09:44.820 --> 00:09:49.510 remains of some old buildings that used to be on the that terrain. 00:09:50.120 --> 00:09:57.560 And people discovered, I don't know if they didn't know this at the time, but it's a stupid idea to build your build your house on some salt flats and nothing, 00:09:57.720 --> 00:09:59.060 nothing endures out there, right? 00:09:59.560 --> 00:10:06.850 That's why you have to go so long before you get to even the salt flats are kind of weird that people drive that far to go to it. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:10.900 But it's just this terrain of nothingness for a while. 00:10:10.920 --> 00:10:11.160 Right? 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:13.300 And it's you can't build any life there. 00:10:13.300 --> 00:10:13.900 It's sand. 00:10:13.900 --> 00:10:17.600 It's the same thing with the idea of this sand that the dragon would stand on the sand. 00:10:17.620 --> 00:10:20.000 Is this shifting identity. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:22.860 There's nothing there that's going to amount to anything. 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:30.440 But now rather the perspective as you look to the Messiah is the a lamb who is standing 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:33.360 on a firm foundation. 00:10:33.420 --> 00:10:34.570 He's on this rock. 00:10:36.060 --> 00:10:36.140 Right. 00:10:36.200 --> 00:10:40.860 And so when you think in terms of the dragon, here's the dragon standing on the sand. 00:10:40.860 --> 00:10:43.830 And in And in chapter 13, verse 11, it reminds us that he was this. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:46.630 He pretended to be this lamb, but he couldn't ultimately deliver. 00:10:46.820 --> 00:10:51.160 But now in chapter 14, you're seeing the true lamb and the foundation that he rests upon. 00:10:51.260 --> 00:10:56.620 And this is important for all of us, because this determines who we are, right? 00:10:56.620 --> 00:10:58.940 Who he is gives us the proper perspective. 00:10:58.980 --> 00:11:02.130 So the question is, what are your eyes on when you go through adversity? 00:11:02.580 --> 00:11:04.970 What do you ultimately look to? 00:11:05.140 --> 00:11:07.760 Now Hebrews chapter 12 reminds us of this. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:13.580 It starts off in the beginning of Hebrews chapter 12, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:18.340 Who he himself endured because he knew ultimately what was going to take place. 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:23.220 And so it put perspective, like he had the joy before him. 00:11:24.260 --> 00:11:31.460 So circumstances didn't dictate, but the ultimate reality of what would become so that no matter what happened, 00:11:31.820 --> 00:11:34.400 he knew his destination was secure. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:35.980 Same thing is true for you and me. 00:11:36.040 --> 00:11:38.220 That's why at the end of Hebrews, the way it ends is like this. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:40.320 In chapter 12, verse 28 and 29. 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:47.040 It says, you serve a kingdom that is unshakable, its foundations unshakable. 00:11:48.500 --> 00:11:48.760 And so. 00:11:48.920 --> 00:11:53.020 So you think about the things that we go through in life having this perspective. 00:11:53.480 --> 00:11:55.600 It's asking the question, what do you see? 00:11:56.680 --> 00:12:02.740 Well, the answer for us should be first, we begin with seeing who he is, the one who reigns from Zion. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:06.280 Zion is this picture of this land of ultimate redemption. 00:12:06.460 --> 00:12:10.670 It's saying, look, God fulfilled his promises for you and for me. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:15.440 It was first established by King David and second Samuel chapter five. 00:12:16.380 --> 00:12:23.600 But it's this ultimate place where the true Messiah, as David was seen as this messianic figure, that this true Messiah would fulfill everything 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:24.900 that he's promised for us. 00:12:25.020 --> 00:12:26.620 And here you see the security of that. 00:12:26.640 --> 00:12:33.140 And in light of that, then he goes on further and he talks about this picture of this 144,000. 00:12:33.260 --> 00:12:39.380 Now, when you think in terms of a messiah ruling and reigning from Zion, there's all sorts of messianic pictures of this. 00:12:39.460 --> 00:12:43.680 The important thought related to this and how it impacts who we are. 00:12:43.900 --> 00:12:45.810 If I gave you just one this morning. 00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:47.250 Psalm chapter two. 00:12:48.020 --> 00:12:55.160 Psalm chapter two is a psalm that talks about the nations that are raging against God, and they're really following the false beast, 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:57.780 the image of this world, the fallen babylons. 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:01.630 And in chapter two, verse one, let me just read you a few verses. 00:13:01.980 --> 00:13:05.780 It says, why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? 00:13:05.800 --> 00:13:12.980 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against the anointed, saying, let us burst 00:13:12.980 --> 00:13:16.720 their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. 00:13:16.740 --> 00:13:18.450 He who sits in the heavens laughs. 00:13:19.740 --> 00:13:21.620 The Lord holds them in derision. 00:13:22.260 --> 00:13:29.500 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for 00:13:29.500 --> 00:13:35.320 me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill. 00:13:36.840 --> 00:13:43.880 And in light of his authority, he then talks about the 144,000 and they and they in this passage, verse 00:13:43.880 --> 00:13:45.580 one, they bear the marks on their foreheads. 00:13:46.760 --> 00:13:48.040 And we've looked at this together. 00:13:48.520 --> 00:13:51.200 You know, at the end of last week we talked about the number 666. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:54.990 And I warned you against the Covid vaccine, if you remember, which is really not the mark of the beast. 00:13:55.060 --> 00:14:02.180 I was being facetious, but the idea of the mark of the beast is really saying to us what controls who you 00:14:02.180 --> 00:14:06.480 are, what determines what you do, what truly has authority in your heart? 00:14:07.520 --> 00:14:09.040 Where do you find your worth and value? 00:14:09.040 --> 00:14:10.190 Where do you find your identity? 00:14:10.280 --> 00:14:11.540 That's what this mark is. 00:14:12.740 --> 00:14:15.640 And there are those that belong to the beasts of this world. 00:14:16.920 --> 00:14:18.560 But then there are those that belong to the Lord. 00:14:18.560 --> 00:14:20.580 And he talks about this 144,000. 00:14:20.680 --> 00:14:23.100 And we've already been introduced to this in chapter seven. 00:14:23.680 --> 00:14:26.620 If you weren't here for that, let me just give you a quick reminder of what this represents. 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:34.100 If you read at the very end of chapter six the question at the end of chapter six, verse 17 is, who can stand before the 00:14:34.100 --> 00:14:39.900 Holy God, and the answer to it is given to you immediately as you turn the page to chapter seven. 00:14:40.640 --> 00:14:42.760 The 144,000. 00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:47.060 And it goes on to describe the 144,000 as 12,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel. 00:14:47.080 --> 00:14:47.800 12 times. 00:14:47.860 --> 00:14:51.520 12 times a thousand, which is intended to say to us, it's a lot of people. 00:14:52.340 --> 00:14:58.080 And during these ancient times, the idea of a thousand was we play with monopoly money today. 00:14:58.200 --> 00:14:59.160 For them, that was a lot. 00:14:59.980 --> 00:15:06.640 And so it's saying really this ridiculous amount, that's what it's talking about, this overwhelming amount of people 144,000. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:09.720 And so when you read chapter seven, you start to see the 12 tribes of Israel. 00:15:10.260 --> 00:15:16.820 And it says in chapter seven, John, here's the number of 144,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel. 00:15:18.060 --> 00:15:25.640 But then when John actually turns and looks at the people, what he sees, rather than 144,000 Jewish people, he 00:15:25.640 --> 00:15:30.440 sees a multitude of every tribe, tongue, language and people. 00:15:30.880 --> 00:15:35.340 And so the 144,000 44,000 becomes this picture of God's people throughout history. 00:15:35.860 --> 00:15:37.160 All of God's redeemed. 00:15:38.140 --> 00:15:38.200 So? 00:15:38.280 --> 00:15:45.480 So when you read the Old Testament and the New Testament and you look in, for example, Revelation chapter 21, 00:15:45.480 --> 00:15:52.560 verses 12 and 14, and in Revelation 21, verse 12, it talks about the 12 tribes of Israel, but then 00:15:52.560 --> 00:16:00.100 it talks about the 12 apostles 12 times 12, making 144 times 1000 144,000. 00:16:01.060 --> 00:16:08.160 It's this picture of all of God's people, all of God's people being redeemed because of who we are in light of who 00:16:08.160 --> 00:16:08.780 he is. 00:16:10.540 --> 00:16:11.320 What do you see? 00:16:12.860 --> 00:16:14.360 What determines who you are? 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:16.740 Where is your perspective? 00:16:18.260 --> 00:16:24.080 Adversity has this way of trying to disorient us, but what God has done for you is far more important. 00:16:24.520 --> 00:16:31.800 And so your genuine worship from your secure identity becomes that place of encouragement for us in him. 00:16:31.900 --> 00:16:36.840 You know, when you read about this 144,000in this passage, a couple of things that are important to see. 00:16:36.900 --> 00:16:37.250 What is it? 00:16:37.560 --> 00:16:39.180 It talks about in verse four. 00:16:39.180 --> 00:16:40.810 It refers to them as virgins. 00:16:42.140 --> 00:16:43.780 So they not defile themselves with women. 00:16:43.820 --> 00:16:45.940 So it's 144,000 virgin males. 00:16:46.580 --> 00:16:51.330 And it goes on and says in this passage that they there's no lie in verse five found in their mouth. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:52.300 Right. 00:16:52.300 --> 00:16:59.760 So I'm just going to tell you another reason that, this is not a literal 144,000 is because there's not on planet Earth, 144,000 00:16:59.760 --> 00:17:01.680 male virgins that have never lied. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:04.819 This is not even a that's not even everyone in this room. 00:17:04.819 --> 00:17:06.099 At some point you have lied, right? 00:17:06.180 --> 00:17:08.310 This is not even a possibility, right? 00:17:08.460 --> 00:17:13.380 And so this is painting for us a picture of what Jesus does to us. 00:17:13.380 --> 00:17:14.460 He purifies us. 00:17:14.460 --> 00:17:16.260 In him we belong to him. 00:17:16.260 --> 00:17:16.740 We are his. 00:17:17.180 --> 00:17:24.260 In fact, if you read on in verse eight, you find that this 144,000 is contrasted to those who have found 00:17:24.260 --> 00:17:27.040 themselves prostituted in the beast. 00:17:28.540 --> 00:17:31.340 And So it's saying, have you given yourself over to the things of this world? 00:17:31.340 --> 00:17:33.040 Have you prostituted yourself out? 00:17:33.040 --> 00:17:35.830 And it compares this idea of prostituting to idolatry? 00:17:38.180 --> 00:17:40.320 Or have you given yourself to the one true King? 00:17:42.340 --> 00:17:45.300 And so there is this identity that we have. 00:17:45.340 --> 00:17:47.700 And then and then John talks about what they hear. 00:17:47.740 --> 00:17:54.370 If I go back to verse two and I heard a voice from heaven, like the roaring of many waters, and this and like the sound of loud thunder. 00:17:54.520 --> 00:17:58.620 The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. 00:17:58.820 --> 00:18:04.510 And they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. 00:18:04.740 --> 00:18:10.360 No one could learn that song, except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 00:18:11.840 --> 00:18:18.860 You know, it's funny, when I there's certain passages of Revelation that when I read that caused me more trouble than any other, and you would think I would pick the 00:18:18.860 --> 00:18:20.700 more complicated ones, but it's not. 00:18:20.700 --> 00:18:23.680 There's two passages in the Bible that I'm like, man, I have a hard time with this. 00:18:24.060 --> 00:18:31.000 The first is when I read Jesus returning on a horse and his army coming with him. 00:18:31.340 --> 00:18:37.750 I have a hard time with that verse, because I will just tell you I like horses, but I like them from a distance. 00:18:38.040 --> 00:18:41.400 If you own horses, I think they're majestic, beautiful animals. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:46.230 I love that you have a horse and I will appreciate your horse from the ground. 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:47.550 If I ride anything. 00:18:47.580 --> 00:18:49.830 I don't want to ride something with a mind for itself. 00:18:50.620 --> 00:18:52.210 I'll ride a machine, not an animal. 00:18:53.340 --> 00:18:53.340 That's how I see. 00:18:53.500 --> 00:18:54.020 Can I get. 00:18:54.100 --> 00:18:55.520 Can I trade my horse in for a motorcycle? 00:18:55.520 --> 00:18:56.560 God, please. 00:18:57.300 --> 00:18:58.300 I'm going to try to have a discussion. 00:18:58.600 --> 00:18:59.620 Here it is. 00:18:59.620 --> 00:19:01.520 It's kind of cool to think about the picture of heaven. 00:19:01.520 --> 00:19:02.740 There's still animals there, right? 00:19:02.740 --> 00:19:06.760 So if you ask the question of my dog going to heaven one day, there's animals in heaven. 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:08.860 All right, that's Jesus returns on a horse. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:10.220 That's what's described there. 00:19:10.560 --> 00:19:14.780 And then the other one that gives me a hard time is the fact that God's got me described here as playing a harp. 00:19:15.040 --> 00:19:17.200 I don't know how I feel about this. 00:19:17.360 --> 00:19:21.760 I, I am going to put in for an electric guitar and see if he takes me up on that. 00:19:21.760 --> 00:19:23.160 I don't I don't know about a harp. 00:19:23.160 --> 00:19:25.080 If someone wants to borrow my harp, you can have it have it. 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:26.900 That's how it's going to work in heaven. 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:29.270 These are the two most challenging verses to me in Revelation. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:31.300 But here's the more important. 00:19:31.540 --> 00:19:38.740 I don't know if I need to take harp literal, but here's what I think is important is that they're singing 00:19:38.740 --> 00:19:39.470 a new song. 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:47.660 Not only is it about what you're seeing, do you have that proper perspective in light of the circumstances you're going through? 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:48.940 But what is the song in your heart? 00:19:51.120 --> 00:19:54.820 And in this passage, he talks about the idea of a of a new song. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:01.900 And when you read about this new song, this song is the song of the redeemed. 00:20:03.580 --> 00:20:06.480 It's only a song for the redeemed. 00:20:07.780 --> 00:20:14.140 And the idea of being redeemed is it's really it's used as a word of, as being bought off of a slave market. 00:20:16.380 --> 00:20:18.650 The song for you and for me is this. 00:20:19.060 --> 00:20:20.880 This song that rests in our soul. 00:20:20.900 --> 00:20:21.110 Have you ever. 00:20:21.640 --> 00:20:23.100 I know this has happened to you. 00:20:23.100 --> 00:20:24.180 It's It happens to all of us. 00:20:24.220 --> 00:20:24.600 You turn. 00:20:24.620 --> 00:20:25.440 Well, maybe not today. 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:26.390 I was going to say you turn on the radio. 00:20:26.920 --> 00:20:27.440 Just people. 00:20:27.460 --> 00:20:28.560 Do people still listen to the radio? 00:20:28.780 --> 00:20:36.020 If you turn on whatever you use for your music, and all of a sudden a new song comes on and you're like, you really connect to the words that are there. 00:20:36.100 --> 00:20:37.510 It becomes your soul music. 00:20:37.520 --> 00:20:44.700 And you just you listen to that, I, I will tell you, I listen, I listen to listen to the radio, but I listen to me mostly 00:20:44.700 --> 00:20:45.920 podcasts or talk radio. 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:47.320 That's what I typically am on. 00:20:47.660 --> 00:20:49.520 But I do music in other ways. 00:20:49.540 --> 00:20:54.990 But and listening to the radio, you if you ever come into one of those songs, it's like, this is my song. 00:20:55.160 --> 00:20:58.410 And, sometimes we can listen to that one song so much we can wear it out. 00:20:58.460 --> 00:21:06.180 But in this particular instance, it's to recognize that you've come from this brokenness of the past, and 00:21:06.180 --> 00:21:13.560 God's bought you out of this, and it's giving you this, the this depth within you, this song, 00:21:13.700 --> 00:21:21.080 this soul song that really connects to where you are because you found your identity in this man. 00:21:21.300 --> 00:21:25.080 This is where I'm at now because of what God has done for me. 00:21:25.100 --> 00:21:27.780 And so this there's this place of worship. 00:21:27.780 --> 00:21:33.160 And so maybe we ask the question, what song are you singing to yourself? 00:21:34.300 --> 00:21:36.260 What song do you hear? 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:43.700 And from this picture, you see this incredible worship that's taking place almost to the degree that this is really by us here 00:21:43.700 --> 00:21:44.180 on earth. 00:21:44.180 --> 00:21:48.680 This is not even a sustainable level of worship for us, right? 00:21:48.680 --> 00:21:52.780 It gives us direction of what real worship should look like before the Lord. 00:21:53.520 --> 00:21:56.960 But this is at a depth that we can just barely begin to taste. 00:21:57.820 --> 00:22:05.180 Here they are singing this song of worship, and it comes with this idea of thunder and water and the roars of the thunder 00:22:05.180 --> 00:22:05.960 and water. 00:22:05.960 --> 00:22:13.000 And when you think about where this imagery comes from in the Bible, in Exodus 19, when Moses is called up on the mountain to get the 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:17.390 Ten Commandments, it tells you that this mountain is thundering with God's presence. 00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:20.480 And in Revelation chapter one, verse 15. 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:25.740 When Jesus is speaking, it says, his voice roars with the sound of many waters. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:30.700 And now those images of God as the thunder and water. 00:22:30.800 --> 00:22:36.220 Now it's being made known in God's people, because the power of God's presence is in their life. 00:22:37.300 --> 00:22:43.560 And they're worshiping with this, that no matter the adversity that they've experienced, they know who they are because of who he is. 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:49.800 And it's given them this new song of redemption, this greater joy that sustains beyond the circumstance. 00:22:50.020 --> 00:22:52.640 And that's what's enriching their life. 00:22:53.080 --> 00:23:00.620 Genuine worship from this secure identity because of who God 00:23:00.620 --> 00:23:07.760 is, and therefore it leads to what they do as they have found 00:23:07.760 --> 00:23:10.220 themselves saturated in this identity. 00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:17.760 It is now determined how they're going to live their life, because who they are in Christ is 00:23:17.760 --> 00:23:20.440 far more important than anything. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:23.780 A broken Babylonian world can offer to them. 00:23:24.780 --> 00:23:30.370 In verse four it says, it is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. 00:23:30.580 --> 00:23:34.060 It is these who follow the lamb wherever he goes. 00:23:34.500 --> 00:23:41.720 These have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the lamb, and in their mouth no lie was 00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:44.050 found, for they are blameless. 00:23:45.740 --> 00:23:47.920 They're not blameless in who they are. 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:55.220 Remember, they've come from a fallen Babylonian world, but rather they're blameless because of who he is, the perfection 00:23:55.220 --> 00:23:56.920 of Christ made known in their lives. 00:23:58.100 --> 00:24:02.660 And I love what John is doing here, because honestly, he's helping us have what? 00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:05.780 A holistic picture of worship should be about. 00:24:06.840 --> 00:24:13.920 If you want to see the end of what worship should lead to and really what the depth of worship is about, it says it 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:20.920 here that they at the end of verse four, it is these who follow the lamb wherever he 00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:21.970 goes. 00:24:22.740 --> 00:24:27.200 If you want to know what it means to be a Christian, it's that is the definition. 00:24:28.100 --> 00:24:31.980 It is us who are determined to follow the lamb wherever he goes. 00:24:32.420 --> 00:24:33.840 You want to know what it means to be a disciple of Christ. 00:24:34.580 --> 00:24:37.120 It means that you follow the lamb wherever he goes. 00:24:37.180 --> 00:24:45.260 There's kind of this pharisaical facade of an idea of what it means to worship 00:24:45.260 --> 00:24:46.380 the Lord. 00:24:47.080 --> 00:24:54.320 And sometimes, people might think if you gather with God's people to worship that in the beginning we sang 00:24:54.320 --> 00:24:56.660 some music and then therefore we worshiped. 00:24:56.660 --> 00:25:00.540 And now we're in the portion of reading God's Word and we did our worship part. 00:25:00.540 --> 00:25:01.830 Now we gotta study the Bible together. 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:06.440 And truthfully, it's all worship, and music is a part of worship. 00:25:06.580 --> 00:25:07.840 But it's not the end of worship. 00:25:08.800 --> 00:25:12.220 It's just it's the beginning of maybe coming before the Lord. 00:25:12.460 --> 00:25:14.560 But worship is far deeper than that. 00:25:15.480 --> 00:25:22.580 And quite honestly, if we show up and we just go through the ritual of what a Sunday is without really 00:25:22.580 --> 00:25:27.680 connecting to God and therefore living a life that's different, that aligns with him. 00:25:28.320 --> 00:25:29.860 The question is, have you really worshiped? 00:25:31.080 --> 00:25:35.200 We may go through the ritual of worship, and it's possible to do that and never truly connect to God. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:43.400 And if someone says they've worshiped God but their life doesn't emulate Jesus, the question is really, do you truly worship? 00:25:45.280 --> 00:25:49.480 Because the evidence of the depth of your worship is demonstrated by the way you choose to live your life. 00:25:50.380 --> 00:25:55.140 Because to know God truly is to transform who you are and then determine how you live. 00:25:56.740 --> 00:26:00.780 And so ultimately, real worship for us should lead us to what we do. 00:26:01.480 --> 00:26:08.860 I mean, if you claim to be a follower of Jesus and your life doesn't look like Jesus, the real question you need to answer yourself for yourself is, 00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:10.460 do I actually belong to Jesus? 00:26:12.920 --> 00:26:19.940 The evidence of your life should be there, and really, your life should be compelled to want to live that way. 00:26:21.140 --> 00:26:28.800 Because when you understand what the grace of God is really about, it makes no sense to do anything other with 00:26:28.800 --> 00:26:31.200 your life than to follow Jesus. 00:26:32.460 --> 00:26:39.460 If you know who you are apart from Christ, and you know the extent for which Jesus came to give his life for you, 00:26:39.480 --> 00:26:43.410 that you could find freedom with him and apart from him there is no liberation for your soul. 00:26:44.700 --> 00:26:52.100 To know a God that has loved you so intimately and cared for you so desperately, to then turn your back on, that is 00:26:52.100 --> 00:26:58.300 to say, you've never truly understood what it means to have a relationship with God and be forgiven in him. 00:27:00.420 --> 00:27:07.860 In Revelation chapter five, this is what it's leading us to is to say, despite this broken world, the 00:27:07.860 --> 00:27:10.060 way you find yourself sustaining Meaning. 00:27:11.140 --> 00:27:16.680 It's through this genuine worship and a secure identity because of who Christ is. 00:27:17.820 --> 00:27:23.700 I need to move on a little quicker from this, but in addition to that, then point number two. 00:27:26.060 --> 00:27:29.920 Continue proclaiming the message of life. 00:27:32.560 --> 00:27:36.540 Continue proclaiming the message of life. 00:27:38.280 --> 00:27:40.850 You know, we tend to believe the message we repeat to ourselves. 00:27:42.340 --> 00:27:46.370 And if we place our hope in the wrong message, we're going to find ourselves disappointed. 00:27:47.820 --> 00:27:53.310 But if we anchor ourselves in the gospel and we remind ourselves of it gives us that firm foundation. 00:27:53.800 --> 00:27:55.900 Martyn Lloyd-Jones said it like this. 00:27:56.440 --> 00:28:03.640 He said, have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that 00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:08.220 you are listening to yourself, instead of talking to yourself? 00:28:09.520 --> 00:28:10.300 It's a little bit weird. 00:28:11.320 --> 00:28:11.660 This. 00:28:11.760 --> 00:28:15.060 This quote gives me a lot of comfort because I talk to myself out loud a lot. 00:28:15.780 --> 00:28:20.050 I catch myself doing it quite frequently and think, man, if I was beside someone right now, they would think I was weird. 00:28:20.580 --> 00:28:27.640 But here's what he's saying is sometimes we go through difficult moments and we sort of wear it and we share that message 00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:31.260 in ourselves and we don't let the gospel speak to ourselves. 00:28:31.960 --> 00:28:38.900 It's this message of deliverance that Jesus brings from the outside in, and we sort of take the brokenness from the inside and kind of live it out. 00:28:39.580 --> 00:28:41.310 But the gospel is what transforms us. 00:28:42.520 --> 00:28:44.980 And Martin Lloyd-Jones is reminding us of this. 00:28:45.500 --> 00:28:46.500 And he's saying the same thing. 00:28:46.700 --> 00:28:47.580 Revelation chapter six. 00:28:47.620 --> 00:28:55.060 He said, then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation 00:28:55.060 --> 00:28:56.900 and tribe and language and people. 00:28:57.640 --> 00:29:02.340 He's saying, look, it's so important to remind yourself of this message, but not just let that message be with you. 00:29:02.340 --> 00:29:03.140 It's to be with everyone. 00:29:03.960 --> 00:29:07.540 Like to understand that the world that we live in is a broken, fallen world. 00:29:07.580 --> 00:29:13.650 But there is this song of the redeemed that God wants in your soul, that you get to sing with his eternal hope. 00:29:13.760 --> 00:29:17.800 Because, circumstances do not dictate who you are, but rather the Lord does. 00:29:18.900 --> 00:29:23.140 And just let that song wash over you over and over this gospel message. 00:29:23.380 --> 00:29:29.500 And it don't let it sit with you, but share it through you, because this is intended to bring liberation to everyone. 00:29:30.340 --> 00:29:31.380 And here's what's interesting. 00:29:31.860 --> 00:29:38.660 As in verse seven, now he goes on to explain what this message is, and this is the way he chooses to encapsulate the gospel. 00:29:39.240 --> 00:29:40.120 He says it like this. 00:29:40.180 --> 00:29:47.360 And he said with a loud voice now proclaiming this message, Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship 00:29:47.360 --> 00:29:51.740 him who has, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and the springs of water. 00:29:53.420 --> 00:30:00.500 I don't know if you've ever thought about the way that you might share the gospel with people, but the way that this starts off is rather interesting, because I have to say, when I've 00:30:00.500 --> 00:30:03.350 shared shared the gospel with people, I didn't start off like this. 00:30:03.640 --> 00:30:05.060 Fear God, right? 00:30:05.060 --> 00:30:10.700 Like that's usually not the way that I take my approach in talking to people about what Jesus has done for them. 00:30:10.740 --> 00:30:11.590 But this is the way he does it. 00:30:11.660 --> 00:30:13.500 Fear God and give him glory. 00:30:14.600 --> 00:30:21.740 Now, when you think about the idea of this, it's important because in Revelation chapter 13, the way that the beast desired 00:30:21.740 --> 00:30:24.280 to dominate us was to cast fear in our hearts. 00:30:24.300 --> 00:30:27.480 We had the we had the fear of uncertainty, right? 00:30:27.500 --> 00:30:27.960 We didn't. 00:30:27.980 --> 00:30:30.200 We couldn't buy, sell, trade, trade. 00:30:30.200 --> 00:30:31.560 We don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. 00:30:31.600 --> 00:30:33.000 That's chapter 13. 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:37.380 And so people just put their hope in a beast that might deliver them in the temporal of life. 00:30:38.760 --> 00:30:47.100 And now, rather than that, he's saying, don't be afraid of someone that in the temporary might hold something over you, but 00:30:47.100 --> 00:30:52.650 rather fear the one who has control of all eternity. 00:30:54.140 --> 00:31:01.420 Now, when we think in terms of fear, it's interesting when you look at this phrase because you read passages like Second Timothy chapter one, 00:31:01.520 --> 00:31:06.230 verse seven, it tells us God doesn't give us give us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. 00:31:07.300 --> 00:31:09.360 That's plainly what it says in Timothy. 00:31:09.360 --> 00:31:09.440 But. 00:31:09.700 --> 00:31:14.220 But then you read this verse and it's telling us to fear God and the Bible contradicting itself. 00:31:14.220 --> 00:31:15.320 What's wrong with the Bible? 00:31:15.340 --> 00:31:15.820 Right? 00:31:15.860 --> 00:31:17.720 You look at verses like that and you think, what in the world? 00:31:18.060 --> 00:31:22.800 Well, it's important to know that there's different Greek words for fear, right? 00:31:22.860 --> 00:31:26.540 In Second Timothy chapter one verse seven, it says, God doesn't give us a spirit of fear. 00:31:26.560 --> 00:31:28.090 That word for fear is actually cowardice. 00:31:29.500 --> 00:31:35.510 God doesn't want you to be a coward, but power, love, sound mind to really be rooted in the identity that you have in him. 00:31:36.360 --> 00:31:40.040 You need to come boldly before the throne of God, not because of who you are, but because of who he is. 00:31:40.180 --> 00:31:44.080 You have a tremendous hope because of God, not because of what you've done, but because of what he's done for you. 00:31:45.340 --> 00:31:45.420 So. 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:48.590 So we don't walk in cowardly attitudes. 00:31:48.760 --> 00:31:48.920 We. 00:31:49.040 --> 00:31:54.300 We walk bravely standing because he stands on Mount Zion and rules and reigns. 00:31:55.060 --> 00:31:56.930 But then in this passage, it talks about fear. 00:31:57.180 --> 00:31:58.800 So how do how do I respond in light of that? 00:31:58.800 --> 00:32:02.420 Well, in this verse it's talking about a deep reverence. 00:32:04.580 --> 00:32:07.450 You look at the brokenness of this world and say, yes, there is power. 00:32:08.980 --> 00:32:13.120 And the beast, the dragon, want to leverage that power to try to destroy me. 00:32:14.800 --> 00:32:22.080 But I have a much deeper reverence for the one who holds all things in his hands, and therefore he determines my 00:32:22.080 --> 00:32:26.260 steps despite the temporal circumstances of life around me. 00:32:28.060 --> 00:32:32.110 So this message reminds me of the one who is greater. 00:32:33.160 --> 00:32:36.060 And then he goes on and describes from there, and I got to do this rather quickly. 00:32:36.120 --> 00:32:43.200 He describes the second angel who comes and says, fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, she who made all nations drink the wine 00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:44.830 of the passion of her sexual immorality. 00:32:46.580 --> 00:32:48.980 And so he's saying this second angel that comes. 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:51.320 Look, the physical part of this world is fallen. 00:32:51.700 --> 00:32:52.870 It's coming to its destruction. 00:32:53.300 --> 00:32:55.750 So don't put your hope in the physical things of this world. 00:32:57.000 --> 00:32:58.280 Babylon is done. 00:32:58.360 --> 00:33:01.320 And then he goes on in verse nine, he talks about the third angel. 00:33:01.960 --> 00:33:05.340 And when the third angel comes, he only focuses just on the physical. 00:33:05.340 --> 00:33:07.880 Now he turns to the spiritual and he says this. 00:33:07.880 --> 00:33:08.680 And another angel. 00:33:08.700 --> 00:33:15.740 A third followed them, saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he 00:33:15.740 --> 00:33:22.760 also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur 00:33:22.760 --> 00:33:29.760 in the presence of the holy angels in the presence of the lamb, and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day 00:33:29.760 --> 00:33:30.560 or night. 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:35.080 These worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name. 00:33:36.360 --> 00:33:40.060 Every time I read verses like that, I always wonder who's new this Sunday. 00:33:40.940 --> 00:33:43.820 This is a great welcome to Alpine Bible Church. 00:33:45.020 --> 00:33:45.580 What? 00:33:45.900 --> 00:33:48.830 When you read a verse like this is a very sobering passage. 00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:53.320 The idea of God's judgment is a very sobering passage. 00:33:55.220 --> 00:33:55.380 But. 00:33:55.540 --> 00:33:59.080 But I want you to recognize that it's also a very a very merciful statement. 00:33:59.280 --> 00:33:59.500 God's giving. 00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:03.060 Let me just say a couple of things. 00:34:04.620 --> 00:34:07.790 I'm a little short on time, so I kind of make this brief. 00:34:08.060 --> 00:34:15.199 But when it comes to judgment, it is not a mystery to us that God is a just God 00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:16.670 and he will bring judgment. 00:34:16.679 --> 00:34:18.940 He can't be good and not bring judgment. 00:34:19.420 --> 00:34:22.760 God's goodness demands he will judge the sinfulness of this world. 00:34:24.679 --> 00:34:27.560 And because we're sinful people, we stand in the path of that judgment. 00:34:30.920 --> 00:34:38.320 I hope for all of us when we read verses like this, it is sobering to just stop for a moment and consider 00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:39.440 the weight of sin. 00:34:41.159 --> 00:34:45.570 I mean, Jesus bore that wrath on the cross for you and for me if you know Jesus. 00:34:47.040 --> 00:34:50.100 He bore that wrath for you on the cross. 00:34:51.300 --> 00:34:56.370 Jesus literally experienced hell on earth that you could be could be liberated. 00:34:59.320 --> 00:35:00.620 If you don't know Jesus. 00:35:02.200 --> 00:35:04.430 When I read verses like this, sometimes I just contemplate. 00:35:04.900 --> 00:35:08.780 For people that don't know Jesus, what is it going to take? 00:35:11.480 --> 00:35:17.920 What will it take for a soul to just be wakened to the destruction of what awaits before a holy God? 00:35:19.260 --> 00:35:21.340 What can God say to turn that heart? 00:35:22.640 --> 00:35:23.800 What more can be done? 00:35:24.620 --> 00:35:27.240 He gave everything by giving his life. 00:35:28.540 --> 00:35:29.740 And then he warns us. 00:35:31.080 --> 00:35:38.440 I mean, this passage, when you really think about it, is a merciful passage saying to us, God created you for relationship. 00:35:39.900 --> 00:35:41.640 God gave everything that you could have. 00:35:41.640 --> 00:35:42.340 Relationship. 00:35:42.340 --> 00:35:46.630 God is warning you what the path apart from liberation in him brings. 00:35:48.240 --> 00:35:53.960 And God didn't owe you anything, but yet he gave everything that you could find freedom in him. 00:35:55.740 --> 00:36:00.140 This passage is intended to provoke our soul to the liberation that only Jesus can bring. 00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:01.020 Because we know. 00:36:01.380 --> 00:36:05.220 We know what the ultimate kingdom represents, and it is destruction. 00:36:06.960 --> 00:36:09.630 But what Jesus wants for you and for me is life. 00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:18.140 And when we think about what that destruction is, one of the things I like to remind us of in terms of heaven and hell and that picture that's 00:36:18.140 --> 00:36:24.440 painted in Scripture, and we often view those thoughts as destinations, right? 00:36:24.480 --> 00:36:26.500 Hell is this place and heaven is this place. 00:36:27.880 --> 00:36:34.980 But what I what I like to remind us of, what makes these ideas most important is where you 00:36:34.980 --> 00:36:36.760 are in light of your relationship with God. 00:36:38.600 --> 00:36:39.440 What makes heaven? 00:36:39.440 --> 00:36:43.370 Heaven is not about getting to a location, it's about getting to a person. 00:36:44.680 --> 00:36:45.960 It's about being with Jesus. 00:36:47.560 --> 00:36:48.960 What makes hell? 00:36:48.960 --> 00:36:53.720 Hell is being outside of the presence of God's grace. 00:36:54.400 --> 00:36:57.560 His wrath is there, but his grace is not. 00:36:58.740 --> 00:37:04.660 And it tells you in Revelation 14, there is no peace for that soul, because you were made to find your peace in God. 00:37:05.980 --> 00:37:13.120 Second Thessalonians one nine describes hell this way they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the 00:37:13.120 --> 00:37:14.080 glory of his might. 00:37:15.160 --> 00:37:20.940 It's describing the idea of hell away from God's presence, away from that relationship for which you were created. 00:37:22.520 --> 00:37:29.600 And I'd like to remind us in terms of relationship with God, God's not going to force you into heaven, but he does give you an opportunity 00:37:29.600 --> 00:37:30.680 to belong to him. 00:37:31.640 --> 00:37:34.540 And the way that we do that is to surrender our life to him. 00:37:35.380 --> 00:37:42.480 When you think in terms of why this is important, Jesus gave everything to liberate you. 00:37:44.220 --> 00:37:49.900 The idea that Jesus was willing to die should scream at us how important his life truly was. 00:37:50.800 --> 00:37:50.800 Us. 00:37:50.800 --> 00:37:53.720 If there was another way, Jesus would have never given his life. 00:37:53.900 --> 00:38:01.420 But the fact that he's willing to do that just screams at us how significant a moment like this is to put our hope in Christ and 00:38:01.420 --> 00:38:04.670 what it means for you and for me. 00:38:05.420 --> 00:38:12.800 The result of this, when we find our identity in him, in true worship, secure in that, and we're letting the gospel wash over us. 00:38:12.800 --> 00:38:19.800 The liberation of that song, the song of the redeemed, that message that we're sharing, no matter the circumstances that we're in, when our hope is 00:38:19.800 --> 00:38:27.020 fixated on that, it gives us this great confidence in anything that is to come because of who we are, in light of who 00:38:27.020 --> 00:38:27.630 God is. 00:38:27.880 --> 00:38:30.180 And the result for that, in verse 12 it says this. 00:38:30.440 --> 00:38:36.080 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. 00:38:36.180 --> 00:38:41.390 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, write this blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. 00:38:41.900 --> 00:38:47.020 Blessed indeed, says the spirit, that they may rest from their labors for their deeds follow them. 00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:55.220 Can I just tell you as you as you look at this passage, the result for us when we find our worship secure in his identity and we're proclaiming 00:38:55.220 --> 00:38:56.660 that message for us and for others. 00:38:56.960 --> 00:38:58.100 The result is twofold. 00:38:58.180 --> 00:38:59.210 This is your next blank. 00:38:59.960 --> 00:39:04.840 It is endurance and blessing, endurance and blessing. 00:39:04.860 --> 00:39:05.390 This is what it says. 00:39:05.460 --> 00:39:06.180 Verse 12. 00:39:06.180 --> 00:39:06.240 You. 00:39:06.340 --> 00:39:09.950 You have the endurance to call for the endurance, and you have God's blessing. 00:39:11.120 --> 00:39:12.960 You know who you are because you know who he is. 00:39:13.940 --> 00:39:17.900 You know the circumstances aren't going to dictate who you are because circumstances are fleeting. 00:39:17.900 --> 00:39:20.220 You have a far deeper identity in the Lord. 00:39:21.540 --> 00:39:27.620 And in that endurance, you recognize how blessed you are to be able to have that relationship with God. 00:39:29.060 --> 00:39:31.960 You read chapter chapters in Revelation, like chapter 13. 00:39:31.960 --> 00:39:36.300 You think we should think to ourselves, oh man, how are God's people going to endure? 00:39:37.720 --> 00:39:38.780 How are we going to make it through? 00:39:39.760 --> 00:39:43.160 It reminds me of a picture I'm going to I'm going to close with this one. 00:39:43.160 --> 00:39:46.620 This is we're going to do a geography lesson because we talked about Zion in the beginning. 00:39:46.620 --> 00:39:50.280 And I think this is this is important to understand how God has worked through his people, no matter circumstances. 00:39:51.200 --> 00:39:58.600 When you study ancient geography, when you when you look at the civilizations around Israel and describe for us in the Bible something 00:39:58.600 --> 00:40:06.120 interesting that you discover when you put them on a map is every one of those ancient civilizations found their strength 00:40:06.120 --> 00:40:11.420 along a river, for the AB is all dealing with. 00:40:11.560 --> 00:40:15.640 Every one of these letters are dealing with civilizations Assyria, Babylon, Persia. 00:40:15.700 --> 00:40:22.840 They were all established along the Tigris and Euphrates River, the fertile, fertile land that became 00:40:22.840 --> 00:40:26.520 this place where they were able to grow as a people and become a dominating power. 00:40:27.340 --> 00:40:29.840 Egypt different than the Tigris Euphrates. 00:40:29.840 --> 00:40:31.500 They were on the Nile, right. 00:40:31.560 --> 00:40:35.320 This place of land became this place of strength for them. 00:40:35.320 --> 00:40:42.190 It provided the soil that they needed to be able to create crops to sustain a large civilization. 00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:44.230 And so these world empires grow. 00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:45.200 Right? 00:40:45.200 --> 00:40:45.340 But Right. 00:40:45.340 --> 00:40:47.040 But here's what's interesting about God's people. 00:40:47.200 --> 00:40:50.800 Abraham is called from ur of the Chaldeans, which is near the Persian Gulf. 00:40:50.800 --> 00:40:52.000 It's in modern day Iraq. 00:40:52.220 --> 00:40:59.460 He comes out of this particular land, and he follows a route through kind of maybe see it there on your screen through B, a and it 00:40:59.460 --> 00:41:01.280 turns into this purple line and comes down. 00:41:01.480 --> 00:41:03.100 This is where Abraham is called to. 00:41:03.320 --> 00:41:04.990 And you know, God says, I'm going to bring you to this land. 00:41:05.100 --> 00:41:07.180 You're going to turn into a great nation, great people group. 00:41:07.180 --> 00:41:09.760 And you can imagine here comes Abraham, he's journeying into this land. 00:41:10.420 --> 00:41:11.510 And then all of a sudden he gets there. 00:41:11.760 --> 00:41:14.180 And something unique about this land that's different from all the other lands. 00:41:14.820 --> 00:41:16.200 There is not a major river there. 00:41:17.640 --> 00:41:21.530 And you would think to yourself, God, don't you know how all these civilizations got so powerful? 00:41:22.120 --> 00:41:24.050 What are you thinking bringing me to this land? 00:41:24.300 --> 00:41:29.910 I don't know if you've ever seen the Jordan River in Israel, but let me just let me just share with you an idea of what that looks like. 00:41:30.220 --> 00:41:32.360 Just go to the Jordan River here, right? 00:41:32.380 --> 00:41:33.740 As underwhelming as that is. 00:41:33.800 --> 00:41:33.900 Right. 00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:36.080 That's kind of that's kind of the Jordan River in Israel. 00:41:36.160 --> 00:41:37.740 Like you imagine you're Abraham. 00:41:37.740 --> 00:41:39.100 God's going to take me to this land. 00:41:39.140 --> 00:41:39.730 It's going to be great. 00:41:39.840 --> 00:41:42.800 And you get there and you're like, what is happening? 00:41:43.040 --> 00:41:44.310 We are not going to do anything here. 00:41:44.980 --> 00:41:45.160 This is. 00:41:45.380 --> 00:41:46.200 Or did I get my. 00:41:46.360 --> 00:41:48.600 I gotta ask Siri, is this the correct place? 00:41:48.620 --> 00:41:50.780 Like that's what Abraham would be thinking. 00:41:50.780 --> 00:41:52.380 Like why would you pick this land? 00:41:52.740 --> 00:41:56.740 But then when you start to discover this land, you realize, okay, this land is in a real fertile land. 00:41:56.740 --> 00:42:01.860 In fact, Zion that we've talked about together, it literally translates as a parched land. 00:42:02.340 --> 00:42:03.220 Could you imagine that? 00:42:03.380 --> 00:42:06.860 God's like, I'm going to take you, Abraham, to a great place, and you get there. 00:42:06.860 --> 00:42:10.160 And like God, the locals call it a parched land. 00:42:10.180 --> 00:42:12.430 Like, what are we going to do in this area? 00:42:12.980 --> 00:42:20.080 But when you study this land, you discover that this land is on a major trade route and it 00:42:20.080 --> 00:42:24.980 connects Europe, Asia, Africa, all the world empires go through here. 00:42:25.960 --> 00:42:31.430 And rather than be a land of power, what it really is a place of great influence. 00:42:33.200 --> 00:42:37.640 And if God's people are faithful to him, it becomes a place where they're going to influence the world. 00:42:38.700 --> 00:42:41.500 But the question for them is God, but how are we going to sustain here. 00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:46.920 And the answer has been the same answer from the beginning. 00:42:48.280 --> 00:42:55.380 By trusting in me, Israel, you're going to succeed in this land if you trust 00:42:55.380 --> 00:42:55.920 in me. 00:42:58.080 --> 00:43:01.040 Same thing is true in a fallen, broken Babylonian world. 00:43:02.400 --> 00:43:03.880 God, this feels like a parched land. 00:43:05.420 --> 00:43:07.340 How in the world could we ever find hope? 00:43:08.640 --> 00:43:11.200 The answer has always been the same. 00:43:12.820 --> 00:43:13.820 If you trust in me. 00:43:16.060 --> 00:43:23.460 Worship from a secure identity through the hope of the gospel made known in his people, becomes the opportunity 00:43:23.460 --> 00:43:27.320 that we need to live for his glory and influence this world.