Admonition Podcast

It's good to see everyone out this morning.

Isaiah, go plug the screen in.

We are continuing our study in the book of Revelation.

Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to chapter fourteen.

We're not going to spend a lot of time in review as we typically do, since most of you
have been here week to week.

We don't have a lot of visitors in our class this morning, so we're going to kind of just
pick up where we have left off in our previous studies.

We are in chapter fourteen and we're going to start reading around verse six.

but let's begin with a word of prayer.

Our gracious Father in heaven, we come before you grateful for the day that you've granted
to us.

Lord, we are thoughtful and in honor today of fathers throughout this world who have
sacrificed so much for their families, for their homes, for their congregations, and for

your kingdom.

We pray that your blessings be upon fathers throughout the world this day who are faithful
to you and shining examples of what you would have them to be.

Lord, we are grateful for your word and the revelation that has been given to us through
the scriptures that we might know both how to live and how to move and how to have our

being, that we might be able to live in a way that is right in your sight.

Lord, we know that we sin and we fall short of your glory.

I pray that you will forgive us of those things that we might always strive to walk with
you in white.

Lord, we pray and acknowledge that this world is a difficult place to live.

And that the hardships that come in this world are difficult to overcome.

But we're grateful for this book, the book of Revelation, that shows us the reward for the
those who overcome, for those who are willing to stand fast and not bow the knee to the

world, to Satan, to those who would have.

Christians depart from the truth and from the faith that you have commanded us to hold.

Lord, we pray for this nation and we pray for this world that they might hear the gospel
and be obedient to it, that they might hold fast to your will and to the truth, that they

might never forsake it.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

As chapter 14 opens, John looks up and he sees the Lamb standing on Mount Zion.

And with him the hundred and forty-four thousand that he saw in chapter seven.

And he sees this picture again of Christ is victorious.

It's not debatable.

It's not questioned.

It's not partial.

Christ is victorious.

And the saints and those who dwell in heaven, the Christians who are alive on the earth,
whose dwelling place is not on the earth, who are like Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and

Rebecca and Jacob, and they're pilgrims on the earth, their sojourners on the earth.

They might physically still be here, but their dwelling place is in heaven.

And John sees them with the lamb on Mount Zion, and they don't look beaten, and they don't
look killed, and they don't look destroyed, and they don't look persecuted.

As a matter of fact, they're singing.

They're singing the song of Old Testament redemption.

We're gonna find out, we're gonna be told they're singing a song in chapter 14, we're
gonna be told in chapter 15 that it's the song of Moses and the Lamb.

And they're singing because they've won.

Now it's not gonna always look like they're winning.

It's not going to always look like for the righteous that they're conquering.

And yet in Psalm seventy three

The psalmist writer in Psalm 73 opens the Psalm dj decrying the state of everything around
him because he's watching and he's looking and he's observing his own life and the life of

the righteous.

And he said, The light the righteous are being killed.

There's no justice in the land, and those who are wicked are profiting and they're happy
and they're they're they're in satisfaction and they go through life in peace and they die

in a ripe old age.

And here are the righteous and they're getting killed and they're getting destroyed and
they're going to to a state of being constantly persecuted.

And how in the world can God let the righteous suffer and the wicked be unmolested?

And yet, about verse 13 of Psalm 73, the psalmist writer says, And then I went into the
house of the Lord.

He said, When I went back to the Lord's house, I understood the end of the wicked.

He says, I came to my senses when I realized that I had just about forsaken God.

I had just about testified with my mouth to the next generation that God wasn't going to
deliver them, that God wasn't going to provide for them, only to realize when I went back

to the house of the Lord that God already determined the end of the wicked.

That their end is guaranteed, that their destruction is assured, that their judgment has
is just being prolonged for a moment, but the reality is the wicked are going to get their

kumuppins to use a word from back in my growing up years.

You don't see it yet.

It looks like they're living large and luxurious.

But much like Jesus pointed out concerning the Pharisees and those who would be self
righteous before God who would come into the temple in his day and they would raise their

hands and they would look up to heaven and they would declare how wonderful they were and
how much God owed them and and how much God should be happy to have all them because of

all the great things that they've done.

Jesus would point out that they have their reward because

Their prayer never left the room.

And yet here comes the sinner, here comes the publican, who bows his head before God, who
smites his chest, and declares himself to be in desperate need of God.

And Jesus asked the question, which one goes away justify?

Chapter fourteen the Christians represented in Old Testament pictures of Israel, faithful
Israel, which by the way was a rare commodity in the Old Testament.

Faithful Israel.

The righteous Israel that went forth and did battle and conquered and gained the promised
land.

Righteous Israel standing with the lion uh standing with the lamb on Mount Zion.

And they're singing.

And then we find in chapter 14, verses 6 through 12, the pronunciation.

Babylon is fallen.

Is fallen.

Now that's not the first declaration that comes forth.

There's a series of declarations that come forth from the throne of God.

The first one comes forth.

And he declares the gospel to the entire world through the mouth of the angel.

Now you're not supposed to go back into history and find a time where an angel goes and
declares the gospel to the entire world.

But the vision tells us God gives people an opportunity to repent.

Peter would tell us that the reason why this world is still standing today is because God
is long suffering.

Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

So the angel goes forth and does what God always does.

He gives people an opportunity to repent.

But in the Old Testament and the prophets, you would find that God would call his people
and the nations to repentance.

And the other side of the message was: if you reject my command, if you reject my offer,
if you reject my forgiveness,

Then you have my judgment.

The Old Testament prophets tell us that the word of God never comes back to him void.

It never if we can use the term inappropriately in English, it never does nothing.

It always accomplishes his will.

His will is either that the word goes forth and someone hears it and obeys it and is saved
by it and garners a relationship with God or they're judged by it.

So the message goes forth.

Fear God verse seven and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come, and
worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.

By the way, from Genesis one to the end of the book of Revelation, the scriptures affirm
God is the creator.

And his power, his authority, and his actions in judgment are predicated on he made this
world.

And because he made it, it is his to do with as he pleases.

And the individual who argues that this is just something that came about by some natural
form of nature that occurred through billions and billions of years?

Denies the authority and existence of God.

You say, well, no, that you you you could believe that and still believe in God.

No, you can't, because you have to deny everything Scripture says.

From beginning to end.

There's not a section of Scripture as far as a a a group or a category of Old Testament or
New Testament books that doesn't declare God as the creator and reaffirm the creation

account in Genesis 1 and 2.

Not a single section.

If you deny the creation account of Genesis one and two, you deny Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus said, Do you not know he that made them at the beginning made them male and
female?

Matthew chapter 19.

If you deny Christ, you deny the Creator.

If you deny the Creator, you deny the Scriptures.

If you deny the Creator in the Scriptures, you deny his authority.

And those who deny his authority, uh, let's see, God says they're going to be judged.

But notice, he says, verse 8, another angel followed, saying, Babylon is fallen, is
fallen.

That great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication.

Now we're going get into the picture of Babylon in chapter 17.

We're going to see chapter 12 in the beast, chap uh sorry, in the dragon, and chapter 13
in the beast, and we're going to see the picture brought forward into chapter 17.

Where this picture from Daniel's prophecy is both brought together and judged.

So we're seeing that forecasted.

We find another angel came forth and says, Babylon has fallen, has fallen that great city,
because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast
and his image,

And receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the
wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his

indignation.

He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in
the presence of the Lamb.

And we talked about last week.

This isn't the final judgment.

This isn't these individuals being placed in the day of judgment on the very last day in h
into hell, because the scripture is very clear where hell is.

Scripture is very clear where the final uh place of torment for those who are unrighteous
is.

And it is out of the presence of God and Christ.

Second Thessalonians doesn't give us any room to interpret it any other way.

But wherever this judgment is, it is in the presence of Christ and his holy angels.

So, by definition, this is not the final judgment.

By direct statement, this is not that location.

This is a different judgment wrapped up in the Old Testament picture of God judging a
nation.

But now notice what he says.

He says, He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels
and in the presence of the Lamb.

And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or
night who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name, here

is the patience of the saints.

John says, when you see this, you can be assured that God's going to judge the wicked.

Here's the opportunity for the endurance, the standing up under a load.

That's what the word patience means in the Greek.

To stand up under a burden.

This is how you can know, as Christians, that you can get through this.

That you can be faithful to God, that you will be delivered by God from this judgment.

You might be delivered through death, but you will be delivered.

He says, Here is the patience of the saints.

Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Who are the 144,000 who are singing?

Who are those who are standing with the Lamb?

They are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

So who are they?

Christians.

They're Christians.

He says, Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me.

John in vision is going to hear a declaration.

He saw the declaration to the world.

He saw the first angel, the second angel, the third angel.

Then the message comes to John, one of the beatitudes of the book of Revelation.

You know, we've got the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five that Jesus gives in the Sermon
on the Mount Blessed are, blessed are, blessed are.

Well, there's a number of blessings described in the book of Revelation.

In chapter 14, verse 13, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.

Now that's an odd blessing.

That doesn't sound at all like blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

And yet God declares to John that this is a blessing.

Here's the endurance of the saints, John is told.

Here's the way you know you can be patient and get through the persecution and the
troubles and the difficulties that come in this life, because there's a blessing, not for

those who are alive in Christ, but for those who die in Christ.

But this isn't strange to us.

This isn't some new doctrine that that comes forth in the book of Revelation.

Paul in Philippians chapter 1 says, I'm in a strait betwixt two.

For me, for to me, for me to live is Christ.

But to die is what?

Gain!

He says, I would be better off dead.

He doesn't mean that in the way that some in the world do.

He doesn't mean that in a state of despair.

He is rather looking at the reward that awaits the faithful.

In 2 Timothy chapter 4, as that time is approaching for Paul, Paul writes, I have fought a
good fight.

I've finished the course.

I've kept the faith.

Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.

Which is not for me only, but is for all those who love his appearing.

What's he say?

He says there's a blessing for those who die in the Lord.

But for the Christians who are getting this declaration from John, they're being told
God's going to judge, God's going to deliver the wicked to judgment, and many of you are

going to die in the process.

That's not God failing.

That's God keeping his promise.

He says

Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works follow them.

Now there's a there's a lesson here for us in this passage.

The lesson is that we have a limited time on this earth.

We have a limited period in which we have the opportunity to serve in the kingdom.

We have a limited time in which we are able to function and carry out the commandments of
God.

Jesus, as he goes into Samaria, as he teaches the woman there in the well at the well in
John chapter 4, as he declares to her what she needed to know to understand that he was

not only a prophet, but the Messiah, the one they had been waiting on.

And as she goes back into the city to tell everyone, you've got to come hear this man.

The Messiah is here.

The disciples have a conversation with Jesus, and Jesus says,

Lift up your eyes.

And look, for behold, the fields are whitened to harvest.

But he doesn't just say the fields are white on the harvest.

He tells the disciples, You need to pray that the Lord send workers into the field.

Because there's work to be done.

Because there are souls that can be saved.

There are people ready and waiting and willing and anxious to hear the gospel and are
willing to hear it and obey it.

John is going to pass on the message to these Christians.

When you die in the Lord,

You don't lose anything.

You remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6?

Jesus would tell those Jews, those Israelites, those disciples, those who were present
during that sermon on the mount, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

Where moth and do not lay up for yourselves treasures on this earth, where moth and rust
destroys, where thieves break through and steal.

Now

If you manage to lay up treasures on this earth and you never had moth destroy it and you
never had rust destroy it and you never had thieves break through and steal, when would

you lose it?

When you die.

In spite of all the pharaohs through all the centuries that piled up all their riches in
the pyramids, guess what?

A thousand years later when the people came to plunder the pyramids, what was still there?

All the ridges.

And now they're sitting in a museum somewhere.

Or they're sitting on somebody else's wall.

But guess what?

They didn't do the pharaohs any good now, did they?

Jesus makes the point you can lay up treasures on this earth and it might leave while
you're still here.

But I can guarantee you, you're not taking it with you.

He says, rather lay up treasures in heaven.

Now a question might be asked, how can a person lay up treasures in heaven?

Say again.

All right, if we use the example from verse four verse thirteen, by the deeds that they
do.

That's one way.

How else can they do it?

By the works that they do.

Alright?

So so in the actions that a Christian participates in, you can lay up treasures in heaven.

How else can you do it?

Okay?

Through spreading the gospel.

Paul will point out in First Corinthians chapter three, I believe it is, that when a
person labors to teach people and convert people, even when that individual does not

remain faithful, there's still a reward that is had for the person who did the teaching.

But there's a greater reward for the person who does the teaching when the person who is
taught

And is saved, remains faithful unto death.

So by teaching the gospel and converting souls.

How else?

How about second Corinthians chapter eight and nine?

Turn to second Corinthians chapter eight and nine.

That part of the reason why I'm pausing a moment to to take all of this in is because
there's times in which people get in the book of Revelation and they see all the visionary

language and they see all the visions and they see all the stuff and they they they
struggle to to ground themselves.

But it's passages like this in chapter 14 where John says, Let me ground you to what we're
talking about.

Let me put you back down on solid ground so that you understand that we're talking about
the everyday life of a Christian.

And no matter how they meet their end, what they do in this life matters.

In Second Corinthians chapter 8, Paul writes, Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the
grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, that in a great trial of affliction

the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their
liberality.

For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they
were free.

They were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency, that we should receive the gift
and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints, and not only as we had hoped, but

they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.

So we urge Titus that as he had begun, so also so he would also complete this grace in you
as well.

But as you abound in everything in faith and speech and knowledge in all diligence and in
your love for us, see that you abound in this grace also.

I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence
of others.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.

And in this I give advice it is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and
were desiring to do a year ago, but now you also must complete the doing of it.

That as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what
you have.

For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not
according to what one does not have.

For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but by an equality, that
now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may

supply your lack, that there may be equality, as it is written, He who gathered much had
nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.

But thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.

For he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent he went to you of his
own accord.

And we have sent with him the brother who s whose praise is in the gospel throughout all
the churches, and not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to travel with us

with this gift, which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord himself, and to show
your ready mind.

Avoiding this that any one should blame us in this lavish gift, which is administered by
us.

Providing honorable things not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men,
and we have sent with them our brother, whom we have often proved diligent in many things,

but now much more diligent because of the great confidence we have in you.

If any one inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you, or if
our brethren are inquired about, they are messengers of the churches the glory of Christ.

Therefore show to them and before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting
on your behalf.

Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you,
for I know your willingness about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaea was

ready a year ago, and your zeal was stirred up stirred up the majority.

Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect,
that as I said you may be ready, lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you

unprepared, we, not to mention you, should be ashamed of this confident boasting.

Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time and
prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised.

That it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.

But this I say, He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows
bountifully will also reap bountifully.

So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God
loves a cheerful giver.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you.

That you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good
work.

As it is written, He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor, His righteousness
endures forever.

Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the
seed you have sown and increase the fruit of your righteousness, while you are enriched in

everything for all liberality which causes thanksgiving through us to God.

For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also
is abounding through many thanksgivings to God.

While through the proof of this ministry they glorify God for the obedience of your
confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men,

and by their prayer for you who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you,
thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

You look in that passage.

The context of that passage is the Jews who were going through the hardship and the famine
back in Judea, specifically the Jewish Christians and the churches that had sent out

missionaries to the Gentile world were now suffering and they were destitute and they
needed help.

And Paul was going about gathering that gift to bring back to Jerusalem, back to Judea, to
help those Christians.

Paul makes it clear that the giver of the gift receives the greater gift.

That God would not only allow the giver to give beyond their means, but he would in turn
make it possible for them to continue to give.

But that grace was going to them because of the gift, and it was going from them to the
other Christians because of their faithfulness.

Revelation chapter 14, we consider that one of the ways that a Christian's works follow
him into eternity.

One of the ways that you store up treasures in heaven is when you give to those who are in
need.

As Paul will write, especially those of the household of faith.

When those who have abundance and those who are destitute, by the way, that's not a
command exclusively to those who have abundance, because he describes the Macedonians as

those who were destitute.

They're already in deep poverty, yet they're giving.

Because they gave of themselves to the Lord first.

So he says, While those who are destitute are giving, and those who have abundance are
giving, all of them are giving.

Poor and rich, as their giving, are being bestowed back grace from God.

We need to remember in this life that we lay up treasures in heaven when we are obedient
to God.

We lay up treasures in heaven when we preach the gospel and teach others.

We lay up treasures in heaven when we are willing to give of our physical possessions for
spiritual reasons.

We lay up treasures in heaven when we support those who are taking the gospel to the
world.

We lay up treasures in heaven when we help those who are in need and have no way to
resolve that.

We should be careful to note

That laying up treasures in heaven is something you do while you are alive.

I mention that because sometimes in our modern world of financial engineering

People have a mindset I'm going to keep what I have until I die, and then after I'm dead,
it can go to a good cause.

Are you dead, it's too late.

That's not to say that money that has been stored up and is given through some sort of
legacy opportunity can't have good that comes from it.

But it is to say that if you're hoarding it until you die so that you're secure, you're
not trusting God.

So many times there are individuals who are in need, and there are those who have so much
abundance they'll never use it before they die.

But they're not willing to give.

Well, if we pay attention to the passage, their works do follow them.

Verse 14 of chapter 14.

Then I looked and behold a white cloud.

We've said before in the text when you see white, it's holiness.

Everywhere you see white in the book of Revelation, it's holiness.

He says, Behold, I saw a white cloud, and on the cloud sat one like the Son of Man.

Having on his head a golden crown.

Again, the crown here, not the crown of the king, it's the crown of the victor.

It's Stephanos.

It is the crown of the victorious person.

So here comes the white cloud, and the one sitting on the cloud looks like the Son of Man,
and he has on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharpsickle.

I didn't grow up in an agricultural community, I grew up on the side of an Appalachian
hill.

What in the world is a sickle use for?

Cutting grass or wheat.

Grain.

We didn't we I'll put it this way, they grew weeds in eastern Kentucky, but they didn't
grow grain.

Out on the plain, you're gonna cut down the the harvest.

And so the picture is here comes the one on the cloud.

And he's got in his hand a sharp sickle, and notice what we read.

And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the
cloud: Thrust in your sickle and reap, for the time has come for you to reap, for the

harvest of the earth is ripe.

So he who sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

The picture here

is an agricultural vision, but the reaping isn't grain.

The harvest is ready.

The one who sits on the cloud is told.

It's time.

The message from the book is: judgment has been waiting, has been waiting.

God has been long-suffering.

God has given people an opportunity to repent, and the time is.

Turn to Isaiah sixty three, this is where we'll close for today.

In Iza sixty three.

We read, who is this who comes from Edom?

With dyed garments from Basrah, this one who is glorious in his apparel, traveling in
greatness of his strength.

I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.

Why is your apparel red?

And your garments like one who treads in the wine press.

Now you're about to read is the

Remainder of the passage as we introduce where we're headed next week.

You're about to read of the harvest of the nations of God's judgment coming upon the
wicked, and they're going to be gathered up, and they're going to be thrown into the

winepress of the wrath of God.

That's not a new picture.

That's not a prophecy about an event where blood's gonna run like a river.

That's an Old Testament picture.

God in Isaiah 63 inquires of the individual who's coming, why are you covered in red?

Why does it look like you've been treading out the wine press?

W when the grapes were pulled out of the fields, the vineyards, they'd be put into the
wine press.

And then you'd have a great big gathering and people would go through and they'd walk on
the grapes.

They'd just keep walking on it.

They would be treading out the blood of the grape.

There's the metaphor.

By the way, if you need any passage anywhere in Scripture to tell you that the word wine
in the Old and New Testament does not always indicate an intoxicating drink, you don't

have to go any further than this passage.

And Revelation chapter 14, where the grapes that get put into the wine press are tread out
and described as.

Wine.

Can you get fermented grapes off the vine?

No, you can't.

Fermentation is a process that occurs by something that is dead, not something that's
still connected to the vine.

You can get wine out of the wine press, but you can't get fermented wine out of the wine
press.

Wine in Scripture does not always indicate intoxicating fermented wine.

It never has.

The context describes whether or not it is fermented and intoxicating or not.

Now notice in Isaiah 63 as we continue down to verse 7: the answer that comes back from
the one who's inquired of by God.

Where have you been?

Why does it look like you've been in the winepress?

He says, I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with me.

For I have trodden them in my anger and trampled them in my fury.

Their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my robes.

For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come.

I looked, but there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uphold.

Therefore, my own arm brought salvation for me, and my own fury it sustained me.

I have trodden down the peoples in my anger, made them drunk in my fury, and brought down
their strength to the earth.

I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to
all that the Lord has bestowed on us.

And the great goodness toward the house of Israel which He has bestowed on them according
to His mercies, according to the multitude of His loving kindness.

For He said, Surely they are my people.

Who is this about?

Where's the person coming from?

Verse 1, he's coming from Edom.

This is a prophecy of Isaiah about the judgment of Edom.

How does he describe Edom being judged by God?

First of all, he describes it as a lone man walking, covered in the wine press and the
blood of the grape.

And the lone person walking says, I did it all on my own.

Because I looked for someone who was faithful and I couldn't find anybody, so I d I took
care of it myself.

And the picture there is of God saying, My wrath has been poured out on Edom.

There's your picture for the remainder of Romans, or sorry, Revelation chapter 14.

We'll get into that next week.

Thank you for your attention.