See Clearly!

Take your Bibles and turn now to Revelation chapter 22. If you get that series on Revelation, it is 64 CDs. Not 128 or 165 like you think it is. Only 64. Revelation chapter 22, verse 21. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.

Amen. Let's pray. Lord God, we now come to the end of this journey and we pray that you would cause us now as we rethink and consider what we have read, what we have heard, what we have seen, that you would help us to see clearly now in this age. We needed this book, Lord. It is obvious that in your providence you brought us to this book when we needed to hear it.

Now, Lord, as we leave it, we pray that we would not leave behind the perspective that it gave us, that we would see the triumph of the Lamb even in the midst of what seems like defeat. God, help us to live as this book has commanded. Help us to keep the prophecies of this book. Help us to obey it now as we leave it. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Well, we've marched through the entire book of Revelation. we've been in the land of strangely colored horses with strange riders a black sun and a bloody moon stars falling from the sky and smoke rising from a bottomless pit locusts with scorpion tails dressed in battle armor a giant angel offering a scroll for John to eat we've observed a hungry dragon a fearsome beast a false prophet and a luring prostitute. We been to heaven bright courts and earth scorched battlefields the throne room of the Lamb and seven struggling congregations And you have heard over and over, remember, this is not a photograph.

It's a symbol. So after that symbol-laden journey, what does God expect from you? simply put God expects you to see clearly that's what we're going to see today God expects you to see clearly as we finish this book I'm just going to take snatches from it just to give you just to reorient you to the book not to go to every single passage that I'm going to refer to but at least help you remember some of these things. Turn to chapter 11 for the moment.

Where do we start to see clearly? Here's where we start. See your situation in its true perspective. See your situation in its true perspective. Chapter 11, verse 1. Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff.

And I was told, Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there. But do not measure the court outside the temple. Leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.

And then chapter 14, verse 1. Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads. First of all, you are safe and secure, protected by the Lord God Almighty and defended by the Lamb who has overcome. You are the sealed people of God with the name of the Father and the Lamb written on your foreheads.

You are the measured sanctuary of God, jealously guarded by His Spirit from any kind of defilement that would cause God to leave you You are the two invincible witnesses who cannot be silenced until you have completed the mission of testifying to Jesus in your generation You are the expectant people of God watching the plagues unfold all around the world as you await the greater exodus that is yours when Jesus Christ comes and leads you into the new promised land. You are safe and secure, protected by the Lord God Almighty and defended by the Lamb who has overcome. Yet, according to chapter 12, what do we see?

Look there with me. Chapter 12, beginning in verse 2, or verse 3. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and on his head seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, that when she bore her child, he might devour it.

She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. Now war arose in heaven. Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. and the dragon and his angels fought back.

But he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God. and they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them, but woe to you, O earth, and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows that his time is short. Even though you are safe and secure, yet you gain the victory through suffering and persecution and dying. this book affirms clearly what Jesus said that harassment rejection arrest beating and even martyrdom is the cost of following Jesus But we suffer because by His death Jesus has already won the decisive battle casting down our accuser and expelling Him from the heavenly courtroom. And our present sufferings are symptoms of His death throes.

Because He knows His time is short. he lashes back against his conquerors. Not only that, Jesus shows us that his victory over the enemy has blazed the trail for our victory. The line of Judah conquered by the death. His death as a lamb. And so his witnesses, note carefully, his witnesses overcome the dragon, win the victory, when they do not love their lives even when faced with death.

Now that may never come to us. I don't know. But we do know that Jesus said it's going to be hard to follow Him. The book of Revelation says over and over again that Satan in his death throes as he seeks to thrash around to conquer his conquerors, as we conquer even through death. the church is the sealed measured protected people of god yet it suffers violent opposition rejection and death is not what we've seen so far that's what we have seen and if you would see clearly you have to see the church with both of those lenses If you close your eyes to Revelation's harshly realistic portrait of the suffering that's going to come our way because we belong to Jesus, if you close your eyes to that, you will be caught off guard when the hardship arrives.

You'll not know what to do with it. But if we focus only on the troubles and ignore the pictures, the symbols of the church's security in the strong hand of God, our hope will be overwhelmed. If all we see are the troubles. When we view the condition of the church and the world with both the lenses that Revelation gives us, we will be equipped to endure in sober hope.

So Revelation gives you the ability to see clearly your situation. We are measured, sealed, protected, and yet at the same time, what? We suffer. At the same time we suffer, Satan will never gain the victory over us. He will make us suffer. The dragon will make us suffer, but he will not gain the victory.

Even when it looks like we're losing, we're winning. We're winning. If you're going to see clearly, then see your enemies in their true colors. See your enemies in their true colors. Revelation repeatedly reminds us that people and institutions are not what they appear. Isn't that right?

It's told us over and over again, look beyond the surface to discern the realities that explain the events of history and our experience. If all you do is see what's going on and do not see the realities behind that, you will not have the right picture. If we ignore Heaven's perspective, we're in trouble. Because things are not what they appear to be.

If you walk away from this study with anything, walk away with this. This book gives you Heaven's perspective. It gives you the reality behind the appearance so that what you see is not reality. What's real is what's behind it. The spiritual reality behind it. That's heaven's perspective.

Who are our enemies? See the beast. First of all, chapter 13. See the beast. Let's just dip into a beast passage here, shall we? Verse 4.

And they worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like the beast and who can fight against it. And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them, and authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it. whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of the life of the Lamb who was slain in the book of life of the lamb who was slain if anyone has an ear let him hear if anyone to be taken captive to captivity he goes if anyone is to be slain with the sword with the sword he must be slain here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints see the beast the power of government symbolized by in the beast can accomplish great good as rome had in john day and john's day no wonder that many of that day would hail the emperors as lord and savior they would actually hail the emperors as lord and savior so it's not surprising that the world offers the beast divine adoration. Who is like the beast? Who can fight against it?

But it's all an illusion. The same is true of every successive world power that exalts man. No government will ever embody the justice and omnipotence that deserves our unqualified trust and adulation. No government will ever, no nation, will ever have the justice and the omnipotence that calls from us adoration. The followers of the Lamb must not be duped into worshiping state power as if it holds the keys to salvation, as if it holds the keys to utopia. but neither then because we have heaven's perspective neither neither then should you quake in terror before a godless state i don't know about you but i hate when people say things like well i think persecution is coming to our country i don't like that i don't like the thought of me going to jail now i have my own scenarios as to how that's going to happen i have my own ways of thinking as to how that's going to begin.

But I hope it doesn't happen. But we should not quake in terror. We know what the beast is like. We have it right here. And he's unmasked. It's an illusion.

If necessary, get your vision checked so you can see clearly. Do you find your hopes dashed by trends in government Do you find your hopes dashed by trends in government Why You know what that means That means you putting your faith there When it doesn't come out your way, you don't have to quake in fear and say, oh, God is leaving us. All right? Do you fix your dreams on the state to restore order and righteousness in a society that's spinning out of control?

You know, don't do that. It can't do it. If that's what's going on, then you do not see the beast clearly. See the false prophet. Turn over to chapter 13 again. Verse 11.

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose mortal wound was healed. it performs great signs even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so the image of the beast might even speak out it might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain religious deception religious deception symbolized in the false prophet or the second earth beast can delude many by appealing to impressive experiences even performing great signs even doing great things rather than humbly teaching the word of god the testimony of jesus don't ever forget this.

You will hear the voice of the second beast when you have people talking about religious experience and doing great, marvelous things, but forgetting the humble teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation says to you over and over, you cannot trust the way things look to you. You cannot trust the religious trendsetters who have a palatable message that never assaults your pride.

That never exalts the Lord Jesus Christ. That never causes you to fall down before the throne of God. If their message does not do that it the voice of the beast the second beast And even though it looks like a lamb as it starts out in verse 11 it speaks like a dragon In a world of religious counterfeits swarming with pleasing and plausible lies, followers of the line of Judah will find their way only by holding fast to the true and faithful words of Jesus. frankly, I fear this beast more than the first.

Because you just have to put a little bit of religion on something and everyone goes, oh, they're Christians. Oh, they're good people. And there is so much that drives you away from the lamb rather than drawing you to him. See the harlot, chapter 17. See the harlot. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.

And he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written the name of mystery, Babylon the Great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.

And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. you must see the idolatrous allure of material affluence and acceptance. This is Babylon. Oh, we must be aware of this prostitute. She is so alluring. And notice again, she gets the dwellers on earth drunk. They have no sense anymore.

They are so taken by her charms that they cannot see past it. She is so alluring. She can make you lose your senses. Surely, surely Jesus would not ask his followers to jeopardize their financial security or impede their commercial advancement for a few minor points of confidence. Conscience or doctrine. Surely Jesus doesn't expect that.

Surely there's nothing wrong. Jesus can't be offended with a new house and a new car. Well, that vacation was not any more expensive than what other people spend. Eating out too much. That's just a minor thing. My giving to the church is still generous.

New fashionable clothes, they don't offend Jesus, do they? And the remodeling of our house, that's a good investment. than the lake property. Well, that's good. We could use that for ministry. And on and on and on it goes. Now, don't any of you come to me after this service and say to me, Pastor, is it okay that I bought this boat?

Oh, Pastor, do you think going to Disney World is too much? Don't ask me that question. I don't know. But these are what you need to look at yourself. Examine yourself and ask, do I find it hard to give time and resources to Jesus because I've spent my money on my pleasures? Ask yourself that.

Am I having a hard time? You know, two weeks ago, is it two weeks now we called for you and I sent an email out for those who weren't here. We say, let's support Josh. $50,000 a year. And everybody goes, oh, $50,000. We're going to add that to the budget? takes 100 people giving 10 more dollars. Just 10 more.

And we can do it easily. Let me ask you, are you finding a hard time coming up with 10 bucks a week more? Do we spend that much that we can't even spare an extra 10? I'd be really, maybe I'm meddling here, I don't know, but in all of this discussions, I'm asking myself, 10? Could I come up with 10 extra? Am I so, as my family, so hungry that I can't come up with 10?

Right? And let's face it, we have a hard time coming up with that kind of money because we spend so much on our pleasures. We've got nothing left over. Here's another question. Do I prefer my stuff and my entertainment to serving Jesus? If you have a choice between going someplace and serving Jesus or going to a game, which appeals to you?

And which if it appeals to you if going to the game appeals to you do you then feel a sense of remorse for that and repentance and say Oh God God I really need to serve Christ Where do you find your joy? Serving the lover of your soul or partying with the prostitute? dear folks I am so and I'm not saying this just to you I say it to my own heart this enemy frightens me more than the other more than the beasts more than the beasts we have become so drunk with possessions and stuff and entertainment that we are so filled with all the junk we have not a hunger for God and for his son. Prostitute has allured us into illicit, illicit, damnable things.

But we always can find ways. We lose our senses, we're drunk, because we can find ways of saying it's okay. Unless you see clearly, you will fall prey to the allurements of this prostitute who will draw you away from the one who truly loves you. If you would see clearly, see your enemies in their true colors. If we ended there, I would say, well, that's great, we studied the book of Revelation only to be dashed to pieces.

If we would see clearly, if you would see clearly, see your champion in His true glory. The purpose of these graphic portrayals of the beast and the false prophet and the harlot and all these things throughout the book, the purpose of such graphic portrayals is not to haunt us with nightmares or to wake us up at night with night sweats. It's not the purpose of the book to do that.

Whenever Revelation works on us as God intends it, it ought to drive us to love and to fear and to trust Jesus more. That's where this book ought to lead us. It is after all what The revelation of Jesus Christ It the revelation of Jesus Christ And so we must turn our eyes away from ourselves Turn our eyes away from our enemies. And fix them on Jesus. If I'm going to see clearly, I need to see my champion.

If I don't see him, I've got bad vision. see Jesus clearly he is what did we see throughout this book and I think I think I've only kind of got some of them here he is the faithful witness so you can trust his word he is the son of man invested with eternal and infinite authority so you must obey his commands instantly and eagerly He is the conquering lion of Judah who like his father David went out against towering enemies and defeated them all. That is Jesus. He is the slain lamb for that is exactly how He won the victory.

Those for whom He spilled His blood, those that He has chosen from every tribe and nation and tongue and people have been freed from the devil's oppression and his lethal domain. They have been bought away from all of that and bought to be a possession of the living God who sits upon His throne. He is the captain of heaven's armies riding into conflict against the forces of injustice and destroying them.

Destroying them in His holy wrath. Vindicate His suffering servants and repaying their killers in kind. He is no absentee ruler, no distant champion, because as we've seen in this book, He walks among the lampstands. He is ever present with His churches in all of that church's joys and sorrows and our faithfulness and our failures. He is the eager husband who is preparing a great feast for His bride when He comes to claim her. and to claim her from all her suffering.

And he persistently pursues her in the process of making her beautiful He is the Alpha and the Omega The sovereign over all events, who has the ability to fulfill all his threats and all his promises. If you come to this book and you do not see Jesus in all his glory, you've misread the book. You will never see clearly unless you see Jesus in his glory.

If you see clearly, then the grace then the grace of the Lord Jesus will be with you all. God's grace, His undeserved help and power will be yours. It is not about, oh God, am I good enough? Oh God, will I be able to withstand? Oh God, what? If you see clearly, God's power will be there for you.

Don't leave this book thinking, oh, I'm so afraid of persecution, will I stand? Oh, I'm so afraid. I'm so afraid of the seduction of the prostitute. If you see clearly, you will have grace. God's undeserved help and power, you will have grace to endure in the face of persecution. But see clearly.

If you see clearly, you will have grace to remain pure in the face of seduction. But see clearly. And God's grace will be yours. If you see clearly. If you see clearly. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.

Amen. Father, I would pray that we do not leave this book with more ammunition. for those who have a different interpretation of it. I pray that we would not leave this book with even pride that we've gained an understanding of it. I pray that we would not leave this book glad that we finally have it figured out. Instead, Father, help us leave this book seeing clearly our situation, our enemies, but especially the glory of our champion. help us to see clearly that we might have the grace of God so that we can endure with hope in the age in which we live help us to see clearly so that we will live in an expectant way for Jesus returning to bring victory in all its glory and to vindicate his people thank you Father for this book thank you for the grace that is ours through it thank you for opening the pages that we might understand father now we ask this help us to keep the words of this book, of this prophecy, that we might be blessed.

We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.