Celebrate Good Times, C'mon!

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Revelation chapter 19. This morning as we look at our text, verses 1 through 10. As we come to the Word of God now, let's pray. We all desperately need the teaching of the Holy Spirit in our lives, so let's ask that He would come now and teach us as we look into the very Word of God. And as he speaks to us. The Lord, you are God of heaven and earth.

And you have given all authority to your son. You've commanded us to love you and to love him and to abase ourselves and to completely trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. You've called us to serve you in him. And you've empowered us by your spirit to do that. We ask now that your spirit would do his work of teaching us your word, that we might live lives that are upright and godly in this present age as we await the coming of our Lord Jesus.

We thank you for this book, from which you have promised us blessing if we would read it. again we ask for clarity of thought as we come to the book of the revelation of jesus that we might serve you well now as we look to the future pray this now in the name of jesus our lord and our king amen we live in a broken world it is impossible to live a life with unceasing joy or satisfaction death, despair, tragedy, malice and heartbreak relentlessly press in on us and you find no escape from the brokenness but we also live in a hostile world for we have an adversary In the book of Revelation, Satan is called the dragon who ruthlessly seeks to destroy the people of God. The beast serves him. All those governmental authorities down through the ages who have sought to destroy Christians for their stubborn allegiance to Christ The false prophet serves him Those religious authorities that entice God people away from Christ with comfortable but false doctrines that would take them away from their allegiance to Jesus.

And then there is Babylon, the satanic system that seeks our destruction through prosperity, comfort, and abundance. This is the whore who looks beautiful and attractive, seducing God's people to find satisfaction, joy, fulfillment and purpose in the wealth of the world. In short, to destroy us by seducing us into idolatry. She has taken the world captive as we have seen as rulers and people are drunk and intoxicated with opulence. and God has called his people as we've noted in chapter 18 to get out of the city lest they partake in her judgment and in order to accomplish that in order to accomplish our exit from the city he reveals the the funeral of the prostitute in chapter 18 the destruction visited on her by God's judgment.

And the whole point of that chapter is this. Why find comfort in the arms of this prostitute since her comforts are short-lived and she is destined for judgment? That's the point. Why find comfort there? They're short-lived and she's going to be destroyed. But then again, God doesn't just motivate us to live lives here without giving our allegiance to wealth and possessions and stuff and entertainment.

He doesn't just do that by scaring us with a funeral. He also does it by giving us hope. He does it by pointing to us to a hope that's yet in the future and saying, there's another reason. There's another reason to get out of the city. because of what hope there is in the future. That's what we find in chapter 19, verses 1 through 10. As we come down to chapter 10 now, we end what started in chapter 17, which is this whole discussion, this whole revelation of Babylon and its dangers and its judgment and our warning Here we are given hope so that we will escape the enticements of Babylon as it seeks to seduce us with opulence and all kinds of the things of this world to draw us into idolatry and away from Jesus So here is the hope that we have.

You follow along as I read, as we see this vision that God gives John in chapter 19. After this, I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for His judgments are true and just. For He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of His servants.

Once more they cried out, Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who was seated on the throne saying, Amen! Hallelujah! And from the throne came a voice saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great. then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder crying out hallelujah for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen bright and pure.

For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. Then I fell down at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, you must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Imagine John standing at Babylon's funeral with the laments of Babylon's lovers filling his ears. He hears wailing weeping and loud crying And then suddenly cutting through and overwhelming those wailing laments comes this thunderous voice of a heavenly choir crying Hallelujah Which is the Hebrew word that means Praise the Lord Now this choir is the international assembly of the victors who have emerged from great affliction and great tribulation.

We've met them in chapter 7. they respond to the invitation that was given in the previous chapter here in chapter 18 verse 20 rejoice over her oh heaven and you saints and apostles and prophets for god has given judgment for you against her here then is the joy of celebration as you hear the wailing of babylon's lovers and you witness the smoke of Babylon's destruction ascending to heaven, what should you celebrate? What should you celebrate? He's given us two things to celebrate.

Here's the first one. Celebrate the perfect justice of God. Celebrate the perfect justice of God. first five verses here we're told to rejoice at the display of God's justice in the destruction of the harlot like a great fireworks display you suddenly see the glory of God's saving power on the 4th of July we went to Bell Center to watch the fireworks there which was really interesting this year because even though a storm was coming in they started the fireworks, all right?

And then when the storm came, they just said, forget it, let's just blow them all off. So man, that was an incredible display. It was just going nuts. It was, I mean, it was the most incredible one I've ever seen. I mean, it's like these guys have waited all year to set these things off. No rain is going to stop them.

They just lit them all, all right? And that's what happens here. That's what happens here. All of a sudden, like that great fireworks display, You suddenly see the glory of God's saving power. It displays. It's boom.

It's out there. You see it. Why? God's glory or the perfect harmony of all his attributes shine brilliantly in the salvation of his people from the enticing ways and the bloodthirsty methods of Babylon. All the glory of his salvation is seen as he delivers his people from that wicked harlot. Always remember this, God's judgment against his enemies always means the salvation of his people.

It's the two sides of the same coin. Judgment of God's enemies always means the salvation of God's people. And so we stand in awe of it. Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God. Why? Because his judgments, the judgments are true and just.

They are true. His justice is true because it is unerring and true to his character. Nothing but his holy character is behind his judgment. There's nothing that can sway it. His holy character is behind it. It is just.

His justice is just. It cannot be swayed by anything. By personal interests, by money, by power. Nothing will, or intimidation. Nothing can intimidate him. His judgment against Babylon is true and it's just.

We heard this last week about many children who suffered cruel injustice for the purpose of saving a powerful and famous football program. there was no justice there it was swayed by personal interests of saving the image of that football program many many children suffered because of it that's not the way it's going to be with god he's not going to be intimidated swayed or anything his judgment is always true and just. And it's so. It is so.

Notice he says, how do I know it's true and just? Because he's judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants. Here's why it's true and just. Because it rids the earth of the whore's corruption. Now always remember this. That this satanic system that promises fulfillment and joy and satisfaction in worldly wealth, in entertainment, in all kinds of stuff, in all the good stuff that's around, that satanic system that promises fulfillment and joy and satisfaction in wealth of this world inherently corrupts everything you ever thought about that Babylon which entices us to find our everything in the glitzy things that it offers that she offers us, inherently corrupts everything.

Idolatry will always turn you away from God, and it will always corrupt everything. Believing that joy and satisfaction can be found in wealth has caused countless wars. Isn't that true? It has caused the destruction of immorality. It has caused the ruin of relationships. And every conceivable evil has come from this one thing. if you can find satisfaction in wealth, in possessions, in the stuff of this world that inherently corrupts everything.

And his justice is just because he deals with the whore's corruption of everything. And notice, it's true and just because he avenges the blood of the saints. Now recall that this prostitute is guilty of the blood of the saints. And that blood of the saints doesn't just mean killing them. It means all kinds of suffering, any kind of suffering. She's employed the power we've noted before in the book of Revelation.

She's employed the power of the beast to enforce her greedy ways. Think of the old communist states that used to exist. There are still a few left, but think of it. You remember in the old days of the Soviet Union, the great big communist power that was in this world. Always remember this. And we tend to think, as I preach this, that all this opulence and this enticement to us It's just all about capitalism and stuff and everything we have here.

It's any economic system that says find satisfaction. Because you know what communism said? Communism said find satisfaction. You can find satisfaction in wealth as long as the wealth is shared equally by everybody. See, it's anything that says this is where it's at. Get the most stuff.

And we're the system that can do it. All right? And you notice, you remember under the communist states that anyone who didn't agree with that would suffer. And Christians suffered by the thousands under the Soviet Union and its related communist states as they were kept from jobs Again in the Islamic State of Azerbaijan remember I told you these stories about so many of our friends over there who cannot get jobs because they are Christians.

And to be a Christian means the government says, no, you don't get that job. And many of them are very poor. They can't find work because they've been labeled as Christians and therefore are not allowed. You see, so the suffering comes as she employs the power of the state, but not just always employing the power of the state. Such suffering comes when you as a Christian refuse to compromise your faith for your company.

I imagine just about everybody here has been in a position where your company has asked you to compromise your faith in order to make a buck and when you refuse what happens? They pat you on the back and says wow you're a man of integrity we want you is that what happens normally? No it doesn't happen normally that way you know it doesn't and you suffer that's Babylon causing the suffering of God's people You see, God is concerned about the well-being and just treatment of his servants.

He's concerned about that. Those who have given themselves to his service and refuse to serve the demands of the harlot will suffer. And God says, I will avenge your suffering. There will be vengeance. Now again, what we ought to be hearing is chapter 6 again, remember? the martyrs under the altar of God crying out, God, how long before you avenge our blood?

Here's God's answer. He destroys Babylon. All right. He takes vengeance on behalf of his people. And then the same choir, verse 3, cries out again. Hallelujah.

Praise the Lord for the smoke from her goes up forever and ever. now this may strike our post-modern years as particularly vindictive and harsh right as if the saints eternal bliss is enhanced as for all eternity they watch the smoke of babylon ascending to heaven all right and we may think wow that's pretty harsh this is an illusion back to Isaiah 34 where God talks about the judgment of Edom and how the smoke of Edom judgment will ascend to heaven forever It's a picture. It's a symbol. This is a symbol here of God's zeal for justice.

Again, these are not photographs. These are symbols. We're not going to be sitting in our mansions in heaven saying, I still smell the smoke of Babylon. And that's not what he's saying. OK, what he's saying simply is God is zealous for justice. That's the picture here.

That's the symbol. And we ought to rejoice at the fact that God is zealous for justice, that nothing will escape his justice. Is it vindictive? is it vindictive is it harsh to rejoice at God's perfect justice exercise for his people some people look at this and say well that's just awful that's just awful they're singing hallelujah because the smoke of this prostitute is ascending forever how awful is that how vindictive is that it's not vindictive let me ask you do you think it'd be better if we served a God who said, ah, you know, it's really not that important.

I'm not going to get upset about, I mean, come on. People have died unjustly, and they've been slaughtered at the hands of powerful and corrupt people, but I'm not going to let that bother me. How about that? Would you rather have that? Of course not. This is not vindictive.

I mean, can you think about this with me? we cry for blood when our employee says you've got to have it's required overtime this weekend and it ruins your plans for the weekend and you cry for their blood with your corrupt finite sense of justice and then God comes along with perfect justice and recoil and horror Now, think about that for a moment, would you? This is God's perfect justice. God is zealous for his justice.

He's a zeal for justice. For all those who would say, I look around the world, I don't see justice. You know what I say? Oh, my friend, listen, God is zealous for justice. Coming a day when every right will be wronged and God will make sure justice is served. Right now he's just being patient.

He's given you the room to repent. There's coming a day when there's no repentance. When God's justice will fall with all its severity, all its force, but every bit true and just. You know what? The punishment that God meets out that reflects perfect justice, and we may look at it as harsh. Listen, think of it this way.

It says more about the nature of sin than the harshness of God. God's justice is perfect. This is the punishment that fits the crime. so it ought to cause us to think, my goodness, look how deep and dark the stain of sin really is. This is what it requires. And not just any sin. Right here we're talking about the sin of persecuting the people of God.

God does not take it lightly. We this day may think, where are you, God? there are people in North Korea who, for the very possession of a Bible, have signed their death warrants, are sent off to camps to suffer slow, torturous deaths. Where is your justice, God? Listen, God cares very much about how his servants are treated. And justice will come at the proper time.

It will be perfect justice. Now, in order to reassure you of that justice, the court of heaven replies with its affirmation and its praise. The 24 elders and the four living creatures, that's the heavenly court that sits around the throne of God. They also affirm, Amen, so be it, and also praise the Lord. And then another voice booms from the throne in verse 5.

No doubt it's the voice of Jesus himself commanding us to praise our God. All you his servants, you who fear him, small and great. here is that command to praise God. All who give themselves in service to Christ and who then are servants of God all those who fear God above the allurements of Babylon all of them no matter what their station in life great and small all of them ought to praise God for his justice He calls them to worship their triumphant champion who has come to their rescue.

How will you resist the enticing beauty of this prosperous age and remain faithful in the suffering that accompanies that resistance? You remain faithful if you get heaven's perspective. You'll resist if you see that Babylon will experience the perfect, unerring justice of God. And if you catch a vision of God's servants celebrating his perfect justice, that will give you hope.

That will make you say, Babylon can throw anything she wants at me. I know that there's going to be perfect justice. and she may make me suffer for not buying in. But there's coming a day of perfect justice. And you also stand if you catch the vision of the future when you will celebrate the perfect love of Christ. That's what happens in the rest of the chapter.

There's a celebration of His justice. Now there's a celebration of Christ's love. We have a wedding coming up. And at this point, another voice deafening. It sounds like loud peals of thunder and great waterfalls of water. And its deafening strength suddenly comes and talks about the arrival of the kingdom and the marriage of the Lamb.

There's this huge, loud voice that says, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted to her. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

First of all, I says, praise the Lord for the unrivaled reign of God has arrived at last. Verse six. now remember it says here God is almighty and all through history no one has ever forwarded his purposes God is sovereign but let review quickly how God sovereignty how his rule over the earth has manifested itself First of all, there's just God's universal rule of everything. The whole universe, from the germ to the galaxies, submit to the rule of God.

You remember that rebel Nebuchadnezzar who elevated himself and said, there is no one in all of the earth who is as great as me as he looked around at all his accomplishments. Right? None of us do that, do we? And he looked around and saw how great he was. And God struck him down with madness. Right?

And here's Nebuchadnezzar's testimony. At the end of the days, this is Daniel chapter 4, verses 34 and 35. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven and my reason returned to me. And I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom endures from generation to generation.

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and no one can stay his hand or say to him, what are you doing? There's the universal sovereign rule of God. There isn't anyone in this place today who's ever thwarted God. There is no powerful ruler who has ever thwarted God.

There is nothing that has thwarted God. Everything is running according to the plan of God. That's his universal reign. But someone says, but didn't the kingdom of God arrive with power when Jesus appeared? And the answer is yes. Colossians 1 verses 13 and 14 says he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Whereas in the universal kingdom, it's the kingdom of God who controls the opposition to his rule. In his redemptive kingdom, the redemptive kingdom of Jesus, he redeems some of the opposition. Right? And brings them under his rule. But then there is this what before us The kingdom of God for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns Now the kingdom of God arrives and it doesn control the opposition doesn redeem some of the opposition Now it eliminates all opposition.

I want you to think about this. He's talking about the kingdom of God arriving and everything is peace. everything operates the way it's supposed to do you think there'll be human relationships in heaven or are we all going to be sitting in individual little cells strumming harps no no we're going to be seeing one another eating with each other laughing with one another no crying our relationships are going to be what they all god always intended them to be we'll be living on a new earth where the ground will no longer fight us where there will be work I believe and nothing will work will not be labor it will not be toil that is that kingdom where everything operates the way God wants it to perfect harmony no opposition no rival any longer to anything that God wills or says and with that kingdom comes a wedding verses 7 and 8 with the destruction of the harlot comes the presentation of the bride now John's vision of this bride that we have mentioned here does not come till chapter 21 but this is like the harlot we are introduced to her in chapter 14 she was revealed in chapter 17 and so like here now the bride is announced before she appears okay the bride is announced before she appears and it says rejoice exalt and give God glory because the long awaited wedding ceremony is about to begin weddings well for most people are always joyous occasions I'm terribly nervous at weddings they're not always joyful for me they're one of the most nerve wracking things I do I think sometimes I'd rather jump never mind I just know that the pastor has to get everything right no wrong names But for most people, weddings are terrifically joyous occasions, right? Because we celebrate the committed love of two people.

And so we anticipate this wedding for it displays the love of Jesus for his people. Now, the lamb loves his bride. The lamb loves his people. How do we know that? Well, Ephesians 5.25. Husbands love your wives.

Why? Like how? Like Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. He willingly went to the cross and in love he died for her. Ephesians 5.2 says, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. How do I know?

How do you know God loves you? How do you know God loves the church? He died for. He died for. There's no greater expression of love. None.

None. You want to know God loves you? You look to the cross. but here here is something different on that day we celebrate the unhindered love of the lamb for his bride no interference no obstacles do you ever doubt whether jesus really loves you if i'd have asked you to raise your hand i would bet that every one of you would say there are days when I doubt that Jesus loves me.

All right? On that day, no doubts. And from that time forward, there will never be a day of doubting that Jesus loves you. That's the wedding ceremony. That's when his love will be openly displayed and there will be no obstacles, no hindrances. We will have a complete understanding of the love of Jesus.

Now, what's one of the greatest moments in a wedding? for everyone sitting there. It's usually when the bride comes down the aisle, right? Everybody stands up and they turn around, they look at this young woman coming down the aisle dressed in white normally that white wedding gown And if you been involved in any kind of a wedding and just about everyone here has you know that she didn show up 15 minutes before the ceremony and put that dress on and said where's dad?

Let's go. Right? Typically, the bride and the bridesmaid spend the entire morning getting ready for that moment. Right? They just are fussing in the rooms back there, and they're all skittering around and doing all those girly things that they do and making the bride look like she should. I mean, the whole morning is spent doing that thing.

Okay? Well, here we're told that the bride's preparing for that day. She'll appear in all her firing, but only after she's made herself ready. You know what's going on now? right now. You know what's happening now? We're preparing for that.

We, the bride, us, we're preparing for that. The fine white garments we wear are, according to this passage, our righteous deeds. We'll be clothed in our righteous deeds. Now someone might say, wait, whoa, whoa, John, John, you're missing the boat here. We don't earn our way into heaven. It's all by grace.

And that's right. It's all by grace. Scripture asserts over and over again that we enter our rest, we get to the wedding completely by God's grace. Romans 3, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are declared righteous by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 4, now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. and to the one who does not work, but what?

But believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteous. And then, of course, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast. The scripture is clear. We don't earn our way into heaven.

But these are the righteous deeds of the saints What is that Those works reflect the transformed life That the proper response to our justification It the proper response to the call of the heavenly bridegroom We put those on because we are accepted by God We don put them on to be accepted of God In fact if I read one more verse from Ephesians chapter 2 it would say this For we are, after talking about it's a gift of God, not of works, it goes on to say, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We are not saved by works, we are saved what? For good works.

And so the deeds that we put on are our response to what God has done. and notice in verse 8 do you see grace there look at verse 8 you see God's grace we clothe ourselves with the righteous deeds which what God gave us oh you know the Bible just never quite fits our little categories does it those are our righteous deeds that God has granted that we should clothe ourselves with them so there's the grace of God again he takes the initiative even the deeds that compose our wedding clothes are a gift of the grace of God but note this I think these are righteous deeds a particular kind you know what it is? you know what those deeds are? the steadfast faithfulness to Jesus it's our steadfast faithfulness to Jesus, to the testimony of Jesus in the midst of persecution and seduction. As we remain faithful, we're preparing ourselves with this pure linen, the righteous deeds of the saints. And remember this, as we've seen before, in chapter 3, in chapter 6, in chapter 7, you go back and read those later, but in chapter 3, chapter 6, and chapter 7, these white robes, these white clothes are mentioned already.

And they stand for God's vindication of His people, overturning the verdict of the world. Folks, the world looks at people like us and calls us evil. Have you not heard that? We are called evil for standing for righteousness. The Episcopalians had their annual meeting A few meetings ago they said it okay for homosexual marriages Now in this meeting they had to agree on what the proper ceremony to do that And to them, they look at us and say, you are not Christian.

If you're Christian, then you wouldn't be so bigoted, you narrow-minded, ungodly people. That's their response to us. now what is the white what are the white robes then we look at chapter 3 chapter 6 chapter 7 they're God's vindication God overturns the verdict and says these are the people that were right your verdict is wrong now just to make sure you get the picture an angel now gives to John an inscribed wedding invitation intended for God's people in verse 9 an angel said to me write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God.

So you get an invitation. It says this, hey, we're going to have a feast, an intimate dinner, a wedding dinner, and you'll find blessing there, signed, God, your heavenly Father. That's what these are the true words of God mean. Okay? Hey, I'm the one sending the invitation. And I'm saying, come to the table, come to the feast, this wedding feast, and you will find blessing.

The picture kind of changes here from bride now to people coming to the wedding. And he sends us an invitation and says, hey, great time coming. I promise. Signed, God. Okay? So there's the invitation.

And again, you see the grace of God. The marriage supper, he says, that I just described will bring great blessing for those what? who have been invited. Literally, that can be translated to those who have been called. God's grace reaches out and His invitation penetrates our dark and hard hearts, changes them, and we hear that invitation and we're going to show up at the wedding.

Now this is almost too much for John to process. It's almost too much for him. And before you get really ticked off at John for falling down in front of an angel, consider this. First of all, he hears a divine announcement. It's a divine announcement. These, for these, these are the things that are going to happen. the true words of God.

He has a divine announcement. And then he hears, he's also hearing this thunder of voices and thunder, this loud thunderous voices often associated with God. And not only that, but what have we seen? At least two times in this book, Jesus has appeared in a vision now, symbolized as an angel, a messenger, chapter 10 and in chapter 18. And in his confusion, John falls down in worship before the angel.

So don't get too, don't look at John and say, oh, come on, how stupid can you be? All right. I think that if an angel showed up at your house with a voice of thunder and said something from God, I think you might be tempted to fall down too. But the angel quickly rebukes him. Don't do that because I'm a fellow servant of yours and of all your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Worship God, not me. I'm a servant just like you and the other brothers. Do you know why angels, now get this, angels are fellow servants with us. You ever thought about that? If an angel showed up at my house, I don't think I'd kind of wrap my arm around him and say, Hi brother, I'm glad you're here. He says that they're fellow servants.

We've got to get the picture here. Why are they fellow servants? Get this. Because like us, they proclaim the testimony of Jesus. They have the same job we do, pointing the world to Jesus. All of God true servants witness to Jesus so that all honor goes to him Are you a servant of Christ then you will live and speak in ways that will always point people to Jesus And so the honor goes not to you, but to him.

When you're tempted to say to yourself, I did a pretty good job. and people start patting you on the back, you need to say, no, no, no, no. Honor goes to Jesus. It's not me. And so we're fellow servants with angels because we have the same job, getting people, pointing people to Jesus. They honor him. And as they do this, they serve a prophetic role.

This is the spirit of prophecy. all of prophecy has got to manifest itself in a message about Jesus we have a prophetic role we're like prophets we're proclaiming a message from God and that message is honor Jesus so stand fast you can persevere because you will be the bride of the one who will love you and will vindicate you from all accusations think of this can I tell you this you can say about anything you want about me but when you start talking about my wife in bad ways I'm not going to be a pleasant person alright now thankfully none of you have done that but that's what Jesus does when he clothes them in white he's saying to the world you been talking about my bride and I don like it and this is what I think of her I don know if I want to be on the other side making accusations against Jesus bride would you That's how we can persevere. That's how we can persevere. He's going to love us, and He's going to stand up for His people. so what has to happen Jesus churches need to see clearly through the appearances to discover that the world system that promises pleasure and prosperity now in exchange for your allegiance and your integrity is more beast than beauty and is intent not on your fulfillment but on your destruction have you ever thought that this culture in which we live that's always putting before you bigger house more fun give yourself you'll find fulfillment in all the wealth that is there grab it get it it's not after your fulfillment but after your destruction you see and you can see through the appearances if you catch a vision of the celebrations awaiting you catch the vision of the celebration of God's perfect justice exercise for his people see Babylon's devastating fall and so then you'll be forewarned against her wiles and you be stirred for a longing for the unerring and justice of God Catch a vision of the celebration of God perfect love in the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Why give in to the pleasures of the harlot when the pleasures of that great wedding feast far outweigh them? The bride is the church now embattled on the earth in which we live every day. But on that great day, God will pronounce judgment against her enemies and declare her free of blame. And on that great day, he will clothe her with radiant linen and declare his love for her.

With those in mind, we can stand the wiles of the great harlot. Father, help us to truly catch the vision. God I beg you help us to start thinking more of the future so that we will live in ways that honor Christ in the present give us eyes that see these promises and that give us hope so that we will not give in to the seductive wiles of seeking more wealth of more entertainment, of more leisure.

Give us hearts that want to serve you because we see the vision of what's going to happen. Help us, Lord God, as we live in this wicked city, to resist her and to live for you. Help us to honor Christ in his name. Amen. Thank you.