Sermon 4 - 15th Annual Bible Conference

We've all been challenged this week, and I have appreciated Professor Greer and his ministry to us. But our tradition always is, if I've got stories on people, I tell them when they're here, and now's the night for that. I'll tell you two. And one's connected to last night, in fact. Professor Greer, before all this technology descended upon us, which was back in the days when I used to have to type my papers with a typewriter, used to lecture very fervently with chalk in his hand, and he would draw on the board, and he would tap a lot and look over his shoulder and lecture.

So he would get intense in his lectures, and one day some student raised his hand and said, Professor Greer, would you please define your terms? And he very quietly said, and then went back to lecturing. I mentioned that the other night and Greg Lynch said to me, oh yeah, that's right, I still have yours. one of my one of the most vivid memories though is when class was ending and Professor Greer turned around and said tomorrow we will talk about how Jesus died for the cows now you remember he raised that issue with you last night we'll erase it with us that way I can remember walking out going what kind of craziness is this is this some kind of heretic what is going on I spent half my life as a teacher sneezing from chalk dust and I had the driest skin you could imagine because it just, so when computers came it wasn't very good.

I really enjoyed the chalk. I had a wonderful teacher, Cornelius Van Til. Well, what do we got here, Jim? There we go. I put some slides in you don't have. Obviously when you're doing a meeting things come to mind that you put together later.

I should tell you in your handout that little white lady on the cover that's Shirley that's a picture from Zambia where we were last summer and it was there that I ministered at night to about 800 Zambians and pastors so that's Shirley and gives you a little feel for what the tent looked like and where we were operating I hope by now you have come to understand that I think that this particular approach to understanding the nature of the biblical canon is absolutely essential for us if we're going to master redemptive history. And we have worked on the first three of those. And I've suggested to you that Genesis 1-4 and Revelation 18-22 are the bookmarks of the Bible.

When Moses wrote Genesis, he didn't know that. And when John wrote Revelation, he didn't know that. This is where the Spirit's intent in Scripture goes beyond the author's intent. And we've lived, I think, a little too long at times with only the one authoral intent, and we haven't talked enough about what the Spirit intended to have happen. I'd like to review what we've done with you.

We did do perfection, and I hope I gave you enough to understand that at creation, the presence and glory of God was there, in particular in the breeze of the day when God would come into the garden and commune with his image. When corruption came and the judgment came and the prot-evangelion was given, man was driven from the garden and had no longer any access to the immediate presence of Christ in the breeze of the day. Society became corrupt.

We looked at the line of Cain. I'll show you the line of Seth in a moment. Then came judgment. Not only the Edenic curse, but the flood and the Tower of Babel. You don't have these, I'm sorry. I'm just reviewing with you.

Then last night we talked about the call of Abraham. God made a covenant with Abraham. He made a covenant with Noah. First time the word covenant appears in the Bible is after the flood. It says God made a covenant with Noah. May I ask you, was it a salvation covenant?

No. Was there terms that man had to keep and God had to keep? No. was all God. Right? Was there a covenant sign? Hmm.

Isn't that interesting? Here we get the first taste of the biblical notion of covenant Now he breaks into the life of Abram the idol worshiper on the other side of the river and he makes a covenant with him Do you remember that night He went into a deep sleep, and he saw animals severed in half, and he saw a fire pot going up and down between the animals. Did he see two fire pots or one?

Who was the fire pot? Was Abraham there? Is this a conditioned or an unconditional covenant? Isn't that interesting? Is it so teoreological? Does it deal with salvation?

Is it through Abraham all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed? here's the beginning in covenantal terms of God's commitment in salvation through Abraham now we have to think this thought with it and I'm Tim and I haven't talked but I'm pretty sure Tim and I are on the same page here the Abrahamic covenant has two modes it has the old covenant mode or the Sinaitic covenant and it has the new covenant mode Whether we like to say it or not, Abraham is our father. We have been grafted in. Praise God.

Right? I mean, you can't grasp the significance of this covenant with this idol worshiper and what God's intent was. So if we could think the thought that this covenant is a salvation covenant, it is unconditional. Was there a covenant sign? circumcision. Right? Isn't that interesting?

So that's what I have in mind when I added the word covenant to what we talked about last night. We remember the story how that Jacob died in Egypt and his sons were there. You ever thought this thought? Jacob was 35 when Shem died. Noah's son, Shem. Any trouble getting flood story down to Egypt?

Any trouble getting creation story down to Egypt for Moses? Ever think about that? You know, we think, oh, you know what it was like? for thousands of years, these people like, oh, I don't know, like who? Maybe Paul. They had, are you here, Paul? Yeah.

Maybe they all had, you know, synthesizers. And they wrote the music to tell the story and it went on and on and on and on. And it took forever to get it down there. No. You know something? Noah's father and Seth overlapped.

They knew each other. Isn't that amazing? Noah's son Shem overlaps Jacob. In fact, Shem outlives Abraham. It's just amazing to think those thoughts. So we've done the redemption. and unfortunately, after looking at the beauty of the presence and the glory of God in the tabernacle and the temple, last night we finished with the glory departed in Ichabod, written over the people of God.

I do want us to look again at the nature of these offspring and how this all develops. If you remember, in the line of Cain from Adam, through seven generations, you come to a threefold breakdown. Now look, here's the line of Seth. We go ten generations now, and again we get a threefold breakdown. We see that Enoch reappears. We see that Lamech reappears.

We see that El for Elohim appears. And AH, the abbreviation for Yahweh, it appears. But this threefold breakdown is the means by which God is going to carry out his covenant. From which one of those three sons did Abraham come? Shem, right? so the blessing Noah gave to Shem is brought in continuity to Abraham so that's where we're going to leave the slides for right now and I know if you're trying to write it down I went way too fast so I'm sorry but I'm not going back I'll treat you just like I treated Tim in the classroom Think with me now.

There's an old priest. His name is Zechariah. He's about to retire from priestly ministry. All the years he's been a priest, the fourth lot that was cast in the Hall of Polished Stones never fell on him. He had never ever in his life before been the incensing priest. Did you know that a priest was only allowed to do the incense once in their lifetime?

And here old Zechariah probably thought that it would never happen And would you believe the lot fell on him And after the lamb had been slain and the meat had been piled at the edge of the altar and he with his assistants would come out of the hall of polished stones, they would strike the Magrifa and silence would fill the temple. And then he would go up those stairs and the assistant that had the red hot coals in the golden bowl would pour them out on the altar and take the tongs and spread them evenly. And then the assistant that had the censer with the incense in it would hand it to Zechariah.

And the two assistants would leave. And there would be silence. And then whoever was in charge of worship that day would say, the time of incense has come. And when that time came, everyone prostrated themselves on the floor, for this was the time for prayer. The lamb had been slain, sin was confessed, and now the sweet savor of the incense would rise up to God.

And while he's in there alone, right at the side of the candlestick, the angel Gabriel appears. Remember? And he says to him, your wife Elizabeth is going to get pregnant and have a child. Elizabeth has been past menstruation for years. And they're childless. End product, he can't believe it.

So he says, what kind of sign will you give me? And Gabriel says, you'll not speak again until the child is born. Now can you picture this? He's been waiting for this opportunity. You know why this opportunity is so important? This is the only time when the Aaronic blessing is prayed on the people of God and the sacred name of Yahweh is pronounced.

He would normally have come out of the holy place. Then they would have stood at the edge and watched as the meat was put up. The priest would put his hand on each side to identify the people with it and he would put it up haphazardly. Old Testament worship was multisensual. You saw it, you heard it, you smelled it. It wasn't single dimensional.

And then after all the meat was up, the priest would take the tongues and try to shape it to the best of his ability in the shape of a lamb. And when that was finished, all eyes would turn back to the incensing priest who would be standing on the steps with the other priests, their fingers intertwined and their arms raised, and he would pray, Yahweh, bless you and keep you. Yahweh, cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

Yahweh, cause his face to shine upon you and give you peace. And this old man who has waited forever for the opportunity stands dumb, unable to pronounce the prayer or to articulate the sacred name of God. You say, why all of that? Understand that this child that's going to be born is the forerunner to the return of the glory of God. He had to write everything down.

And just a few months later, the angel Gabriel came to Mary. We talked about that last night. I don't know if you've ever thought this thought before, but in the womb of Mary, in the formation of the last Adam, is the beginning of the new creation. It doesn't begin Revelation 22. It begins in the womb of Mary. And by the way, it's always first Adam, last Adam.

It is never first Adam, second Adam. You know where we got second Adam from? John Wesley and the Christmas hymn. Second Adam from above, reinstate us in your love. Hark, the herald angels sing. He's never called the second Adam.

He's always the last Adam. The whole history of the human race is summed up in two Adams. First and last. The child is born. The shepherds. The worst kind of people you could think about.

The angels appear to them. glory to God in the highest on earth peace to men of good will for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord and you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger not a very auspicious beginning for the return of the glory of God shepherds on the eighth day the first blood of the last Adam was shed because he was placed under the Abrahamic covenant and he was circumcised on the eighth day And the angel had told them both they were to call his name Iesus, Jesus, which is the Greek for Joshua, Yahshua, which means Yahweh saves. That's his name. Beautiful.

After 40 days, they go to the temple. Because Mary must now go through the rite of purification. And the first male that opened the womb had to be given back to God. and you had to purchase him back by paying a certain amount of money. Well, Mary and Joseph go to the temple. You would normally offer a lamb, but they were poor, so it was two pigeons. It's clear the Magi from the east haven't been there yet because there's no wealth, no ability to have a lamb. the glory's returned?

Doesn't look like it, does it? Doesn't seem that way. No sooner than they get in there, than this really old man, he almost looks like Jim Greer. Right? He comes and he takes the baby out of Mary's arms. Would you have given up that baby? how did he know which baby? oh I know he had a halo right that's how you always see him with that little halo over his head by the spirit this aged righteous man comes takes this baby in his arms and he gives us what we call the nunc dimittis based on the first two Latin words of what he says.

Now let your servant depart in peace, O God. Mine eyes have seen your salvation. He will be the glory of the people Israel, but a light to the Gentiles. Wow. And then he turns to Mary and says, this child is set for the rising and falling again of many in history. A stone that will be spoken against.

And Mary, a great broad sword is going to pierce your own soul. Mary didn't know what was meant. We're told she pondered those things in her heart. No sooner does Simeon leave the scene than Anna comes by. Prophetess. How many witnesses does it take to establish a truth?

Here are the two witnesses in the temple of the character of the baby that has been born. In Anna, we don't know what she said, but she went and told everyone who was expecting the consolation of Israel and you think, wow, the glory has returned in the form of a baby. Two witnesses have identified it. They never, never paid the tax to redeem him because they knew that his whole life would be dedicated to God.

It's just amazing when you read that account in Luke. But then you read Herod. Herod, someone was born called King of the Jews. He was King of the Jews, but he wasn't born King of the Jews. He was appointed by the Roman governor. And the Magi, warned by an angel, didn't go back and tell him where the child was born.

But he was able to learn that it would be in Bethlehem. By the way, the word is pronounced Bethlehem. It means house of bread. Okay? The word itself implies something that's just amazing when you think about Christ. So out comes Herod and his soldiers, and every male under two years of age in that area was slaughtered with a sword.

Can you fathom that? it was predicted it would be a great cry in Ramah. I can hear people say, you know, when Elizabeth got pregnant and then we heard about the angels and we heard about the wise men, our hopes got high, but I lost a grandson. and the land has been corrupted with the blood of those babies and an angel warns Joseph and Mary and they flee to Egypt. Can you think of anybody historically who fled to Egypt for protection?

Isn't it amazing? This was done so the prophecy would be fulfilled. I call my son out of Egypt. the angel tells them that things are okay They come back, they don't stay in Bethlehem, they go to Nazareth. Can anything good come from Nazareth? That'd be as bad as coming from the street, LaRue, right? Well, isn't he a Nazarene?

Isn't his father a carpenter? The age of 12, he stumps the experts in the temple. He lives a life in obedience to his parents. He kept every aspect of divine command. When you read the servant songs of Isaiah, you read that he never turned a deaf ear to the Spirit, he never turned a deaf ear to the Torah, and that he was constantly being led and developed by the Spirit and he grew in stature and in wisdom in favor with God and man.

Then that forerunner, that little boy John, he had moved out to the Galilean desert. He was weird. he ate locusts honey, he lived on the land that was there he didn't wear any kind of soft garment he wore camel's hair and he was a hellfire preacher I mean he had no smiles there was no humor his message was simple repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand And God used that simple message to bring hundreds, thousands of people to come and repent and be baptized in Jordan in preparation for the coming of the kingdom. And one day, the Pharisees came.

And John failed Evangelism 101. Because he looked at them and he said, You brood of snakes, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Go bring forth the works that will be fruits of repentance. Because you need to know that the axe is going to be put to the root of the tree and the fruitless branches are going to be burned and the threshing floor is going to be dealt with and the chaff will blow away in the wind and the grain will be garnered into the barn and the chaff will be burned.

And then, can you believe it? One day, Jesus came to John to be baptized. John says, I should be baptized of you, not you baptized of me. And Jesus said, John, permit it for now so that we can fulfill all righteousness. Jesus went down at the fjord of Jordan, and there John baptized him. There, my friends, he identified with the sinners who needed to repent that he had come to seek.

Right at the beginning of his ministry. I mean, I'll tell you that's just, I'm just awed when I think. As he comes out of the water, a tremendous astral event happens. The heavens open. They've been closed for 400 years. The heavens open. and a dove-like spirit descends out of heaven and alights upon me.

And a voice is heard, this is my well-loved son in whom my soul delights. Hey, we've got the Trinity and baptism right at the beginning, right? Guess what we have right at the end of Matthew's Gospel? The Trinity and baptism. Make disciples by baptizing them into what? The name of the Father, the name of the Son, and the name of the Holy Spirit.

Wow. These things all go together. Say, didn't he have the Spirit before then? Yes. The age of 30 is when a priest would enter his priestly ministry. and for the priestly ministry of the cross that stood before him, he needed a fresh unction and presence of the Spirit who would be his constant companion. It would be of such a nature, friends, that the Spirit would form his manhood and the manhood of Jesus, the last Adam, would form the Spirit. so that Paul could say, if you have the Spirit, you have Christ, and if you have Christ, you have the Spirit.

And Jesus could say, I will send you another comforter of the same kind that I am. And what's the first thing the Spirit did? He led him into the wilderness to be tested of Satan. he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. Does this sound familiar? Was the first Adam tested? Did he fast Was he in a wilderness the haunt of demons He was in a garden that was absolutely perfect Here the last Adam in the haunt of demons the place where indeed the world has become because of the first Adam's rebellion, and he steps into the haunt of demons, and he steps into the prince of the power of darkness, and he goes there knowing full well that he has to be well prepared, and he has taken the steps in order to fast.

And in the midst of his weakness, the serpent comes to him. Command that these stones be made bread. Would he change a few loaves and feed 5,000? When the Israelites had no food, did God make manna come down? it was like stones you picked up? That's the analogy here. Would there have been anything wrong?

Well, if you understand what Satan was saying, it goes more like this, friends. Satan said, you don't have to walk the path of suffering and deprivation. You can have everything your father wants you to do, but you don't have to go through that. Remember Jesus' reply? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.

Now I'd like to do the whole of Jesus' life that way tonight, but of course I can't, because we'll never get finished, and I'll still be here on Sunday, and I'll be alone. Right? But just think of that. first the test has to do with food. Then he takes him to the pinnacle of the temple and he says, cast yourself down because it is written, he's given his angels charge over you so that if you fall, they will catch you up and you won't even dash your foot against a stone.

You ever think about this? It sounds like he's saying to Jesus, jump to your death, but he's not. He's saying the opposite. Jump to life. If you jump, the angels will care for you and you will demonstrate that God's faithful to his word. And what was his answer?

Thou shalt not tempt. The Lord your God. If he had jumped, he would have lived, but he would have abandoned the path that God had prepared for him to walk as the last Adam to be our Savior. Finally, all the charade is gone. All the facade has collapsed. And Satan says, look, here's the kingdoms of the world.

I'll give them to you if you'll bow down and worship me. You don't have to do it the hard way. They can be yours. What was his answer? All right. you shall serve the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. The word serve means worship.

All of these come from Deuteronomy. May I suggest to you that Jesus kept the first and the greatest commandment. Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart in the first test that the issue was allegiance. Did he love God with all of his heart when he refused to turn that into bread? With all your soul, the Hebrew word for soul is nephesh, and it means life.

Did he love God with all of his life when he refused to jump? And would he sacrifice his life on your behalf and mine? Love God with all your strength. That doesn't mean... Your strength means your wealth. He loved God with his strength.

Then we know his life and his ministry. And we need to get to the place where at the end of his ministry he presents himself to Israel. That wonderful time we call Palm Sunday when everybody's shouting Hosanna and having palm branches and everything and we somehow forget that as that donkey came over the brow of the hill and the gold dome of Herod's temple shone in the sunlight and as he looked at the city when all of this is going on, he is weeping.

Oh, Jerusalem, how I would have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks, but you would not. Don't miss the heart behind that. Don't miss the upper room. Don't miss the fact that the blood that was sprinkled on the people after they agreed at Mount Sinai that they would obey God and that became the blood of the covenant for the direction of the life of the redeemed people Now he takes that glass that fourth cup actually of the setter and he says this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

This do. By the way, that's a command. It's imperative. this do. Not to come to communion is sin. It's not an unfortunate choice because you want to watch a game on TV. It is a violation of the divine will.

This do in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you do show forth the Lord's death till he comes. The sop is given to Judas. Thirty pieces of silver exchanged. Out they go to the garden. Pretty soon the temple guards and Judas come and the kiss of the traitor is implanted on the cheek. he's taken illegally before the high priest he's questioned he's turned over to Pilate the soldiers blindfold him and strip him naked and they strike him with reeds and say oh prophet tell us who hit you they plucked his beard until the blood trickled his face they spit in his face until it crusted on him.

They plaited a crown of thorns. They laid that Roman scourge across his legs and back. They put a purple robe on him, and they said, Hail, King of the Jews. The cross member goes on his shoulder. The weight of it, after the scourging, he can't manage. He collapses.

The centurion describes a person that's there to carry it the rest of the way. People are shooting out their lip at him. They screamed, crucify him, crucify him. We will not have this man to reign over us. Cross member attached to the vertical member, nailed to it, jarred into the ground. and pressure on the diaphragm, you can't stand, and the pain is excruciating.

And he says, Father, forgive them. He looks at his mother and says, Mother, behold your son. He wouldn't leave his mother in the charge of his unbelieving brothers and sisters. He's a godly son. He took care of his mother on the cross. The hours of darkness came. the agony of the cry, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Please understand this is ethical forsaking. Please understand he didn't cry, my Father, my Father. He cried as a man, my God, my God. Why? And in those hours of darkness, with everything else he has been through. He endured the punishment that was ours so that by his perfect substitution we could be acquitted of our guilt.

And by his absolute obedience to every divine precept as the last Adam, his righteousness could be imputed to us just like the first Adam's sin was imputed to us. Peter tells us on the day of Pentecost that when Jesus was in the tomb death was pregnant he said it is impossible for death to hold him he said to the thief today you will be with me in paradise bowed his head and dismissed his spirit. He was already dead when they thrust the spear in his side.

The blood flowed out, mixed with water, placed in a tomb, resurrected by the power of the Father, by the power of the Spirit, and by his own authority. He comes out of the grave. Disciples can't believe it. He is seen of them. He teaches them. He has a great meeting with them on the mount.

And he gives them their final orders to stay in Jerusalem. And while they're standing there, he ascends bodily to heaven. Can't you picture the scene? He's been gone for a long time, and they're still standing there with their mouths open. An angel comes and says, Why are you standing here gaping? This Jesus, whom you saw go, will come in like man.

But you wait, Jesus said, in Jerusalem till the Spirit comes. Pentecost comes, ladies and gentlemen. The Spirit comes. The new covenant community of the church is formed. Jesus has returned in his glory to the church Someone says where can I see the glory of Christ Bring them here Most of the passages in the New Testament that deal with the indwelling of the Spirit have to do with the corporate body, not individuals.

It is as the people of God that we are indwelt by the Spirit. Jesus said, I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. That doesn't mean his second coming. He came to us in the spirit. Listen to Paul, 2 Corinthians 3.

Now the Lord is the spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And we with unveiled faces, looking in the mirror, behold his image. and we are transformed from glory to glory into the same image by the Lord who is the Spirit. Now that doesn't fit our theology real well, does it? Can you begin to understand that in that union of Christ and the Spirit that the last Adam came into a relationship with the Spirit that would so mark the Spirit that to have the Spirit would be identical with having...

And none of us think that way, do we? We can't wait till we get Jesus. We deprecate the Spirit constantly. He comes and he gives gifts, and this community is to carry on Christ's continued ministry in the world. I want to say this to you kindly, but I want to say it. the ministry of Christ is to seek and save that which is lost the mission of the church is to seek and save that which is lost the edification of believers is not an end in itself it's the means for the church to carry out Christ's continued mission in the world we have somehow lost our way when it comes to mission today we have become so self-centered that all I want out of church is for the pastor to help me to know more so I can be a cut above other people and I can have a level of spirituality and I'll be closer in those transformations toward glory as if that's an end in itself.

It's not. Worship is not an end in itself. All of this is intended to prepare us and to equip us for Christ's continued ministry in the world. And that does not mean you go witness to your neighbor and you go witness to your neighbor. It means that this corporate assembly has to be engaged in seeking the lost. There's coming a day when the opportunity for the lost to believe will be over.

My friends, I'm a Calvinist. I have no difficulty with it. But may I say to you, repentance and faith is commanded by God of all men. I can look any man in the eye, anywhere in the world, and say it is the moral will of God for you to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. I don't have to worry if he's elect or not. All I have to do is be faithful with the gospel.

But we've got to learn how to do this corporately. It's going to take some creativity, because the old-time evangelistic meetings don't work anymore, do they? And we haven't found anything to replace them. So I challenge you at least to think in those categories. If you really believe Christ is coming, there ought to be some urgency to this task. Some genuine urgency.

It seems to me the church has lost its urgency with the gospel. Well, Revelation 19. Oh, I have a minute and a half. Did better than I did last night. Right? Now we're coming to judgment and the removal of sin.

Revelation 18 Babylon is judged Babylon the harlot dressed in purple and scarlet having all the delicious things to offer in life plasma TVs right blackberries computers everything that can take our time and keep us from what is actually essential and keep us from what we say is the primary commitment of our life, we have capitulated and we have become people who are living deliciously with Babylon. Babylon's going to collapse. The World Bank is going to collapse.

Your savings, everything is going to go. commerce is going to come to a bitter end. And all of the paramours will be there to mourn her death. Revelation 18 is one of those amazing chapters. When you come to 19, there's a great big celebration going on in heaven and on earth. The celebration in heaven is amazing. Here's the only place in the New Testament where the word hallelujah appears.

The cherubim and the elders saying hallelujah. And they're singing. Hallelujah in heaven over three things. Number one, God's judgments are true and just. Wow. Is that something to sing hallelujah about?

Do we have true and just judgments in the judicial system of the United States of America? we pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to people called lawyers to keep that from happening. It's an amazing system, isn't it? His judgments are true and just. Second reason they're singing Hallelujah is the great whore Babylon has been judged. Could you sing hallelujah at the demise of the American culture and the failure of the World Bank?

The final one. Hallelujah. The blood of the martyrs is avenged. You know something? Those who kill the people of God, who think they get away with it with immunity, are going to have one great shock. for God will avenge the blood of his people at the hand of the martyrs. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Then it comes to earth. The faithful in earth join the chorus and they sing hallelujah. Now I know when you get to Revelation 19 you don't think believers are on the earth because it doesn't fit your eschatology. and you want to interpret the book of Revelation like a chronology. May I say this to you once and for all? There's no chronology in the book of Revelation.

John did not write a chronology of the future, and he is not interested in answering your questions about when certain things are going to happen or not. If you want to understand the book of Revelation, you say, don't get excited. Well, I'm sorry I am. If you want to understand the book of Revelation, you read it from beginning to end. You don't stop and ask questions.

Because you always stop and ask the wrong questions. You must let yourself be inundated with this book. This book is a book of images. It's not a book that fits a literal chronological category. You need to just let it overwhelm you and read it and read it and read it and read it. Understand that it's written to seven churches that are suffering.

It has a historical context. It's not there for left behind or for all of the garbage we have going on today. But now you get and you hear they're singing Hallelujah on Earth. And there's two reasons. The Lord, our God, the Almighty reigns. that's what Handel took, right? Hallelujah.

The Lord God omnipotent reigns. Hallelujah. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah. Should I sing it for you? If I do, the room will be empty in no time.

See? John says, when I heard the singing on earth, that singing sounded like many waters rushing over a great cataract. This is Victoria Falls in Zambia. This is the dry season. There's only about one third of the water. If you look you can see people and how small they are John says the singing was of such a decibel that it seemed as if I was standing at the bottom of a mighty cataract and the water was flowing and pounding and pounding and pounding and the people on earth are joining the chorus of heaven right here in LaRue and they're singing, hallelujah, the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns.

He said, not only did it sound like mighty rushing water, but it sounded like mighty peals of thunder. It got closer and closer until it shook where we actually stood. Hallelujah for the marriage supper of the Lamb has come. Can you sing hallelujah to that? This is after judgment. The marriage supper of the Lamb has come.

And then John gives us his beatitude. He says, blessed is the one who is invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. That's us. That's us. You say, well, we're the bride. How can we be the invited guests?

Wrong question. If you don't like mixed metaphors, don't open the book of Revelation. Because they're mixed constantly and they don't fit our nice categories. You can't make Israel the guests and the church the bride. It's not possible. The bride is invited and she is also the bride.

And she's prepared in white linen, clean and pure. What does a marriage feast say to you? Celebration? Joy? Intimacy? Can you imagine at that celebration we will never again, under any condition, be separated from our bridegroom.

Never. Never, never, never, never. Hallelujah. Chapter 19 and 20 brings us to the removal of sin by judgment. the chapter ends in 11 through 21 with a picture of Christ on the white horse in all the armies of the earth are gathered together say where did they come from wrong question just let the images come. Here they are. You say, it's going to be a big battle.

There's going to be blood everywhere. Let me ask you, what is Christ clothed in? White linen. No armament. No shield. No Uzi.

He has a sword. and it's in his mouth. The armies of heaven are behind him and they too are in white linen. And all of the armies of the earth are arrayed against him. We are told his name is the word of God and yet he has a name that no one knows. and on the sash of his garment is written the name King of Kings and Lord of Lords And this garment has been dipped in blood his own blood representing his substitution Before the scene develops, an angel stands in the sun and he cries to all of the birds of heaven, come and gather for the feast of God.

You'll be able to eat the flesh of captains, of soldiers. You'll be able to eat the flesh of kings, of the mighty, of the poor. There's going to be a great carnage and death in the carry-on. What a contrast to the marriage supper of the Lamb. The nations are reigned under their leaders against Christ, and he's coming from heaven. And they're going to end up dead in food for the birds of prey.

You say, literally? Of course not. It's drawing for us the image of the terrible, terrible destruction and judgment that is coming for the removal of sin from this world. I'm so glad we sang A Mighty Fortress, because nobody caught this better than Luther. The prince of darkness grim. We tremble not for him.

His rage we can endure. For look, his doom is sure. One little word. The word that comes out of Christ's mouth slays all of the armies of earth. it's not a pretty scene. We have no delight in the damnation of the image of God. I find no delight in understanding that close friends and family are under the wrath of God.

I do know this knowing the end brings urgency to the present hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah Babylon has fallen your judgments are true and just you will avenge the blood of the martyrs. Come on. Whole earth enter in and sing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Not Barack Obama. Not the leader of China. not the leader of North Korea, not the Shah of Iran, not the head of the World Bank, but Lord God, the Almighty. He reigns. Hell of a... I wish we could get out of the boundaries of this room and get a little feel for what's going on elsewhere in God's created order.

But the final one. Hallelujah. The marriage supper of the Lamb has come. And it's been given to us to be clothed in white raiment, clean and pure. Which is the righteousness of the saints. And then that middle beatitude in the book Blessed Did you hear me Blessed is the one who is invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

It was as the Lamb he bore our sin. And it is as the Lamb we will be united with him forever. Father, for us, hallelujah and judgment don't go together. Somehow for us, we have bought the notion that evil has as much right as righteousness. And we know that the work of our Savior, Jesus Christ, includes the reconciliation of all things. And that sin and evil has no rights in your presence.

And it will be destroyed and removed. And it will be by that same powerful word that came to us in the darkness of our sin that brought us the light of the glory of the gospel in the face of Jesus Christ and by your spirit caused us to repent and believe. It is unthinkable that we are the bride of the last Adam. it is beyond comprehension that we should have eternal felicitude with him never ever be separated from him again and that his glory in its fullness will return to this earth we anticipate that but as we do we realize what our task is in this day when the invitation to repent and believe in Christ is open would you help the Rue Baptist to find ways to accomplish that mission here in this community?

Would you help us all not to get fat on spiritual food in and for itself, but to develop our ability to carry on Christ's continued ministry in the world? blessed Savior we thank you for your spirit who is with us and in us and who is the same kind as you because the two of you were so formed to each other that when he came you came to us help us not to demean your spirit but to live honestly with great joy of the presence of your glory in our midst by your Spirit. Give us a good night of rest, contemplation of the truth that we have talked about, and anticipation of another day to transcribe your glory in the world. And we'll thank you for it in Christ's name.

Amen. Thank you.