Well, we're gonna be looking
at Revelation 14, the last part of that chapter, and this is
the end of one of the visions of Revelation. You know, each
vision takes us from the beginning of the New Covenant age to the
end, the end of the world, the end of time, the judgment, where
Christ, who is the judge of all, separates the sheep from the
goats, and we talk about it. That's why I had Robert read
that passage from Galatians chapter six because of that quote, that
verse that people are so familiar with, you're gonna reap what
you sow. And if you just look at that
in Galatians chapter six, what that talks about is basically
telling us instead of going around trying to fix everybody else,
let's focus on ourselves. You know, look in the mirror
and deal with that because if somebody thinks that they're
something when they're not, then there's a real problem. But he
talks about how we should treat each other and even when a person's
overtaken in a fault, how we should deal with that person,
man or woman, as a believer, as a brother or sister in Christ.
And he says this in verse seven of Galatians six, be not deceived,
God is not mocked. And what that's talking about
is if you and I try to focus on other people to the point
that we don't realize what we are in ourselves, we're trying
to play God. But don't deceive yourself. God
is not mocked. It says, for whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap. And he says, for he that soweth
to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that
soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And then he says, and let us
not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if
we faint not. Now what is that talking about?
Is that saying that, well, you're gonna get what you work for and
what you earn and what you deserve? Absolutely not. That's sowing
to the flesh. And if you sow to the flesh,
people trying to work their way into God's favor. Those who reject
Christ and his blood for the forgiveness of all sins, his
righteousness for our justification. And that's so appropriate to
this message on the end, you know. We're coming to the end.
And people, you know, they say, well, get right with God. Well,
how do I get right with God? How does a sinner get right with
God? How does that happen? Well, you've
got to join a church, or you've got to get baptized, or you've
got to say your prayers, or you've got to go to confession, or go
to mass, or you've got to do this, you've got to do, none
of those things will get you right with God. Because salvation
can never be and is never by the works of the flesh. And that's
exactly what those are. So what is he talking about,
you're gonna reap what you sow? Well, those who sow works for
salvation, they're gonna reap corruption. Because salvation
is not by works, for by grace are you saved through faith,
that not of yourself, not of works, lest any man should boast.
But what do we as the people of God, what do we sow? We sow
the grace and love of God in Christ. We preach grace, we sow
grace, we plant the seed of the gospel, witnessing for Christ
telling sinners how God saves sinners. How do you get right
with God? You run to Christ. You embrace him. You plead his
blood and his righteousness alone. Because that's the only way that
God makes sinners right with Him. And that's what happens.
You don't make yourself right with God, He makes you right
with Him by His grace through Christ. And that's what He does. And when it comes to the judgment,
reaping and sowing, those who stand before God in Christ will
reap life everlasting. That's what the great harvest
is about. Now right now, on this earth, as we preach the gospel,
we are sowing the Word. And there is a harvest at present.
God's calling His people out of the world and into the fold
of His grace by the power of the Spirit through the preaching
of the gospel. But in the end, there's going to be a great reaping,
a great harvest. And listen to what it says in
Revelation 14. Look at this in verse 14. The Apostle John says, and I
looked and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like
unto the Son of Man. Now this is Christ. When it says
like unto the Son of Man, it's talking about one who is the
same as the Son of Man, the Messiah, the God-man. You remember he
told his disciples when he ascended into the heavens in Acts chapter
one, and they stood there watching, and the angel appeared and he
said, why do you stand here gazing? That one who ascended into glory,
he'll be coming back in the clouds. Well, here he is. Likened to
the son of man, the same as the son of man. Having on his head
a golden crown. Who is this? This is God manifest
in the flesh. This is the king of kings, the
Lord of lords. and in his hand a sharp sickle."
If you don't know what a sickle is, I know most of you do, but
it's what they'd use to reap the wheat, to cut down the wheat
and reap it and gather it in. And so this is the sharp sickle
of judgment. The cloud represents his presence,
his dignity, his throne, his glory. It's white because it
symbolizes his righteousness, his purity, He's going to rule
in righteousness. He's going to judge in righteousness.
And that righteousness cannot be measured by any human being,
not even a sinner saved by grace. You cannot look at any human
being on this earth, no matter who they are or what they've
done, and say that person is the standard of righteousness.
If you do, you're falling way too short. And that's why I quoted
probably just about every message, that God is going to judge the
world in righteousness by Christ, by that man whom he hath ordained,
and that he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath
raised him from the dead. So don't look to your fellow
human beings for the measure of righteousness. That's what
false religion teaches. Oh, this guy, this woman, she's
the pinnacle. Say, no, no man or woman is,
only Christ. And he's coming with this sharp
sickle of righteousness, this sharp sickle of judgment. And
that's how he's going to reap this world. It says in verse
15, another angel. Now this is another messenger
from God sent forth from Christ. And look what it is. Some say
it's the same Christ, but it's just in this vision appearing
one upon the other, one vision upon the other. But it doesn't
matter. It's a message from God. And
that message from God is always measured by Christ himself. And it's, look here, it says
another angel came out of the temple. Now the temple, you remember
the temple in the Old Testament, the tabernacle? All of that was
a picture of Christ, our great high priest, Christ, our altar,
and Christ, our sacrifice, our substitute, our surety. our substitute,
our redeemer. Every bit of that pictured Christ
and his people, his church. So he's coming out of the temple.
And today, the temple is the people of God. It's not a building.
They build these buildings and say, well, this is a temple.
No, the temple, the tabernacle, is the church, the people of
God, in whom Christ dwells. And so he comes forth out of
the temple, which is a picture of his church, crying with a
loud voice, look at it, verse 15, to him that sat on the cloud,
this angel, this messenger, crying to Christ. Now that's why I believe
it's another messenger and not Christ himself. But Christ comes
first and then the messenger comes out and he cries unto Christ
himself. that sat on the cloud. Thrust
in thy sickle and reap, for the time has come for thee to reap,
for the harvest of the earth is ripe." Everything's ready.
Now what's he talking about? He's talking about the end of
the world. He's talking about final judgment. I've even heard
people talking about it because of an eclipse that's coming on
Tuesday. There will be physical manifestations of the second
coming of Christ, there will be that. Just like in his death
on the cross, there were physical manifestations. It grew dark,
there was an earthquake, all of these things. Maybe an eclipse,
I don't know. I'm not gonna tell you that he's
coming back Tuesday. He may come back tomorrow, he
may come back this afternoon. We don't know when he's coming
back. But the point is, is we know
that he is. He's coming. And he's coming in judgment.
The first time that He came, He came to save His people from
their sins by His death on the cross. The first time He came,
He came to establish that righteousness that makes us right with God. Justified, forgiven of all of
our sins by the blood of Christ. Justified, declared righteous
in Him. His righteousness imputed, charged,
accounted to us. and to bring life from the dead.
As I've said, the Bible tells us that we're all spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. We must be born again. Well,
how are we gonna be born again? It's not a choice that we make.
You don't decide for Christ and then he gives you life. He must
give us life and then we'll decide for him. We'll choose him. He
brings us to that. But here, it's the time of reaping
the harvest. The earth is ripe, it's ready. It's kind of like when they cut
down the wheat and it dries. That word ripe means dry. It
dries out and it's ready to gather in. And look at verse 16. He
says, and he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on
the earth and the earth was reaped. So there it is. The angels come,
the harvest is ripe, it's ready. And he separates the wheat from
the tares. Look at verse 17. And another
angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, he also having
a sharp sickle. These are all agents, ministers,
ministering angels of the Lord in the end to do his work. And
it says in verse 18, and another angel came from the altar, the
altar, That's the altar of sacrifice. What that's showing is that all
judgment, this separation that's going to take place in the end
is all related to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. On that
altar of sacrifice, he gave his life for the sins of his people. Having their sins charged to
him, he laid down his life to experience in his own person
the very judgment of God against the sins of his people. So that
we who are in him at this time when we either die and go to
be with him in spirit or if we're alive on earth when he comes
back again, we who are in him, we, listen to this, we're gathered,
he gathers us up, his people, to himself, his church, and it
will be declared then that we are in Him, that we are washed
in His blood, that we are clothed in His righteousness, we're the
justified, we're the people of God, we'll live forever with
Him in glory, and our judgment has already been accomplished.
The judgment that comes in the end is just a declarative judgment,
it's just an announcement of something that's already taken
place. We've already been judged. Think about that. Now, when did
that happen? It happened on the cross. Turn
to Romans chapter six with me. All the people of God, all the
elect of God, you can say, all of Christ's sheep, All who believe
in him, that's who they are, that's how you identify them.
They believe in him, they rest in him. They have been made right
with God through his blood and righteousness. When he died under
the judgment of God on the cross for their sins charged to him,
they died with him. When he was buried, they were
buried with him. When he arose, they arose with
him. See, he's our representative, he's our substitute, he's our
surety. He did it for us. Look at verse
three of Romans chapter six. He says, know you not that so
many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ. Now the word baptized
there does not refer to the ordinance of water baptism. Water baptism is a confession
of a believer to the world that we know and believe in and rest
in Christ. And in certain contexts, you'll
see that word baptized and baptism, and it means that. But the word
baptism, baptized, simply means placed into. And it's a word
of union. And it means being placed into
Christ, united to Christ. When did that happen for the
people of God? Before the foundation of the world. God chose us in
Christ. So much so that when he came
to this earth, he came not as a private person, just acting
on his own. He came as a representative,
a surety. What's a surety do? He had my
debt on his account. That's imputation, imputed sin
to him. He came as my substitute. He
came as my redeemer. And so when those of us who were
baptized into Jesus Christ, placed into him, were baptized into
his death, his death was not for himself. He had no sin, he
knew no sin. It was for the sins of his people
charged to him. You see that? And so in verse
four it says, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death. When he died, we died. When he
was buried, we were buried. that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. When he arose again, we arose
again. How do you know that that was for you or for me or for
anybody? Are you walking in newness of
life? Now what is it to walk in newness of life? It means
to believe in Christ, to rest in him, to follow him as a sinner
saved by grace. It means to have been given the
gift of faith in Christ. It means to have been given the
gift of repentance of dead works. I reject my dead works. I reject the works of my flesh
as forming any part of the ground of my salvation. Like Paul said,
I count it all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord. I count it but dung that I may
win Christ. and be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faithfulness of Christ. So when he comes out
of the altar here, and it says, everything here, in this judgment,
in this final reaping of the harvest, this final harvest,
this final judgment, how do you stand before God related to Christ? Are you washed in his blood?
We sing that hymn. Are you washed in the blood,
the blood of the everlasting one, the blood of the lamb? Are
you clothed in his righteousness? But if you stand on your own,
where does that leave you as compared to the altar, compared
to Christ and his death? Leaves you on your own, in your
works, reaping what you sowed in the flesh. Look at verse 18
of Revelation 14 again. Another angel came out from the
altar which had power over fire. Fire is the judgment of God.
Our God is a consuming fire. Now think about it, that's spoken
in Revelation. I believe at the end of chapter
12. Our God is a consuming fire. What happened to Christ on the
cross? The fire of God's judgment consumed him in the stead of
his people. So that when we come before God,
we won't experience that consuming fire, that consuming judgment.
We'll see a loving, merciful, gracious, heavenly father. Think about that. use modern day court scenes to
illustrate that. If you get in trouble and you
have to go to court, what if you got up there and you looked
and the judge was your daddy? Now some of you might say, well
I wouldn't wanna see my daddy there. But you have a relationship. And that's the way it is with
God and his people. My sins have already been judged
completely in the person and work of Christ. But if I'm not
there in Christ, if I stand before him without Christ, that consuming
fire will overtake me. Look, he says, verse 18, he cried
with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle saying, thrust
in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the
earth for her grapes are fully ripe. What that means is it's
all ready for judgment. Doesn't necessarily mean that
you and I or anybody else in particular are ready. God's people
are. We're ready for judgment because
it's going to just declare us what's already happened. But this is the time that God
appointed in the fullness of the time. You know, everything
happens in the fullness of the time. That's when God appointed
it. You ever read Ecclesiastes 3? Through everything there is
a season and a time on earth, a time to be born, a time to
die and all that. What that's telling us is that God is the
God of providence. He governs time. Nothing happens
out of time. God has appointed it. God has
decreed it. Nothing takes him by surprise.
Nothing sneaks up on him. You understand that? Here's a
time that God appointed. He appointed a time that Christ
would come and be born and live and die on the cross and be raised
again. He appointed a time, if you're a believer, the time of
your conversion, God appointed that. Paul said that in Galatians
1, he said, when it pleased the Lord to reveal His Son in me. You say, well, Lord, why didn't
this happen when I was younger? Well, that's God's business.
He sought it good to bring it about in the time that he appointed.
Well, my friend, he's appointed a time for this judgment. The
Bible says that is appointed unto men once to die, the time
of your death is set. I get so tickled. They were talking
about on the news yesterday morning about a guy who's, I think, 111
years old. And they always ask people like
that, what is the secret to a long life? And they always give some
stupid answer. They don't know. I'll tell you
what the secret to a long life is. When God appointed it. If he wants me to live to be
150, I'll live to be 150. If he wants to take me before
this sermon's over, then he'll do it. That's his time. Now I'm
not saying y'all just throw caution to the wind, try to live a healthy
life and all that. I think this guy talked about
drinking whiskey or something. Maybe he's pickled, I don't know.
But people don't know the secret to a long life. It's God appointed. It is appointed unto men once
to die, after that, the judgment. Well, here it is, the grapes
are fully ripe. And look at verse 19 now. And
he tells us plainly, these things are plain in the word of God.
And he says in verse 19, and the angel thrust in his sickle
into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and cast it
into the great winepress of the wrath of God. That's the unbeliever. That's those who die in unbelief,
die in their sins. The Bible says in John chapter
three in verse 36, it says, he that believeth on the Son hath,
everlasting life. Don't you love that? Doesn't
say he that believeth on the Son will have everlasting life. It says he has it. Christ said
in John 17, this is life eternal, that they might know thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. To have
Christ is to have eternal life. He is the only way of salvation,
forgiveness, righteousness, There's no other way to get right with
God. Eternal life and glory. Our only hope of standing before
God now and at the final judgment is to be declared before this
whole universe not guilty, not charged, but declared righteous
in Christ. That's our only hope. John 3.36
goes on to say, He that believeth not the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on him. That's what it's talking
about here. The winepress of the wrath of God. There's an
Old Testament passage, I didn't write it down, I should have.
but it talks about Christ the Messiah walking the winepress
alone. The winepress of God's wrath,
he walked it alone, but not as a private person. He walked it
as the representative, the surety, the substitute of his people,
the redeemer of his people. And when he was in the Garden
of Gethsemane suffering in his humanity like nobody ever had,
sweating great drops of blood, He said, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. What cup? The cup of God's wrath,
the winepress of God's wrath. He wasn't trying to get out of
suffering. He was just expressing the sorrow and the pain that
any human being would express, yet he was without sin. The wrath
of God. And that describes all who die
in unbelief and all who are found on earth in unbelief at the Lord's
return. They're described right here.
The clusters of the vine of the earth and grapes that are fully
racked for judgment and damnation. And that's what these verses
describe. Oh my soul, listen, how thankful, how thankful we
all should be that God has revealed himself to us. Don't ever take
it for granted. Look at verse 20. He says, and
the winepress was trodden without the city. That's the holy city,
Jerusalem. And it's not talking about some
place that you can find on a map today. It's not talking about
where they're having that war over there. It's talking about
the heavenly Jerusalem, spiritual Jerusalem. It's spoken of in
Hebrews chapter 12, spoken of in the Psalms. That heavenly
Jerusalem is the holy city of God in Christ. It's speaking
of the church, it's speaking of heaven, it's speaking of the
new heavens and the new earth. And that city, this wrath that
comes down on those who die in their sins is totally outside
the city. There's no wrath of God. in the holy city of Jerusalem,
the spiritual Jerusalem, the church, all wrath is taken away. And you know why? It's because
Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory in my place, drunk damnation
dry. He drank the full measure of
the wrath of God in his obedience unto death. It says, blood came
out of the winepress even unto the horse bridles by the space
of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. Horse bridles, why does he use
horse? Back then, you'd look at a horse as far as warfare
and battle, you'd look at a horse like you'd look at a tank today,
or even a car. And what he's saying is that
no power upon earth that man uses in battle will save him
from this wrath. Nothing. Doesn't matter how many
horses you have. A lot of times back then, a kingdom
was measured, its strength and power was measured on how many
horses and how many chariots they had. That's why the Lord
kept telling Israel, don't measure your strength in horses and chariots. Measure your strength in the
Lord. But they refused. What is this
6,600 furlong? I don't really know, to be honest
with you. There's some commentators say
that this is something of the exact measurements of the land
area of Israel. And then what, therefore, he's
telling them is that it doesn't matter if you go to what people
call the Holy Land today, still won't be safe. You can go to
the Holy Land if you want, there's no such thing as a Holy Land,
do you understand that? That's just a name man has given
up because he thinks there's some magical power coming out
of the dirt or the sand up there, I don't know. But you can be
in Israel when this time comes, you can be in the geographical
area known as Israel today, or Jerusalem. You can duck your
head in the Jordan River, it will not help you. you will not
be safe from the wrath of God. There is a hiding place from
this wrath. You know that? And that hiding
place is Christ, the rock Christ Jesus. That's the only place
of safety right there. Nothing on this earth, no power,
an atom bomb or a hydrogen bomb, no, it won't do it. only being
found in him. That's what Paul said in the
last days when he was speaking of it in Philippians 3, that
I may be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness of
Christ, the faith of Jesus Christ. That's it. So understand this
harvest, this reap. You reap what you sow. Sow grace. Quit trying to work your way
into God's favor as if you can measure up to the perfect righteousness
that can only be found in Christ. You can't do it. That's so into
the flesh. But sow grace and obey the Lord
in grace. That's the only hope. Okay.