And Revelation chapter 14 is
where our study will be tonight. I want to read this passage for
us in Revelation chapter 14, but we'll be looking at the first
five verses, but I want to read this entire chapter, Revelation
chapter 14 and begin in verse one. And I looked, and lo, a
lamb stood on the mountain Zion, and with him nine hundred forty
and four thousand, having their father's name written in their
foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder.
And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And
they sang as it were a new song before the throne, and before
the four beasts and the elders. And no man could learn that song,
but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed
from the earth. These are they which were not
defiled with woman, for they are virgins. These are they which
follow the Lamb whatsoever he goeth. These were redeemed from
among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. Then
their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before
the throne of God. And I saw another angel fly in
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach
unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred,
and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God,
and give glory to him. For the hour of his judgment
is come, and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the
sea, and the fountains of water. And there followed another angel,
saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because
she made all nations drink of the wine. of the wrath of her
fornication. And the third angel followed
them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast
in his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his
hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without mixture unto the cup of his indignation.
And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. And the
smoke of his torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. And they
have no rest, dare not, who worship the beast and his image, and
whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience
of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments
of God and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, Write, blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. And
I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one
sat, like unto the son of man, having on his head a golden crown,
and in his head a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of
the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the
cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap, for the time is come
for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he
that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and
the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of
the temple, which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over
fire, and 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. And the angel
thrust in his sickle unto the earth, and gathered the vine
of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath
of God. And the winepress was trodden
without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto
the horses bridled, by the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs." As you read these chapters, the
chapters 13 and 14 that we've been looking at, one of the things that you realize is these two
chapters have to go together. They have to be read together
and studied together because they absolutely go together.
Remember in chapter 13 when John saw the vision of these two great
beasts, one rising up out of a troubled sea. He had seven
heads and ten horns and ten crowns upon his horns. And on his head
was the name of blasphemy. And he hated God. And he spoke
great things or terrible things and blasphemies against God and
the truth and the gospel. And against everything that was
good and wholesome. He is a wretched, miserable beast. And the Scripture says here in
chapter 13 and verse 7 that he made war with the saints. It was given to him to make war
with the saints and to overcome him. And power was given him
over all kindreds and tongues and nations. A lady asked me
just the other day, they were studying through the book of
Revelations and some Bible study, and she said that she would want
to ask me if I ever saw the church mentioned after Revelations chapter
4. Well, I knew where she was coming
from. If you remember, we said there was people that believed
the church was raptured in chapter 4 and the church was never heard
of. This is one of the scriptures I gave her. The church is heard
of over and over and over again in the book of Revelations, even
after chapter 4. They're mentioned. They're redeemed.
The saints. They're mentioned all through
these passages of scripture. So I said, yes. Yes, the church
is here. It's mentioned. We looked at
this beast last week in chapter 13 that come up out of the troubled
sea, and we saw that it was the anti-God governments, anti-Christ
governments. These governments have been around
ever since the world was at least after the flood when God set
up the governments. But it will increase in the last
days. These governments, that's anti-government
now. It's going to increase until
finally it becomes a one world anti-God government. That's what's
coming. It can't be avoided. The scripture
teaches that's what's going to happen. And you go to places
in this world now, it's anti-God. You go to China. I know this
for a fact. I used to communicate with a
lady there and she said, I can't even hand out tracts over here
if the authorities found out about it. You can't go there
and preach the gospel openly. You can't go to North Korea and
profess Jesus Christ. You can't hand out Bibles or
tracts. You can't even own a Bible in
North Korea. Go to some of the Muslim countries.
We were at war when we went and landed in Saudi Arabia, and the
soldiers complained that they couldn't have Bibles in their
suitcases. So, there's already anti-government, anti-God governments
in this world. But it will increase until finally
there's one world government. You remember when the Lord sent
back the Holy Spirit and the apostles began to preach the
gospel. Remember the Jewish government tried to stomp the gospel out.
They called him up to the council and said, don't speak in his
name anymore. They wanted to stomp it out.
And then the Roman government tried to stomp it out. Remember
when Herod arrested James and Peter and cut off James's head.
He was going to kill Peter, but the Lord intervened and stopped
it. And the only reason that we haven't
had a one world government up until now, it's not been time.
God has hindered it. He won't let it come to pass.
And the only reason that the church has still gotten liberty
in different places in the world is because God has intervened
and stopped it. But this anti-world government
is coming. It's coming. It's a wretched,
miserable, anti-God, anti-Christ government. That's the first
beast. And then chapter 13, verse 11, John saw another beast coming
up out of the earth and he looked like a lamb. Remember that? And
he had these two horns. But when he spake, he spake like
a dragon. And we looked at that and we
realized it was the false prophet. He's mentioned again in our text. Not in this text, but in later
on, we'll study about the false prophet. And that's him, and
he props up this anti-God government. He supports it, and he tells
the people, if you don't worship this false government, if you
don't submit to it and obey it, then you're going to be at a
place where you can't buy or sell. And many, many will be
killed, no doubt, as we get closer to the end of time, and so these
two beasts, they rise up out of the troubled sea, they rise
up out of the earth, and they're anti-God, and they persecute
the church, and the unregenerate world will serve those beasts,
and they'll worship those beasts, and they'll obey those beasts.
So the saints have always suffered at the hands of these two beasts.
They've always been around, but it will increase in the last
days. So when you and I consider chapter 13, It's very concerning,
isn't it? I hope you were concerned about
it as we studied that last year. It's something to be concerned
about because it'll be a time as we get closer of great trials
and great darkness. It'll be the time to try men's
souls as we get closer to the end of time. The world flounders in darkness. It always has and always will
and will get worse. But listen, here's the blessing. While the world flounders in
darkness and worships the beast and glories in the beast and
says things like, who can make war with the beast? The saints
will have light in their dwellings. It will be bad, but it won't
be so bad that the saints cannot endure. by the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It seems like this always happens
in the book of Revelations. When we read about all the catastrophes
that have taken place, we turn right around and see the glorious
victory that is in Jesus Christ. We started over in chapter 6
and the opening of the seals and all the terrible things that
would happen. Then we went to chapter 8 and
all the persecutions of the saints and all of the wrath of God that
was coming upon the earth and these two beasts and how the
church would suffer at that. But here we read the blessing
of the book of Revelations. In Revelation chapter 14 and
verse 1, John looks again. He's been looking at these two
beasts and all the devastation that they will work in this world. And then he suddenly sees this
in verse one, a lamb that stood upon Mount Zion and with him
144,000. Satan, I said last week, is an
ultimate failure. And whatever governments He has
permitted to set up will come to an end. And all of those who
worship Him will finally be destroyed. And that can be said for this
reason, because the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is the
sovereign Lord upon His throne. And nothing takes place apart
from His knowledge and His will. For here John was looking at
all of this devastation, all this discouragement, all this
darkness in the world, and suddenly his eyes are pointed towards
the Lamb. And no doubt he's so cheerful
when he sees that. There's my Lord. There He is. And where is He? He's standing
upon Mount Zion. Now what in the world does that
mean when we see the Lamb standing upon Mount Zion? Let's let the
scripture tell us what that means. Look over, hold Revelation 14
and look over in Psalms chapter 2. Look in Psalms chapter 2 and
let's just begin reading here in verse 1. It sort of reminds us about these
beasts and how the governments and people rise up against the
Lord and against His Christ. Psalms chapter 2, why do the
heathen rage? And the people imagine a vain
thing. The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
His Christ, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast
away their cords from us. Now that's a pretty tall order,
isn't it? That's what Satan says, that's what the Lord's enemies
say, and no doubt that's what they're saying now. They're trying
to throw off the yoke, throw off the bands, throw off the
rules of our sovereign Lord. What does the Lord think about
this? Verse 4, He that saideth in the heavens shall laugh. He shall have them in derision. He shall speak to them in his
wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. And look what he
says about his son, the Lord Jesus. Yet have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion. What does that mean according
to this text that we're reading here? That means he's in heaven.
That means he's on the throne. And that means he's ruined. I
will declare the decree, the Lord Jesus said. The Lord hath
said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance,
the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possessions. Thou shalt
break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel." Who is reigning over the governments
of the world? Who is reigning over this false
religion and all the darkness and mess? Jesus of Nazareth. He has been sitting on Mount
Zion. What's the instructions? What's
the practical application for this? Be wise now, therefore,
O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the
earth. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. Draw near to Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, and kiss Him, lest He be angry, and ye perish from
the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are they
that put their trust in Him." So where is Jesus Christ? He
is on Mount Zion. He is in heaven. And He is reigning
there, isn't He? And if you think about it some
time, go over to Ephesians chapter 1 and read that wonderful passage. Those last few verses where Paul
talked about God has raised Christ from the dead and set Him at
His own right hand far above all principalities and powers
and might and every name that's named only in this world, but
the world that's to come. And He's put all things under
His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
which is His body. The fullness of Him that worketh
all in all. So the world will rejoice. The
world will say, peace and safety. And the devil will somehow, in
his utter deception, will think that he's won the victory. But
their rejoicing is premature, isn't it? John says, wait a minute. It may seem like things are bad
and things may get bad. But here's the rejoicing. Here's
the consolation. He looked and saw Jesus upon
the right hand of the Father, the ruling Lamb of God. Isn't that encouraging? That's
so encouraging. I was thinking about that statement
that Luther made when he said, when I look at myself, when I
take a good look inside of me, He said, there's no way that
I can be saved. But when I look away from myself,
when I look to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners,
there's no way that I can be lost. And when we look around
us in all the trouble, and when we perceive the trouble that's
coming, we may think in our utter weakness, there's no way that
we're going to be able to endure this. But when we look outside
of ourselves to the Lamb of God upon His throne, who loved us
and gave Himself for us, whose heart is full of grace and strength
to give to us, there is no way that we cannot endure. We will
endure. We will, won't we? Yes, we will. And that is the concord we find
here in the book of Revelation. We can face these things in our
Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me. And John said, Who is he
that overcometh this world, but he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God? This is the victory that overcometh
a world, this world, even our faith in Christ. Ye are of God,
little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He that
is in you. than he that's in the world.
There's a sovereign Christ in heaven on His throne, and there's
a sovereign Christ in us. There's no way, brothers and
sisters, that we cannot have the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's why when you ask me the
title of my message, it's Victory in Jesus. Because that's what
the book of Revelations proclaims, isn't it? Victory in Jesus. And we have a very good example
of this. Turn back over to our text again
in Revelation chapter 14 and verse 1. Look at this. We have a good example here of
how the saints can have the assurance that in Christ we will overcome. When Satan has done all he can
do in the world, has wrecked all the havoc that they can,
they'll not pull one saint from the arms of the Savior. Look
what he says in verse 1 again. Now where did we read about these
before? Remember what we read about these 144,000 all the way
back over in Revelation chapter 7. That
whole chapter is taken up with these 144,000. 12,000 taken out of each tribe of Israel,
the Holy Spirit said. But these aren't natural Israel. We studied these when we looked
there. This is spiritual Israel. These 144,000 people are the
church. They are the children of God,
they are the elect of God from Jews as well as Gentiles, every
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Israel of God. Listen to Romans chapter 9. They
are not all Israel which are of Israel. Neither because they
are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. Now you, brethren,
as Isaac was, are the children of promise. If you are Christ,
if you belong to Christ by redeeming love, Then you're Abraham's seed. You're an Israelite, indeed. And these 144,000 that we're
told about in Revelation 7 are a definite number of people. But they're used to symbolize
that indefinite number of people. And here's the thing, in chapter
7, how many saints were there? How many were chosen out of every
tribe? 144,000. We leave chapter 7 and come through
all of these devastating things that we read about, discouraging
things, everything Satan can throw at us, everything the world
can tempt us with and threaten us with, we come through all
of that and here we see These same people standing with the
Lamb on Mount Zion. And let me ask you this question.
How many are left? Well, there's 143,000. No, there's
not. Well, there's 143,999. No, there's not. There's 144,000. What does that tell us? Not a
one, not a one, not a single believer, not the most despised,
not the weakest believer shall ever be lost. They'll never drag
a one out of the arms of the Savior. I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them is
greater than all, and nobody can pluck them out of my Father's
hand." Do you believe that? Anytime that you take account
of God's elect, you will never see them diminished. I even thank God that they can't
be increased. It's sealed. It's decreed. And
thank God they'll never be diminished. There was two men in the early
church, Hymenaeus and Philetus, went about preaching that the
resurrection had passed already. Remember them? Resurrection has
passed. Forget about it. Just let us
eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. And they overthrew
the faith of some. How would you like to be stuck
with a faith that flimsy man can overthrow? That's what they
did. But what does the very next verse
say? Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure. The Lord knows them that are
His. And in chapter 7, he said, I
have 144,000. Chapter 14, he said, I've still got 144,000.
And when this thing is wrapped up, brothers and sisters, there'll
be no empty mansions. There'll be no empty seats. There'll
be no empty places in glory. They'll all be fulfilled. On
Mount Zion stands this Lamb, and all of His children stand
there with Him. And here in verse 1, it said
these 144,000 have their Father's name written in their foreheads. Well, we saw last week that Satan
was a great imitator because there in the 13th chapter, he
puts his mark, he puts his seal on his own. He causes them that
worship him to receive a mark in their foreheads, in their
foreheads. And to me, that means they're
his. They think like he thinks. They believe His lie. They talk
like Him. They worship Him and they serve
Him so He has His mark in their foreheads and in their hands. And in turn, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ has put His mark, His seal, in the foreheads
of His people. You know why? They think like
the Lord thinks. They have the mind of Christ. They talk like He talks. They
worship Him and they serve Him. So the Father has put His mark
in their foreheads. And here is Satan and the wicked
world, and it seems like they've gotten the victory by their wickedness,
but their whole problem is they've been looking at things from their
own perspective. And when we look at things from
the world's perspective and Satan's perspective, we're looking at
chapter 13 and it's horrible, isn't it? But then we have to
turn around and look at it from heaven's perspective, from God's
perspective. And when we do that, what happens?
We see nothing but victory, nothing but joy, nothing but peace. Look at the attitude. of this
144,000. I want you to look at them. Here
in verses 2 and verse 3. And I heard a voice from heaven
as the voice of many waters. Think of the Niagara Falls, all
that water coming over it. As the voice of a great thunder.
I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. They
were singing it. And they were thundering. But
it was as sweet as David's harp. And they sang, as it were, a
new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the
elders. And no man could learn that song
but the hundred forty and four thousand, which will redeem from
the earth. Now, brothers and sisters, when
the going gets tough. And you've run in some difficult
times, let me suggest you try this. Start singing. Redeemed,
how I love to proclaim it. Start singing that old song.
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed through His infinite
mercy, His child and forever I am. Now, Free Will can't sing
that. Can they sing that? His child
and forever? I don't think so. But sing. When you get discouraged,
When you run into difficult times, just stop and begin to sing. That's what these did. Sing. Victory in Jesus my Savior
forever. These 144,000 sang the song of
redemption. You say, Bruce, how do you know
they did that? Well, turn quickly back to chapter 5. Look in chapter
5. This is the same group here.
These 144,000 is the same group that we find
in chapter 5. Remember where the Lord Jesus
come and took the book and opened the seals? And John rejoiced. And look in verse 8. And when
he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty
elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps
and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the
saints, and they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take
the book, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain,
and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of thy kindred,
tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made unto us our God,
kings, and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. Now they sang the song of redemption,
and our text says nobody could learn that song but the 144,000. So this group that we find in
Revelations 5 must be the same group because they were singing
the same song. The song of redemption. Thou
art worthy, O Lord, to take the book. We see seven things quickly
about these 144,000. Look back over again in Revelation
chapter 14 and look in verse 4. I want you to see seven things
right quickly about them. First of all, look at this. These
are not defiled by woman. Now what in the world does that
mean? If you read some of the Catholic interpretation of this,
they say this is their priest. They never were married. Does the Bible have anything
against marriage? This could mean that these 144,000
are unmarried saints. Marriage is honorable in all.
And the bed is undefiled. It's whoremongers and adulterers
God will judge. This means that these 144,000,
the redeemed of the Lord, they're redeemed from the immoral culture
that's around them. You're redeemed from what's going
on in this country right now. all the immorality. You don't
go along with it and you don't partake of it. The Lord has saved
you from that. Physical fornication. Brethren,
don't be deceived. No fornicator has any part in
the Kingdom of God or Christ. And spiritual fornication. I
think that's mainly what that means here. Spiritual fornication. How many times do we read in
the Old Testament where the nation of Israel went a-whoring after
other gods. That's spiritual fornication.
Esau was a fornicator. He was a spiritual fornicator.
He despised his birthright and he sold it for a bowl of soup.
This world lives in spiritual fornication. It's Gwennahoran
after other gods and left its creator. Second thing that's
said about them here is they are virgins. You know in the
scripture saints are called virgins. Listen to 2 Corinthians 11 verse
2. The apostle Paul said to that
church, I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I
have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. You are virgins. How many husbands
do you have? Spiritual husbands. You've got
one. You don't call the Pope your
father? You don't have Mary as a co-mediator
between you and Christ? You've got one father, you've
got one mediator, and you've got one husband, and you renounce
all others. How would you feel if you called
a Roman Catholic priest your father? You'd be disgusted. You'd vomit on your shoes if
you slipped up and made such a statement, wouldn't you? How
many husbands do you have? We got one. Moses, with all his
rites and his ceremonies, he's not our husband. Christ is our
husband. We've been a spouse to him. And
someday, brothers and sisters, we're going to the marriage supper
of the Lamb. When this is all over, We'll
be presented to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we'll be married
to Him forever. We have one husband. We're virgins.
Third thing that's said about these, they follow the Lamb wheresoever
He goes. These are sheep. You say, Bruce,
how do you know that? Because Christ said, My sheep
hear My voice. I know them, and they follow
Me. Now, do we follow Him perfectly? I wish we could, but we don't
do it. But I tell you this much, when you're convinced which way
he tells you to go, you're going to go that way. You're not about
to rebel against your shepherd and go on away when he's telling
you, don't you go that way. His word is the rule of our faith
and practice, and when you read it in the words, you believe
it, don't you? We follow Him as He's revealed in the Scriptures. And when I leave the Scriptures,
brothers and sisters, when I leave Jesus Christ, you better leave
me. You better follow Him and no man. Because I can err and
man can err. Jesus Christ cannot err. He'll
lead you in the right way. And that's the unique thing about
these 144 saints. They follow Him wherever He goes. And the fourth thing about them,
these are redeemed from among men. That means they're purchased. They've been bought with a price.
They're redeemed out of fallen humanity at a great price. And what does the Bible say about
that? Because you're redeemed at such a great price, you're
not your own. Therefore, glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's." You know, these 144,000, they're
not super saints. Somebody called them and said,
these are super saints. Another man said, they're preachers. I don't know where he got that
at. But these are just redeemed saints,
just like you and just like me. the redeemed from sin and from
this world. And fifthly, we're told this,
they are the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. When the
Jews planted crops, the first things that came up, they were
to pick it and take it to the house of the Lord. It belonged
to the Lord. Listen to Exodus chapter 23 and
verse 19. the first of thy firstfruits of your land, you shall bring
into the house of the Lord your God." The firstfruits were His. They belonged to the Lord. And
James said this, "...of His own will begot He us with the word
of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."
That's what we are. We're saints. We're firstfruits
to God. dug the potatoes that first got
ripe, and picked the ears of corn that first got ripe, and
gathered all their fruits and vegetables together that first
got ripe. They brought it all to the Lord,
put it in the house of the Lord, and then they could do what they
wanted to with the rest of it. And that's the way it is, brothers
and sisters, in this world right now. There are people in this
world the Lord has redeemed They're believers in Jesus Christ. They're
the first fruits. And they're going to be brought
into His house. And the rest of them, what's going to happen to them?
Who knows? Except in the end. The first
fruits. Aren't you glad? You're the first
fruits unto God and your Father. And notice sixthly this, and
in their mouth was found no guile, no deceit. I like what Brother
Fortner said about this. He says this, I quote, he says,
God's rich grace freely bestowed upon them in Christ has made
them honest, sincere worshipers of God. They are not liars. They're not deceivers. They're
not hypocrites. Among these saints was found
no idolatry, no superstition, no false doctrine or will worship. They did not speak lies and hypocrisy. They did not follow the Antichrist,
pretending to be what they were not. They were not given up with
the reprobate unbelievers. These words, no guile, declared
the openness, sincerity and truthfulness of God's saints. They are not
pretentious deceivers like Nathanael. They are Israelites indeed, in
whom is no guile. Christ has made them so. They
draw near to God, not in word only, but in sincerity and in
truth and with a believing heart. In them is found no guile. And lastly, this is said about
them, they are without fault before the throne of God. How in the world could that be
when we look at ourselves? It goes back to this, from whose
perspective you're looking. When we're looking from our perspective,
what do you think about yourself? Oh my, it's awful, isn't it?
John said, if a man says he has no sin, he lies, and the truth's
not in him. David said, I was shaped in an
iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Jacob said, Lord,
I'm not worthy the least of your mercies. Peter said, Lord, depart
from me. I'm a sinful man. Paul said,
when I would do good, evil is present with me. Oh, wretched
man that I am. When we look at ourselves, we
despise ourselves. We long to be delivered from
self. But when you look at it from
the throne's perspective, notice this, they stood before the throne. And from the throne's perspective,
how does God view them? He views them in Christ and He
views them without any fault, not a wrinkle, not a blister,
not a fault in them. Listen to Jeremiah chapter 50
and verse 20. And those days and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for. Who's going to seek for it? I
don't know. Even the all-seeing eye of God
may seek for it. But listen to this, and there
shall be none. The sins of Judas shall be sought
for, and they shall not be found, for I will pardon them whom I
reserve. God has chosen us in Christ to
what end? He has an end, brothers and sisters,
in choosing us. It's that we should be holy and
without blame before Him in love. How in the world is God going
to reach that goal? In Christ. In the Lord Jesus
Christ. We have this perfect righteousness
that justifies us and clothes our shame. And with His spotless
righteousness on, we're as holy as God's own Son. I want to read you right quickly
and close, and you have to turn quickly, but these will be the
last three that I'll read to you. But I want you to look in
Colossians, back over to your left. You can let Revelations
go. And look in the book of Colossians, chapter 1, and look in verse 20. Here's
what He's saying to the 144,000, which is symbolic of all the
saints in the church, every believer. Colossians chapter 1 and verse
20, And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him
to reconcile all things unto himself, by him, I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were
sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now has he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
his death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. Now, that is God's perspective.
And that is the perspective that counts, isn't it? Look in another
place. Look in Ephesians chapter 5.
This is a very familiar passage. Back over to your left, just
a few pages. Ephesians chapter 5. And look
in verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. For
what end? That he might sanctify and cleanse
it with a washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be holy and without limits. Nobody can do that but God. Look
in the last place, and this is one of my favorite verses in
all the scriptures, Jude, one little old chapter, and look
in verse 24. Jude chapter 1 and verse 24 and
verse 25, look at this. The book of Jude, the little
epistle of Jude, just the book before the book of Revelation,
and verse 24. Now to Him that is able to keep
you from stumbling, from falling, and to present you faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only
wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and forever. You look at yourself, and you're
just like I am. You're wretched. You're sinful.
By your nature and by your deeds, we're just sinful. We're awful,
aren't we? But when we read a verse like this, you have to convince
your heart by faith. This is the way God sees us in
Christ. And therefore, God can accept
us as freely as He accepts His only begotten Son. This is what
Christ has done for us, brothers and sisters. He's won the victory
for us. And when you realize this, and
as we realize it more, let us worship Him. Let's sing unto
Him and praise Him for what He's did for us. And no matter what
Satan's got, in store for this world, and no matter what God
permits him to do, no matter what the world does, that don't
change our standing. He's done great things for us,
hasn't He? And we praise Him for it. I hope these verses have
been a blessing to your heart. Father, we thank You. Oh, we
bless Your Name. Bless You for Your purpose. Bless
You for Your left in love. Bless You, Lord Jesus, for Your
redeeming grace. Thank You for opening up Your
heart and pouring out Your blood to redeem us, to bring us again
back to You. Thank You for preparing heaven
for Your people and someday having them with Yourself. We will never
sin again, never have the sense of sin again, the smell of sin.
Oh, we praise You. Give us grace simply to believe
what You tell us in Your Word. to believe it and to rejoice
in the Lord our Savior. In Christ Jesus' name, Amen. Is there anything before we go?