Revelation chapter 14. And I'm
taking the title from what is said in verse 6. And this statement
here, the everlasting gospel. John says in verse 6, Revelation
14, I saw another angel fly. Fly in the midst of heaven. He's a messenger from heaven
with God's message. Having the everlasting gospel
to preach. The everlasting gospel is to
be declared. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. The everlasting gospel is to
preach to them that are earth dwellers. And we are dwelling
on this earth. That means the gospel is for
you. The gospel is for sinners that dwell on this earth. And
it's to everyone, every nation, every kindred, Every tongue,
every people, the gospel is to be preached. It's not to be hid
in a corner. It's to be declared. To be declared
the everlasting gospel. I love that, don't you? Everything
about God, everything He does is everlasting. He is the eternal
God. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ predates all creation when there was no time, God was
God, and it's the gospel of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel
predates creation and time. It is the ancient gospel of the
eternal God. The Gospel of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember in Revelation 13 verse
8, the Lord Jesus Christ is God's Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world before Adam ever sinned, and fell and plunged
us all into ruin, the Lord Jesus Christ stood as our surety, as
our sacrifice for sin. Christ alone. Christ himself. Peter writes about being redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ. That Lamb of God who was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest for you
in these last times. It's the everlasting Gospel of
God. It never changes its message.
It never changes its purpose. It's always by the sovereign
will and purpose of God. God is eternal, God is everlasting,
and He must have an everlasting gospel. He must have an everlasting
Savior, an everlasting Redeemer, an everlasting charity of His
covenant people. Remember, in Hebrews 13, He described
as Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, and forever. In eternity past, the Lord Jesus
Christ stood as our surety. In eternity future, He'll still
be God, our Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
surety of that better covenant, the eternal covenant of grace.
In the Lord Jesus Christ, we have an unchanging God, an unchanging
Savior, an unchanging priesthood in Christ Jesus. Now Revelation
14, last week we looked at verses 1 through 5, and there the Lord
described the blessedness we have being one with the Lord
Jesus Christ, standing in glory with the Lord Jesus Christ, singing
the new song of redemption about Christ, being bought with His
precious blood, how He's redeemed us from among men, being made
righteous in Christ, we stand in Him without fault, blameless
in the sight of God." You see what it says there in the last
part? Or in verse 5 of Revelation 14,
and this is the description of the Lord's people, "...they are
redeemed, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And
in their mouth was no guile, no hypocrisy, for they are without
fault." They are without fault before the throne of God. How can that be? In Christ we
are holy, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight. That's good news,
is it not? That's good news. Unblameable.
God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. We are accepted in
the Beloved in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins, The forgiveness of sin according to the riches of His
grace, in whom we have being accepted in the Beloved. After
John sees the glorious sight of the redeemed glorified in
Christ, he is blessed to see these six messengers of God that
we read about in this 14th chapter. Messengers sent of God. as God's
servants to serve God's purpose, to execute His eternal purpose
upon the earth. And He works all things after
the counsel of His own will. Now today, I want us to look
at the first three angels in verse 6, down to verse 11. And these messengers of the gospel,
sent to preach the everlasting gospel of Christ, full of precious
promises, no doubt about that, full of exceeding great and precious
promises, but also of terrible warnings. I've often told you
many times, the years I've been here, Remember, we have in the
Word of God exceeding great and precious promises from God, found
in the Word of God, given unto us to give us great comfort lest
we despair, lest we despair of mercy, lest we despair of grace.
God gives us exceeding great and precious promises that He
says will never fail. He gives us those promises, doesn't
He? But we also have in the Word
of God, we have exceeding great warnings from God Precious promises,
exuding great warnings from God as well, given to us lest we
presume of the grace of God, lest we assume of the grace and
mercy of God, and lest we take for granted the grace of God. Whether to make our calling and
election sure, or to examine ourselves whether we be in the
faith. Now, I'm not to examine you,
you're not to examine me, we're to examine ourselves, whether
we be in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he said, make your
calling and make your election sure. The message of John the
Baptist was to behold, look at the Lamb of God that takes away
our sin. John 1, verse 29. John, the forerunner
of Christ, the last Old Testament prophet. He said, Behold, there
is the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God takes away our
sin by bearing away our sin. In that same book, John 3, verse
36, these are also the words of the prophet of God known as
John the Baptist. He said this also, He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Now, as
you read through the Revelation, you read how many times we read
about the wrath of God, the wrath of God, the wrath of God. I looked
it up and I don't remember how many times, but many, many times. You know how many times the love
of God is mentioned? Two times. The wrath of God is
mentioned numerous, numerous, numerous times, over and over
again. The first angel is sent with
the everlasting gospel of Christ in verse 6 and 7. Notice these
angels, they are sent of God. And I saw another angel fly in
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach
unto them that dwell upon the earth, every nation, kindred,
tongue, and people under heaven. These messengers of God, these
angels of God sent with the everlasting gospel of Christ, they don't
send themselves. They're sent of God. And the
messengers of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ are also called
angels, messengers sent of God. Like the Apostle John and every
other true gospel preacher, they're called and sent of God with His
message of salvation in Christ alone. It says of John the Baptist,
there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same
came for witness to bear witness of the light and of the Lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ. They come
with God's message being sent of God. And it's all about the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have a message of
God that is to be preached unto all them that dwell upon the
earth, because Christ redeemed a people from every nation, tribe,
kindred, and tongue under heaven. Remember that? What it said?
Let's turn back. Turn back to chapter 5. We talked
about in verse 9, they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy
to take the book and to open the seals thereof. Revelation
5, 9. For thou was slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy
blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. It doesn't
say He redeemed every man out of every... He said redeemed
out of. Out of. It doesn't say He redeemed every
man, but out of every kindred, tongue, nation, God. died for
his sheep, his elect, and made us under our God kings and priests,
and we shall reign on the earth, we shall reign with him forever
and ever. Our Lord, before he ascended
to glory, told his apostles to go in all the world, remember,
and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be condemned."
So there is that message of gospel promise and also the message
of gospel warning. They have but one message. It's
the everlasting gospel of God. It's all about the Lord Jesus
Christ. His person and His work. His
person. Now how many times have we read
a vivid description of the Lord Jesus Christ in this revelation? It's called the revelation of
who? the Lord Jesus Christ. It describes
His person as the Lamb of God that takes away our sin. As the
Lion of the tribe of Judah who is worthy to take the book and
to open the seals thereof. He's called King of Kings and
Lord of Lords. He's called Alpha and omega,
he's called the beginning and the end. He is the Lord who reigns
forever. And we say, hallelujah, the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth forever and ever. What a glorious description
of our God. This is the gospel of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ and his glorious person, who he is. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
There's some debate in some circles about who he is. Some say he's
a good man, a prophet, a man from Nazareth who did many miracles. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He's God Almighty. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And we beheld His glory as the
glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And we stand in Him. We stand
with Him and in Him. And we stand how? How do we stand?
Complete. I like that, don't you? We stand
complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the reason being is
that we are redeemed with His precious blood. The Lord Jesus
Christ, when He came in the fullness of time, God sent His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to do what? He didn't come down
here and just heal a few people and feed a few people and die
a martyr's death and go back to glory. He came down here on
purpose to accomplish God's will in saving God's covenant people. He put away their sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. He accomplished salvation for
us. He obtained for us eternal redemption
with His own blood. He didn't come to make salvation
a possibility. He didn't come to help us save
ourselves. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sin. So the message of the everlasting
gospel that we're to preach to everybody is God is God. God is our Savior who cannot
fail. We preach His person and we preach
His redeeming work. How He obtained for us eternal
redemption with His own blood. Turn back to Revelation 7. Look at verse 13. Here it is. Revelation 7 verse 13. One of
the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these? Who are these
which are arrayed in white robes? And where did they come from?
Revelation 7 verse 13. And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great
tribulation. They came out of great tribulation,
have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the
throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His temple.
And He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." They
are redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this
gospel is called the good news. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. Why is the gospel called the
everlasting gospel? It's not a temporary gospel,
is it? It's an everlasting gospel because the gospel of God is
as old as God. The Redeemer, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and redemption we have in Him is not plan B. That is,
when Adam sinned, God already had the remedy. It wasn't plan
B. The Lord Jesus Christ stood as
a lamb slain before Adam ever sinned, before Adam ever fell. The gospel of God is the everlasting
gospel because God himself, he says, from everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God. The gospel predates the fall
of Adam. Before Adam fell into sin, the
surety stood for us, the elect of God. The covenant of grace
is called the covenant of the everlasting God. It's his everlasting
gospel. You remember Hebrews 13.20, now
the God of peace that brought again from the dead the Lord
Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. It's the everlasting gospel of
the everlasting God concerning the everlasting covenant of grace
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything about the gospel is
everlasting. He loved us with an everlasting
love, Jeremiah 31 verse 3. He loved us with an everlasting
love. His mercy to us is not temporary,
but everlasting. We read in Psalm 100 verse 5,
For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting. His grace is
eternal. It is the everlasting grace of
God, the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus Christ, even our Father, who has loved us and has given
us an everlasting consolation and a good hope through grace
that comforts our heart. It's an everlasting comfort through
the grace of our God. You see, everything about the
gospel He's everlasting, it's eternal. He obtained for us eternal
redemption with his own blood. He saves his people with an everlasting
salvation. He says, I give my sheep eternal
life and they shall never perish. His glory, it's everlasting glory,
is it not? Who is worthy? The Lamb was worthy
to receive our honor, glory, blessing, and power both now
and forever. Peter writes in 1 Peter 5 verse
10, But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal
glory by Jesus Christ. The God of all grace hath called
us to His eternal glory by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at
verse 7, Revelation 14 verse 7, saying, with a loud voice. Declare it
everywhere. Remember what our Lord said,
what he said to his disciples, what I tell you in secret, you
declare that on the housetop. Saying with a loud voice, with
a loud voice to all that will hear out of every kindred, nation,
tongue, and people, with a loud voice saying, fear God. Fear
God. Reverence God who is God. Give Him all the honor and glory
that's due unto His glorious name. As Paul said, God forbid
we should glory save in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fear Him with a
reverential fear. Holy and reverent is His name.
Fear God. Worship God. That's why he's
saying that. Worship the true and living God. Give glory to
Him. Would you give glory to anyone
else? That's why Paul said, God forbid, I see glory saved in
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he says here, the hour
of judgment has come. The hour of judgment has come.
The hour of judgment is coming. He said, worship Him, the truly
living God that made heaven and earth and the sea and all the
fountains. The Lord Jesus Christ is a fountain
of living waters, is He not? Salvation, we know, in this book
is called The salvation is of the Lord. The hour of judgment
has come. In Hebrews 9.27, it's appointed
unto all men once to die, and after that, judgment. Judgment's coming. Judgment's
coming. Now I want you to turn and read
this with me. Turn to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. Judgment's coming, but what's
the standard of judgment? Now that's the key right there.
What's the standard of judgment? The standard of judgment is not
our morality. The standard of judgment is not
set by men. The standard of judgment is the
Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel. Now this is Paul preaching on
Mars Hill to these philosophers, these educated, these wise men
of the world. Acts 17, 28, For in Him we live
and move and have our being. Acts 17, 28. As certain also
of your own poets have said, for we are his offspring, we
are his creation. He is the creator of all things
in heaven and in earth. For as much then as we're the
offspring or creation of God, we ought not think that the Godhead
is likened to gold, silver, or stone, or graven by art and man's
devices. God is not worshipped in ignorance. He's the Lord that made heaven
and earth, that dwelleth not in temples made with hand. And
at times of this ignorance, God winked at, overlooked. But God,
but now, commandeth all men everywhere to repent. To repent. To repent. Change your mind. Think rightly about God. Because,
verse 31, He is appointed a day in which He will judge the world
in righteousness by that man. Who is that man? The Lord Jesus
Christ, whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance
unto all men that he raised him from the dead. He was delivered
for our offenses, raised again for our justification. The standard of judgment is the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the standard of judgment,
is being accepted in the Beloved in Christ Jesus. The Father judgeth
no man that hath committed all judgment unto the Son. All men
are responsible and accountable unto Almighty God, and will give
account in that day before God's bar of justice. Therefore, we
should worship and reverence, believe Him. This is a God with
whom we have to do. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a standard by which God will judge men in Christ
Jesus. It's all relative to your standing
either in Him or outside of Him. In Noah's day, the wrath of God
and the flood of that wrath fell on everyone outside of the the
ark of God. Those inside the ark were safe,
and that ark is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are
to reverence Him, to worship Him, and to believe Him. This
is the God with whom we have to do. We are to glorify Him
in all things. Give Him glory and honor. Look
across the page, Revelation 15, 2 and 3 and following, Revelation
15, give him all the honor and glory. And I saw as it were a
sea of glass mingled with fire, and then had gotten the victory
over the beast, over his image, over his mark,
over the number of his name, stand on a sea of glass having
the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses,
the servant of God, the song of the Lamb, saying, great and
marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are
thy ways, thou King of the saints, who shall not fear thee, O Lord,
and glorify thy name. For thou only art holy, for all
nations shall come and worship before Thee, for Thy judgments
are made manifest." Judgment is coming. The day of judgment
is coming. Fear Him. Give all glory unto
the Lord. This is the God with whom we
have to do. And then He says here, worship
Him. Worship Him. Now because God
is God, and besides Him there is no other, we should worship
only Him, the true and living God. This is our desire now,
to worship our Lord Jesus Christ as God. In the book of Hebrews,
the Lord said to the angels, let all the angels of God worship
Him. The Father seeketh such to worship
Him in spirit and in truth. And we know the Lord Jesus Christ
is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. He made the heavens
and the earth and the sea and the fountains of water, as the
Lord created all things for His glory. He created all things,
and by Him all things consist. By Him all things are sustained
by His mighty, mighty, glorious power. Now, verse 8. Verse 8 says, And there followed
another angel, saying, delivering this message, Babylon is fallen. is fallen, that great city, but
she hath made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication." And that's talking about spiritual idolatry. The
third angel followed them saying with a loud voice, if any man
worshipped the beast and his image and received his mark in
his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine
of the wrath of God." So let's look for a moment at verse 8. John sees his second angel, another
messenger of God, warning and declaring the certainty of the
destruction of this great city, Babylon. Now, this is symbolic
of all false religion. It's symbolic, Babylon is, of
false religion, man-centered, will-worship, and works religion. Now, if you go back to where
the word Babylon or Babel is found, it goes back to Genesis
chapter 11. Remember in that story there,
the men got together, the story of sinners trying to work their
way to God, building that great tower of Babel, and the Lord
scattered them and confounded their language, and Babel means
confusion. Confusion. I listened to a radio
commercial this morning just before our radio broadcast came
on and they were advertising a program to learn foreign language
easily and they called it Babble. And I'm thinking to myself, do
they know what that word means? It means confusion. Confusion. God confused their language.
They couldn't understand one another, and they couldn't build
that great tower to God. They thought they were going
to work their way to heaven. God said, that's not going to
work. Babylon is fallen, is fallen. Babylon means confusion, and
God is not the author of confusion. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is one of simplicity. Singleness. Oneness. The Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but
by and through Me. Everything that does not glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ, that blessed salvation in Him, God is going
to destroy. Some people say, well, I thought
God loved everybody. You reckon on the back of that
ship, Noah's ark, in Noah's day, there was a bumper sticker on
the back of that ship that said, smile, God loves you. Those inside the ark were smiling
and thanking God, but everybody outside that ark perished. Why
did they perish? Under the wrath of God. God said
for 120 years, no with the preacher of righteousness. And that message
was get in the ark. Get in the ark. Get in the ark. Judgment's coming. They just
ignored God. They perished in their ignorance. The love of God is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything outside of Him, God
is justly going to destroy. The wine of the religion of Babylon
deserves nothing but wrath, idolatry, and spiritual fornication. Any
mixing of law and grace is the religion of Babylon. Any mixing
of law and grace is the religion of Babylon. That is condemned. Any mixing of merit and mercy
is a religion of Babylon. Any mixing of ritualism and righteousness
of pride is a religion of Babylon. There are but two religions in
this world. The way of Cain. The way of Abel. There's just
two religions in this world. One of works and one of grace. One is of God, the other is of
the devil. One is right, true, and saving.
The other is wrong, the lie of Satan, and damnation. It's either
grace alone, Christ alone, His glory alone, or it's the way
of condemnation. Now that's just the plain and
simple truth. Grace alone, Christ alone, faith
alone, not man's work, man's glory, self-righteousness. Though
we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached. What did Paul say? What did we
read a little while ago? If any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that which we have preached, let him be damned. A lot of people say, well, we're
all going to the same place. We're just going up different
roads, different paths, different ways. We're just trying to get
our way to God. Babylon. It won't work. It won't do. Notice carefully
what the Lord says here in verse 8. Babylon is fallen. It's a failed system of works. Remember the number 666? Here is wisdom, let him that
hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is
the number of man. The number of man is failure,
failure, failure. 666. God's number is 777. 777. We're complete in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Babylon is fallen, is fallen. The third angel followed, and
there's more judgment. The third angel followed them,
sang with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast, and it's
talking about the religion of Babylon, the religion of anti-Christ,
anti-God, anti-gospel. Those that worship the beast,
man-centered, free will works religion, and the imagination
of his mind, the image of his mind, who's received the mark
in his forehead, his thoughts are thoughts of self, will worship
and works, or the mark of his hand, trying to work your way
to God by the deeds of your hand. The same shall drink of the wine
of the wrath of God, which is poured out without any mixture,
no dilution, pure undiluted wrath of God into the cup of his indignation. which he shall, and he shall
be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels,
and in the presence of the Lamb." Remember those in Revelation
chapter 6 who cried, turn over there. Revelation 6 verse 14,
when the heaven departed as a scroll, when it was rolled together,
and every mountain and isle were moved out of their places, this
is talking about the end time, And the kings of the earth, and
the great men, and rich men, and chief captains, and mighty
men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the
dens, and the rocks, and the mountains, and said to the mountains
and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that
sits upon the throne from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great
day of his wrath is come. Who shall be able to stand? Only
those who stand in the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember, he stood
on Mount Zion with 144,000. The messenger of God declares
the wine of God's wrath upon all who participate in idolatry. All sin is deserving of wrath,
but especially those who willfully receive the mark of the beast
and promote the cause of Satan, Antichrist. To deceive and destroy
those who deceive and destroy, God will certainly judge them,
and rightly so. What do we know about the wrath
of God? It says there, undiluted, pure, holy wrath of God, this
everlasting wrath. I remember reading years ago
a definition about The wrath of God. And he gave this definition,
I never forgot it, and it bears out by the scripture. The wrath
of God is God's holiness stirred in the activity against sin.
That's his wrath. It's the holiness of God stirred
into activity against sin. All sin is deserving the wrath
of God. Now, what do we deserve? The
wages of sin is death. Oh, the gift of God is eternal
life. God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ. He delivered us from the wrath
to come. The Lord Jesus Christ, that which
says there, The wrath of God which is poured out without mixture
into the cup of His indignation. When the Lord Jesus Christ, as
our mediator and substitute, was praying in the garden under
the agony and weight of our sin being laid upon Him, and He prayed
about the cup, remember? Lord, if it's possible, let this
cup pass from me. What was in that cup? The wrath
of God. Nevertheless, He said, not My
will, but Thy will be done. And here's the beauty of the
Gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ took the cup of wrath due us,
and drank damnation dry, as the old preachers used to say. He
drank damnation dry. Therefore, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, there is therefore now no condemnation. No judgment
to those who are in Him, outside of Him. Oh, the wrath of God. The wrath of God. He delivered
us from the wrath of God on those outside of Christ. who try to
earn their way to glory, poured out without any mixture of mercy,
pure, holy, infinite wrath. Wrath is exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ bare for us in his own body on the tree. The just
suffering for the unjust that he might bring us unto God. There
is salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is everlasting
salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, but there's also everlasting
condemnation for those outside of Christ. It's a continual,
everlasting torment. This is not annihilation, but
rather everlasting condemnation, no rest, no peace, eternal and
endless misery, everlasting destruction and death. You see what it says
there? And He shall pour out without
mixture into the cup of his hatred, that's the word indignation,
and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels, in the presence of the Lamb. We've seen all the way through
this book things that signify or are symbolic of different
things. The lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ,
we don't see Him as a real physical four-legged lamb, but it's a
symbol of His holy character. And this fire here, people want
to debate whether it's literal fire. I'm not going to enter
into that debate because that misses the message here. It's
symbolic of eternal condemnation and the wrath of God. God takes
fiery judgment, something that's so painful and agonizing, and
uses it as a symbol to teach us of the torment of His wrath
and judgment, everlasting condemnation, everlasting destruction. The smoke of their torment ascends
up forever and ever. There is no satisfaction to God's
law and justice under the condemnation of His wrath. God is never satisfied. Only satisfied with the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have no rest. day and night,
who worship the beast and his image, who receive the mark of
the beast in their hand. And again, it's not a literal
mark here or here. It's symbolic of that false religion
that teaches that man is the way of salvation, not the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, verse 12. Here is the patience
of the saints. Here is the perseverance and
endurance of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments
of God and the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. By deeds of law
shall no flesh be justified, but by the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The saints are made holy in Christ
Jesus. They keep all the commandments
of God in Christ our Covenant Head by His faithfulness. The
Lord Jesus Christ honored every precept and penalty of the law
of God for us. And every believer is a saint. This is not some super-Christian. Every believer is sanctified
in the Lord Jesus Christ because He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Now, I've got to quit. But you
can see the contrast here as we get down to verse 13. Those
under the wrath and judgment of God, they die. Our Lord said,
if you believe not that I am He, you'll die in your sin. And
if you die in your sin, you'll be raised in your sin. And you'll
face God in your sin. And you'll be eternally judged
in your sin. I heard a voice from heaven saying,
Blessed are those who die in the Lord. Now, what a contrast
between those who have no rest, the smoke of their torment ascends
forever and ever, and blessed are those who die in the Lord. Write this. Write it down. In the Lord, from henceforth,
saith the Spirit, they may rest from their labors. Those who
die in their sin, they have no rest day or night. They're tormented. They're tormented in these flames. As the rich man said when the
beggar Lazarus died, who was carried away to the bosom of
Abraham, and the rich man said, send somebody down here to quench
my thirst. I'm tormented in these flames.
They have no rest. Oh, but blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord. From henceforth, yea, saith the
Spirit, they may rest from all their labors, all their toils,
all their sorrows. They rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he says their works,
the works follow them. Their works follow them. They
don't precede them. Their works don't recommend them.
These works here are the fruit of the Spirit of the grace of
God in the believer's life. The fruit of the Spirit is what?
Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness,
temperance, these things. These are the fruits of God in
us. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. where His workmanship, if God
which worketh in you, both the will and the due of His good
pleasure. Ah, they may rest from their
labors and their works. They don't precede them, they
follow them as a trophy of God's grace throughout all eternity.