Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Revelation chapter 20. Revelation 20. Revelation 20 and verse 4 and
5. I'd like to read two verses of
Scripture this morning. Revelation 20 verse 4, And I
saw thrones And they sat upon them, and judgment was given
unto them. And I saw the souls of them that
were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of
God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image,
neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their
hands. And they lived and reigned with
Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived
not again until the thousand years were finished. This is
the first resurrection. Our Father, this morning we ask
you for Christ's sake, would you help us? Lord, we are needy people. We are helpless people. In ourselves,
we are impotent people. We have no strength. Lord, we
pray, would you bless the Word. Bless it, Lord, to our hearing
and truly by your Spirit, would you cause us to truly rejoice
in it. Keep our minds from wandering.
Lord, focus our heart upon Christ. Help us, Lord, as we look into
Your Word. This life is so fragile, so fleeting,
just a vapor. Lord, let us not go through the
motions today. Would You truly bless for Christ's
sake? Amen. John saw Satan bound. for a thousand years, during
that period of time, that age of mercy, where Almighty God
is effectually calling out His people, all that He had chosen
to show mercy to, that Christ had redeemed. This is a blessed
day. This is a blessed moment right
now because I'm going to tell you something. We're here. We're here this morning. And
God has allowed the gospel to be preached one more time. Now you say, well, yeah, but
we always meet here on Sunday morning. Well, I can tell you
this. It won't always be like that. after the thousand years, that
period of Satan being hindered, held back, bound. Satan is going to be loosed for
a little season, the Scripture says, and he is going to, according
to verse 8, it says, or verse 7 and 8 of this This passage,
when the thousand years are expired, when God said it's over, He's
not bound anymore. He's not hindered anymore from
deceiving. When the thousand years are expired,
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. He's held in chains
of darkness right now. The wrath is restrained. The wrath of man The wrath of
man shall praise him, and the rest God's going to restrain."
That's what he said. God is restraining right now
Satan. But when the thousand years are
expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall go
out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the
earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the
number of whom is as the sand of the sea. Listen, you're here
today by the grace of God. If you believe not, Today, if
you believe not Christ, if you trust not Christ, this morning,
this may be the last time you ever hear the gospel. Someone may say, well, I don't
think it's going to be today. It's going to be a day when you
think not. That's what he said. In a day
when you think not, so shall the coming of the Son of Man
be." A day just like today. If you know not Christ, this
may be your last day. One of these days it will be. During that little season, The
Scripture says great tribulation is going to abound. And there's
going to be a famine, not of bread, not of water, a famine
of the hearing of the Word of God. Katy, West Virginia. What a star. in a dark night. I'm so glad
God Almighty has allowed me to be here this morning. He may teach me something. As
I said a moment ago, He can if He will. There's coming a famine of the
hearing of the Word of God. No preachers No preachers, no ministers. Let me read something to you
out of Isaiah 29. Isaiah 29, verse 9. Stay yourselves in wonder. Cry
ye out and cry. They are drunken, but not with
wine. They stagger, but not with strong
drink. For the Lord hath poured out
upon you the spirit of deep sleep. and hath closed your eyes, the
prophets and your rulers, the seers," that's what they referred
to as the true prophets, the true preachers, the seers, "...hath
he covered. The visions of all is become
unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver
to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee, and he
says, I cannot." For it's sealed, and the book is delivered to
him that's not learned. See, read this, I pray. And he
said, I'm not learned. There's coming a time where there'll
be no preachers. God said, I'm going to send a
famine of the Word of God, of the hearing of the Word of God. I've said this before. I don't
know. I don't know. Almighty God alone
knows. But you think how few places
there are right now. Ten years ago, 20 years ago,
there were places that I knew of that are not there anymore.
I used to go down to a little place,
Doctors Inlet, Florida. There was a place where I could
go down There was some gospel there. Not anymore. Here, there. And it'll be as if all of a sudden
you're looking around, you think, you know what? This used to be
here. And it's not there anymore. Is the Lord raising up more preachers,
younger preachers coming up and stuff? I don't see them. They may be there. They may be
there. I just don't know. And as God's preachers are removed,
and as He removes this one and this one, God said, I'm going
to send a famine. A famine of the hearing of the
Word of God. There's going to be silence before
God returns. You say, oh, I don't think that
will be from the time of Malachi to John the Baptist. 400 years
there was no prophet, no word from God. The first prophet that
came after the prophet Malachi was John the Baptist, just before
the Lord Jesus Christ was announced in his public ministry. And the
Lord said, I'm going to send a famine. Now listen to me. This is serious business. This
is a serious hour right now. I'm telling you, this is the
most important thing that you'll ever do, is hear the Word of
the Lord, because there's coming a time when you won't hear it.
If you're alive at the coming of Christ, there will be a famine
of the hearing of the Word of God. You're saying you're trying
to scare me. No, I'm not. I'm just honest
with you. We treat this as if it's no big
deal. Well, let me just, I'll just
do my duty this morning. God Almighty helped me from doing
my duty, just going through the motions. John said, I know, I saw, I saw
Satan bound, going to be loose. But then in verse 4, and what
I'm about to tell you is is absolutely the position of God's people
right now on this earth. John said, and I saw thrones,
I saw thrones. Now, I don't doubt for a second
that whenever the Lord Jesus Christ calls one of His own out
of this world, precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death
of His saints. That's a precious thing. They
don't struggle anymore. They're present with the Lord. I don't doubt for a second that
when a believer dies, leaves this world, he's immediately
in the presence of God, seated with Christ, absent, present,
living and reigning with Him. But John is seeing something
that is happening right now and has happened in every age of
believers on this earth. John said, while Satan was bound,
right at the time that he is loosed, John said, I saw thrones,
that is, stately seats of rest. thrones, not one. No, I saw thrones. There were
more than one. Stately seats of rest. These thrones that John sees
as actually the positions of rest that God's people sit on
right now. You know the wonder of God's
Word is that it tells us, it tells the believer how things
are. Not how I can perceive them to
be. Not how I can look at them and imagine them to be. But this
is the way, Gary, it is. This is the way it is. There
are some that sit here this morning that sit upon a throne right
now. A seat of rest. Seated in Christ right now. You
think, well, I thought I was just in this building. You are.
But I'm going to tell you something. This is the way it is, really. A throne. Let me show you something. Look at Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, starting in verse 1. Hathi Quickened is in italics,
you can take that out, but it says, And you who were dead in
trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
time past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind. and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others." We had a wrathful thought against
God, just like others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
you are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, raised from spiritual
death to a blessed life in Christ right now. Seated with Christ. Raised us up together. You who
were dead in trespass, he's raised. John said, I saw thrones. Right now, believers are the
recipients of spiritual resurrection. Seated with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Raised from death to life in Christ. John says back in Revelation
20, I saw thrones and they sat upon them appointed. That's what that word sat means.
They were appointed to be right there. This is God's purpose
to raise His people up in time. Raise them out of darkness. Raise
them from death. And they sent the bride to God's church. The only one that
sits in rest with her husband. John said, I saw them. While
Satan was being bound, God Almighty calling out His people. And John
said, I saw them. Their royalty. Seated in this
world right now. This is the way they really are.
They go through. I get up every morning. You get up. Some of
you, you go to this job or this job or something. But John said
they were royalty. This world. Speaking of those
that were sawn into and ran through and they threw them to the lions.
This world wasn't even worthy of Him. There's some royalty
here this morning. The very presence of God Almighty in His people. They that sat on Him. And she's
sitting. And Scripture says, John says,
I saw, as they said, on judgment was given unto them. Not that they were sitting in
this world right now as judges of the world. That's not what
it means. Judgment was given unto them means that John saw
by divine revelation that judgment from God was given unto them." God made
a judgment. Let me just say it like this.
God made judgment concerning them. He made a ruling. You come to a courtroom, all
of the evidence is presented, the judge sits, and he makes
a judgment. God has made a judgment concerning
them, and this is what he said. I'll have mercy." That's my judgment. I'm going to have mercy on whom
I'll have mercy. And I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. Why? Because He looked upon them
before the foundation of the world in His Son. And as their
federal head, the Lord Jesus Christ who has everlastingly
stood for them, God says, I find no fault in you. No condemnation. John said, I
saw judgment was given unto them. Mercy for Christ's sake, chosen
in the Son, accepted in the Beloved. There's God's judgment right
there. Oh, blessed, blessed, blessed
are those that right now God Almighty has called out of darkness. You're sitting right now on a
throne of rest, of royalty in Christ right now. God's made
judgment toward you. What judgment is that? When I
see the blood, I'm going to pass over you. That's God's judgment. John says, And I saw the souls
of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus. John says, I was able by the
revelation of God to actually see the very seat and the heart
of their desire. I can't look into your soul right
now. I don't know what you're thinking. I don't know where
you are. I don't know where your mind
is. You don't know where my mind is. John said, I saw the souls
of them. I look on the outside. God sees
the heart. This is a revelation of God right
here. John said, I see. I see the heart. I see what they're
thinking. This is the way a believer thinks
right now. John said, I saw the souls of
them that were beheaded, smitten, martyrs. Maybe not physically,
not all of them are. Some have been, but not all of
them. But I'll tell you this, all of them are smitten by God's
Spirit and brought down in themselves. All of them are beheaded. All
of them have had that heart of stone removed from them sitting
and ruling in their life. All of them are martyrs. All
of them are witnesses. That's what the word witnesses. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4,
10, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
Believers are aware right now that this life is so
fragile So frail. I mean, just any imbalance, just
anything happened. You're just gone that quickly. Just fragile. Hatred from the
world. The only reason that God has
allowed anybody to be here this morning, He's restrained that
which this world, Satan, would do to God's people. John said,
I saw their heart. I see the heart of them. I see
them sitting on thrones. They're resting in Christ. Judgment
was given unto them. God had looked upon them in mercy
and grace, and I saw the heart, the seat of their affection. And this is what they did. They
worshiped not the beast. Now, you know the amazing thing
about that is this. This beast, we know this, this
beast is the world. The heart and the care of this
world. 1 John, let me read 1 John 2. 1 John 2, 15. Love, not the world, neither
the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. Now, here's the thing. How do you know what I'm thinking? How do you know what my desire
is? How do you know what I'm worshiping right now? You say,
well, I hear what you're preaching. I hear what you're saying. I've
told you this before. Anybody can stand up and deliver
a consistent message. Give me a concordance. Give me
somebody that's written out a message. Give me three points or whatever.
I can copy it down. I can write. I've got the ability
to write notes. I can read. I can deliver a message that's consistent. The Lord said, with their lips
they do honor me, but their heart, their heart. John said, I saw
these set on the throne. And they worshiped not the beast.
They didn't have a love for the world. No man can serve two masters. No man. They did not worship
the beast. They didn't. You know, we think,
well, if somebody's not bowing down on one knee, I can be sitting
here standing in this pulpit right now and worshiping something and you have no idea
what I'm doing." John said, I saw the souls. I saw the heart. This is the way a believer is
right now. There is a heart, a new heart within the believer.
There's a new man in the believer that does not worship this world.
That does not love it. I'll tell you what an unbeliever
does. He'll go through his little religious Motions there for a
while, and as soon as he's gone through, he's worshipped the
world the whole time, and he goes right back to the vomit
that he threw up. And he goes back to doing the
same thing, and it does not bother him. Does your inconsistency
bother you? Mine does. I'll be honest with
you. Let me just state this. Mine bothers me. As inconsistencies, I see in
myself the love of the care of this world that I see in myself. And I'm telling you, it bothers
me. It bothers me a lot. And I've got to be honest again.
I pray to God, help me. Because I'll tell you something,
I'll tell you the most fearful thought that I can think of right
now. What if I didn't feel like this again? What if it didn't
bother me again? They worship not the beast, neither
his image." What do you mean the image of the beast? The image
that is created within the mind of the world. The world has created
a God. I can remember, I'm going to
just be honest with you. When I come up, I've told you
this before, I went to church because I had to go to church
until I got to college. Mama wasn't there. I'd go when
I came in, you know, but I created a God, a little G God in my mind
that I prayed to. And this God was exactly what
I had in my mind. This is the way He is. And you
know what? He's understanding. I've got
things to do. He's loving. He's a loving God. And He does not want to do anything
to harm anybody. In fact, He's so thankful that
I'm giving Him some time in prayer. I pray every night. And He's so content with me. He's so satisfied with me. That's
the image of the world. They've created a God in their
mind. A little G God. And I'm telling
you, there's not a person sitting in this congregation this morning
that has not in your flesh, that has not had your own little God.
And He is so understanding with you. And He's so patient with
you. And He loves you so much and
you love Him. John said, I saw. They that sat
on those thrones, those that judgment had been given to them,
I saw the heart of them who were beheaded, that were martyrs,
that were witnesses. I saw the seed of their heart. And they did not worship the
beast. Not in their new man, they didn't.
That which is born of God does not sin. They didn't worship
His image. They didn't worship that God
that they used to. Neither received his mark upon
their foreheads or in their hands." What is the mark? What is the
mark of the image? What's the mark of the beast?
That's what it is. What's the mark of the beast?
Oh, you say, I know what that is, 666. That's right. Man, man, man. Impotent, impotent,
impotent. God's people do not Worship the
God of this world, the God that they've created. You know, it's
so easy to say, the God of this world, you know. The God of this
world, I was born with Him. I made Him up. I created Him. You say, oh, no, not really.
I could go back. If I could find it right now,
I could show you a passage of Scripture where the Lord says
concerning those in the Old Testament, they took a log, Carl. They took a log. A piece of wood,
and part of it they cut up and they made firewood out of it,
you know, and then they made them a little trinket, and then
part of it they made them a god. Carved them a god. You've read
that, Neil. They just made them a god out of it. What is the mark? What is the
mark of the beast? The mark of this world? What
is the mark of it? Let me tell you what it is. Unbelief. The mark of the beast. Don't
believe God. You have no fear of God. You
have no reverence of God. And I see in me, I see that mark
that's in my old man. Paul says, in me, that is in
my flesh, there dwells no good thing. There's a beast. Oh, wretched man! that I am,
that's in me that doesn't believe God. And there's a new man that
does believe God. And I'm telling you, they strive
one against the other. John said, I saw those regenerated
saints. They don't lay hold. They don't
receive the mark, that graven image in their forehead. That's
not the way they think in their forehead. And not in their hands
either. They're not going about attempting
to work out by their own ability. John said this is the way God's
people are. This is the way they are right now. These, John said, they lived
and reigned with Christ a thousand years. All during that time of mercy
and grace, God has always had a witness. And they've always
been consistent, and they live with Christ. You that believe,
you know why you're here today? Because you have no other place
to go. Where are you going to go? Where are you going to go? What are you going to do? Mitch,
where are you going to go? You want to be somewhere else?
They lived and they reigned with Christ. They lived with Him.
But the rest, verse 5, in this, the rest of the dead live not
again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first
resurrection. John said, I saw there was some. By the grace of God, God's always
got a witness. There's always a remnant according
to grace, the election of grace. There's always some, but the
rest. those that Almighty God has left
to themselves. They lived not again. They weren't born the second
time. That's what it meant. They lived not again. They weren't
born from above. The rest, all that God has left
to themselves, They weren't born of God the second time. During the whole time of God's
mercy, they were left in darkness. They were left in unbelief. The remnant of mankind left to
themselves during the whole thousand years until it was finished.
during that fulfillment, God let them do exactly what they
wanted to do. They would not receive the love
of the truth. Now listen, in closing, let me
tell you something. All men are commanded to repent. Now that is a command. are commanded
to repent. All of them. There's not a man,
there's not a woman in this world, that's ever been in this world,
that's not under this obligation. Come to Christ. Believe Christ. Trust Christ. Kiss the Son. All men are commanded to repent. If a man or a woman doesn't come,
you know why they don't come? Because they don't want to come.
They have no heart to come. And if a man or a woman leaves
this world without Christ and would not receive the love of
the truth, God will give them exactly what they wanted. Judgment. If you come not to Christ, what
you're saying is this. Judge me. Put me in hell. You say, now I don't know. I
don't believe. Yes, you are. God gave them over to a reprobate
mind because they would not receive the love of the truth. What's
it going to take for Almighty God to save me? He's going to
have to give me a new desire. new heart to come. John said those, the rest of
the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished.
Then he said concerning verse four, what we just described,
that's the first resurrection. That's the first and foremost
in time, in order and in importance. A man or a woman that leaves
this world never having been born again. The Lord told Nicodemus,
Nicodemus, you must be born again. You must be found in that first
resurrection. I am the resurrection and the
life. If a man be not found in Christ,
he has no hope. Oh, may God have mercy upon our
souls. I pray God bless this message
to the salvation of His people. I pray this morning, if the Lord
has never done anything for me, I pray that He save me today
for Christ's sake. Amen.