Well, I asked Brother Scott,
would you read the book of 2 John? And I sure am glad I did. Turn with me to the book of Revelation, chapter 19. Revelation 19. We've been in this blessed book
now for a little over a year, about 13 months. It's been a
real blessing to me. I hope it has to you. I'd like to speak tonight on
the subject of two reasons for praise. In the last few studies, you
know we've been looking at the three groups, kings of the earth,
the merchants of the earth, the shipmasters, the sailors of the
earth as they are being judged by Almighty God. And the Scripture in Revelation
18.20 says, over her, thou heaven, and ye
holy apostles and prophets. For God hath avenged you on earth."
You know the believers are holy brethren. Holy. Why are they holy? of the imputed righteousness
of Christ that Almighty God looks upon them in the person of His
blessed Son. Rejoice over her. Anytime you see in Scripture
someone told to rejoice or praise the Lord, do you know that a
reason is always given? Now that may sound kind of funny,
but it's not. Men by nature want to try to
pump someone up to do something, and they don't realize why they're
doing it. They tell them, Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord for what? What's the reason? I told someone
one time that I might as well tell you, be sad. Be sad. You think, what for? Is there
a reason? Is there something I should be
sad over? Turn over to Luke 6.23. Luke
6.23. Whenever the Scripture says to rejoice or to praise,
there is a reason for it. Luke 6.23. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap
for joy. Look here, 4. Here is the reason. Here is a good reason to rejoice. Behold, your reward is great
in heaven. Now that is a reason to rejoice.
Great is your reward in heaven. Christ Himself. God Himself. That's what the Lord told Abraham.
He said, I'm your great reward. What would a believer give in
exchange for God Almighty being their reward? He wouldn't exchange
it for anything. Look at Luke 10.21. Here's our
Lord. Luke 10.24, and our Lord praying
in that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank Thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes,
even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. Can you imagine? Here's the Lord of glory. who is God Himself, God in the
flesh. And he's thanking his Father.
He's rejoicing his Spirit. And he said, I thank you. I thank
you that you've hidden these wonderful truths. Now, we're
getting ready to look at two reasons why the saints of God
rejoice. Praise the Lord. rejoiced and thanked his Father,
because God the Father was pleased to hide some things. The indescribable
mercy and grace of Almighty God. Someone would say, that's reason
to rejoice. Yes, it is. Why? For so it seemed good in thy
sight. You see, Brother Scott was just
bringing out, the God we worship is God that does what He wants
to do. That's the God that a man will
worship. That's the God that a man will bow to or a woman
will bow to. This little demigod, this nobody
God, this impotent, Little G-O-D, that men are standing like the
man in white, that Brother Scott was standing, that they're preaching,
that they're relating to people, wants to do something. If I will
let him do it, that makes me God. You think I'm going to bow
to someone who is my inferior? No way. But I'll tell you this. If Almighty God reveals Himself
to a man and he sees that man as God who has the right to show
mercy or to pass a man by and leave him to himself, I'll tell
you this, a man by God's grace will bow to that God, bow to
Him, rejoice. That's what He said back in verse
20 of Revelation 18, over her, thou heaven and holy apostles."
Why? For God has avenged you. There's
the reason. Well, in Revelation 19, verse
1, it says, after these things, John said, I heard a great voice
of much people in heaven saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory
and honor and power unto the Lord our God. the glorious exhibition
of the justice and the judgment of God Almighty upon all that
opposes Him. I tell you this, everything that
opposes Him, everything that does not and is not brought in
perfect alignment, Gary, with the way God says it is, Everybody
that is not brought perfectly, aligned to bow perfectly before
Almighty God, aren't you thankful that we have a mediator that
answers for us? That answers perfectly all that
God demands. All that Almighty God demands
of me. Let me tell you what my peace
is. Look to My substitute. Whatever you demand of Me, look
to Him in whom I trust. Or don't look to Me without a
substitute. Look to Him. And He said, I'll
never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Aren't
you thankful? God, after these things, After
the great whore, the mother of abominations, who is mixed in
perfect unity, false religions of this world, just mixed them
perfectly, John said, I heard a great voice, much people, a
mighty disclosure, many voices with actually a voice of oneness
is what that is saying. I heard a great voice. One people, all of God's people
say the same thing concerning Christ. The doctrine of Christ,
as Scott was reading about, if any man have not this doctrine,
what doctrine is he talking about? Free grace. Free, sovereign grace. If any man confesses not that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, For what? To save His people. To redeem
His sheep. To redeem all that the Father
has given Him. If any man received not that
doctrine, preached that doctrine, receive him not into your house.
It doesn't have anything to do with him. Many voices, they had one voice.
And this is what they said. Hallelujah. That means praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord. Remember, we
looked at the word praise, and it means to narrate. That's what the word praise means.
Tell the story. Praise the Lord. Let's say something
good about our God. What are we going to say good
about our God? I'll tell you what we're going
to say. We're going to say what our God has said about Himself.
That's what we're going to say. I'm here tonight to repeat a
message that Almighty God has said concerning Himself. Hallelujah! This is the exclamation of the
much people in heaven, the sealed ones, been kept, protected from
the attacks of Satan, the one who would have taken them and
destroyed them. These are the everlastingly loved
ones of the Lord Jesus Christ, loved from the foundation of
the world, out of every nation and kindred and tribe and tongue.
These are the ones that Satan, the dragon himself, wanted to
destroy by the flood, you know, that came out of his mouth and
would have drowned the woman. But the earth helped her, drank
the lies in. And God in so doing gave men
exactly what they wanted and He protected His bride. These that have been redeemed
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and called effectually
by the Spirit of God and kept by the power of God through faith,
they cry forth, praise the Lord. Why? Why are they praising the
Lord? There are four reasons why, in
verse 1, that the great multitude cried hallelujah. Number one,
she says, salvation. Salvation. Salvation that is
all of grace. Salvation. That word salvation
means to rescue, to deliver. That's what it means. Salvation.
to rescue or to deliver the redeemed of heaven. They know that had
Almighty God not rescued them. Now, when you think of the meaning
of that word, and you think what the word rescue means, it means
that somebody was in trouble. Trouble. Delivered. Because they couldn't deliver
themselves. If a man falls off the deck of a ship,
and if that man could, by an exercise of his own will, put
himself back on the ship, that man's powerful. But if he's in
that water and he cannot rescue himself, someone's got to save
him. Salvation. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! for salvation, all
of grace. And secondly, hallelujah for
glory. Glory. For His dignity. His dignity. And you know, we've
looked at this word before. What does glory mean? To think. Hallelujah that Almighty God
thought to show mercy to one that needed mercy. Thank You,
Lord, hallelujah, that You purposed because it pleased You and had
this opinion to show mercy to a people and a compassion on
whomsoever You will. Thank You that You saved me by
Your grace. That's what God's people say.
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You that You
didn't leave me to my own Fickle thinking. Thank you that you
didn't leave me in my rebellion. Thank you that you had mercy
and compassion on me. Ephesians chapter 1. How many
times have we read this? Ephesians chapter 1. What does it say? Ephesians 1,
4 and 5. The saints are saying, Hallelujah.
for His glory, for His thinking. This is what God thought. He's
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will, the saints cry hallelujah for
Your glory. Hallelujah for Your opinion. Hallelujah for your thinking.
And then they said back in Revelation 19, 1, hallelujah to your honor,
your value. This word honor means value. Value. Hallelujah to Him, to
the inestimable value of Almighty God to His people. Honor. The same word honor. here in
Revelation 19-1. Hallelujah for His honor is the
same word precious in 1 Peter 2-7. "...Unto you therefore which
believe He is precious." Same word. Honor. Value. The honor. Thank You, Lord, for
Your value to me. How valuable is He to me? One day I'll know. I admit right
now. I thank Him, but I don't thank
Him as ought. How thankful am I to Almighty
God that He called me out of darkness. How thankful! One day
I'll know. When this time is no more, and
I see Him by sight, and no more by faith, and I behold Him in
that day, we'll know. Hallelujah! For your salvation
and your glory and your honor." And then, hallelujah, fourthly,
she said, to your power. To his might. And this word means
ability. Ability. Hallelujah to your ability
to accomplish that which you have purposed. This is what I
mean when I say, when men say that the Lord Jesus Christ went
to the cross and made salvation possible. He didn't make salvation
possible. He said you should call His name
Jesus because He will, He shall save His people. Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord, that You'd save
Your people. You know, in John 17, verse 2,
there's another word that's interpreted, power. Here it says, ability. In John 17, verse 2, it says
that thou hast given him power. That word power means the right,
the right to do it. One word in Revelation 19, verse
1, means the ability. to do it. I told someone the
difference is, I may have the ability to come up there and
slug you, but by law of this land, I don't
have the right to do that. See what I'm saying? There's
a difference in the ability and the right. Someone might say,
well, I think he's got the ability to do it if I will give him my
heart and give Him the right. No, no, no. He's got the ability
and He's got the right to do it. Thank You. Thank You, Lord,
for Your ability to call me out of darkness. And to whom does
this praise of hallelujah belong? I'll tell you who it is. Unto
the Lord our God. Our God. Turn over to John 8.42. John 8.42. Our God. In John 8.42, the Scripture says,
"...and Jesus said unto them, If..." Boy, and I'll tell you
this, that word right there qualifies this statement that he's about
to make. "...If God were your Father..." ye would love me."
Now, everybody is saying, well, God is our Father. God is the Father of all people. God is the Father. Well, the
Lord says, if God were you, Father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God, neither came I of myself, but He sent me. Look at 1 John. 1 John 5.1. 1 John. You know, men make claims,
I say, of God being their Father. I'm going to tell you something.
God is the Father in mercy and compassion to His sheep. 1 John 5.1 says, believeth that Jesus is the Christ,
is born of God, and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth
Him also that is begotten of Him." Almighty God has chosen
a people. And this is what He said. He
said, I will give them a new heart. And they shall be My people. And listen to this. And I'll
be their God. I'll be their God. Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor
and power unto the Lord our God. Now, this is who He is. He's God. John 1, 1, "...In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God." 1 Timothy. 316, and without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. Listen to this. Who is the Lord
Jesus Christ? The Scripture says God was manifest
in the flesh. God Himself. Almighty God. As the Apostle said, My Lord
and My God. My Master. Colossians 2.9 says, For in Him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." That is
to say, God in the completeness of His being. All that God is
and God requires, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Salvation, glory, honor, power
unto the Lord our God. We worship the Lord our God in
the trinity of His sacred persons. 1 John 5-7, there's three that
bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. They're united in the oneness
of the witness, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do
you explain that? I don't explain it. I say that's
the way it is. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost. We have no knowledge whatsoever
of the Father except as the Lord Jesus Christ hath declared Him,
revealed Him. Here is Christ, our divine Mediator,
who took upon Himself the form of the servant and was made in
the likeness of man. Humble Himself. God Himself. God. Humble Himself. John said we touched Him. I heard
Him. I heard Him speak. We held Him. Our hands have handled of the
Word of life. Christ Himself. All that the
Father says or gives to men is in the Lord Jesus Christ. All
that the Spirit says, He says of Christ Himself. It is our
God-made flesh who lived and died arose, intercedes, and reigns
in heaven as our Savior. And the saints say hallelujah.
Hallelujah for who He is. Verse 2, they said, For true
and righteous are His judgments. For He hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, hath avenged
the blood of His servants at her hand. Here's the reason for
the saints' praise of our Lord, our God. true, real and genuine. And righteous, holy are His judgments. God is true to His utterance. Whatsoever Almighty God has said
shall stand. No doubt. He cannot lie. And it's right for Him to punish
sin. God Himself. righteous, true
to His character? Was that character exhibited
more perfectly in the crucifixion? You think about the justice of
Almighty God. Christ Himself, the Scripture
says, made sin. Made sin. There He is. We said this morning, the substitute. There on that cross, in the place
of all His elect. Paul described this. We've said
before, he said, I'm crucified with Him. There is the perfect
substitute. Dying for the world of God's
elect. All the sheep. There they are.
All the sheep on the cross in a substitute. There He is. To you that believe, He's precious. There the judgment of Almighty
God, the wrath of God was spewed out on Him. He who was slain
before the foundation of the world in the purpose of Almighty
God. God has always looked upon His
own in favor because of the substitute, the surety. His judgments, His justice. Romans 3, 25 and 26 says, Whom
God has set forth for ordained to be a propitiation, an appeasement
through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness that
He might be just in the justifier of him which believeth. in Jesus. Hallelujah. True and righteous
are His judgments. Why? For He's judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication. God has
distinguished. He's judged her. I use this as
a courtroom scenario because it's easier for me to perceive.
We understand this. God's judged her. God has distinguished
her. This is who she is. God has tried
her against the law of His holiness, or the holiness of His law, and
found her to be wanting. It's like, you know, Bill Shatner. You've been weighed in the balance,
and you've been found wanting. God's distinguished her, tried
her, condemned her, and punished her, the great whore, because
of her habit of corrupting the earth with her fornication. Though
men might think that any religious teaching has some good in it,
here's the fact. Because of the fornication, the
unfaithfulness of this great whore, the association of pagan
blasphemies and idolatries, these doctrines of devils, listen,
whatever is not of this doctrine that we're preaching, The doctrine
of free grace, sovereign, saving grace is doctrines of devils.
It's a lie on Almighty God. And God's going to deal with
it. All teaching is not according to the Gospel of Christ. All
that profess to adhere to Christianity and not according to this truth,
it's a lie. God has avenged the blood of
His servants at her hand. God has exacted what that means. The exact vengeance for the blood
of His servants. They had cried back in Revelation
6.10. They cried with a loud voice saying, O Lord, how long,
true and faithful, how long do you not judge and avenge? That
means retaliate. How long, Lord, before you retaliate? How long before you punish? How
long before you avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
The time has come. It's short. All men left to themselves
as they are born in Adam, they despise Almighty God. You know, I've said that. I've
heard many say that truthfully. That is the truth. Man by nature
hates this God. They love the God that they can
deal with on their own terms. But they don't love the God that
they cannot deal with on their own terms. They love a God that
they can manipulate and bargain with. Lord, if you'll get me
out of this mess one more time, I promise you, I promise you,
I will never... You're a liar. You are a liar. And I am too. You don't bargain
with God. You don't bargain with Him like
He said, okay, now, I'm going to give you one more chance.
As Glenn told me one time, he used to tell his kids, alright,
I'm going to give you just 20 more chances. And that's it. God doesn't
bargain. He's a just God. The soul that sins, gone. Gone. Amen. left to themselves as found in
Adam hates God." Listen to this Scripture, Matthew 6.24. No man
can serve two masters, for either he'll hate the one and love the
other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon. And I know we've always heard
that referred to as money. And very well, I'm sure money
is is probably part of it, but that mammon means a thing to
be trusted, something to be trusted. Whether you think it's yourself
or your ability or your free will or whatever, you cannot
serve God and yourself. Mammon, this world. So whether
it was literally the shedding of the blood of the saints as
we've read about in times past where men were martyred like
Stephen, was that we're looking at in Acts on Wednesday, or whether
the hating of God's people, and God Almighty considers hating
to be murder. If a man hates a man in his heart,
he's a murderer. You know, now you think about
this. Somebody says, I don't hate anybody.
Well, let's just look at it real quickly like this. I won't stay
here but a second. What is it to love somebody? What is it to love somebody? The bottom line to love is truthfulness. Truthful. If you love somebody,
you're truthful with them. If someone doesn't really, it
doesn't matter to you, if they don't really mean that much to
you, you'll lie to them. You'll lie to them. Truthfulness. Love your neighbor. I told somebody
yesterday, I said, Brother Scott Richardson has loved his neighbors
in this community. God placed him in this place.
Almighty God placed him here as a pastor 50 years. He's loved
this part of the country. A lot of parts of the country.
Why? Because he's truthful. You tell him the truth. Love
your neighbor. Somebody says, I don't even know
who they are. Truthful. Be truthful. A man that hates
someone lies to him. A man that stands in pulpits
and lies on God hates God. He hates Him. If he lies on God,
he hates God and he hates everybody he's talking to. He hates Him. Somebody said it's a little strong.
The Scripture says, either. No man can serve two masters. Either he'll hate one and love
the other, or else he'll hold to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and bow to Him in submission by a new
heart and serve something else to be trusted. You cannot do
it. You see, our problem is that
we just interpret the words just a little bit less stringently
than God does. You can't. So now this great
whore is being judged. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That was the first reason that
hallelujah was cried because of salvation and glory and honor
and power unto the Lord our God. But secondly, and I'll hurry
on this last point, it says in verse 3, and again, they said,
hallelujah. And her smoke rose up forever
and ever. The voice of much people cried,
hallelujah, praise Jehovah in verse 1 for His salvation and
His glory and His honor and His power, His dignity to disclose
His will and His purpose to show mercy and compassion on a chosen
people and His worth by the shed blood paying their guilt, His
honor. But here a second hallelujah
goes up, and it's because of the smoke that rose up forever
and ever. This is probably, as I said this
morning, going to be one of the most sobering thoughts that you'll
ever think. But, it's truthful. to the facts that are revealed
by the Spirit of God concerning all those who have been redeemed
by the blood of Christ or left to themselves. In this day of God's great judgments,
we behold so much that is going on in this world that we cannot
perceive the depth thereof. But just like the saints of God
cry hallelujah without hesitation for the faithfulness of Almighty
God in salvation, they also shall cry hallelujah when God judges
all that He has left to themselves. Now, I'm going to share something
with you. I am without hesitation, and I believe this with all my
heart. I think the Scripture clearly
sets forth from David's confession when his little infant child
died. I am convinced that the great
majority of the throng of heaven, a number that no man can number,
shall be made up of children that died in infancy, that Almighty
God showed mercy to. David said concerning that child,
and he didn't say that because all Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. That wasn't just an off-the-cuff
statement when David said, He can't come back to me, but I
can go to Him. I believe that Almighty God has in His infinite
wisdom Shown mercy. And I think that that's the majority.
Because the Scripture says out of every nation and kindred and
tribe and tongue, God's got a people. But there are those, and only
God Almighty knows, those that have been left to themselves.
The tares among the wheat. I don't know who they are. And
for that, I'm thankful that God has not taught me things such
as that nature. The secret things, the Scripture
says, belong to the Lord our God. But those things that are
revealed belong to us. But there are some truths that
set forth, and this is one of them right here. God's people
are not insensitive. God's people are caring people. I pray, Almighty God, call, I've
got many in my family that I pray God will show mercy to. and call
them out of darkness. I pray He does. Times will go
through, and I'll think on some within my family, and I'll think,
what if they left this world today? Well, based on what I
see and what I know concerning their insensitivity and their
lack of love for the God that we serve, this is my summation
of it. If someone were to ask me, do
you think they know the Lord? I'd say, well, based on the insensitivity
that they have toward the Gospel, based upon their expression of
having no concern for the God that this Bible sets forth, my
thoughts would be, I don't think so. No, I don't think so. In
that day, the Scripture sets forth that we'll see Him as He
is. And we'll be like Him. And we'll
know Him. No more presence of sin. No more
flesh to deal with. We'll see Him and have the mind
of Almighty God to bow to what God says is so. The Scripture sets forth in that
day that God's people will cry hallelujah when God puts all
rebels in hell. If Almighty God, I've related
to you, my brother, I've got a brother, some of you have met
him, you know him, Gene, my brother, who as far as I know, knows nothing
of the gospel. And I pray God show mercy to
him. Call him out of darkness. But if God leaves him to himself
in that day, when Almighty God puts him in hell, I'll say hallelujah. In that day when Almighty God
puts Absalom in hell, Absalom that David prayed for and said,
Oh, Absalom, Absalom. In that day, every mother Every
dad and children that know God, praise God Almighty, show mercy
to them, call them out of darkness. In that day, every mom and every
dad left to themselves, every boy, every girl that Almighty
God has not shown mercy to, all the saints of God are going to
say, praise the Lord. You're right. You're right. Does Almighty God do that which
is right? Yes. Now, I know this is a sobering
thought. I know it is. But do you think
God is not going to do that which is right? The judge of all this
world is going to do right. And God's people will say, Hallelujah. He is faithful to His Word. He is faithful. He is faithful. Faithfulness. God said the soul
of sin is going to die. Psalm 89.8, O Lord God of hosts,
who is a strong Lord, likened to Thee, to Thy faithfulness. Faithful. There's two sides to
that coin. If He's chosen to show mercy
to you, He's faithful. He's faithful. The Scripture
says that He's loved His people with an everlasting love. You
were born in Adam came forth from your mother's womb speaking
lies of rebel against Almighty God? How long did you live in
rebellion against God, left to yourself, dead in trespasses
and sins? But if He set His affection on
you, brother Scott, it didn't matter how long you walked on
this earth. If God chose to show mercy, it's faith. He said in Isaiah 7.14, Behold,
a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel. Faithful. In the fullness of
time, this One brought forth a virgin, and His name was called
Jesus. Why? He shall save His people
from their sins. Faithful. He hath made Him, 2
Corinthians 5, verse 21, He hath made Him to be sin who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He is faithful. And in due season,
He shall call all His own out of spiritual darkness and give
them a new heart, a willing heart to hear Him, to love Him, to
come to Him. Thy people shall, shall, shall
be willing in the day of your power. His power. Paul said,
when it pleased God who called me out of darkness into His marvelous
light, all that come to Christ, listen
to this, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that comes by faith I will in no wise cast him out.
He's faithful. God's people have two reasons
to praise the Lord. Salvation and glory and honor
and power unto the Lord our God. And secondly, when Almighty God
casts the great whore into everlasting darkness and binds her hands
and foot, God's people are going to say, Lord, You're right. You're right. You're just and
You're righteous. Amen.