It's amazing, as Carl got up
and made the statements that he did, I was sitting there thinking
how much I do appreciate the songs that Gary picks out
and goes over. Singing is worship. We worship these songs that look
at the words. We don't want to sing anything
disrespectfully. I appreciate it. To those of
you. My too, Margaret, thank you.
Ruthie, Clem, Bill, Glenn, all of you, thank you. I appreciate
you. I appreciate the privilege that
I have to be able to be with you. Carl was reading, and I thought
to myself, what a great blessing that the Lord would allow me
the privilege to be moved to Katy, West Virginia. What an
honor to be able to be here. Enjoy worshiping with you. Be
thankful for your faithfulness. The Lord kept you and kept me. Revelation 14. I'd like to look at verses 6
to 12 tonight. I've entitled this, Three Grand
Announcements. John had just viewed the Lamb
after looking at chapter 13, seeing the trials and the judgments
that God has... I say judgments, the chastisements
that the Lord allows His people graciously to go through. And
he saw, in the first portion we looked at this morning, a
lamb standing on Mount Zion. The entire number of all God's
elect having His Father's name written in their foreheads. They
all with one voice sang a new song. It was the voice of many
waters. new song as we looked at this
morning in its quality, in its revelation. And the only ones
that could sing that song from the heart were those that had
learned it, been taught by the Spirit of God. And the Scripture
revealed them to be pure. They were not defiled. with women, not soiled, that
is to say they have been kept by the grace of God from the
illicit spiritual adultery of a great harlot, the mother of
mystery, Babylon. And they follow the Lamb obediently
whether so ever He goes, wherever He leads them. That is where
they are. And these are bought, they're
redeemed, paid for by the precious blood of the Lamb out of the
nations, all of the nations and the tongues. And these are referred
to as being without guile. They're guiltless before Almighty
God having viewed them. He views them in the person of
His Son. He looks at them. Christ. Marvel of all marvels. Now John
sees something else. He sees another, starting in
verse 6. He said, 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. Now, this angel is not, we don't
need to suppose that this is just one individual person, but
it's symbolic or representative of all, I say of all, of God's
preachers, of all the gospel preachers, preachers of the gospel
who preach of the angel himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, the messenger,
the prophet of God himself. But also in this part that we're
going to look at, he said he sees an angel in verse 6, and
then it says another angel in verse 7 saying Babylon is fallen,
then in verse 9, a third angel. followed them crying with a loud
voice, if any man worshiped." Three manifestations of angels. But they are angels that preach
of the angel, the Lord Jesus Christ. But as we think of these
three angels, we think of the triune God that sets forth, sends
forth the Father that chose a people, the Son that redeemed His people,
the Spirit of God and calls out His people. But John sees this
angel in the midst of heaven. The church herself. Remember, we look and if you'll
think, every time when you see heaven, I know we always think
of up when we think of heaven. You know, we think up. And the
Lord ascended up into the clouds and it took Him. The Lord's throne,
where He resides, that's heaven. Where He is, that's heaven. I use that illustration that
it was a Scripture. You remember when Moses came
on the mountain, there was the burning bush. The Lord spoke
to him out of the burning bush, a little bramble bush. And there,
God spoke to him and He said, Moses, remove your feet where
you're standing. That's holy ground. Why? Because
that's where God is. That's where the Lord manifested
himself. Well, in the midst of heaven,
this angel was preaching, the scripture says, the everlasting
gospel. While in the midst of Satan trying
to destroy the woman, the bride, with his flood of lies, there
is the everlasting gospel. Now you just stop and think about
that just for a minute. Think about the situation here. I know and I've said to many
of you, I do definitely understand how men would say, do you mean
to tell me in your arrogance that you think that you're the
only one preaching the truth in this area? Yes, I do. Yeah, I really do. That's not
arrogance. I mean, I believe that by faith.
I believe this is the message of God's grace in this area right
here. There's other places. I know
this in West Virginia where the gospel is being preached. But
as far as I know, in Katy and Fairmont and this area, Bridgeport,
wherever we are, this place right here, I don't know of another
one that's being preached. The passage that Brother Carl
just read, It's if any man have not this doctrine, this truth
concerning Christ, he's not of God. This is an amazing thought,
but it's the truth right here in the midst of lies everywhere
that Almighty God would allow the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the everlasting gospel. That's what John said, in the
midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel. Why is it everlasting? Well, first of all, Romans 1.1
says it's the gospel of God. And He's the eternal God and
He doesn't change. It's the everlasting gospel. He never changes. Therefore,
His gospel never changes. The declaration of what He has
done in the person of His blessed Son And it's everlasting in its
merit. It's everlasting in its effect.
The suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ is the everlasting truth,
eternal. His blood shall ever answer God's
truth. And this angel was said to fly
in the midst of heaven. In the midst of heaven, having
the ever lasting gospel in mid-heaven, is what it's saying, in the middle,
in the middle of heaven. Here, this everlasting gospel
is shown to be free, unhindered. He's flying. He's just flying
and He can't be stopped. He's not hindered. No stalemate
is put on Him. This angel, this proclamation,
whenever the Lord Jesus Christ has purposed to send his gospel,
it flies. It's there. If God's purpose
is to raise up the gospel right here, do you know how long it
will remain here? As long as He's purposed for
it to be here. And it doesn't matter. God Almighty, if He's
pleased to do so, will send a faithful gospel preacher for 50 years,
and if He's pleased to do so, He'll send another one. But God
Almighty sends His Word where He purposes to send it. But do
you know what happens if God is not pleased to remain and
have His Word proclaimed in place? It is over. This Gospel is preached
in the midst of heaven. This same angel that we look
at, see right here, we are reminded of of the cherubim. Remember
the Lord Jesus Christ, the manifestation of Christ Himself. One of them
had the face of an eagle flying through preaching the same gospel
that's preached then, is preached now. It's never changed. The
gospel that God Almighty preached to Adam. When He took the animal
and slew that animal and covered Adam and Eve with the skins,
The gospel that was preached right there is the gospel that
is preached tonight. The same gospel, everlasting
gospel. And to whom is this everlasting
gospel preached? Well, it says that it is preached
unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred
and tongue and people. Why? Because God has a people
that is in every nation and kindred. and tongue and people." Every
tribe, every place, it's out of these areas that the Lord
has chosen a people. And all of His elect shall hear
the gospel. They must hear the gospel. Is it necessary to hear the gospel? Absolutely. Without the hearing
of the gospel, faith cometh by hearing, as some that say, It
is not necessary to hear the Gospel. If you're one of God's
elect, you don't have to hear the Gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ
says, go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. Faith cometh
by hearing. But don't think that this Gospel
is just left to chance. Believe me when I tell you, based
on the Word of God, God's sheep shall hear His voice. They will. If the Lord has to send one of
His preachers out of Jerusalem into the desert and cross His
path while an Ethiopian eunuch is out in the middle of a desert,
if He's chosen that one unto salvation, He will get him. He
will. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
is all of grace. And it is by this everlasting
gospel that God's people, that they are given instruction that
is powerfully and effectually imparted to them by the Spirit
of God. The Holy Ghost blesses this gospel
in due season to the objects of God's mercy And compassionately,
He comes to them with a loud voice. That's what verse 7 says.
Here was this angel preaching in the midst of heaven, having
the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth
and to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. That's what
we're doing tonight. And myself, I can say to myself,
well, I don't see myself or look upon myself as being an angel. But remember, angel means a messenger. It's a messenger. The Lord referred
to those stars. You remember the candlesticks?
He said these are the seven churches and the stars. These are the
angels. The messengers. God gives a messenger. He sends a preacher. And what
happens is here in the midst of heaven, in the place where
God has resided and been pleased to raise up a hearing of His
Word, we preach. the everlasting gospel, saying
in verse 7 with a loud voice, Fear God, 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. Now, this is the message. This is the instruction. This
is the voice of the shepherd to the sheep. And what does that
voice of power say? And what does it accomplish?
Now you listen to this instruction. Here he was preaching the everlasting
gospel. And this is what he was saying
with a loud voice. Fear God. Revere God. This, the Scripture says, is
the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord. The reverence
for Almighty God. The respect, Freddie, that's
given for God Almighty. Fear Him. Reverence Him. The
reverence that a man or a woman possesses concerning Almighty
God and His gospel, the respect of that gospel, the love for
that gospel, the hearing of that gospel. They love it. They want to be where it is.
They want to be with God's people. They want to hear it. Why? Because they fear God. Almighty
God. That's that first fruit. That's
that principal thing that's known when Christ is enthroned, when
He actually resides within. Christ in you. The hope of glory. This is what it says. Fear God. And I realize that a man or a
woman of themselves cannot drum this up. There's no respect.
There's no fear of God. Leave a man to himself, he doesn't
have any reverence whatsoever. for the Lord God Himself. But
you let God give him a new heart. And He does fear him. He does.
Give glory to Him. Give praise. Give worship. That's the continual manifestation
of a new heart. Give glory. You know, I've told
you that whenever you see the word glory, the base word for
the word glory is opinion. Remember, I told you that before.
Moses said to the Lord, Show me your glory. Show me your opinion. And the
Lord answered. He said, I'm going to cause all
my goodness to pass before you. Here is my opinion. The Lord
said, I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. That's my opinion. I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. Give glory to Him. That opinion of the new heart,
the new man, is one of praise and honor and respect because
of God's opinion of that man in Christ. We have a love for
Him. Why? Because He first loved us. We didn't love Him first. He
loved us first and gave Himself. And the reason that men fear
God and give glory to Him is because the Lord God Himself
has mercifully chosen to not leave His remnant according to
grace to themselves to have to face the Lord Jesus Christ as
the judge. That's what it says. Saying with
a loud voice, fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of
His judgment is come. Abraham asked the Lord back in
Genesis 18. He said, Shall not the judge
of all the earth do right? He shall. God Almighty is a just
God. And what is He going to do with
sin? He's going to judge it. The soul that sinneth, where
sin is found, God's going to judge it. How is it that God
Almighty can look in mercy and compassion as a just God and
find one to be just before Him, justified? It's because that
one in the person of His substitute has had his sin taken and charged
to another. There's no condemnation to this
one because God has taken His guilt, put it on His Son, and
judged His Son for it. Therefore, having His righteousness
charged to them, there's no condemnation. They're without guile. There's
no sin to judge in them. Now, I understand the remnants,
the presence of this flesh and this body. We have a body called
the body of flesh, the old man. And it's never going to be improved.
It's never going to be made better. It doesn't get better. It never
will get better. It's going to die one of these
days, go into the ground. But that new man, that new man
will go to be with Him. That new mind, that new creation,
that rebirth. Worship Him. that made heaven
and earth and the seas and the fountains of water, and this
the Regenerate does. He does it in the person of His
blessed Savior and does it perfectly as He is perfect. In this body
we worship and serve Him with our mind, but oh, what a struggle
we face as we wore with our flesh that old man that Paul says serves
the law of sin. Saying with a loud voice, fear
God, give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is come
and worship Him that made heaven and earth, the seas and the fountains
of water. And there followed then 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. John sees here another angel,
which is actually the preaching of the same gospel, but it reveals
the results of judgment from Him that is to be feared and
gloried in and worshiped. Here is the result of judgment
from Him, the power of Satan's temporal authority. And that's
what it is. You know it is. See, all power
is given to the Son. All power. So therefore, if He
has all power, who else has any? None. None. Only that delegated
power that the Lord Jesus Christ delegates for the accomplishment
of the purpose of Almighty God. So this temporal power that Satan
possesses for just a little while, it's going to be thwarted, believe
me. That first beast of the world's
kingdoms and that second beast of the world's religion is going
to be destroyed. In fact, look at the wording
here. There followed another angel saying, Babylon... Now
look, it doesn't say is going to fall. Babylon is going to
fall. It says Babylon is falling. It is fallen. That Babylon, the
city that is a type of tyranny and oppression and rebellion
against Almighty God, the mother of abominations, is fallen. Is fallen. That truth is repeated
to set forth the confirmation and the certainty of it. It is
absolutely so. I've heard men blasphemously
say that, you know, there's a war that's going on and the Lord
in His corner, and Satan in his corner. There is no corners. I tell you, Almighty God is God. He is on His throne, and He is
doing as He will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth. That is exactly what is happening. And He is working all things. Man, there is one thing, Carl,
I wish I could get a hold of, too. He's working all things. Boy, how quickly I forget that.
Every time something comes up, it becomes a major issue with
me. If I could just be taught, teach
me to trust. That's what it is. Teach me to
trust. But I will tell you this, those
times of teaching, in my flesh, I know they're painful. how good
they are. David said, You have dealt well
with me. You have taught me. Why can I
say without a shadow of a doubt that Babylon is falling? Because the I Am has said that
it is so. Babylon is falling. And why shall
Babylon fall? Babylon is fallen and fallen,
that great city. Why? Look here. Because she hath
made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Because she did that, she is
fallen. Now, I want you to turn to Jeremiah.
I want you to look at this. This is an amazing passage of
Scripture to me. You know, as I said a moment
ago, we so often, read and we think of the struggles. And we
know in our heart by faith that all things are well. We know
that. But boy, how we struggle with
the battle that goes on. The Scripture says, we just read,
it says, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because
she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication. Now let me ask you this. Is that
what Scripture says? She did. Look over in Jeremiah
51 and verse 7. Babylon hath been a golden cup
in the Lord's hand that made all the earth drunken. The nations
have drunken of her wine. Therefore, the nations are mad,
and Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed, how for her take
balm of her pain, if so be she may be healed. Now let me ask
you this, does the scripture say that Babylon is fallen because
she made all the nations drink of the wine of her fornication?
Does Jeremiah 51.7 say Babylon hath been a golden cup? In whose
hands? In the Lord's hands. You see
that capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D? That means Jehovah,
the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit. She is a golden cup
in the Lord's hands. She is a vessel in the hand of
Almighty God that gives the wicked exactly what she desires. Man, by nature, will not receive. We've gone over this so many
times. Man will not receive the love of the truth. Will not. Leave a man, leave a woman to
themselves. You leave the world, the order
of man, to themselves. And they will not receive the
love of the truth. Leave the world to itself. The world. The order of man. The world. But God so loved the
order of man. I brought this aside. Those that
feel John 3.16 proves, you know, free willism, Arminianism. God so loved the order of man
that He sent His only begotten Son. The order of man and out
of it, out of the nations, tribes, and kindreds, and tongues, God
chose some out of every one of them. There is not one tribe
or nation or tongue or people that God doesn't have a people
in. Every one of them. God has a
chosen and elect people. And He sent His only begotten
Son. And whosoever believes on Him, and whosoever. Well, you know who they are.
All that the Father gave the Son. That's what the Son said
in John 17. You know. I've given Your Word
to everyone that You gave Me. They'll all come. All the sheep,
all that the Father hath given me, what? Dund shall come to
me. They shall come to me. But you
leave a man or a woman to themselves, and this is what they're going
to do. They will drink of the wine of the abomination of the
great harlot. They will do it. And Jeremiah
51 says that Babylon is a golden cup in God's hand accomplishing
exactly what Almighty God has justly done. If He leaves a man
to himself to do what that man wants to do, God must judge him
because he is a just God. So Babylon Because Babylon has
caused all the nations to drink of the wine of her wrath and
indignation. She's fallen. But you remember
this, Babylon is in the hands of Almighty God. She's a golden
cup in the Lord's hand, accomplishing God's purpose and God's will. I told someone one time, you
know the thing about it is, we think too lightly of Him. We
think too lowly of Him. My question to someone is this,
as Paul the Apostle says, who art thou, old man, that replies
against God? We think foolishly in our false,
darkened mind that the Lord says, you thought that I was a God
like you are. Your way is not my way. This
is God. This is who. Worship Him. That's
what that angel says. It preaches that everlasting
God. You fear God. You reverence Him. You respect
Him. And you give glory to Him for
the hour of His judgment. Turn over to Revelation 17.4.
Revelation 17.4 now, look here. It says, Revelation 17.4, "...the
woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold
and precious stones, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations
and filthiness and fornications." false religion thinks that she's
in control. But Jeremiah has set forth who
God is. But you remember this. Psalm
7610 says the wrath of man is going to praise God. He's God. Babylon is God's means and His
tool to break in pieces all rebellion against Himself. Babylon hates
God. She hates Christ. She hates His
Spirit. She makes all the nations unsealed
by God Himself and protected from her lies to be drunk with
her wine of rebellion and spiritual fornication. And the Lord is
going to destroy her. That first angel preached the
everlasting gospel. Another angel declared Babylon's
fall. And now in these next couple
of verses or so, verses 9 to 11, we're going to hear the certainty
and the details of God's judgment and wrath from this third angel. It says the third angel in verse
9 followed them saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the
beast and his image and receive his mark in his forehead or his
hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without mixture into 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 their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they
have no rest day or night who worship the beast in his image,
and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." The gospel that
is preached by God's messengers, God's preachers, they proclaim
in verse 7 what was said there, Worship Him that made heaven,
the earth, the seas, and the fountains of water. Isn't that,
even in that right there, and I don't want to make a great
discourse, but on that fountains of water, those places of refreshment. That's what we enjoy there. This
feast, this wedding feast that we're enjoying, these fountains
of water, places of refreshment. And the Scripture says, those
that receive not the love of the truth, if any man worships
the beast, if any man worships that false religious beast, worships
or kiss the hand of the God of his imagination, the God that
raises himself up and makes that person think that he's a God
that speaks and lives. If any man receives, the Scripture
says, the mark in his forehead, if any man doesn't have a mind
or a heart or a soul for Christ and the name of blasphemy is
written in that man's head, the same shall drink of the wrath
of Almighty God. Well, men take pleasure in the
drinking of the intoxicating wine of idolatry and spiritual
fornication. They take pleasure in that now. They find great relief and enjoyment. But the drinking of that wine,
of the intoxicating wine of the great whore, they shall, the
Scripture says, taste the drink of His wrath, of His fierceness,
of His passion and His indignation. And this wrath, the Scripture
says, shall be poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation. Now, I got to thinking about
that. It shall be poured out without mixture. Now, I want
you to turn with me to Psalm 75a. Psalm 75, verse 8. Psalm 75, verse 8 says, For in
the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red, and
it is full of mixture, and he poureth out the same. Now, there's a statement right
there. God says He's got a cup in His hand. The wine is red.
It's full of mixture. And He pours out the same. But
then there's something else that's added. But the dregs thereof
and all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink
them. Now, just hold your finger right
there. And we're going to go back and
we're going to find in the Scriptures that it says here that there
is a cup that Almighty God is going to have, and they're going
to drink without mixture in Revelation. Psalms says there is a cup that
is to be drunk of, and it has a mixture. Well, what is being
said right here? has reference to actually the
lot of a person. God's providential dealings with
a man. The sufferings of the Lord Jesus
Christ was referred to by Him as a cup. In Matthew 20, 22,
Jesus answered and said, You know not what ye ask. Are ye
able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and be baptized
with the baptism that I am baptized with. Remember when he was in
the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26, 39. Oh, my father, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me. So cup there speaks
of providence. God's dealing. That's your lot. The cup that he drinks of. Now, back in Psalm 75, it says
in the hands of the Lord, there is a cup. There is providential
dealings. There is a lot that is a lot. And the wine is red. It is filled
with chastening. It is full of mixture. Back in
Revelation, this one is without mixture. This one has a mixture.
What is the difference? Well, the mixture in Psalm 75a
speaks of the preparation of the Lord God Himself to every
man that He looks upon in mercy and grace according to His wisdom
and will. And God pours out this wine mixed
with mercy, mixed with compassion. We go through things in this
world. Whom the Lord loves, He chastens. I don't know why we spoke of
some of these that we so dearly love and respect. I was thinking
about my mind can be shared with you. I was thinking about Brother
Todd and Brother Donnie and Brother Maurice and these others that
are going through. And you know, when we go through
these times of trial, They're grievous. No trial, Paul
says, for the moment. No trial is easy. It's tough. But when we realize that these
things that we go through, the cup that we drink of, it has
the mixture, the mixture of His mercy and grace in it, and we
drink it, and we drink it because He gives us to drink of it. It
is our cup. It is our lot. And what we're
taught and what He accomplishes is according to His infinite
wisdom. That's why that verse I quoted
a while ago when David says, you've dealt well with me. I wouldn't ask, because I'm just
honest with you, I wouldn't ask to go through some of the things
I've gone through again, I wouldn't request them again, but I wouldn't
take anything for them. Would you? Would you change the
things if you could? No, you wouldn't. No, you wouldn't.
You know that the Lord's done all things. There is a cup, and
it's a mixture. Oh, but the Scripture says, but
the dregs. There's no mixture of grace and
mercy in that. God's just. Fair. the dregs, the settlings, that's
the wine of His wrath poured out. Now, back in Revelation,
now look back at this scripture right here. It's poured out in
verse 10, the same, all of them, look at now, the third angel
followed them, said with a loud voice, if any man worships the
beast and his image and receive his mark in his forehead or his
hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God
which is poured out, look there, without mixture into the cup. of His indignation. That one
has no mercy, no grace. God said, I'll be merciful to
whom I will be merciful. I will show compassion to whom
I'll show compassion. But to whom I will, what does
He say? I'll harden. I'll leave them
to themselves. A man that drinks the cup of
the rebellion against Almighty God is going to drink of his
wrath without mixture. The Lord's people, they drink. They drink back in Psalm 75. They drink of the mixture of
His chastenings that He sends because He loves them. They drink
of His blood. That's what the Lord said. You
drink My blood. You eat My flesh and drink My
blood. You're part of Me. David said
in Psalms 116.13, I'll take the cup of salvation. and call upon
the name of the Lord. My lot! He's given me a lot. It's the cup of salvation. And
thankfully, I'll drink of that. But what is the reason for the
Lord's people never having to drink of the dregs of His wrath? Why is it that His elect turn
over to Isaiah 51? Isaiah 51. Why is it that God's people shall
not drink of the dregs of His wrath? The Scripture says, Thus
Isaiah 51, 22, Thus saith thy Lord the Lord,
and thy God that pleadeth the cause of His people, Behold,
I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the
dregs of the cup of my fury, thou shalt no more drink it again."
You want to hear some good news. For God's people, for those that
He has everlastingly loved, He drank the dregs of the wrath
of God dry for you, you that believe. You that He's everlastingly
loved. You that He's purposed to reveal
Himself to and teach you by His grace and mercy. And back in Revelation 14, it
says they'll drink and He'll be tormented. The last part of
verse 10. He'll be tormented with fire
and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels. and in the
presence of the Lamb. I'm going to say a few words
on this verse. I've got a couple more verses
that I'd prepared in this, but we'll just pick it up. He shall
be tormented, the Scripture says. God's fire, the fire of heaven. He'll be tormented, the Scripture
says, with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels
and in the presence of the Lamb. Turn over to Revelation 19. Revelation 19, let's read verses
1 to 6. Tormented in the presence of
the Lamb who is the Judge, and tormented in the presence of
His holy angels, His servants, as witnesses. Revelation 19,
and we'll deal with this more fully when we get there, it says,
After these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven
saying, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power
unto the Lord our God, for true and righteous are His judgments.
For He hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth
with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of His servants
at her hand. And again they said, Hallelujah.
And her smoke rose up forever and ever. And the four and twenty
elders and the four beasts fell down to worship God that sat
on the throne saying, Amen, Hallelujah. And a voice came out of the throne
saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear
Him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many waters, as
the voice of mighty thundering saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth. The Scripture reveals that there
is going to be for all those that drink of the wine of the
fornications of false religion, that they are going to drink
the dregs without mixture of God's wrath. And the Scripture
says they'll be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels, in the presence of the Lamb. Listen, do you have
any idea, any inkling, I pray God give me a heart, to just
stop for just a moment and say, Lord, thank you. Thank you. for showing mercy to one such
as I am. I have nothing in myself to glory
in. If any man glory, Paul says,
let him glory in the Lord. That God Almighty did not leave
you to yourself is indescribable mercy. Grace. That the Lord would
reveal Himself to you and to tell you I chose to show you
mercy. I know, Ben, men hear this. I
know they hear this message and they hate it. But think to yourself,
if God left a man to himself, people say everybody ought to
have a chance. Everybody had a chance in Adam. And Adam revealed what every
man would do if God left him to himself. Everybody ought to
have a free will to be able. I'm telling you that Adam, as
the representative of all mankind, revealed before all mankind what
a man will do. No, you don't want God to lead
you to yourself. Believe me, you don't. And God's people know
that they don't. They say, Lord, You're worthy. Worthy to receive honor, glory,
praise. and cast their crowns before
Him, and cry unto Him day and night, and thank Him and praise
Him? I know my foolish mind has thought
sometimes, how is it that I will go through eternity continually,
continually, continually praising Him? You know why I even have
that question that enters my mind? It's because of the presence
of sin that's with me. because I see through a glass
darkly. Leaving this world and seeing Him face to face, the
Scripture says, I will praise Him forever and ever and forever. Thank Him for His mercy that
He's shown to this sinner.