That's the only four things I
need to know. Justified, sanctified, pardoned,
and glorified. Turn with me now, if you would,
to Revelation 17. Revelation 17, I'll let you take
the time on your own to read through these chapters if you'd
like to take the time to do that. Our Lord has said much in here
that He has not explained. And He has every right to do
that. He has every right to do that. He owes no one an explanation. No one. All he has to do is declare
it and his people will believe it whether they understand it
or not. So with that being said, I'm
not going to try to explain the things that he has not explained. I'm just gonna continue our picture
of Christ with the things that he has explained. Last time we
left chapter 16 with the accomplishment of the cross. That's what we
looked at last time. From the moment that our Lord
entered the wine press of God's wrath in chapter 14, to the moment that he cried at
the end of chapter 16, verse 17, the last three words of chapter
16, verse 17 are, it is done. It is finished. At that moment,
all of God's works were accomplished. They were all accomplished. And that is what our Lord said
to his father. He said, I have finished the
work you gave me to do. It's done. It is done. Hebrews 4 verse 10 says, we can
rest from all of our works now. And I love that message. I love
that message. I love being able to tell people
that that's my favorite thing to tell people. You don't have
to work anymore. I would love for more people
to enter into that. You don't have to work anymore.
You don't have to work for your salvation anymore. We can rest
now from all of our works because God has rested from his. So that's where we are in our
picture, this picture of Christ. The cross has just been accomplished. And we're gonna see what that
accomplishment accomplished. All right, what the accomplishment
brought. And this word says, this is what
it brought. It brought judgment to the blasphemer. It brought victory to the lamb. It brought union to the people
of God with Christ. And it brought a resurrection
from the dead to eternal life, eternal life. That's what it
brought. That's what the accomplishment
accomplished. Now chapter 17, verse 1, it says,
there came one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials, and
talked with me, saying unto me, come hither, I will show unto
thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many
waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,
and the inhabitants of the earth had been made drunk with the
wine of her fornication. That is false religion. That's
what that is. That is false religion. That's
the blasphemy of the adversary who has seduced the world with
his lies of false religion, works religion, something other than
Christ, whatever it may be. The accomplishment of the cross
brought judgment to the blasphemer. And that judgment is accomplished. That accomplishment accomplished
it. That judgment is accomplished.
Hold your place right here and turn over to John 16. This is
where we were this morning. John chapter 16. Verse eight says, And when he is calm, he will
reprove or convince the world of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment of sin, because they believe not on me of righteousness,
because I go to my father and you see me no more. of judgment
because the Prince of this world is judged. Is judged. That judgment is over and He
knows it. It's over and He knows it. Now
go back to Revelation 17. The accomplishment of the cross
brought judgment to the blasphemer and it brought victory to the
Lamb. Verse 14, if you look at revelation
17 verse 14, it says, these shall make war with the lamb and the
lamb shall overcome them for he is Lord of Lords and King
of Kings. And they that are with him are
called and chosen and faithful. He is. Victory to the Lamb is
accomplished. He is Lord and he is King. Hold your place again and turn
with me to Psalm 98. Psalm 98, verse one, it says, Oh, sing unto the Lord a new
song for he hath done marvelous things. His right hand and his
holy arm hath gotten him the victory. His own right hand and
His own holy arm hath gotten Him the victory. Don't you just
love the finished, settled victory of the Lord Jesus Christ? I love
how dogmatic it is. Hath gotten Him the victory.
He has it. Look with me at Psalm 24. This is our Lord's ascension
after He was raised and ascended back up to His Father. Psalm
24, verse 7, Heaven cried, Lift up your heads,
O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the
King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your
heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the
King of glory. I can't wait to hear heaven cry
that much less a sinful man, but he is, that's what was accomplished
in the accomplishment of the cross. When he accomplished the
cross, that's what he accomplished. He, he became obedient unto death. And because of that, God the
Father has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is
above every name. And I love the name. It is King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now go with me back to Revelation. Chapter 18 continues to describe
the judgment of false religions' idolatry. It's going to be a
great judgment. But chapter 19 verse 1 says, And after these things I heard
a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Hallelujah. That means praise ye the Lord. They said 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, Alleluia, and her smoke rose up forever and ever." They
never stopped crying that. And the four and 20 elders and
the four beasts fell down and worshiped 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. Praise our God. When our Lord, after he arose
from the dead, the first person he appeared to was Mary Magdalene.
And he told her she wanted to stay there with him. But he said,
no, I want you to go tell my brethren that I am going to ascend
to my father and your father. I'm going to ascend to my God
and your God, our God. Our God, our Father, our God. This is what the accomplishment
of the cross accomplished. It accomplished the union, the
absolute union of God's chosen people with Christ. It's where
they physically came together. We know that so. That's where
they physically were joined together. eternally in the mind and purpose
and will of God before the foundation of the world. But physically,
that is where the man, I mean capital T, capital H, capital
E, man, the man, Christ the man, that's where he did leave his
father in order to cleave to his wife.
and they too became at that moment one flesh. That is where mercy
and truth met together. That is where righteousness and
peace kissed each other. It's where the covenant promise
was fulfilled. Christ said right there, I do. I have, I will. It's where Christ and His bride
stood together before the throne. It was the ceremony. That was
the ceremony. It's where she officially received
His name. Verse 6 says, I heard, as it
were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come. It happened. And his wife hath made herself
ready, and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in
fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints, at the cross, at the cross. That's where that glorious
righteous array, that robe was given to her, that very righteousness
of Christ. Verse nine says, and he said,
he saith unto me, right? Blessed are they which are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb, and he saith unto me, these
are the true sayings of God. That is what's happening right
now as the gospel message goes out. God's people are being called
to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and they can hear it, and they can see it, and they
can desire it. The spirit of God through the
word of God will tell his people there is a marriage supper prepared
for the king and his bride. And you're invited. And God's
people say, I want to go. I want to be there. They hear
the call and they want to come. They don't want to stay here.
I hear it and I'm coming. out of my sin into thyself, out
of my bondage into your wealth. I hear it, and that call is coming. They're being called to the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And by His grace, they're gonna
keep being called until it's time to sit down at the feast.
As soon as the last member of the bride is called, the dinner
bell will ring. Time to sit down. Look with me
to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians 5 verse 25, it says, Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish, "'So ought men to love their
wives as their own bodies. "'He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. "'For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, "'but nourisheth and cherisheth it, "'even as the
Lord the church. "'For we are members of his body
"'and of his flesh and of his bones. "'For this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and the church. In the accomplishment
of the cross, judgment was brought to the blasphemy, victory was
brought to the Lamb, and union was brought to Christ and His
bride. It was the marriage ceremony
of the Lamb. Now go with me back to Revelation
19. Verse 11 says, and I saw heaven
opened and behold a white horse. And he that sat upon him was
called faithful and true. And in righteousness, he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire
and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that
no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and in the end is the Word. He said, I am Alpha, I'm Omega. I'm the beginning, I'm the end.
Verse 14, and the armies which were in heaven followed him upon
white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and out
of his mouth go with a sharp sword. That's his word of God. that with it he should smite
the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and
he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty
God. And he hath on his vesture and
on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. And then the next few verses
say that He is going to carry out the judgment that He has
accomplished. That judgment that is finished,
He's going to carry it out. Chapter 20, verse 1, it says, And I saw an angel come
down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and
a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon,
that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him
1,000 years." He bound him 1,000 years. Now hold your place and
turn with me to 2 Peter 3. Put a marker here whenever you
get here. We'll turn back to it. 2nd Peter 3 verse 8, it says, Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing,
that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years. and a thousand
years as one day. With the Lord, a thousand years
is as one day. Now go with me back to Revelation
20. Verse 2 says, He laid hold on
the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan,
and bound him in one day. Verse 3 says, And cast him into
the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him,
that he should deceive the nations no more till that one day should
be fulfilled. And after that, he must be loosed
a little season. Till that one day was finished. Till the cry went out, it is
finished. It is finished. After that moment,
he must be loosed a little season and we're in it. We're in it. Right now, we are in the little
season. Verse four. And I saw thrones,
governments, authorities, 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 martyrs all through the ages, all through those moments that
we have recorded in history. Verse four goes on to say, and
which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had
received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands. And they lived and reigned with
Christ in their day. Verse five says, but the rest
of the dead lives not again until the day was finished. This is the first resurrection.
Now, I looked for a second one and could not find it. Only one
resurrection is ever mentioned. This is the first resurrection.
There's only one ever mentioned. There is only one resurrection. There is only one life. And His name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, I am the resurrection. I am the life. Verse 6 says,
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. Blessed is holy, blessed and
holy is he that hath part in Christ. That's a blessed man
that hath part in Christ. On such the second death, hath
no power, there's no second death for that person. One death only,
appointed unto man to die once. But they shall be priests of
God and of Christ and shall reign with Him today. They'll reign with Him today.
In glory with Christ, it will only and always be today. It'll only ever be today. There's
no night there. There's no end of anything. There's no end of today. They're gonna reign with him
through that one great day. Thousand years today. Verse seven
says, and when the day is expired, Satan shall be loosed out of
his prison. and shall go out to deceive the
nations which are in the four quarters of the earth." The earth,
this earth, the whole earth. Gog, that word means the mountains. And Magog, it means every covering. To gather them together to battle,
the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth
of the earth and compass the camp of the saints about and
the beloved city and fire came down from God out of heaven and
devoured them. That's what we are waiting for. That's the coming of the Lord
on the day that he returns. It says, and well, turn over
there, go with me over to first Thessalonians four. 1 Thessalonians 4, this is what
we're waiting for. This is what we're waiting for.
This is what life for a believer, this is what we're waiting for.
1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13 says, I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not,
even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him. Still alive. They're just over
there and not over here. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. That's
what we're waiting for. With the voice of the archangel
and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise
first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and
so shall we ever be with the Lord. Do you believe that? Believest
thou this? That's what's gonna happen. That's
what we're waiting on and that's what's going to happen. The Lord
is gonna descend from heaven with a shout in the blink of
an eye as lightning goes across the sky. He's going to descend,
and the dead in Christ are going to rise from the graves and stand
there with the saints that are still alive, all looking at Him. I've thought before that when
we bury our dear loved ones, they'll come up right there.
And I've thought, well, I'd like to be buried with the brethren.
We're not going to be looking at the brethren. We're going
to love the brethren, but all eyes on Him. And we're going to be caught
up into the air. We're going to be forever with
the Lord. And then that is going to happen. And then as soon as that happens,
if you look at second Thessalonians one, verse six, it says, or verse
seven, To you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of His power when He shall come to be glorified
in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe, because
our testimony among you was believed. for a thousand years. In that one day, our Lord is
going to remove His people. It's going to be beautiful. It's
going to be glorious. It's going to be happy. He's
going to come down and get His people and take them out. And
then He will fulfill His promise to carry out the judgment that
is purposed on the world. Everything that remains will
suffer His wrath, His fire. Now go with me back to Revelation
20. Verse 10 says, And the devil
that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire. This is the
judgment, the final carrying out. where the beast and the
false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever
and ever. And I saw a great white throne
and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heavens
fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw
the dead small and great stand before God and the books were
opened." The record of everything that every man had ever done
in his life on this earth. All the sin, all the vileness,
all the self-righteousness. Verse 12 says, I saw the dead
small and great stand before God and the books were opened.
And another book was opened, which is the book of life, the
book of Christ's life, Christ's work, the book that was given
to all of God's elect. Everything Christ has had done
all of his record in his life on this earth. Verse 12 goes
on to say, And the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books according to their works. The elect had
already been judged. They were already judged on the
cross. And it was according to the book
of life. Their judgment was over. That's over. Verse 13, And the
sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death, that
eternal spiritual second death. And whoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. That is
the moment that is soon to come, that casting, that's the moment
that is soon to come when all of God's judgments will be officially
carried out, sin will be forever put away, and all that will be
left is eternal righteousness. Now, we're gonna stop here tonight. But let's end this with the glorious
thought that John said in chapter 21, verse 1. He said, and I saw a new heaven and a
new earth. Everything John saw was so, so
beautiful. And John said, the Lord Jesus
Christ showed me a new heaven and a new earth. He said, I saw
it. Paul said, I saw it. I know we're not supposed to
envy, but I envy that. I envy that. Some are gonna get
to see it real soon. I envy that. Verse two, he said, I saw the
holy city, New Jerusalem. And oh, it was glorious. Just
so glorious. That's our home. That's our eternity. That's our city. I said it last
time. I'll say it again. I love Kingsport. But that's our city. And if the Lord is willing, next
time we'll look at it. We're gonna look at eternal life
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you imagine? Eternal life,
sinless, spotless life with the Lord Jesus Christ. All right,
let's all stand together.