Turn with me, if you would, back
to Revelation 14. Revelation 14. In our picture of Christ that
we are seeing throughout this book, we have seen the beginning. We've seen the election. We've
seen the rebellion of sin. And we've seen the fall of the
host of heaven that brought that rebellion and that sin down to
man. But we've also seen that Christ
Himself came down and He brought the message of His everlasting
gospel to preach. And he told John, that message
is not works. It's grace alone. That's the
message grace alone. Now here in chapter 14, the Lord
is about to reveal what that grace is. and how that grace
came. And here's a verse that will
get us right to the point of it. This is the point of the
message tonight. Right here in chapter 14, look
at verse 20. It says, and the winepress was
trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress. What is that describing? Let
me just read this to you. This is Hebrews 13 verse 12. It says, Wherefore Jesus also,
that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered
without the gate, outside of the gate of the city. The wine
press came to Him. It came to Him. From Gethsemane
to the grave, he endured the wine press of God. It started when the sin of his
people was pressed into him. And he sweat, as it were, great
drops of blood, just pressed. The grace of God came to His
people through the winepress of the cross. That's what this
is. The winepress of the cross. And that's what the Lord revealed
to John right here. Man's works have no part in God's
grace to him. None. It's grace alone. It's grace alone. Now most people
are fine with, it's grace. Most people are fine with that.
Oh yeah, it's grace. It's grace, absolutely. But the
truth of the matter is, it's grace alone. It's grace alone. It's His work
alone. It's His blood alone. Alone. Alright, now look with me at
verse 1. John said, And I looked, and
lo, a lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred
forty and four thousand having his father's name written in
their foreheads." John said, I saw Christ and I
saw His elect. The Lord said, I'm going to show
you this winepress of God. And John said, I looked and I
saw Christ and I saw His elect. Verse two, and I heard a voice
from heaven as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a
great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps and they sung as it were a new song
before the throne. And before the four beasts and
the elders and no man could learn that song, but the hundred and
40 and 4,000, which were redeemed from the earth. Only God's elect
know and sing this new song of grace alone without my works. Only God's elect. Only they know
it. Only they sing it. It has to
be revealed. And it's only revealed to God's elect. Verse 4 says,
These are they which were not defiled with women, for they
are virgins. These are they which followed
the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed. These were
bought from among men, being the first fruits the first fruits
unto God and to the Lamb, and in their mouth was found no guile,
for they are without fault before the throne of God." I thought
Christ came into this world to save sinners that had to be redeemed
from their sin. I thought they ruined themselves
with sin. How can that be said of them?
It's because Christ their Lamb traded places with them. He took their defilement, He
bore, He stood in their record, in His humiliation, His own humiliation,
in His guilt, He stood in their record. He took their defilement
and He gave them His purity. He made Him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness, that
perfection of God in Him. That's the very reason, that's
the only reason that it can be said they are without defilement.
In their mouth is no guile. They are without fault before
the throne of God. It's because they took the very
place of Christ. Can we enter into that? They
took the very place of Christ when Christ took the very place
of them. It's amazing. Verse 6, it says, And 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. And here it is, this is the everlasting
gospel message that we preached. Verse seven, saying with a loud
voice, fear God and 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 waters." His judgment,
not ours. That's the gospel message we
preach. That's the everlasting gospel. His judgment for His
people, the judgment that He came to bear for them. He said,
for this cause came I into the world. It's the whole reason
I came. The angel cried, That hour is
come. And that is good news. That's
the good news. That hour's come. Verse 8, And
there followed 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. Because of Christ's
judgment, all because of His judgment, the blasphemous lies
have fallen. That lie of man's works, man's
works, your own works will save you. Because of his judgment,
all those lies have fallen. They will not stand, they will
not take hold of God's people. In that moment when Christ was
judged, God the Father said, let all men see right here what
the works of man will earn him." This right here, on His judgment,
let all look on Him. This is what the works of man
will earn you. In that very moment, man's false hope of earning his
own salvation, it fell. Verse 9 says, And the third angel
followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the
beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or
in his hand, if any man comes to God by his own works, pleading
the works of his own hand, rather than the works of Christ alone.
Verse 10. 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 nor
night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever
receiveth the mark of his names. Man's own works will fail every
time. Every time. At the very suffering
of Christ, whenever Christ died on that cross, man's works failed
him. God showed man's works will do
nothing for him. And that suffering that came
to Christ will come to every man or woman who goes pleading
His works. The same suffering that came to Christ will come
to all sinful men and women, but they're not going to be able
to overcome it like the spotless Lamb of God did, forever and
ever. There'll be no rest. They'll be trying to make a payment
that they cannot pay. Verse 12, it says, Here is the
patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments
of God in the faith of Jesus. Patience means steadfastness. It means perseverance. It means
the cheerful endurance of those who are keeping their eye on
Christ, in the faith of Christ. Here is the rest of the saints. Verse 13. And I heard a voice
from heaven saying unto me, write, Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord from henceforth, yea, sayeth the spirit that they
may rest from their labors and their works do follow them. We quote this verse often when
a believer leaves this world and goes to be with the Lord
at the funeral of a believer. Quite often we quote, blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth, yea, sayeth
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works
do follow them. That's a very common thing to
quote. But do you know that our Lord said that that is not death
for the believer? That is not the believer's death.
That is not the moment that a believer dies. A believer dies But that's
not the moment when the body lays down and he goes to be with
the Lord. That's not the moment that a
believer dies. Our Lord said that moment is
life for the believer. That's the moment of life. All
right, then what is this voice from heaven talking about? What
death is he talking about? He's talking about the death
that Christ endured on the cross for his people. That's the moment
a believer dies. The angel said, this is the message
of the gospel right here. This is the message of grace.
It's appointed unto man once to die, not twice, once. And all of God's people died
In Christ, you've already died. If you're in Christ, you already
died. How was it? Did it hurt? Is it something you fear? It's
already over. All of God's people died when
Christ died as their substitute. It's over. Now, outside of the
Lord Jesus Christ, those who didn't die in Him, there's a
death to come. There's a death waiting on them. But in Christ, God's people were
crucified with Him and they've already died in the Lord. And there are blessed people
because of it. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. From henceforth, yea, sayeth
the spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works
do follow them because they died in him. They can rest from all
their works as God did from his, as though you've already died.
You can rest from all your labors. You have already died and you
can rest from all your labors as God did from his. Verse 14
says, And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud
one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden
crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came
out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat
on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap, for the time is come
for thee to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud
thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. And
another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, he
also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from
the altar, which had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry
to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle
and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes
are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle
into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and cast it
into the great winepress of the wrath of God." The vine of the
earth and all of its ripe fruit, they were cast into the winepress. That is the reaping of the people
of God. That's the reaping of God's people
in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. People think a reaper
is going to come when death comes. Here comes death and he's going
to come reap you. That's exactly what happened. That's exactly what happened
on the cross. The time of God's people had
come. Their judgment had come. The
command came. The sickle was thrust in and
the harvest was taken. Verse 20 says, And the winepress
was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress,
even unto the horse bridles by the space of a thousand and six
hundred furlongs. Our Lord said, I am the vine. And He said, You are the branches. And the fruit of that was taken
by God on the cross of Calvary. Chapter 15, verse 1, it says,
and I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels
having the seven last plagues, for in them is filled up the
wrath of God. Seven, the complete, perfect,
full wrath of God. Isaiah 53 tells us how our Lord
Jesus Christ bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. It tells
us that. Well, the Lord showed John that
right here beginning in chapter 15. He said, I saw the wrath
of God. Now you think about that. We talk about God's wrath coming
down on sin. John said, I saw it. The wrath
of God is going to be poured out on all sin. Every sinner
is going to endure the judgment of God. Every sinner, every center. God does not just sweep some
under the rug and say, well, nevermind on you. Every center
is going to endure the wrath of God, the judgment of God.
And this is what was poured out on Christ for the sake of his
people. He bore the wrath of God for
them, and John said, I saw it. Chapter 15, verse 1, I saw another
sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven
last plagues, for in them is filled up the wrath of God, the
perfect, complete wrath of God. Verse 2, and I saw as it were
a sea of glass mingled with fire, and them that had gotten the
victory over the beast, God's people, the elect, and over His
image, and over His mark, and over the number of His name,
standing on the sea of glass, having the hearts of God, and
they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song
of the Lamb, saying, great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord
God Almighty, just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. Thy works, great and marvelous,
are thy works, not ours. Thy works, the works you came
to accomplish, how great and marvelous they are. Verse four.
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou
only art holy, for all nations shall come and worship before
thee, for thy judgments are made manifest. And after that I looked,
and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in
heaven was opened, and the seven angels came out of the temple,
having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and
having their breasts girded with golden girdles, And one of the
four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full
of the wrath of God who liveth forever and ever. And the temple
was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power."
He did this. His power. God did this. God poured out these vials of
wrath. He said, Thy judgments are made
manifest. They're going to be seen. All
of this wrath is going to be seen. And God is the one who
did it. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. Now watch the end of verse 8. It says, And no man was able
to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven
angels were fulfilled. Until that moment was fulfilled. Until the absolute, total, perfect,
complete wrath of God was poured out on the Lord Jesus Christ,
no man was able to enter the temple. There was a veil. There was a
great veil that kept all men and women from the presence of
the Holy God. Chapter 16, verse 1, He said,
And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the
seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath
of God upon the earth." The souls of the earth. Pour it out on the sinners that
God chose to redeem. That's who God poured His wrath
out on. When He poured it out on Christ,
He poured it out on us in Christ. The great voice cried, pour out
God's wrath on them. Give them what they rightfully
deserve. In the person of Christ, their
substitute. Verse two says, and the first went and poured out
his vial upon the earth and there fell a noisome and grievous sore
upon the men which had the mark of the beast and upon them which
worshiped his image. Well, now wait a minute, that's
talking about those who are under the captivity of lies. That's talking about those who
had been all of their lifetime subject to bondage. That's talking about those who
were bound to the blasphemy and the idolatry of sin. Those who in their own flesh
looked to their own works. before God to save them. To all
of God's people, this is what the Holy Spirit cries, and such
were all of you, all you and you who were dead
in trespasses and sins, the very ones who walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, That's who He quickened. That's
who was quickened together with Christ. Aliens, strangers, those
who had no hope because they were without God. Verse 2 says,
The first went and poured out his vial upon the earth, and
there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the
mark of the beast upon them which worshipped his image. And the
second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and it became as
the blood of a dead man, and every living thing died in the
sea. The third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and
fountains of waters, and they became blood. And I heard the
angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which
art, and wast, and shall be, because Thou hast judged thus."
You're righteous because you've judged thus. You've judged this way. The old
song says, When I was lost in sin and shame, how thou let me
take the blame. I had to take the blame. But
how thou let me take the blame, which was in Christ, blessed
Lord, how merciful thou was to me. Verse 6, For they have shed
the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood
to drink, for they are worthy." Just like the prophet Nathan
said to David, he said, thou art the man. In this pouring out of wrath,
the holy justice of God cried, they deserve what they're getting. They deserve it. They are worthy
of what they're receiving because all of their own righteousness,
their filthy rags, they are filthy rags, all of them at their best
state, they're altogether vanity. Verse 7, And I heard another
out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous
are thy judgments. Just like David said in Psalm
51, he said, You are just in judging me. Whatever you do with
me, it's right. It's right. God most certainly
was, wasn't He? He was right. Everything that
He poured out on Christ because of me, Christ got exactly what
I deserved. Christ got exactly what I deserved. Now, let's read these next few
verses with great fear. Verse 8 says, And the fourth
angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given
unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great
heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which had power over
these plagues, and they repented not to give him glory. And the
fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and
his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues
for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their
pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." Is he still
describing us right there? He's still describing our judgment
in our sin for our sin. We read something like that and
think, surely that could not be an illustration of us. Surely
that could not be describing me. Surely not. Oh, how blasphemy has come out
of our mouths and come out of our hearts. And we know it and
we don't know it. This is the very reason Christ
had to come and die. This is why He had to die. We hang our heads in shame because
we've been given just a small glimpse of what we truly are.
I mean a small glimpse, a very, very tiny glimpse of our own
sin. We hang our heads just over that
small glimpse But a man made the statement one time that if
we could truly see the awful fullness of our wicked depravity
before God, if we could honestly see the depravity of our own
hearts, what we truly are, not what we
see ourselves to be, but what we truly are, he said, if we
could see that, we'd never survive the sight of it. The vile depths of what we are
by nature against God, it would slay us. It would slay us. Thank God He's mercifully hid
that from our eyes. But in reading that, let's just
suffice it to say that had Christ not purged us from our sins,
we would have never repented of our deeds. Our blasphemies
would have raged. that we would have never repented
of our deeds. Had the goodness of God not led us to repentance,
we would have never repented. Verse 12, it says, And the sixth
angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and
the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of
the east might be prepared. The river Euphrates, the good
and abounding river, it was dried up, and all the wickedness of
eternity tried to seize this moment. Verse 13, And I saw three
unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the
dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the
mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils,
working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth,
and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great
day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief, Blessed
is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked
and they see his shame. And he gathered them together
into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon." The rebellious
host lost the battle when they rebelled in heaven. They rebelled
and they lost that battle. But they thought that this bruising
of the king's heel, they thought this was going to be their victory.
Right here at a place called Armageddon. Now most people think that Armageddon
is a place or it's a moment in time where one final battle between
good and evil has to be fought. That's what most people think. For some reason, many people
believe that one more conflict still has to take place. This great Armageddon. A great
Armageddon did take place. At an exact moment in time, good
battled evil and won. But that place and that moment
and that battle is over. It's over. Armageddon means the
hill. That's what the name means, the
hill. That's where Armageddon took
place. Golgotha's hill. Up Calvary's
mountain, one dreadful morn, walked Christ our Savior, weary
and worn, facing for sinners, death on the cross, that He might
save us from endless loss. A rebellious battle was fought
in heaven and the rebellion lost. A rebellious battle was fought
on earth on the cross of Calvary and the rebellion lost. And at
that moment, captivity was led captive. The captor was led captive,
only to be done away with in the end. The rebellion is now
over. There's going to be no more battles.
Victory is won. Eternity is secure. It is finished. It's finished. Verse 17 says, And the seventh
angel poured out his vial into the air, and there came a great
voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is
done. And it is. It is done. The battle is over.
There will be no more war. It is finished, the end of all
conflict. It's finished, and Jesus Christ
is Lord. Period. It is done. Period. Verse 18 says, And there were
voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake,
such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an
earthquake, and so great, at that very moment the rocks rent. Literally. Verse 19 says, And
the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of
the nations fell. And great Babylon came in remembrance
before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness
of His wrath. Christ willingly took the cup
of the suffering of His bride. He willingly took the cup of
the fierceness of God's wrath that was owed to her. and he
willingly drank that cup dry. And in that moment, he bowed
his head and he gave up the ghost. And verse 20 says, every island
fled away and the mountains were not found. There was an absolute
darkness for the space of three hours. The islands, the mountains,
nothing could be seen. Verse 21 says, And there fell
upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the
weight of a talent. And men blasphemed God because
of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding
great. At that moment, every soul that did not die right there
in Him, right there with Him, became cursed with the plagues. Cursed with the plague. Every
soul that He did not make Himself to be cursed for became cursed outside of Him. That clenching moment. Cursed
to bear the plagues of this book. But for every soul that He was
made to be a curse for, every soul that He did bear the plagues
for, Those plagues are accomplished.
They're all accomplished in Him. That curse is accomplished in
Him. All things are accomplished in
Him. And the Lord willing, we'll look
at that the next time. We'll look at what His accomplishment
accomplished. We'll look at the victory of
his accomplishment, the judgment of his accomplishment, the union
of his accomplishment, the resurrection of his accomplishment. And then
the last thing that we'll see as a result is our eternal life
with him. Eternity to come. All right,
let's all stand together.