Joy remains forever on thy head. Thou hast redeemed earth with
God, hast set the prisoner free. Then lay us fiends and priests
to go, and we shall reign with thee. I'll prove a danger and a fray
Are the seedings I sow In your empty, delaying day And bring
the promise now Okay, go back to... Revelation 14. Sunday morning's
message was entitled, The Lamb and His Followers. But since
we didn't get much further than talking about the lamb, which
is okay, tonight's message is simply entitled, Followers of
the Lamb. Now look at it again, verse 1,
And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the mount Zion. And I pointed out to you back
in chapter 5 how the way that John first saw him was not as
a lamb. The way that he first saw the
Lord Jesus Christ was as a lamb. Do you remember that? He's not referred to as a lamb
until after he's called a lamb. He's called the Lord Jesus Christ
in that order. In the name of Jesus, every knee
shall call him Lord. Every knee bowed, every tongue
confess that he's Lord. He's Lord Jesus. The God, the man, the sacrifice,
the lamb. The Lord Jesus. So he's first
called a lamb. And then he's mentioned that
the Lamb, he's called by the name the Lamb, 29 times throughout
this book. 29 times. The length, the length,
the length. This whole book is full of the
length. And not just this book, but from
Genesis to this book. First one says that with him
and one hundred and forty four thousand having his father's
name written in their forehead one hundred and forty four thousand
with Jehovah's name written as we saw not in the flesh. But in their mind. Indelibly
printed on their minds who God is go back to chapter seven Revelation
seven I already had it written down to look at this. Now, the
whole Bible is written with an emphasis toward the Jews. You
know that, don't you? The whole Scripture is written
with emphasis toward the Jews. The Lord said to the woman at
the well, Salvation of the Jews. Remember that? I wonder how many people understand
what that means. Do you? I ask you, do you know
what that means? You better. You better. Salvation of the Jews, meaning
the Jews were chosen by God. Number one, they were the elect
of God. Throughout the Old Testament, God said, I chose you. I chose
you. I didn't choose you. I chose
you. He said, I gave Ethiopia and Syria for the Egypt that
I ran. Passed by all these men, chose
you. They're a symbol of God's sovereign
electing grace. Here we go again. But that's
all right. This is what salvation's up to. Abraham, Remember that? God chose Abraham and called
Abraham and promised Abraham all that he promised his seed. Isaac, Abraham had two sons,
remember? Ishmael, of whom the whole Arabic
world takes their lineage. Well, he chose Isaac. And then Isaac had two boys,
remember? Do you know their name? Jacob. And Esau. God said, Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. Jacob. His name was changed to
what? Israel. And of his line was a tribe called
Judah. That's where we get the name
Judah. From the tribe of Judah. And you keep tracing that down,
Who came from the tribe of Judah, and who is his elect, in whom
all people are faithful? Christ. The Lion of the tribe
of Judah. Salvation of the Jews. Also,
the Jews had the way to worship God. The way. On the very beginning. In this
book. There are other books. claim
to have believed God and all of this. But I don't believe
this. I believe this is God's will. And it speaks of one way to worship
God, and that's the way that he gave the Jews to worship God. Right? A tabernacle, a high priest,
and a lamb. And there's no other way to worship
God. Salvation is God's will. You
understand? All right. Why did he choose
Jews? Why did God choose Jews? Because
it pleased Him. That's why. There's no reason
except that. Why does He choose anybody? Because
it pleased Him. All right. Here in chapter 7, it says in
verses 4 and 5, I heard the number of them which were sealed, and
they were sealed in 144,000 of all the tribes of the children
of Israel. And he goes on to give all 12
tribes and mention that 12,000 of each tribe were sealed. Why
did he mention Judas' tribe first? I just noticed that. Did you
notice that? I just noticed that. He's not
the oldest son, is he, John? But he mentioned it first. That's
interesting. Judas. Well, okay, is this an actual
specific number? 144,000. Maybe. Of Jews from these tribes. It may be. I don't understand
Romans 11. I don't know of any man who does.
Romans 11 talks about the Jews, some kind of revival among the
Jews. I don't understand that. I don't. I kind of think it's already
taken place from the time that Christ went back to glory until
now. I kind of think that it talks
about the calling back of his people. I kind of think that's
already taken place. That's just my opinion. Other
men disagree with it. But could this be an actual number
from that time? I don't recall any mass salvation
of the Jews except the Pentecost. you. And Paul preached to the
Jews and they rejected him and said, I'm going to Gentile, remember.
It could be. It could be a hundred, actual
hundred, from the time that this was written, 140,000. It could
be. Most probably, though, it is
symbolic, as we say it, symbolic of God's numbering of people. He has a particular Look at verse
nine. After this, I beheld, and lo,
a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations
and kindreds, not just Jews, but all nations, kindreds, people,
and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb. There's
not just 144,000 people in heaven. And there's some that I'm, well,
I'm not going to get into that. It says a number, a great multitude,
which no man can number. But God does. He knows. He has a number, like the stars. So this could represent God's
numbering of the people, particular numbering of the people. I thought
about this. Christ, in Isaiah 53, it says
He was numbered with the transgressors. All right, it says in the back
in our text. They stood with him or he stood
on the mountain and they had his father's name written in
their forehead Jehovah the name of Jehovah on their mind not
actually printed on their forehead. You know that's not so. Any more
than the previous verse, then people will actually have sixes
across their head. You know better than that. Verse two, he said, I heard a
voice from heaven as the voice of many water and as the voice
of a great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps. And we noted how though there
were this number, this huge number, people yet they all have a lot
more. And we saw that that's fine they
all have one thing. Because they've had one colleague
and one father who taught them that you'll all be taught. And one baptism. That does away
with a second baptism that is one baptism. One spirit who teaches
them all the same thing. But they sang this song, verse
3, they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before
the four beasts and the elders. That's what we just sung about,
before the elders. They learned this song. Now it
was known only by, verse 3 said, no man could learn that song
but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed
from the earth. Now it's called a new song. It's
not new in that the song has just been made up, but it is
new to these people, newly revealed to them because they were renewed. It is new every morning. The
gospel is called the good news, isn't it? Because it's new every
morning. It's new, it's called new because
it's unknown to most people. It's unknown to most people.
You know that our modern generation likes all of this so-called modern
gospel music. That's what they prefer. They've
practically done away with it. All but a few religious places
have done away with all of the old standards that we sing. That's
all we sing, isn't it? Songs written by the early church
fathers. It's always songs like, Jesus,
thy blood and righteous, thy beauty are my glorious dream. If you sang that today to the
average person, they'd look at you like, I never
heard that song. They really wouldn't. What are
you talking about? His righteousness. It's new to Him. It's strange
to Him. Strange doctrine. That's like
the people telling Paul, what is this new doctrine? Strange
new doctrine. Remember that? Paul went to Athens,
Mars Hill, and preached. And they said, what is this strange
new doctrine? It's not new. Talking about God. It's as old as God. But it's
new to people who have never heard it before. Moved everybody
who hadn't heard it before. But it's learned, it says, by
the redeemed from the earth. Particular ones who were, notice
the language here, people, redeemed from the earth. They were redeemed. How? By Christ's blood. Redeemed. What does redeemed
mean? It means purchased. It means bought. It means paid
for. When you redeem something, you
expect to get it, don't you? Have you ever taken a coupon
or something to the store to redeem it and then not give you
what you were supposed to get? That is, if it's hadn't expired.
But let's say it's a legitimate, lawful coupon that has no expiration
date. What if they didn't give you
what it was coming for? They have to. Redeem them. That's
what redeemed means. And these were redeemed. How?
We're going to see it in a moment. They're seeing it. They were
redeemed by the blood of Christ. They were bought and paid for
from the earth. Verse 4 says, look at verse 4,
the last line, these were redeemed from among men. He didn't redeem
the whole world. He didn't redeem all people,
did He? It doesn't say He redeemed all
mankind and whoever will accept it, does it? They were redeemed from
among men. And we're going to see in a moment
how they sing the song, Thou hast redeemed us out of every
tribe of kindred. These were redeemed. This is
the song of the redeemed. So let's look at chapter 5. The
song of the redeemed. Chapter 5. And this is similar
to the song of Moses. Remember that? Exodus 15. Chapter
5. And here's the song that all
the redeemed know. They learn it. They all know
it. Chapter 5, verse 8. And when
he had taken the book, the four beasts, And four and twenty elders,
chapter 5, verse 8, fell down before the Lamb, having every
one of them harps and golden vows full of odors, which are
the prayers of the saint, and they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book," it's his book, the Lamb's book,
"'and to open the seals thereof.'" Who sealed it? He did. Who put the names in it? He did. Who redeemed them? Whose names
are there? He did. They're singing to him. Thou hast, thou wast slain, and
hast redeemed us to God. See, that is to God. He did this
unto God. How? By thy blood. Out of him. See, Christ redeems a people
out of the world, out of every kindred and tongue and people
and nation, and has made us unto our God kings and priests. There
are no priests that are made so by man. There are no more
actual priests today. This is typically speaking. This
is spiritually speaking. Every person in here, male and
female, are a royal people, were sons
of the king. And the priests, priests, only
the priests were allowed in the court weren't they? To minister
about the tabernacle, only the priests were allowed, were made
priests, all of them. And we shall reign on the earth,
that is the new birth, the new birth. Al has redeemed us. Look down at verse 12, And I
said with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to
receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor,
and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such as are in
the sea, and all that are in them, heard I say, in blessing,
and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon
the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. That's their song. Thou art redeemed. Thou wast slain. Thou hast redeemed
us. Thou hast made us. The song of
the redeemed, the song of the elect, may not all, every time
they say these exact words, but they contain the same, it's the
same song of worship. It's unto Him. It's unto Him. Quoted to you, Psalm 70 verse
5, it says, that all those that seek Thee, rejoice in Thee, let
such as love Thy salvation, say continually, let God be magnified. This is how you know the difference.
This is how you know the redeemed. All they're singing, everything
they do, is unto Him. Giving Him all glory. Ascribing
unto Him all honor. Not part of it. All of it. All glory. Not part of it. All
of it. All blessings. It's all in His
hands to give. All power. Huh? This is the song
of the redeemed. They were lost. He found them.
They were dead, He raised them. They weren't calling on Him,
that's what Isaiah said. I found them that called me not,
sought me not. He sought them, bought them,
brought them. And so, they know this. They
know this better than anyone. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Salvation belongs to our God. That's the song of the redemption.
All glory, all salvation unto him. Now look at the description
of these followers of the Lamb. Go back to the text. Verse 4.
It says, These are they which were not defiled with women,
for they are virgins. All right, so there's only 144,000
men. No, that's not. Do you see how this is all
symbolic? It can't be just men. Because in Christ there's no men. Right? Some of these
144,000 used to be women on the earth. So what does it mean they
weren't defiled with women? It can't be. You see, you can't
take this as an experiment. Revelation. And I'm going to
tell you. All right, look down at verse 8. It says, There followed
another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great
city which she hath made, all nations drink of the wine and
the wrath of her fornication. Go over to chapter 17 with me. Chapter 17. Now, Scriptures Throughout
God's Word, Scriptures talks about the sins of, listen to
me now, you'll understand this, Scriptures talks a great deal
about the sins of adultery, the sins of fornication, the sins
of carnage, prostitution. Now, is adultery, fornication,
or prostitution any more serious than murder? This is talking about something
else. This is talking about religion. This is talking about spiritual
adultery, spiritual fornication, spiritual harlotry or prostitution. Revelation 17 verses 4 and 5,
the woman, this is talking about the great whore. She's called
the great whore. throughout this book, right?
Those of you who've read this know that. All right, look at
it. This is speaking of, the woman
was arrayed, and she really looks fine, but she has to woo simple
people. Read Proverbs 7 yourself. The woman was arrayed in purple
and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious stones
and pearls and had a golden cup. Does all of this sound any familiar
at all? Does any of this go on? This
picture before you in her hand is full of abominations and filthiness
of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name
written, Mystery. Babylon, the great mother of
harlots. In other words, all of her offspring
are harlots. What's this talking about? Don't you see it yet? Adultery
is not being faithful to one's spouse, one person. Right? But giving self to others,
not just one. Fornication is the wholesale
giving of your flesh to anything because it's self-gratifying.
Because you seek self-gratification. Prostitution or harlotry is the
selling of self or money. Are you getting it now? This
is what religion is all about. These three things. Adultery. Go to 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians
11, adultery. Christ's followers are called
virgins. They're called virgins. But religion is given to adultery. Religion has many gods, don't they? Many gods, not one. One. There is no other. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. mainstream Protestant, so-called
Protestant religion, would stop denying that for fear of offending
some Arabs. Right? They wouldn't say publicly,
he's the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jephthah. One. Adultery. Adultery. Religion is all about self-gratification. Religion and its prostitutes
that are in the pulpit are up here to make people feel good
about themselves. It's all about self-gratification. Well, if
it feels good to it, the Spirit can fornicate. Religion is all
about money. If you pay me enough, I'll sell
out God. I'll sell the truth. Barnard used to say about the
preachery, now this was 50 years ago, and he said, they're trying
to sell Jesus for a dollar. If they can't get a dollar, they'll
take a dime. Whatever they can get cheap. But the church is unadulterated. Unadulterated means, well not
adulterous, not given to many, but given to many. The church
is faithful to God. Look at 2 Corinthians 11, verse
2 and 4. Paul says, I'm jealous over you
with godly jealousy. I have espoused you to one husband
that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Who's he talking
to? Men and women. All believers.
Verse 4. He that cometh preaches another
Jesus whom we have not preached. If you receive another spirit,
He said, well, bear with me this evening. If you want to bear
with Him, bear with me. Go on. Adultery. No, I'm trying
to understand God's Church in Christ's image. Virgin. Virgin. That is, all
God's people are faithful to this one Lord. They're faithful
to Him. They're given to Him. They're
virgins. They have been saved. They're
saving themselves with one husband. You see what that means? That's
exactly what that means. They haven't been defiled with
one husband. They're virgins. Go back to the
text. They're not going to be lured by those fancy garments. If anything, that's a turn off. Fancy garments and all the paraphernalia
of religion. You can see right through all
that. Can't you? That allures the simple, but
not God's people. Those servants, they're burdensome,
they're waiting on Christ. These are they, verse 4, which
follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. They follow him. They won't follow a stranger's
voice. A stranger's voice they won't hear. Christ said, My sheep hear My
voice, and they follow Me. A stranger's voice they won't
hear, neither will they follow Him. They know nothing, the voice
of a stranger. They know nothing. And they follow Me. They follow
one Master, they follow His Word. This is why Paul, remember when
he said, You don't need to remember that? Because the Holy Spirit
teaches. In other words, man isn't our
authority, God's Word. And we only follow the teaching
of a man as he follows God's Word. That's how we judge him. That's how we try them. No. They
speak not according to the law, and the testimony is no longer. That's how we judge them. And they follow His Word, they
follow His truth, and wherever His gospel is, this is the gospel
of the Lamb. Wherever that gospel is, that's
where they'll go. God did everything for that gospel. Some people will be apostates
some day. They'll leave Christ for someone
or something, but not His crusade. They wouldn't take anybody or
anything for the land. That pearl is great enough. They
sell out. They sell out. They follow his spirit. They're
led by his spirit. They follow his example. And
they want to be like him. Now, how'd they get here? Verse
4. How did they get to be here? Verse 4. It says, These were
redeemed. He reminds us again. These were
redeemed. They're bought. They're paid
for. That's why they're there. That's the only reason they're
there. They weren't better than anybody else. They will redeem you. Jump. Did you go down, you and Earlene,
go down to the store and pick it up and pay money for it? You bought it. You took it home. It's in your home right now.
Everyday. You purchased it. You chose it.
You purchased it. It's yours. Whatever's in your
house, you bought it. That's fine. There's a nose on
your car. Why are they there? They're not better than anybody
else. They're not this or that. They didn't keep it. Who gets the glory? The Redeemer. That's it. The Redeemer. Well, and in their mouths, I
love this, the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb for His glory,
verse 5, and in their mouth was found no guile. No guile. They're not hypocrites. God's
people are not hypocrites. No, sir. They are not hypocrites. They are not hypocrites. They
may be hypocritical at times, but they're not hypocrites. They
may break the law every now and then, but they're not lawless
people. God's people are honest. God's
people are true. I tell you how true they are,
how honest they are, they'll tell you all about themselves.
They'll fess up. And in their mouths are no guile.
They're not going to tell you that there's something when there's
nothing. Religious people will. God's people won't. They're not
going to brag on themselves before you. They're not going to tell
you. God's people are not going to
tell anybody that they're somebody or know something. No sir. That'd
be lying to yourself. No guile. There's no lies to
themselves, and they don't lie to God. They sure don't try to lie to
God. They confess everything to God. They lay open their hearts
to God. It doesn't matter if it's Mouser,
no, it's Guile. Guile means deception, trickery, trying to pull something
over on somebody. That's what Guile means. Saying one thing means another,
trying to trick somebody. No, no, no, no, they're honest.
Barnum used to say, honest people don't wind up in jail. honest
with themselves, honest before God, honest with His Word, honest
with others, honest. No lies, no deception, no hypocrisy
before God. They are without fault before they came before God.
They weren't without fault. They are now without fault. Well, how'd they get to be without
salt? Well, if you want to look, if
not, I'll quote it to you. In the last, next to last verse
of Jude says, now. Jude ends up his letter like
this. This is what everybody learned. Now unto him. Now unto him. that is able to
keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence
of his glory, the exceeding glory. Why are they faultless? Because
the Lamb presented them as faultless in Him. You know this is our
church's epitaph? You know what our church's epitaph
is? We have a monument out in the
cemetery. Anybody know what's on it? Anybody
know what's on it? It's our epitaph. Everybody in
here would agree to it when we did it. Page 1-6. To the praise, this is on our
monument. Written with a pin of iron and
stump and a rock. Central Baptist Church, and underneath
it has Ephesians 1, 6, to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the love of God. That's great. For now, you might
not have seen that, but it's happening. There are two bodies
laying out there. Soon there will be more. So we'll
run out of room, unless the Lord comes. But that's our intention. In the praise of the glory of
Israel, and all of Israel, where indeed hath made us, except the
salt of some plain, unapproved, except it. Where? The land. Look at those. Okay, then with. Our father, thank you for your
sovereign electing, saving, keeping, redeeming grace in Christ our
Lord. Thank you. We don't know how
to thank you for right because we haven't fully entered into
so great salvation, but what we understand, what we believe,
what we feel, we thank you for. We ask that you make it more
real to us, make it more dear, make Christ more precious to
us, more than anything or anyone on this earth. Enable us by your
grace to buy the truth, sell out, that pearl of great price,
leave all to follow Him, take nothing for Him. With Him is
life. Thank you for the lamb that was
slain in his name. Amen.