revelation chapter fifteen revelation
chapter fifteen just uh... as i go through this verses uh...
few verses of scripture there's just overwhelming amount information
for us to consider to look at and to thank god for It just
reminds me, and I've mentioned this in the past, of those sponges
that you get that are about this big and you drop them in water
and they're about this big. They have been so compacted and
water opens them up. I remember visiting with an alfalfa
farmer up near Heppner. and he would make these bales,
and he'd take it down to a place for export to Japan, and they'd
put them in a compactor, and this 100-pound bale would end
up about this long, and about this wide, and about this high.
They just pushed every ounce of air out of it, and they could
get so much more hay on a ship. They could carry tons and tons
and tons, but just the volume. So they got this compactor. Well,
I can imagine what happened when those bales got to Japan and
they opened them up, they go, poof! You know, there was an
explosion. They probably had to have a decompactor. But this book and the Bible is
like that. It is just, it appears to be
something you can just get a real easy grip on. But the more you
look at it and the more you think about it and ruminate on it,
the larger it gets. And all of it praises God. And we have in this passage of
scripture the description of God, Lord God Almighty. Now that is big. That is a giant term about God. Leading up to that, It shares
this in Revelation 15 and in verse three. And they sing the
song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the lamb,
saying, great and marvelous. And we've spent a couple evenings
looking at great and marvelous. And they both carry with them
the idea of beyond human comprehension, particularly the marvelous. The
great is just, it's big. Great and marvelous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty. Just and true are thy ways, thou
King of saints. I'd just like to spend a little
time on that great and marvelous are thy works. Now, the first
thing that we're impressed upon by this verse or this phrase
is thy works. It's God's works. Great and marvelous
are thy works. And this thy is God, it's God's
works, it's the Lord's works. And I think Hebrews chapter 12,
verses one and two, helps us put a handle on this thought
about it being thy works, the Lord's works, God's work. And
when we peer into the scriptures, we find that throughout all the
scriptures, it is God that is performing the work. Now, Adam
performed a work. 65 years ago, the 12th of this
month, FDR passed away. He is remembered for saying,
a day that will live in infamy. Well, there's a different day.
There's a bigger day that lives in infamy, and that's the day
that Adam sinned against God. Far greater consequences of that
day than any other day this world has ever faced. We're facing
every day the consequences of that day, the fall of Adam in
the Garden of Eden. That is the work of man. And
ever since then, the work of man has been exposed by God to
be short, falls short of the glory of God. It is inconsistent
with holiness. It is sin to the core. Every
imagination and every thought is only evil continually, and
God does his dead level best with natural man to show them
that there is not one part that was saved when Adam sinned in
the Garden of Eden. From the bottom of your feet
to the top of your head, or it might say it the other way around,
from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, From
top to bottom, from bottom to top, there is nothing there. We then must rely on the works
of God. We are dependent upon the works
of God. We cannot be dependent upon the
works of men. The works of men failed in the
Garden of Eden and they continue to fail and they will never rise
above the level of natural man. In the Garden of Eden, Adam did
not say, as we so often hear today, it, I'm sorry, let's go
back to where we were. He didn't say it. I'm sorry,
I shouldn't have done that, didn't say it. The consequences of that
fall, we truly find out that God, from beginning to end, in
Hebrews chapter 12, verses one and two, shares this information,
and it covers the word of God. It covers the works of God. It covers every aspect of God
and his good works. Hebrews 12, verse one. Wherefore,
seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witness." Now, if we just back up one chapter, we can get a
glimpse of some of that cloud. By faith, Abel. By faith, Abraham. They're a cloud of witness of
the works of God. They witness to the works of
God. We're compassed about with so
great a cloud of witness. Let us lay aside every weight
in the sin that does so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. Now, a thought struck me the
other night. A compass is not north. A compass points to north. It's not north. We are not, though our works
are not salvation, we can only point to the Savior who saves. We have no capacity. Left to
ourselves, we have no direction, but he is our chart and compass,
and we are pointed to the north. We are pointed to Christ by this
compass. All right? Goes on in verse two,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, the
beginner and the ender of it. the one who proposed it and the
one who will finish it, the one who gives it to us and the one
who will conclude it. He is the author and finisher
of our faith. There is not one whit of our
faith, and he's just spent a chapter talking about faith, not one
whit of our faith that is ours. It's his that he gives to us.
He is the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. The
Bible is the declaration of the works of God. from beginning
to end. Genesis 1-1, the works of God. Genesis chapter 1, Genesis chapter
2, the works of God. Genesis chapter 3, we get a brief
view of the work of man and then the absolute necessity for God
to go to work again. Adam sinned and now God must
cover him. God must expel him. God must put an angel at the
tree of life. From that point, we see God involved
in every aspect. And it wasn't man that said,
cover me. And it wasn't man that says,
hide that tree of life from me. And it wasn't man that says,
get me out of the garden. I'm not worthy. It is God that
went to work. And God expelled him. God covered
him. And God protected him. from that
tree of life, or the scriptures say if he'd eaten of that, he'd
have had eternal death in this life. So God, the works of God,
the works of God culminate in the gospel. When God chose Abraham,
he is protecting the channel by which the Christ will come
into the world. When he protected Israel, I read
of Balak and Balaam, There, and Balaam wanted to, in the worst
way, curse Israel, and God prevented it from happening. Why? His son would come through this
nation. We follow they're carried off
into Babylonian captivity, but he protected them and brought
them back. The works of God are exposed on every chapter and
every verse of this Bible. God's work, sharing with us his
protective care over redemption, his protective care over the
gospel, his protective care over his people. There is a line that
he has about his people. He protects his people from dying
before they're saved. It's the work of God. We've all,
I haven't visited with anybody, particularly the guys that haven't
told me they should be dead. Some of the foolish stunts that
we did, we should be dead. But God protects his people until
he exposes them to his redemption in regeneration, and then we
are immortal until he calls us home. So it's the work of God,
the continuous, active work of God. And great and marvelous
are thy works. His works are great and marvelous. They're beyond human comprehension.
They're beyond human understanding. God's work is beyond our ability
to comprehend how he does it. But he says he knows the end
from the beginning. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. And thank God he didn't ask for
a vote from man. He went around, he circumvented. From that day, we must see the
works of God to see a people that he has rescued and does
rescue. The works of men only become
worse, but the works of God become more glorious to the church.
Now, let's look at a verse of scripture in the book of John
chapter 6 and verse 28. John chapter 6 and verse 28,
a group of people come to the Lord Jesus and ask him, what
must we do? Let's just read that, John 6,
28. Now, for a long, long time, I've
looked at this verse only from one aspect. I think there's at
least two, and I want to share the other one tonight. John 6,
28. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Now, I've for
a long time have looked at this. These people want to know what
they have to do like the Philippian jailer. But the other side of that is,
People constantly come and say, what can I do to do the work
of God? I want to do God's work. I'm
not interested. It takes the Holy Spirit to make
us uninterested in doing the work of God and trusting Christ. It takes the Holy Spirit for
us to be unconcerned about doing the work of God when we find
out we can't do it. There's a whole bunch of people
that want to do God's work. They want to do the convicting.
They want to do the convincing. They want to get people to move.
They want people to act. They want people. And it takes
the grace of God for us to just let God do His work. Oh, how we want to do His work. We just want to do His work. And the Bible tells us about
people who wanted to do his work. The Pharisees wanted to do his
work. They wanted to clean up people on the outside so that
they would be accepted. And the Lord came and said, it's
not the outside that's the problem. It's the inside that's the problem.
And once you discover that, then we can't do the work of God.
We try to get people to be clean on the outside. Pharisees did,
religion does. We try to get them to act better,
do better, see better, think better. And yet the real crux
of the matter is the heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. I can't do the work of God. Now let's look at some things
about the work of God. Turn with me if you went to the
book of Job. Job chapter 37. The work of God is culminated,
finished, and finalized in the gospel. Everything else complements
what he did to give us the gospel. The creation complements the
giving of the gospel. Every act of God in the Old Testament
for Israel, for Abraham and Israel, all the patriarchs, everything
that he did for them was only complemented The work of the
gospel. He brought the gospel forward
as a result of these. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David,
Solomon, and all through the Old Testament. The works of God
through the Old Testament were just a statement of the importance
of the gospel. The need of the gospel. The gospel
is the great work of God. Being used to save his people. This is the great work of God
giving us the gospel and We're on the wrong foot when we think
we can do the great work of God Job 37 verse 14 hearken unto
this O Job stand still and consider the wondrous works of God and Dost thou know when God disposed
them and caused the light of his cloud to shine? Dost thou
know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which
is perfect in knowledge? How are thy garments? How thy garments are warm? when he quitteth the earth by
the south wind, quieteth the earth by the south wind, hast
thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong and is a
molten looking glass. Teach us what we shall say unto
him, for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. the works of God. We can't even order our own speech
because we're in darkness. And there in verse 14, it says,
hearken unto this, O Job, stand still and consider the wondrous
works of God. And then he goes on to say, were
you there involved in this? Were you there involved in this?
No, no. We can't even order the weather. We can't order clouds. We can't
order a sunny day or a cloudy day. We're so limited and they
are all the works of God and yet everything redounds to the
glory of Christ in the gospel. Everything is in him. Not one
work has ever transpired on the face of this earth, not one work
of God that wasn't used to point to the gospel. The results of
the kingdom, results of the kingdom of Israel and kingdom of Judah.
The results of it was the coming of the gospel, the results of
building the tabernacle, the results of the building of the
temple, the results of all of the Old Testament sacrifices.
All of those things were just a simple picture pointing us
to the gospel. And that's what we have. The
works of God are the gospel. Turn with me if you into the
Psalms. Psalm 66. Psalm 66 in verse 5. Psalm 66 in verse 5. Scriptures
share this. Come and see the works of God.
Where are you going to go there? Where's the venue? Right here. This is the venue. This is the Coliseum. This is
the theater. Where are we going to see the
wonderful works of God? Now we can see the works of God
by our eyes. But they do not. The world, all
the events of the world, all of the effects of the world,
all of the rising of the sun and the going down of the moon
leads nobody to Christ. What does it say there in Psalm
66 in verse 5? Come and see the works of God.
He is terrible in his doing toward the children of men. That word
terrible so often shares with us, not like we think of terrible
today. It's awesome. We are awestruck. We are caught
here with our eyes wide open and our mouth shut. Saucers. and silent before God. His work
is manifested in the coming of the gospel, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, in the cross, the sacrifice of our Savior on the cross, all
of these events, the work of God is there. And great and marvelous
are thy works. And every little work points
towards that great work of redemption. In the book of the Psalms again,
Psalm 78. In Psalm 78 and verse 7. Psalm 78 and verse 7. The works
of God. With the works of man comes the
fall. With the work of God comes redemption.
The only record that we have in the beginning of the work
of man is the fall. They're told to tend the garden,
but the only work we have recorded is the fall. They said they had
dominion over all the fowl and over all the beasts, but the
only work we have recorded is the fall and the work of God. not to counteract that. Its plan
was far before the fall. It wasn't to counteract it. It
wasn't in result of it. It was the work of God was in
work. It was already in force. Redemption
would come. The lamb was already slain. The work of God has already been
pronounced. The gospel has already been declared. And then we see it right after
the fall when Abel offered that lamb. The work of God is summed
up here. You can't do it alone. You must
have a substitute. All right, Psalm 78 verse 7. The scripture says, Psalm 78
and verse 7, It says here that they might
set their hope in God and not forget the works of God. but
keep his commandments and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn
and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their heart aright
and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. The children of Ephraim
being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle.
That's what happens when we have our work. We'll turn back in
the day of battle. But God Almighty never turned
back in the day of battle. He set his face as a flint towards
Jerusalem. He never stopped his work. Never set it down. He continued
straight forward with his work. Great and marvelous are thy works,
O Lord God Almighty. And the name that is placed right
there with those works share with us that it was the Lord
God Almighty that was involved, so all his works are mighty works. All his activity are mighty activities. They are far away from the realm
of human intervention or of human creation. The works of God are
far superior to anything that science can develop. It is mind-changing
and heart-changing activities. This is the work of God. His
work on the cross, this is his work of God. Even though men
may try to disannul the effect of the work of Christ on the
cross, it will not change his work. It is accomplished. Turn
with me, if you would, to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes
chapter 11. Great and marvelous are thy works. Thy works are worth paying attention
to. And as we read there in John
chapter 6, we by nature will say, how can I help God out? What can I do to do the works
of God? How can I help God out? And it
is incumbent upon the Holy Spirit to teach us we can't do the works
of God. It's impossible. We're inable,
incapable. Ecclesiastes chapter 11, we read
these words, the words of the preacher, as it shares here. Solomon's words in the book of
Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 11, verse
5. As thou knowest not what is the
way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of
her that is with child, even so thou knowest not the works
of God who maketh all. Natural man just can't put it
together. We try, we try to make it an
effectual work, but it's the work of God. We can't even figure
out how a baby grows in the womb. That's the most common thing
in the world, a baby being born. We can't figure that out. And
he goes on to tell us here, even so thou knowest not the work
of God who maketh it all. What a statement about natural
man's ability. And then to be taught of the
Holy Spirit, it's the work of God. Regeneration is the work
of God. The gospel is the work of God.
Christ coming down through the ages is the work of God. The
activities of the cross and the activities of the grave and the
activities on that first great getting up morning for the Lord,
they are the activities of God. If Pilate had known different,
he wouldn't have had to place a whole bunch of guards at that
door. If Pilate had known different,
he wouldn't have had to put a seal in that mortar. It was for not anyway. Thou knowest
not the works of God. But he did it anyway. He didn't
know the works of God. Christ was going to be put in
a tomb and it was going to be sealed. a great stone was going
to be placed in front of it. A demonstration that God in his
resurrected glory in Christ Jesus the Lord does not need a door. And Pilate would have saved a
lot of men a lot of time because Jesus Christ had said several
times, and the third day, I'll come forth. Old Solomon summed
it up this, as he's led by the Holy Spirit, thou knowest not
the works of God. And natural man just can't get
it together. It's like a Rubik's cube. You
might get all the red, but one yellow. But you still don't have
the problem solved. It's just, it's an algebraic
equation that can't be figured out by natural man. People trying
to educate other people into the kingdom of heaven, but it
comes by the work of God. The work of God in the preacher,
the work of God in the gospel, the preached word, the work of
God by the Holy Spirit, the work of God on the cross, the work
of God in the tomb, the work of God in resurrection, the work
of God by his Holy Spirit. It is all found in Christ Jesus
the Lord. And we feeble creatures can't
figure it out. It's the work of God. Explain
how a bone grows in a mama's womb. Just explain that. If we can't explain that, we
can't explain the works of the Spirit. And the Lord spoke to
Nicodemus, the Spirit is like the wind. It bloweth, he bloweth
where he wants to. And you can see the results of
it, but you cannot tell where he came from and you cannot tell
where he's going. So what does that mean? You can't
pray him down. He is sovereign. And he does
according to his will. And it's the work of God. Let's
look at another verse in John chapter nine. John nine. Great and marvelous are thy works. Every time we see the work of
God, we stand in awe. Created the heavens and the earth
out of a vacuum. Not one molecule was there and
the next moment it's all there. Created all the grass and animals,
all the fishes of the sea and fowls of the air from nothing
and made them and said they were good. Put the sun and the moon
and the stars in space and said it was good. Put all the fishes
in the sea and said it was good. All the work of God and people
since then have been trying to describe it away. the work of
God, trying to describe salvation away and make it the work of
man. We can do some grand fooball work and get people, buy a cup
and buy water, enter the kingdom of heaven. And yet the word of
God says, thou knowest not the work of God. John chapter nine,
verse three. John chapter nine, verse three.
We read these words, Jesus answered, neither hath this man sin nor
his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest
in him. Now, this is a man's going to
see. Work of God, confound, a profound work that confounded the elders
of the day. How did this happen? How did
this happen? And then finally, if you turn
with me to Acts chapter 2 and verse 11. Great and marvelous. Have you ever just sat down and
ruminated on how God opened up the Red Sea? Great and marvelous are thy words.
The Jordan River at flood stage. Great. Or the walls of Jericho. You know, we think of those walls
tumbling out this way, but they were almost as thick as they
were tall. God opened up the earth just
like he did for Korah. And that wall sank, and they
walked right in. Delivered, well, our sister in
the faith had a house in that wall, and she's delivered, her
and her family. Great and marvelous. Another
thing that astonishes me that all Israel passed over the Jordan
River. Another thing that astonishes
me is not one soldier except today I lost their life in the
battles, all the battles in Israel. Great and marvelous are thy works. And it's a marvel to me that
one person survived Babylonian captivity. You know what we find
out? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
and Daniel are promoted while they're there. They're put in
powerful positions while they're there. And a whole host come
back and build that temple all over again. It's marvelous. Great and marvelous are thy works. To the natural man, the Lord
Jesus should have been dead. Herod put out a price on his
head as a baby. The voice comes to his stepfather,
he says, why don't you go down to Egypt for a while? Goes down
there until that old man dies, Herod dies, comes back up, settles
down in Nazareth, where he's always lived. Great and marvelous
are thy works. Acts chapter two, verse 11. This is the day of Pentecost,
and if you back up here, you'll find all the languages that were
spoken. There were 12 preachers preaching, and they're all preaching
in a foreign language. And this whole host of people,
starting with verse 8, it says, and how hear we every man in
our tongue wherein we were born. And it lists the languages that
were being spoken by the 12 disciples that day. And in verse 11, Cretes
and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues. The wonderful works of God. What was it? The Gospel. God's
greatest work. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Good News. That He's a Savior
that saves. That He is a Redeemer that actually
redeems. This is marvelous in our eyes. And I've yet to meet someone
who really knows Christ that said, as Solomon brought up that
issue and said, we just don't know the works of God. And all
of God's people says, boy, that's an understatement. We really
don't understand the works of God. We're the recipients of
them. God's activity has been in his
church. God's activity has been in his people. We're the recipients
of all those rich blessings. Solomon didn't say half of it
when he said, you just don't know the works of God. Now in
the revelation of Jesus Christ and regeneration, we get a glimpse
of some of it. We find out God started it. He's
been active in it for all these generations. He had a purpose
before the world began, and he will continue that purpose after
the world is concluded. He has marvelous works going
on. He's performing his work every day. The Holy Spirit's
doing his work. God the Father's doing his work. The Lord Jesus
is doing his work. It is a true statement. I was
saved, I am now being saved, and I will be saved. Whose work
is that? God's work. Every day, God is active in saving
His people from their sins. Every day. Lord willing, next time we'll
look at that name, that tri-plural name, Lord God Almighty. He's the one that's doing the
work.