Would you join me tonight in
the Book of Revelation? Revelation of Jesus Christ. Mr. Hawker wrote, he that hath called
his people with the holy calling hath guarded them against all
possibilities of preadventures. He that hath called his people
with a holy calling hath guarded all his people against all peradventures. I like that. And as we look at
the book of Revelation, sometimes we see things that are just,
they're just about more than we can bear. And then we read
the next chapter, or the next verse, and we see that he has
guarded us against all peradventures. I was reading in one of William
Jay's morning or evening exercises yesterday, and it was a thought
that I'd never been struck with, that Abel was the first one to
enter into glory, and there wasn't one person in hell yet. That has a lot to say about the
part that God invested in the deliverance of all his people. They had priority. And here in the book of Revelation,
we find that his people have priority. Now there's going to
be a harvest. The Lord has promised that. And
as we saw last week, he is called on by his preachers, he is called
on by his saints, he is called on by his children to thrust
in that sickle and make that harvest. Not that it's gonna
move him, but all the blessing we have of calling upon him.
And if he is pleased to do that very thing for anyone we know,
we rejoice. Even if they're not our relatives.
If he does for our relatives, we rejoice. We praise him, but
he is sovereign in that. And he calls on us to pray to
him, to thrust in his sickle. And he does that. He continues
to do that. He is doing it now. We may not
see it to the extent that we read about it in scripture, but
that doesn't mean he's not doing it. He has a people, and all
his people will be gathered in, and all the chairs will be filled.
It's interesting, the thought struck me that Abel, the first
choir member, still had a chair with his name on it. It just
wasn't an open seating. He still had a chair with his
name on it. All right, now, if there is a
harvest of God's people, which there shall be, he shall send
his angels and gather the elect from the four winds. The Lord
has promised a harvest. He has promised a gathering in. but he's also makes a statement
in this chapter that there is going to be a gathering of the
vine of this earth and they will be put in the wine press of the
wrath of god let's turn to revelation fourteen And there in verse 14,
the scriptures share this and we're going to spend most of
our time in like verses 19 and 20 or a little bit later in this
chapter. But verse 14, and I looked and behold a white cloud. And upon the cloud sat one 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 has come for
thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. Now there's
two times that the Lord has an exact moment when he's going
to reap. That is, when he finds his lost
sheep in this time, in this gospel era, he will reap them, he will
bring them in, he will give them life, he will raise them from
the spiritual dead at the exact moment he has determined before
the foundation of the world to do that. No one is born too early
and no one is born too late. They have an appointment to be
born. Just as we have an appointment with death, we have an appointment
with life. Now the second time that a time
is set that is as exact as can be is when he shall return. The last one is saved. The last
sickle is run in. That is an exact moment with
God. When we look at God's exactness
in the Old Testament, I was refreshed again to read about the time
that Israel was brought out of Egypt and it was the self same
day, 400 years. self same day that had been promised
to Abraham they would spend in Egypt. The very day that they
had spent. It was no mistake that Pharaoh
didn't let them go. It was no mistake that God sent
10 plagues. It was determined that this was
going to happen. God hardened Pharaoh's heart,
and Pharaoh then hardened his heart to the exact moment. It was not an incorrect time
for Pharaoh to say, one more night with the frogs. Because
when that time came, and the Passover lamb was sacrificed,
and was partaken of by Israel in Egypt, that evening when they
left was the exact moment when they must leave. And the same
is true when God will save His people. The exact moment that
He has determined, He will thrust in the sickle. He will not pick
green fruit and He will not let it rot on the vine. When it comes
to the end, He is going to have an exact moment. Now we read
in the scriptures, no man knows the day nor the hour, only God
above, but it is an exact moment for God. The Lord Jesus Christ
will come at the exact moment and he will do what he has promised
to do. He will take out all his sheep
and he will pour his wrath out upon all the goats. Now turn
with me, if you would, back to the book of, excuse me, yeah,
Isaiah chapter 11. Keep your finger right there
in Revelation, but turn with me back to the book of Isaiah
chapter 11. And we find here that Isaiah the prophet, the
gospel preacher, The gospel preacher, one of several in the Old Testament,
had this to say as he was led by the same spirit that John
wrote by. Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 12,
the scriptures share this, and he shall set up an instant for
the nations and shall assemble Now this is his promise. He is
going to assemble. He is going to bring all his
grapes in. He is going to bring all his
grain into the barn. He is going to bring all his
children in. He will lose none of them. And
we find there that he will assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather
together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the
earth. He is going to do that and he will do that on time.
He is doing it now. He is gathering his people spiritually. Now, he may leave them in the
same muck that they're in, the same country. I read those letters
from our friend, Brother Lance Heller down there in Papua New
Guinea. The conditions that they are
in is deplorable. The conditions of the infrastructure
of that country is deplorable. And he may save and has saved
people in those conditions and leave them in deplorable conditions. But when he gathers them out,
they will be presented spotless. We may spend the rest of our
life in poor conditions. but he has promised he would
gather us together. Now, he's gathering us spiritually.
Eventually, there'll be a gathering physically. Everybody will be
brought together in one assembly for one purpose, and that's praising
Almighty God in a way that we can't do it right now. Our spirit
does, but this part that we carry around with us is not capable
of. So that time will come. In the
49th chapter of the book of Isaiah, would you turn there with me?
Isaiah 49. Isaiah 49 and verse 18. Lift up thine eyes, Isaiah 49
and verse 18. Lift up thine eyes round about
and behold, all these gather themselves together and come
to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou
shall surely clothe thee with all as with an ornament and bind
them on thee as a bride doth for thy haste and thy desolate
places in the land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow
by reason of the inhabitants that they shall swallow thee
up that swallowed thee up shall
be far away. The children which thou shalt
have after thou hast lost the other shall again in thy ears
and place it to straight for me. Give place to me that I may
dwell. Notice there in verse 18, lift
up thine eyes round about and behold all these gather themselves
together and come to thee as I live, saith the Lord. Thou
shalt surely clothe thee with all as with an ornament, and
bind them on thine as a bride doth. Gathered together. Now,
God imposes upon his people. I read again about, we're just
about to see spring. The flowers are out. God does
with the seeds of this earth. The writer said it's in springing
or something like that. He does that very thing in our
soul. He causes us to rise. He causes
us to desire to gather together in Him. It is a desire we don't
have by nature, but it's a desire that He puts in us. When spring
comes, those flowers just come out of the ground. It's their
nature, and God does that within us. And in Isaiah chapter 60,
would you look there with me? Isaiah chapter 60 and verse four. Isaiah chapter 60 and verse 4,
it says here, lift up thine eyes round about. Isaiah 60 and verse
4, as he talks about gathering and he's got that sharp sickle
and it struck me as I was going over this this afternoon, that
sickle is sharp. It's like his word. It's sharper
than any two-edged sword. He does not leave ragged cuts. When he harvests his own, it
is with intent. It is with purpose. Are we saved
on purpose or are we saved by mistake? He has a sickle on purpose
to harvest his own into his own, and it is sharp, and it is sharp
to the cutting of separating and separating us from this world,
and sharper than any two-edged sword, the word of God is, and
his sickle is too, and it's his sickle, and as we mentioned last
week, we do not own it. and we have no control of it,
and we don't even have a hand on the handle. It's his sickle,
and he does it as he pleases, and he does it with such intensity
that what he goes after, it is cut off, it is brought out. There
is no raking across the, I'll never forget getting to do some
hand scythe work, and hey, boy. I tried it, it just cut across
the tops of those. Had to go get a file and sharpen
that thing. Well, God doesn't have any cutting
across the top. He doesn't leave anything behind.
It's gonna be harvested. All right, Isaiah 60 in verse
four. Lift up thine eyes round about
and see. All they gather themselves together,
they come to thee. Thy son shall come from far and
thy daughter shall nurse at thy side. They're gonna be gathered. And he puts an intent in us to
gather to him and gather with his people. It's not something
that is made up. After the Lord saved me was one
of the first times in my life I could say, I don't have to
go to church. I want to go. I don't have to be around God's
people. I want to be. I don't have to be around God.
I want to be. I don't have to be in love with
God. I want to be. Change the whole
Mary Ann, the whole truckload at one time. It's a blessing
to be with God's people. It's an anticipation. It's a
delight. And to be gathered together to
Christ, and to be gathered together in Christ, and to be gathered
together with Christ, and to be gathered together with and
assemble with his people, his sickle does its job. It works in us both to will and
to do of His good pleasure. It is an ensign that He gives
to us, a sign in our soul. We love Him because He first
loved us. It's not mockery. It's not put
on. It is not robbery. It is intense
love for God. We don't love Him like we should. We don't love Him like we will.
But we certainly love him more than we did, because we had enmity
against him. He was the outlaw. We blamed
him like Adam did. Now, John chapter 11. Would you turn there with me?
John chapter 11. John chapter 11 and verse 49. God's faithful sickle. Now there's another one that's
gonna be used. We're gonna look at that in just a moment. John
chapter 11, verse 49. And one of them named Caiaphas,
being the high priest, that same year said unto them, ye know
nothing at all. Now it's interesting, God can
use a stone. Jesus said, or Johnson, these
stones would cry out. They were a testimony. Those
stones that those 12 tribes put together there at the crossing
of the Jordan River. Remember that message that Brother
Gene brought? Still there. They cry out testimony about
God. They say more than the high priest
were saying, but God can use a stone. He can use a donkey. And he can use a high priest
that doesn't know the first thing about God. And he did. Caiaphas, notice this. Nor consider
that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people
and that the whole nation perish not. This and this spake he not of
himself. He didn't believe a word he's
saying. And besides that, he didn't know what he was saying,
but he said it. But being high priest out here,
he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation and not for
that nation only, but that also he should gather together in
one the children of God that were scattered abroad. And that
moment on, they took counsel together how to kill him. He
prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation and not for,
and Jesus said the same thing, other sheep I have would not
of this fold. He said they'll be gathered together. He's gonna
take all the grapes in all the vineyard of this world and pluck
them up and put them in one assembly. In one vat. In one barn. In one gathered together. He said there, they shall be
gathered together in one, the children of God that were scattered
abroad. What an active God we have. And you know what? I've seen
these guys down in the grocery stores with their little fruit
knife reach in there and get one of those bad grapes on the
inside and go like that. He's so He only takes the bad grapes. The righteous need not a position
but they that are sick. He's the only one that can take
the bad fruit and make it good. He's the only one that can take
the bad grain and make it good. He's the only one that can take
a piece of ear and an ankle bone and make a church out of it.
He's the only one. We don't have anything to boast
in. We are the chiefest of sinners. We are those, the offscouring
of this world. We are the halt, the blind, and
the maim. He just has the ability of fixing
that. He has the ability of taking over that. Now, turn with me,
if you would, to Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians one. In Ephesians
1, we have this Lord's great sickle going out to the hearts
of his people wherever on a timely basis. I like ripe fruit. Some of the worst fruit I've
ever eaten is a green peach. Oh my goodness. Just green apples. I just can't handle them. They
have to be ripe, ripe fruit. My mom used to feed me green
blackberries. There's not enough sugar in this
world. We raised a blackberry. Dad had
a blackberry plant there and it produced, and I didn't know
that they were supposed to be soft when you pick them because
we never got them that way. They were hard as a gourd. Make
a blackberry pie and it's still bitter. Nancy and I, before we
were married, she said, let's go blackberry picking. I says,
why? Why? She says, they're good. I says, they are not. She took
me out there to a blackberry patch and we picked some that
fell apart in your hand. Now I quit picking and went to
eating. Yeah, I graced. I said that,
say this, the Lord knows the peakedness of the ripe. He knows
when to pick his people. He knows. It's not up to us. It's not our prayer that brought
us in. It's not our anguish that brought
us in. It's not our praying through that brought us in. It's when
he said it is time. That's when he brings us in.
It's time in the fullness of time. That's when he brought
us in. That's what Paul said. Paul mentioned about himself.
He brought me forth from my mother's womb and in the proper time,
even as one born out of due time. He was brought forth, and that's
what he does with his people. Ephesians chapter one, verse
10, the scriptures share this, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in
Christ. In the dispensation of the fullness
of time, he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are in earth, even in him. So he takes all the fruit and
places it in him. Now that's been placed there
before the foundation of the world, and in time, he fulfills that.
The check was written. Now it's cashing in time. And
he goes out after all those with his sickle, his sickle, and by
his purpose and by his glory, he does that. And off to the
side are the preachers and all the saints saying, stick in your
sickle. He's already in motion, but we say, stick in your sickle.
He's already has a purpose, but we say, stick in your sickle.
Go after, go after, bring in the fruit. He's already active. He's already practiced up. He's
already got the sickle in motion and the church by the wayside
is crying, stick in the sickle. Now let's go back over here to
the book of Revelation and we see in the latter part of this
that the scene changes just like it does in the judgment of the
peoples on the right hand of the sheep and on the left hand
of the goats. On the right hand are all spiritual
blessings in Christ Jesus. On the right hand are welcome
to the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
On the right hand are the blessings, the rich blessings of the cross,
the savior, the glory of God, the people of God relish and
delight in everything they can learn about God. We are historians
about God and we want the primary sources. We're not satisfied
for secondary or thirdary comment about him. We're interested in
the primary source about God, about God speaking about God
about himself. The ear of the church is toward
every word that God has spoken about the church and about the
glory of God. And on the right hand are a bunch
of sheep that are listening intently with every fiber of their being
about the word of God. And on the left hand, there's
going to be a sickle sent in there too. There's going to be
the sickle of God sent in there. Now, it's almost in this passage
of scripture, is it as if the Lord is only interested in taking
care of his vintage and he leaves the rest to an angel. He's interested in his sheep.
He leaves the rest to someone else. Judgment. Read here with
me. Revelation chapter 14. And there
it says in verse 16, 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, and 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 unto 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. Now I don't
understand all I know about that, but I know that ain't good. Oh
my goodness, the wrath. If you want to see a small picture
of what this is like, go to the cross. when God poured out the same
righteous, holy indignation upon his son who became sin for us. That's what he's going to pour
out upon this that are in the winepress of the wrath of God.
And if you will notice with me, they are taken care of out without
the city. Verse 20, the wine press was
trodden without the city. They're outside all grace. They're outside of all mercy.
They're outside of all peace. They're outside of all hope.
They're outside of the church. They're outside of the planting
of God. They're outside of the vintage
of God. They're outside of the barns of God. They're outside
the city. There is no hope for them. They are lost and have no hope. This is a picture of the greatness
of the wrath of God against all those that have the mark of the
beast. Those whose names are not written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. Turn with me if you would to
the book of Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13 the Lord Jesus
speaks of this in one of his parables. He talks here about
the mixture that there is but he never has lost one of his
sheep and he never has gathered in one of the tares. He's never
missed My mother and dad raised a garden
that seemed like it was 10 acres when you had a hoe in your hand.
Oh, the rows of corn and beans. And every once in a while, not
because I wanted to and not because I planned on it, but I'd clip
off one of those stalks of corn. I'd be in there after a weed
and I didn't want to bend over. I just used a hoe and here come
one of those corns out. My God never has made that mistake. He has never lost one of his.
He's never cut them off. He's never clipped them. He has
never done that. He is perfect in his harvest. Now he's also perfect in this
harvest. There will not be one in this
harvest that he paid for. There will not be one in this
harvest that Christ died for. There will not be one in this
harvest whose name is in the Lamb's Book of Life. There will
not be one in this harvest who loves God. There's not one in
this harvest who has a heart change. There's not one in this
harvest. that God had an interest in before
the foundation of the world and couldn't accomplish it. He has
accomplished what he said he would do. Now is the time that
he is going to have this harvest and it will be a thorough harvest
and not one of those will enter into glory. If they did, they
would be so uncomfortable they'd want to go to the other place.
They cannot stand the righteousness of Christ. All right, here in
the book of Matthew 13, verse 24, the scriptures share this,
Matthew 13, verse 24, another parable put forth unto them saying,
the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which soweth good
seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy
came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when
the blades were sprung up and brought forth fruit, they then
appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder
came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed
in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? And he saith to them, An enemy
hath done this. The servant saith unto him, Wilt
thou then that we go and gather them up? And he saith, Nay, lest,
while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with
them. Let both grow together until
the harvest. And in the time of harvest I
will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares,
and bind them in bundles, and burn them, but gather the wheat
into my barn. And dropping down to verse 34.
All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables,
and without a parable spaking not unto them, that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will
open my mouth in parables. I will utter things which have
been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Then Jesus sent
the multitude away, and went into the house. And his disciples
came to him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares
of the field. And he answered and said unto
them, Now there is no greater grace than this. He spoke in
parables, so they would not hear, but to his own, to his people,
to his church. He's going to take special time.
He's going to share. what it means, and every word
of God would be a parable if the Holy Spirit didn't interpret
it for us. We would have no understanding
of what it spiritually means if he didn't take us aside and
teach us. There's not enough time in this
world, in ten lifetimes, to study the Bible to get anything out
of it except parables. We're going to go home and talk
about all of the physical things. It's no wonder volumes have been
written about the Lord Jesus couldn't get the job done and
set up a kingdom and he had to postpone it. It's no wonder. If you don't have any spiritual
understanding, you're going to say Jesus was a failure. But
if you have spiritual understanding, you're saying, he was the greatest
success story we've ever read, ever heard about, ever been applied
to us. He came and set his face as a
flint towards Jerusalem, and that's exactly what he did. He
never intended to set up an earthly kingdom. He came and established
firmly what he had prophesied and pictured and established
in the old economy, the saints of God are the kingdom of God.
All right, now Lotus here. He answered and said unto them,
he that soweth the good seed is the son of man, the field
is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom,
but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy
that sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the
world, and the reapers are the angels. My goodness, doesn't
he explain it quite well? Down the line. The son of man shall send forth
his angels, and they shall gather out of the kingdom all things
that offend, them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into the
furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth, and shall the righteous shine forth as a sun in the kingdom
of their father, who hath ears to hear, let him hear. That wicked
shall be gathered, here it says, into a furnace of fire. Over
here in the book of Revelation, it says, into a wine vat of the
wrath of God. This is a picture of the greatness
of natural man's sin. What does it say here? They shall
be trodden without the city, and the blood came out of the
winepress, even unto the bridles, by the space of 1,600 furlongs,
which is 200 miles. Now I've often thought, how in
the world, if you take that literally, take that literally, you got
bridle high and 200 miles, what in the world is he talking about?
When the harvest comes, sin shall have reached its highest peak. They have added evil upon evil
until they are fully ripe for wrath. All who persist in their
sin, rebellion, and unbelief will be trodden in the winepress
of the wrath of God without the city. And if there was only one,
the evidence of their natural sin would be bridal high and
200 miles long. Figuratively speaking, it is
beyond imagination. We can't imagine that much blood
or that much wine. We can't imagine the evilness
and wickedness of our own heart, not alone of all put together
and put in the winepress of the wrath of God. It is an unimaginable
amount of sin that is in natural man's heart. We cannot measure
it. It is incurably wicked. It is
wicked beyond description. And when all are put together,
that is so horrific and horrendous. And yet we find that the Lord
Jesus for his people paid every last bit. There's not one particle
of the wrath of God to be found upon his children. Why? Because
he took care of it, every bit of it. His body soaked it up. His body drew it in. His body
was taken and crucified, and he became sin for us, and God
bore out on him his fraternal wrath. I mean, it was in an assembled
form he poured out his wrath on him. Now, this amount of sin,
if there had only been Cain, Adam, Eve that fell, if there
had only been one, The extent of their fall would have still
been as horrific. Just as it would take, if there
was only one saved, how much blood did Jesus have to shed?
How much of his life did he have to give just for one? Every bit
of it. He couldn't hold back any. If
it was just one to be saved, it had to be the same death on
the cross, the same wrath of God. Why? Because of the horrificness
of our sin against God, against man, and against ourself. So
here it is, bridal deep and 200 miles long. From here to the ocean, bridal
deep, the horrificness. And from here
to Seattle, I mean, it's just not a narrow, it's immeasurable,
uncalculable, unweighable, unmeasurable. It is so horrific and that is
going to be what will be placed in eternal fire for eternity. Those without Christ and without
God and without hope in this world and it will not grow any
less for eternity. He has a specific time and a
specific number that will also meet this sickle And God will
judge them and say to them, I never knew you. They will be put into the winepress,
will be trodden without the city. The blood came out of the winepress,
even unto the horses bridled by the space of 1,600 furlongs. Oh, my sin. Sin on the Son of
God took a toll. Sin in us takes a toll. Sin around us takes a toll. It's
taken a toll on this earth. It's taken a toll on the animal
kingdom. Sin affected the animal kingdom. It wasn't until after the fall
that critters were carnivorous, taking a great toll. Before the
fall, mosquitoes didn't draw blood. Before the fall, there wasn't
thistles and thorns. Before the fall, there wasn't
briars? You didn't get all tore up picking
a rose? So, without the city, greatness
of the wrath of God poured out upon them, and here's the sin. I'm thankful for the first sickle.
that God uses in time to gather in his, as he shares over there. And in this era, in this time,
he told his church, well, probably number one, you can't tell the
difference between the tares and the wheat. And number two,
if you grow to do something about it, you're just gonna make a
mess of things. Just leave it alone, leave it alone. Now, if they're in a gospel church,
I would venture to say that most of the time, after a while, they'll
pull up their roots and move out anyway. But if they don't, we can't identify.
Leave it alone. I'll take care of it. You're
going to hurt some of the roots of the grain. I'll take care
of it. All right. We'll stop there.