Revelation chapter 11. I'd like
to read verses 14 through 19 of Revelation chapter 11. What is on the voices and from
the voices of the church is found in these verses. As we find the
four and 20 elders speaking, they're speaking the words of
the church. Glory and triumph are fully displayed
and enjoyed in these verses. Revelation chapter 11, and I'd
like to read verses 14 through 19. It says, the second woe is
past. Behold, the third woe cometh
quickly. The seventh angel sounded, and there was great voices in
heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms
of our Lord. and of his Christ, and he shall
reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders
which sat before God on their seats fell upon their faces and
worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
which art and wast and art to come, because thou hast taken
to thee thy great power and hast reigned. The nations were angry,
and thy wrath is come, in the time of the dead, that they should
be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants,
the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name,
small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the
earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there
was seen in his temple the ark of his testament, And there were
lightnings and voices and thunderings and earthquake and great hail. The church understands some things
about God. Just this last week, a passage
of scripture was brought to my attention again. It's been some
time since we read it. So would you turn with me over
to the book of Judges? judges chapter twelve this is
an illustration the difference between what the church knows
and what the church knows there are those who uh... there are those who say
they're in the church and there are those who are in the church
uh... there are those who uh... uh... i don't know how the old church
fathers worded i read it one time The church triumphant and then
the rest. The believers and the hangers-on. And this illustrates that point
here in the book of Judges. And I want to read this. There
was a way of identifying those who knew something. And it was a single word. And
this passage of scripture illustrates a point. It illustrates a point
about the church. The church of the living God
will agree with God on his sovereignty. There will be no discussion.
In fact, they delight in it. And whenever the final verses
of this chapter take place, when God publicly judges One old theologian,
J.L. Degg, said when he publicly has
his general judgment, when he publicly has his general judgment,
That's what this is talking about. And the church will rejoice in
the Lord who is able to judge the quick and the dead. The Lord
will rejoice in him because he has promised that he will do
it. And there are times that the world rises up and shakes
their fist in the face of almighty God, but that day they will not. It may look like they're winning
the battles, but they'll not win the war. And the church delights
in the Lord who is the judge of the quick and the dead. He
is the judge over all. He is the one that every knee
shall bow to. And the church delights in this.
And there's just an identification mark that is made by those who
delight in God Almighty and those who delight only in a God. Now, Judges chapter 12 verse
1, it says this, the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together
and went northward and said unto Jephthah, wherefore passest thou
over to fight against the children of Ammon, and did not call us
to go with thee? We will burn thy house upon thee
with fire. And Jephthah said unto them,
I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon,
and when I called you, you delivered me not out of their hands. And
when I saw that you delivered me not, I put my life in my hands
and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered
them into my hand. Wherefore then are ye come up
unto me this day to fight against me? Then Jephthah gathered together
all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of
Gilead smote Ephraim because they said, ye Gileadites are
fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites. And the Gileadites took passage
of Jordan before the Epaphrathites. And it was so that when those
Ephraimites which were escaped said, let me go over, that the
men of Gilead said unto them, art thou on Ephraimite? And he said, no. Then said they
unto him, say now Shibboleth. And he said, Sibboleth. for he could not frame to pronounce
it right. Now, when it comes to the sovereignty
of God, there are just some who claim to be, they're the hangers-on,
and when you use the word sovereignty, they just can't form the word. And if they do, it's always with
a little S. It's not very significant. Well, when we get over here into
the book of Revelation, there is a host of people that are
founded under and on those that are called the four and 20 elders
that delight in this about God. They relish in this about God. We find out that the imposters
limit God and the children delight in God. The imposters want to
limit God and have him doing things that he never said he
would do and have him not doing things which he said he would
do. There's such a limitation and the word was shibboleth and
they couldn't say it because they couldn't form the word. Well, regeneration changes the
ability to say certain sounds. Regeneration allows people to
say things that they could never say before and to believe things
that they never believed before. And it doesn't come with a cramp
in the teeth to mention that God is the Lord God Almighty. In fact, the church delights
in that. We delight in Him being the Lord
God Almighty. And it doesn't hang up on our
teeth. We confess it freely. We speak it openly. We may delight
over coffee with it. It's not just a term that we
use in church. We meet each other with this,
and I am thankful beyond all measure that when people drive
up that street, they see that word. Now, most people don't
have a clue what it means, and I've had people ask me what it
means. But it is there. And those who rejoice in it say,
that is the finest first word you'll ever find about a group
of people. Sovereign. And they know exactly
what it means. They find it in the yellow pages. Those who know, know what it
means. Those who don't know, well, we just wanted to come
anyway. It's a word that your tongue doesn't hang up on your
teeth over. Now, in the book of Isaiah chapter
four, another passage of scripture that we've read from time to
time, Isaiah chapter four, and we just read it in our daily
Bible reading, here is one verse that expresses this in just a
little bit different way. These that do not want, They
only want the name, but they don't want the robe, the clothing,
and don't want the food. What they're actually saying
is, we do not recognize you as king. Now, we want your blessings,
but we do not. We want a Cadillac in every garage. We want our bank accounts full,
but we do not recognize you as sovereign. That's what they're
saying. Notice here, Isaiah chapter four, in that day, seven women
shall take hold of one man saying, we will eat our own bread. Now, this is just symbolic of
the religious world. These seven women are just symbolic
of the religious world. And this one man is symbolic
of the Lord. And he says, they'll take hold
of one man saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own
apparel. Only let us come by thy name,
be called by thy name to take away our reproach. Over here
we have a group of people that just can't form the word. Over
here we have a group of people that will not submit to the word. We will do our own thing. We
will have our own thing. The Lord Jesus Christ says that
there's only one way of having this bread, and that's the bread
of life, and only one way of having this clothing, and that's
the righteousness of Christ. And these are saying, we'll not
have it that way. We do not believe. We do not
recognize that you are king. The imposters limit God and the
children delight in God. So let's go back over here to
the book of Revelation chapter 11, and we find these delighting
in this. They're delighting. There are
times that we see through our own life, that it appears that
God has let things go, things are on a slide, we wonder sometimes,
and yet this day God has pronounced and allowed his church to see
that he is sovereign over all things. Here it says, in this
passage of scripture, there in verse 15, the seventh angel sounded
and there was a great voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms
of this world are becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and of his
Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. Now there's three things
I'd like to look at tonight that share with us what the church
sees about God in these passages of scripture, these verses. Number
one, it is Christ's right to rule. He has right to rule. And he has two reasons he has
right to rule. Number one, creation. He has
the right to rule by creation. He has created all things. Not
one thing that was made was not made without him. He has the
right of creation to rule over this world. And secondly, he
has the right of purchase. to rule over this world. He has
purchased his church with his own blood. He has the right to
rule because of that purchase. Secondly, we find he will be
seen to rule over all. There's a time coming and the
church is just waiting on the edge of their seats for this
time that's coming that Jesus Christ will demonstrate to the
entire world, foe and friend alike, I rule. We find in the book of Isaiah
and the book of Philippians, and we'll turn there, it shares
with us, every knee shall bow. And you know what? The church
has been delighting in that. It doesn't look like it right
now, they may say, but the time is coming. He will demonstrate
to friend and foe alike. He rules. He reigns and in that
day, every knee shall bow to him and the church as they bow
before him, worship him because he has the right to rule and
he will rule. And thirdly, we want to look
at that this rule, this reign is forever and it will not end. Now that's the church's delight,
the 420 elders, the angel, the word of God, shares with us these
things. And God's people throughout all
ages, even in the days of this great persecution, he shared
with them I rule. I've always ruled. I will forever
rule. I have the right to rule. I will
rule visibly. It will be so extant that every
knee shall bow, not one person. The thought struck me this afternoon.
He was judged by Pilate, but Pilate will be judged by him.
Caiaphas the high priest judged him but they will bow before
him as king of kings and lord of lords they will do what they
did not want to do then but they will do it And you know what? The church will stand in awe
of God Almighty in Christ Jesus as he demonstrates that he is
sovereign king over all men and women, boys and girls, and the
entire world as they see them bow and everyone bow and not
one word of argument. In the Old Testament, one of
the punishments that a nation put on another nation was taking
the hamstring of a horse. These will not be used in battle.
On that day, everyone's hamstring will be made low. All right,
let's look at some verses here. Turn with me. The Lord has the
right to rule. The church delights in this,
that he has the right to rule both by creation and by redemption. And John chapter 1 verses 1 through
3 shares with us this. And it encourages the church
to know that he has the right to rule. By His creation, He
has the right to rule. John chapter 1, verses 1 through
3, we read these words here. They just seem tingling up your
spine when it says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
made The Word was with God and the Word was God, and the same
was in the beginning with God. In verse 3, all things were made
by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. That's pretty convincing language.
That's called redundancy. It just goes over it again, and
the church delights in his right to reign. Now, before God ever
spoke to our heart, we could have cared less, and more than
likely, we argued against it. We were not interested in a God
that reigned. Oh, we'd let him create the heavens
and the earth. We'd let him take care of nature.
We'd let him take care of the clouds and so forth. But when
it came to men, it chafed on us. But when God opens our heart,
we delight in his right to rule. What's that mean to us? Nothing
shows his sovereignty as presenting sinners spotless. My goodness,
nothing demonstrates his sovereignty so grand as to take a whole lot
of sinners without help and without hope and without God in the world
and present them spotless before the throne of grace. That just
makes me say amen. He's going to present his people.
Why? He's sovereign. King rules. Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20, as we think
about this, he has the right to rule. It's his right to rule. I've been doing a little subbing
and I've just proved another point. There's a whole bunch
of people are being trained that they have the right for someone
else to give them something. They have the right for someone
else to work and give them something. And it's just becoming more and
more apparent. Well, God has right to rule whether people
accept it or not. He has the right to rule. By
creation, he has the right to rule. He created the atoms that
he created everything else from. He created atom from the dust
of the ground. He produced the grass and the
fruit trees and all trees and birds of the air and fowls of
the air and all creeping things out of absolutely nothing. He created that and he has the
right to rule over every kingdom. He has the right to rule over
the mineral kingdom. He has the right to put the gold
where he wants to put it. He has the right to put the oil
where he wants to put it. He has the right to put the apple
trees where he wants them to grow. He has the right to do
that by creation, and he does. People have tried to grow fruit
trees where it freezes early in the spring and doesn't have
a growing season long enough. He has the right to have them
critter, those apples where he wants them to grow. All right,
now notice here in Matthew chapter 20, Matthew 20 verse one, it
says, for the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is a
householder. which went out early in the morning
to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the
laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing
idle in the marketplace. And he said, go ye also into
the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I'll give you. And they
went their way. Again, he went about the 6th
and 9th hour and did likewise. And about the 11th hour, he went
out and found other standing idle and said to them, why stand
you here all the day idle? Now, that's a pretty good description
of what natural man is like in a standing idle. They're just
standing idle. And it goes on, he says, and
they said unto him, because no man hath hired us. He saith unto
them, go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right of that
shall ye receive. So when even was come, the Lord
of the vineyard saith unto the steward, call the laborers and
give them their hire, beginning from the last of the first. And
when they came that were hired about the 11th hour, they received
every man a penny. But when the first came, they
supposed that they should receive more, and they likewise received
every man a penny. And when they had received it,
they murmured against the good men of the house, saying, These
last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal
unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But
he answered one of them and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst thou not agree with me
for a penny that thou take that thine is and go thy way i will
give unto this last even as unto thee notice verse 15 is it not
lawful for me to do what i will do i will with my own is it not lawful For me to do
what I will with my own is thine I evil because I am good. So
the last shall be first and the first last for many be called
but few chosen. All right. He says I have the
right by creation to do what I want to do and some will find
fault. And the church has represented
over in the book of Revelation says we delight in this. We weren't
worth getting anything. It wasn't ours to get anything.
And he gave us at the very beginning, he gave them eternal life. Midway
through, he gave them eternal life. Great way through, he gave
them eternal life. And those just saved by the skin
of their teeth, he gave them eternal life. You know what the
church is going to do? Say hallelujah. He found all
his lost sheep just like he said he would do. Not one is lost. They're all brought in. And guess
what? Everyone gets the same. You know what that does? That
takes away the big I's and little U's. That just removes all hierarchy. Everybody gets the same because
it's Christ. All right. Now, he has the right
to rule. He has the right to rule. by
creation, and he has the right to rule by purchase. Go over
with me to the 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter
53. We notice here in this great
statement about God's grace and salvation through the Lord Jesus
Christ, we find here he has the right to reign because of his
purchase, his purchase of his church, his purchase of his saints,
his purchase of his sheep. Isaiah 53 verse 10, the scriptures
say, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him
to grief when he shall make his soul an offering for sin. He
shall see a seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail
of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great. And he shall
divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul into this." Who's doing the dividing? Who's in charge? It's the Lord, because he has
purchased his church. He'll divide what he will divide,
among whom he will divide it with. He has the right to divide
what he wants to divide, among whom he wants to divide it with.
He shared this with Moses. I will have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. Why? I have the right to. I have
the right by purchase to divide the spoil among all those I want
to divide the spoil among. My goodness, we do that when
we bequeath to our children or to anybody we want to. And God
Almighty has the right to share the spoils of his victory with
whomever he wants to share his spoils with. And in the end,
they're called the church. In the end, they're called his
saints. In the end, they're called his people. That's who he divides
the spoil with, and he has the right to do it because of purchase. Turn with me, if you would, over
to the book of Hebrews chapter 10, and we find the Holy Spirit
gave the author of this book These words with regard to this
great subject that the Lord has the right to give what he has
to give to whom he wants to give it to because he has purchased
it with his own blood. He has the right to do this.
Nobody can impose upon him what he does not want to give. He
has the right to give. Now, you and I all know that
he has the right to give, but he gives it to sinners. There's
nobody else to give it to. He has the right to give it.
And there is no greater demonstration of God's sovereignty than when
the church stands before God, complete, without spot and without
blemish, and it is there we will wholeheartedly, like we find
here in the book of Revelation, wholeheartedly worship him as
the Lord God Almighty. because he has demonstrated his
ultimate statement of sovereignty. Not only do I rule by creation,
but I rule by purchase. And I purchased them with my
own blood. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter
10, verse 10. The scriptures share this about
this wonderful subject. He has the right to rule. He
has the right. Whether people recognize it or
not, and there's going to be Millions of people will never
recognize it until it's publicly displayed in that day when every
knee shall bow. And then they too will recognize
what the church has had revealed. He reigns. All right, Hebrews
chapter 10, verse 10, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once Now, for
all, if you're going to add that, which they did, you're going
to have to say for all time. It's not for all men, it's once
for all time, never sacrificed again. And every priest standeth
daily, ministering and offering oft times the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Because of the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ, he has matured, perfected forever them that are
sanctified, and he is expecting until every enemy, and for a
long time, I thought these enemies were the enemies out there, but
you know, this is just the church. These are the ones that are the
true enemies of God and he's going to do something about it.
Now every lost man, every lost person is an enemy of God. But
this is specifically talking about a group of people that
he is going to make friends with. Every enemy an offering is perfected
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool
and What does the church do when they hear that they get to have
the feet of Jesus on them? Where do I bow? It's not oppression it's hope
This my king has found me, who was an enemy and is now made
a friend." All right. The children know these things.
They know that Christ has the right to rule by purchase. He's the absolute monarch. On
this subject, look at one other verse, John 17, verse 2. John 17 and verse 2, we find
the Lord Jesus in his great high priestly prayer saying this,
As thou hast given him power over all flesh. John 17 verse
2. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh. He has the right to rule. Jesus
Christ is absolute monarch of the universe. as he has given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. What is the ultimate response
of the sovereignty of God? Thou hast given eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. It's no wonder the church
delights in his sovereignty. This is the finest hour. This
is the greatest statement that his sovereignty has procured
a people called the church, called his saints. He has determined
to present them spotless as a result of it. Secondly, he will be seen
to rule over all. Now, the day is coming when the
royal sovereignty of the Lord Jesus will be universally evident
to a lot of people. Number one, Psalm 2 is evident. The kings of this earth make
fun of God. They berate him. In religious services, they berate
him. When a religious service says
something about God that God absolutely says is wrong, they're
saying, we're presenting a halted lamb We don't believe he's God. When they say, when the religious
world says that Jesus Christ, this is the crux of the matter,
say that Jesus Christ died for everybody and Jesus said, I lay
down my life for the sheep. Now who's going to be right?
Who's making the right statement? Jesus loved everybody and died
for everybody, or Jesus saying, I lay down my life for the sheep.
Now, the church says Jesus is right on this statement. And
every other statement that is contrary to the word of God,
Jesus is right. Why? Because he has a right to
rule. He has the right to rule by creation. He has the right
to rule by redemption. He has the right to rule. And
what he says is always right. And if it's contrary to what
men say about it, men are wrong. I liked what we had one speaker
say here at camp many years ago. David said, in my haste, all
men are liars. And this man said, he could have
just said that walking away. He didn't even have to be hasteful
about it. All men are liars. Well, we are by nature. All right. The day is coming. Christ will
be universally evident, his reign. He will exert his royal power
over all. He's doing it now, but then it
will be made on public display. Now, there's a whole bunch of
people in the days of Daniel, in that book of Daniel, when
Nebuchadnezzar was turned out for seven years. Whole bunch
of people, but not universally. Every time he displayed his sovereign
power when he ruled with Israel and overcome all the enemies
of Israel, it wasn't universal, but it was evident to a few.
But there's a day coming, and the church says, oh, hallelujah. I've been telling everybody this.
They won't believe me, but someday they'll see it. They'll know. Thank God between here and there,
all his sheep will be saved, and they'll all know this. But
that day, the world will know it. Every soul, every soul united
with the body will know this great truth. He is Lord. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Isaiah, chapter 45. Isaiah 45, and this is a passage
that's quoted over in the book of Philippians. This is what
the people in the days of the Lord Jesus preached from. They
had the same thing to say, quoted in the book of Philippians, but
Isaiah chapter 45, verse 22, a statement is made, and the
church has been delighting in this ever since. They're not
looking at it as I told you so, but they're saying what I said
all along was the truth. I don't think the church is ever
going to say in that day to a whole group, I told you so, you should
have listened to me. They're just going to be able
to say, what I told you was the truth. I lied not. On this subject, I lied not. All right, Isaiah 44 and 45 verse
22, it says here, look unto me and be saved all the ends of
the earth for I'm God and there is none else. I am sovereign,
I am king, I have the right to rule. I have sworn by myself
the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not
return. that unto every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear, surely shall one say in the Lord, have
I righteousness and strength, even to him shall all men come,
and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. All right,
every knee shall bow. Now the Apostle Paul, by the
Holy Spirit, was taken back to this passage of scripture when
he wrote over in the book of Philippians chapter 2. Philippians
chapter 2, he has the right to rule by creation and by purchase,
but his rule will be seen the world over. One day, it's recorded,
one day, everybody will agree with this. He is God. And the church will agree, I
told you the truth. All right, Philippians chapter
2 verse 9. He has the right terrain. And
the church there in the book of Revelation chapter 11, 4 and
20 elders, Lord God Almighty, Lord God Almighty, we just delight
in this. The church delights in this.
Some people just can't get their tongue around this word. to the word of Sibyleth, but
they kept saying Shibboleth. They just, it wasn't in their
ability to speak. And by nature, we're just on
the other side. We don't know how to say it.
We may use the word, but we don't know what it means. But when
God saves his people, they recognize, when they hear the word of God,
they're gonna recognize without question, he is sovereign. No discussion. And if they say
he's not, they've never had a discussion with God. That's just all there
is to it. God's not gonna let people know
about him without letting them know about that. All right, Philippians
2, 9, 10, and 11. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, That
at the name of Jesus, this is the one they're going to bow
to, the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, things in heaven,
things in earth, things under the earth, that every tongue
should confess Jesus Christ is Lord. Or if you don't put that
word is in there that's in italics, it says Jesus Christ Lord. to the glory of God the Father. He will be seen to rule over
all. There's a day coming. There's
a day coming. What a glorious day. A day coming
when everyone in public display will recognize him as the church
has recognized him. The church recognizes him now
by revelation. Then they'll recognize him in
adoration. He is Lord. And judgment will
come. Ye that are on the left hand,
depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you, but
you know me as Lord. I have the right to do this.
I have the right by creation. I have the right by purchase
of my church. I have the right as God Almighty
to do with mine whatsoever I please to do. And that's the word of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And lastly, and we'll not get
to this, But his reign will be forever, and there will be no
end, and it's not just a thousand years. That's a typical term
for ever. A thousand years. The same word
is found that a day with the Lord is a thousand years, and
a thousand years is a day. And a complementary word is found
in the Old Testament. He owns the cattle on a thousand
hills. All right, that just takes care
of the Klikatats if we're going to interpret that literally.
If we're going to interpret it spiritually, he owns everything
on every hill. Now a thousand years is simply
a term used in scripture to signify what he's always said about his
reign. It will be forever and ever and without end. And there's no end. And it will
never be completed. He will reign throughout eternity. And we'll look at that. And nothing,
I have to say this again, nothing, nothing shows his sovereignty
as well as presenting the church spotless. Spotless, without wrinkle. And that's what he said he would
do. And how can he do that? By creation, spiritual creation,
and by purchase, he can do that. And the church just, I mean,
we just go bananas. The church goes bananas over
this because his sovereignty is going to present us spotless.
And without it, we'd be lost. Well, we'll pick up here next
time, and maybe we'll