Thank you ladies for that beautiful
song. I love that great old song and
it never fails to touch my poor soul. Makes me to rejoice that I am
safe in Christ Jesus and that A rock of ages. I'm always secure in Christ Jesus. Let's open our Bibles to Revelation
chapter 15. This morning, once again, Revelation
chapter 15. I believe the purpose of Revelation
chapter 15 is to fortify, strengthen the church of our Lord Jesus
with that assurance of victory in the Savior even in the worst
of times. The Lord's people are always
in need of being greatly encouraged. The Lord throughout the book
has words spoken to His children to cause us to rest more fully
in Him and to lead us to believe that everything
is under His control and under His rule. There really is no
reason why any of God's people should ever be dismayed. Listen, we're the Lord's children. We've been adopted in His family
and since we know that our God reigns, over all things and he
sits upon the throne of his sovereignty. And since we know he is our father
and we are his offspring, we live by the incorruptible seed
of the word of God. We should always rest assured
that everything is just fine. After all, we began our worship
service, or the second song we sang was Blessed Assurance. Jesus is mine. Listen, if Jesus
is yours, by God's divine appointment, by his determination, if Jesus
is yours, yours is your friend, your savior, your redeemer, your
righteousness, your forgiveness. If Jesus has been made of God
to be yours, your wisdom and your righteousness and your sanctification
and your redemption, then don't ever be dismayed, don't ever
be discouraged, because all is well. You're one of the Lord's
children. You've been adopted into His
family. John is going to set before us,
even in chapter 15, that there's seven angels who have the seven
vials of God's wrath, and they're going to be poured out, and there's
a great finality to that. Earlier, and I'll mention this
now, but I'll also mention it later in the message, earlier
in the book of Revelation, John has said before, seven warnings
of trumpets. God does warn people of judgment
to come. And you can rest assured of this,
if we don't hear the trumpet warnings, then we're going to
feel the vials of wrath poured out on us. But having warned
people through the seven trumpet judgments, then the Lord is going
to go ahead and pour out these seven vials of wrath. Things
are going to be awful. John's going to get into that.
We get into chapter 16, in which we will next week, the Lord willing.
As we study it, John sees these vials being poured out and there's
something awful about these vials. They're full of the wrath of
God. God has been warning. God has
warned you. He's warned all of us. of a judgment
that's going to come. A judgment according to righteousness. And the Word of God assures us
the only place of safety in that day of judgment is the very place
of safety right now. It's in Christ Jesus, the Lord. And we're taught to build all
of our hopes of salvation and righteousness and acceptance
with God upon this blessed Savior. And we're warned over and over
and over again. And even again this morning,
you're being warned. Ezekiel chapter 33 that our brother
read to us just a little bit ago. The watchman, he sounds
the warning. He says, there's judgments coming. Danger is coming. That's the
context of that passage of Scripture. You're being warned. Danger is
coming. And danger is coming. And I'm
telling you, the Word of God says danger is coming. Wrath
is coming. The vials are being filled up. And there's going to come a day
when the vial of God's judgment will be poured out upon every
unbeliever. And I do believe there is a way
that we can look at that and say, you know, every time an
unbeliever dies, having neglected all the trumpet warnings that
God has sent, it's God's way of saying, my vial of wrath for
you is full. And it is now time to pour out
the vial. And the vial will never be emptied.
But, you see, before John goes into this, first of all, he speaks
words to the people of God. Lest we be worried about judgment. He tells us that we've gotten
the victory. He says that in the second verse.
We've gotten the victory. Whatever may happen to this world,
and it is going to melt with fervent heat, the Lord's going
to renovate the earth with fire. But whatever happens to this
earth, to this universe, whatever may happen to the ungodly, rest
assured, you are the people of God, you who've been adopted
into His family. With you, all is well. All is well. You're His children. You've been redeemed. You've
been redeemed from the curse of the law. The law of God has
no issue with you. We're all lawbreakers, that's
right. All of God's people are lawbreakers,
just like everybody else, but we've been redeemed from the
curse of the law. How did that happen? Our Savior,
He was made a curse for us. He took the vials of wrath that
were due us, that ought to have been, rightly could have been,
they could have been poured out upon us throughout all of eternity
and those vials were instead, they were poured out on the Savior.
That's substitution. He took our place. He took the
vials of wrath for all of His children. We've been redeemed,
redeemed by His blood. And therefore, we're safe forever. Our debt has been retired. Our debt has been paid. We owed God. Who knows how much? Only God knows. but our indebtedness
in all of its entirety for the people of God has already been
paid. Canceled. Written paid in full. You know, when I pay a bill,
especially if it's something I've been paying, you know, I've
had several payments on it, and I pay the last one in my checkbook,
I put P-I-F. Paid in full. and I'll put it
on the bill when I put the check in there. I'll put on it paid
in full. That's what Christ did to our
indebtedness. Oh, children of God, you who
are the heirs according to His promise, rejoice. Don't be dismayed
about anything, even in the worst of times. You're debt-free with
God. And not only are you debt free,
you have a positive righteousness. You've been credited with the
righteousness of your substitute. Oh yes, you've been made the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. He is the Lord, our righteousness. And Jeremiah tells us that's
not only His name, that's our name too. So, let come what may. Let the world violently mistreat
us if need be. Let the enemies of the gospel
accost us if that has to happen. Let us who are the people of
God rejoice in every situation. We're His people. Adopted into
His family. We're redeemed. We're forgiven. forgiven of all of our sins. Can you possibly comprehend that? I'm not just talking about the
wrong things that you've done. I'm talking about the right things
that you haven't done. And I'm talking about your thoughts. I'm talking about your imaginations. I'm talking about your motives.
You see, the world judges sin by the wrong that we do. And
indeed, we do wrong, and when we do wrong, that's a sinful
deed. There's no question about that.
But you see, sin goes much deeper than just our actions. It's in
the motive, it's in the word, it's in the thought, it's in
the imagination, it's in the dream. Wait, even more than that,
it's in us. We are sin. We're just polluted
fountains. And even those of us who are
the people of God, the good that we do, that we seek to do, the
works, The labors in the cause of Christ Jesus. The good that
we would do and seek to do to those about us. The kind word. The friendly gesture. All of
these things. Though they are meant to be blessings
and words of mercy and acts of kindness to others, everything
that we do is always contaminated by sin. Because we're a polluted
fountain. And yet, everything has already
been forgiven. We're redeemed by Christ Jesus
and where redemption is, Ephesians 1, 7 says, in whom we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Wherever you have the
redemption by blood, you've got to have, you've got to have forgiveness
of sins. God doesn't hold anything against
us. I remember when I was growing up, grew up in religion. And we'd go to the service and
the preacher would preach. And quite often he'd preach on
a prophetic theme. And try to scare us into living
right. Because whatever you do is going
to be brought up against you at the judgment. Any of you grow
up like that? And God's going to embarrass
you. And he used to say he was going to put it on a film and
be shown on a projector in heaven. And all of heaven and earth will
see it. All the things that you did,
and you said, oh no, I don't want that. I don't want that. He said, well, you better live
right then. Listen, hey, I want to live right, and I wouldn't
give you an excuse to do evil. And Methinks, you don't need
an excuse because you're going to do it anyway. But I'll tell
you this, God said, God said, I don't care what men say. I
don't base what I believe, but what men say. God said, God said,
your sins and your iniquities, they are remembered, you know
what God said? No more. That's what God, that's
good enough for me. I will remember them no more,
God said. He said, I've separated them
from you. And we say, oh God, can it be? You have separated my sins from
me as far as the East is from the West. That's an immeasurable
distance. And God said, that's the way
it is. And I'll tell you, that's just
the grace of God there. The grace of God. So, I say to
you who are the people of God in the worst of times, and I
don't know your circumstances, the circumstances of the people
of God who are watching this morning or who are listening
to this message. I don't know what you're going
through. God does. And the reason you're going through
whatever it is you're going through is because God's putting you
through it. But you may feel like these are
the worst of times. But you know what? This is the
best of times. In this sense, all is well between
you and a holy God. My soul, could we ever grasp
that? Lord, would you please impress
my heart with that? That I'm your heaven-born child. I've been
born again by your Spirit. My name has been written down
in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain for me from the
foundation of the world. I belong to God. I've always
belonged to God. I've always been God's child. He's always been my Father and
I've always been His child. Though I knew nothing about that
adoptive grace, under the Spirit of God taught me. And I'm redeemed. God's justice has no argument
with me. The law of God has nothing to
do with me. Because you see, the Word of
God says, the law of God's not made for a righteous man. Isn't
that what it says? The law of God is not made for
a righteous man, but the unrighteous. And those of us who believe in,
who rest in, who trust in the person and the merits of Christ
Jesus, we are righteous people. The law isn't made for us. It's
got nothing to do with us. Isn't that wonderful? You see, the Law of God, the
Law of God, we love the Law of God. We don't deliberately break
the Law of God. But I'm not afraid of the Law
of God. I'm not afraid it's going to bite me. Because my Savior kept that Law
for me. Absolutely. Every jot and tittle
of it. And I'm righteous in Him. And
so when I do sin, and I do, and I hate that, but when I do sin,
the law of God's not barking at my heels saying, I'm going
to get you. Oh, no. Oh, no. The grace of God says all is
freely, fully forgiven. And I know, I know how the minds
of some people work. Well, you preach like that. and
people live like the devil. That is in one way one of the
stupidest things ever said. God's people don't say, well
I have a license to live like the devil. What in the world? I don't know of any preacher
of the gospel, anybody who loves the gospel who believes that
sort of thing. We seek to honor God. We seek
to obey the Lord, to live according to His revealed will. And when
we fall, and we do fall, we mourn over our guilt, but we're not
dismayed and we're not down in the dumps and we don't say, oh
no, the law of God is going to strike out against me. Oh no.
We believe God and we say, you know, all is forgiven through
Christ. And our attitude is, Lord, draw me nearer to you. Draw me nearer to you. Let come what may, all is well
with the people of God. This is what John is saying in
chapter 15. Before he sees these seven angels
begin to pour out the seven vials of wrath, He first of all says,
I saw a sea of glass. And I saw it was mingled with
fire. And then I saw standing on the
glass, what is this glass of verse two? The grace of God. I saw the grace of God. And he
saw the fire, that's the bloody sacrifice of Christ Jesus. He saw all of these people and
He says, they've gotten the victory! They've already gotten the victory!
In other words, He sees things as they're going to be. All of
the people of God, standing in Christ Jesus in Heaven's glory,
on a sea of glass, standing on the grace of God, The fiery judgment of God satisfied
by the blood of Christ Jesus. They had gotten the victory.
Gotten the victory. But He sees another group of
people. This other group of people, these
are going to be those who will feel the anger of God in the
vials of His wrath. He sees these angels, that's
what he sees. He sees angels with seven vials
of wrath, seven vials of judgment, vials of judgment are poured
out, trumpet warnings warned, trumpets warned, vials are poured
out. Always remember that. Because
people every once in a while say, I don't understand the seven
trumpets of the book of Revelation. What's the difference between
the seven trumpets? Seven trumpet judgments and the
seven vials of wrath. The seven vials of judgment.
Here's the difference. Trumpets worn of judgment. They're little judgments. There
are little troubles. It may be sickness, it may be
a storm, it may be a great calamity, it may be a shooting, it may
be a sudden death. There are many, many trumpet
warnings, but they're all sounding this, you shall not live, you
shall die. There's a judgment coming. Trumpets worn, vials are actually
poured out. That's the difference. Now, we've
been working our way through the book of Revelation. Let me
just kind of bring you up to date. First Vision, chapters
1-3. We saw Christ Jesus, our Savior,
the glorified Son of Man, standing in the middle of the seven golden
candlesticks. Golden candlesticks. Gold is
very precious. When you think of gold, you think
of that which is valuable. Our Lord's people are valuable
to Him. They are His treasure, and He
is our treasure. We are His jewels, which someday
He's going to come and gather unto Himself, and these churches
These seven churches and all of the people of God, the church
of our Lord Jesus Christ, like this local church right here,
the Lord is with us and we are a sounding board for the gospel. That's our mission. Paul says
of the church in 2 Timothy chapter 3, we're a pillar and a ground
of the truth. We're a candlestick. We're a golden candlestick. What
is the value of a candlestick? To give off light. I don't know of any other use,
of any other purpose of a candlestick except to give off light. That's why we exist. That's why
a local church exists. That's why God established this
local golden candlestick in this area to give off light. That's our mission. To preach the gospel. Because we're in an area of spiritual
darkness. Any of you who get the Ashland
paper, I don't know what day was it, the middle of the week,
got that Ashland Living magazine. Did you read it? I read the religious part of
it. About Easter. Several pastors of this area
were quoted regarding the meaning and the message of Easter. Some
mentioned the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. One
said something about Christ came to save mankind. But there was no gospel. Take
all that they had to say, all the preachers that they quoted.
Let's say they quoted, let's see, Episcopal preacher, Presbyterian
preacher, Baptist preacher, two or three other denominations,
and I forget that don't even matter. But take all of them
together, there wasn't a drop of gospel in all that they wrote. You know what kind of area we
live in? An area of spiritual darkness. Because these are preachers who
pastor large congregations, influential congregations, Brethren, Christian Church, that
was another one of them. What did you used to be, Paul?
Nazarene Church, thank you. I don't usually call on people
from the congregation, but I just couldn't, that one wouldn't come
to my mind. But that was another one, Nazarene.
So all of these together. And they had an opportunity.
Wow, they've got an opportunity. And all of them together can't
tell you how God can be just and justify the ungodly. This
is a dark area. And sitting right here in the
middle, by the way, my wife started reading
that. She said, I don't see your picture
in here. I said, nobody called me for
a quote. We're here to set forth the light
of the gospel. Because though this is a religious
area, it's an area of spiritual darkness. Our Lord Jesus, He
begins the book of Revelation by informing us of this. He's in the midst of the golden
candlesticks. He's with His people. And the
golden candlesticks exist to shine forth the light. That's
chapters 1, 2, and 3. Chapters 4 through 7, second
vision. John first of all sees the throne
of God. He saw the Lamb of God laying
claim to universal authority as he takes the book with seven
seals, within and without, written on the back side, out of the
hand of God. That's all the decrees of God.
Everything God intends to do during this age. Christ is executing
the sovereign will and purpose of God. And within that sovereign
will and purpose of God, We saw the people of God persecuted
for the cause of Christ Jesus. We read about the deaths of,
the blood of the martyrs, the blood of those that cried out
for vengeance to God. The church has been persecuted.
You see, this is absolutely certain. If we do what we're supposed
to do, set forth the gospel light, then we're going to be persecuted.
Now, the laws of our day prevent men from harming us physically,
but they will vent their anger toward us because they don't
like the message of sovereign grace. That's really it. Men want some credit in this
matter of salvation. And God's just not going to give
it to you. And listen, we're not going to give it to you.
We're not going to brag on you. We're not going to tell you,
you know, you can't spell church without you. Isn't that clever
to put on the sign? Can't spell church without you.
Who's most important in church? You are. What's missing? I've seen this on a sign. What's
missing in this? C-H blank, blank. You are. You're missing C-H, the rest
of it. No, we can spell church without
you. I guarantee you God can spell
church without you. But you see, the mentality today
is make everybody feel needed and wanted. God could use somebody
like you. Oh, somebody with your talents,
somebody with your abilities. Boy, we could set the world on
fire if only you'd come over and join in with us. I've got news for you. God, He's
done quite well without all of us before we was ever born. And
we're going to die and He'll still do quite well without us
being on the scene after we're gone. And guess what? While we're
here, He's still doing quite well. He's executing His purpose. He doesn't need you. Do you think
God Almighty needs you to fulfill His purpose? God doesn't need
you, but you sure need God. You need His mercy. You need
His grace. You need God to stoop down for
God to stoop down and save your poor wretched soul. You need
God to give you life. That's what you need. God doesn't
need anything to you. What could you give Him that
He doesn't already have? He owns everything. God said,
if I was hungry, I wouldn't ask you for anything to eat. I own
the cattle on a thousand hills, and I own the hills too. If he
needed a drink of water, you'd think he'd come to you and say,
would you please give me a drink of water? While he owns the springs
and the fountains of the deep. He doesn't need you for anything. This generation that's religious
but lost, they've got a needy God. They got a helpless God. I'd say, poor God. If your God
needs you, poor God. And I'd spell that with a little
G. They said, David, where's your
God? David said, our God's in the heavens. He's done whatsoever
He has pleased. And I'll tell you what, you preach
that, and you're going to get some persecution. That's what
we find in the second vision. Because the gospel is an offensive
message. Hear the Apostle Paul, he says
in Galatians 5.11, And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision,
why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. Why do you think the Jewish religious
leaders, they despised Paul so much? Well, he didn't go around cussing
them. He didn't go in and rob the treasury
of the Jewish church. I'll tell you why they hated
him. because his message of pure grace exposed their phoniness
and their false gospel. And because he was bold to come
out and say, listen, if anybody preaches any other gospel than
the gospel I'm preaching to you, even if that man is dressed as
some kind of religious pope, or some kind of great cleric,
a bishop, a rabbi, doesn't matter who he is, even if it's an angel
from heaven, if he doesn't preach this gospel of free and sovereign
grace, he's preaching a false gospel. No light in him. No light in him. And you preach
that. And you see if you don't get
the cold shoulder. It isn't that we're trying to
be offensive. I don't mind offending people
if people have got to be offended. But I mean, I don't set out to
deliberately offend anybody. And I try to be nice to people.
I try to be kind to people. But I'm not going to lie to people.
I don't believe in peace at any cost to you. I don't believe
peace at any price. I don't believe let's go all
the preachers sit down together and let's all put our arms together.
Let's all pray around flagpoles somewhere and you pray to your
God and I'll pray to my God and surely God will hear all of us
because we all are sincere. I don't go in for that hogwash. Our God's one. He sits on His
throne. Does your God rule? Does your
God reign? Does your God extend His mercy,
express His mercy to whoever He wants to? Or is yours a needy
God? If you've got a needy God, I
can't fellowship with you on spiritual things. It's just an
impossibility. We can't compromise. Our message is salvation is of
the Lord. But to the natural man, he thinks,
well, the more I do for God, the more God will do for me. Well, you're wrong. You're wrong. So in the second vision. In the
first vision, we have the church. The Lord Jesus is in the middle
of the church. The church is the light. The
candlestick shedding the light, broadcasting the light, illuminating,
setting forth the gospel of free grace. In the second vision,
especially toward the end of it, we have persecution who are
those who set forth the Gospel. And then the third vision. You
see, really, it's a very organized book. In the third vision, chapters
8-11, we see the Lord sending trumpet judgments. We see Him
warning people, which He mercifully sends these trumpet warnings,
telling us of future judgment. And may God enable us to hear
the trumpet warnings. The Lord said to Ezekiel, I've
made you a watchman. What does a watchman do? He watches
out for danger. And that's what I'm saying to you,
I'm saying watch out! Watch out! There's a judgment
to face. And the only way you can be accepted
in that day is in the righteousness of Christ Jesus. And if you're
such a fool as to go toward that judgment and face God based upon
something you've done, I'm telling you, a vial of rats gonna be
poured out on you. That's just the truth. That's
just the truth. Trumpet, trumpet warnings. Trumpet warnings. I spoke this week with one of
the dear sisters out in Hawaii, and had a good conversation with
her. But I said, well, tell me about
that morning when y'all received the warning, the false warning,
that a missile was inbound from North Korea. Y'all read about
that. And that it was sent in error.
She said, well, my daughter came and it was on the cell phone,
the warning, and she put it up in front of me, because it was
early in the morning. And she said, look, mom, read
this. And I said, well, what was your
reaction? She said, my immediate reaction was, I guess I'll go
home to heaven really fast. Something of that nature. And
she said, I really wasn't frightened. But she said there were a lot
of people over here who went to pieces. It scared them to
death. And I don't know how I would
react and you don't know how you would react either. But I'll
tell you this, you know what that was? A trumpet warning. That's what it was, a trumpet
warning. And the Lord warns us in a multitude of ways. It's
a judgment coming. You've got to face God. For believers, there is no judgment
to face or to fear, I should say. But to those who are yet
in their sins, listen, it is by divine appointment that you
must die, you must once die, but after this, the judgment. And that judgment is according
to righteousness. And the only way you're going
to stand in that day is to stand in Christ Jesus. So the third vision tells us
that God mercifully sends trumpet warnings. You see, God As best I understand
from the Scriptures, as best I understand, God doesn't pour
out a vial of wrath. First of all, He sent trumpet
warnings. He warns people. Noah preached
120 years. Warning. He warned people. God's patience is just about
exhausting. His wrath is building. And here's
this ark. And for the safety of yourself
and your family, you better come in this ark with me. Trumpet warning. He was a faithful
watchman, wasn't he? He was a faithful watchman. Scripture
says he was a preacher of righteousness. The day came, God called Noah
and his family into the ark, because God said, you only have
I found righteous. That's what God said. Went in. Any of the rest of you coming? Nah. See you, Noah. Old fool. You know, that guy's a fanatic.
Old Noah. I think he lost his mind, don't
you? Yeah, I think so. See you, Noah. Okay. Goodbye. And God shut him in. And he shut
them out. He shut them out of the only
place of safety. He shut them out. And then the fountains of the
deep opened up, and the heaven above opened up, and God poured
out vial of wrath as it for them. It's all over. In the fourth vision, chapters
12 through 14, John again is led to be focused on the opposition
against God's people, but now it takes a distinctive turn in
the fourth vision, chapters 12-14. Because this is what we learn
from chapters 12-14. All of this opposition, all of
this persecution against the people of God, ultimately, it
comes from the red dragon. All of this opposition, all of
this persecution is from the devil. And he starts off by telling
us, hey, he first of all opposed our Savior. Don't you be surprised
he gives you a hard time. He was after the Savior. He was
after the man-child to destroy. But he failed and Christ Jesus
conquered him and drove him out of heaven with all of the third
of the angels that he led in rebellion against God. And then
it's in chapter 12 that the scripture says, Satan knows he has but
a short time. And therefore he, though defeated
at the cross of Calvary, he has set his sights upon the people
of God. The people of God. That's ultimately where the persecution
comes from. And that brings us to the fifth
vision, chapters 15 and 16, where John sees the vials of wrath
filled up with the anger and the vengeance and the rage of
God. Oh, my friend, God help you to
hear the trumpet warnings. God help you to hear the gospel
of Christ Jesus this morning. I don't want to give an uncertain
sound. I see danger off in the distance. I see the storm clouds of God's
wrath gathering. I see the skies turning black. I can almost hear the rolls of
thunder and the flashes of lightning. God's going to get vengeance
against all His rebels, those who rebel against Him. And I
see in this book, there's a place of safety. And I want to be a
faithful watchman to you this morning. You know, it says in
Hebrews chapter 13, obey those that have the rule over you.
You're talking about the preachers? Because you know what they do?
They watch for your souls. That's what it says. You read
Hebrews chapter 13. We watch for your souls. All I can do though is sound
the alarm. I can't cause you to believe,
but He can because salvation is of the Lord. And I pray that
He'll deal with you and with me, with all who are in this
congregation and those who are watching. May He deal with us
in mercy and draw us with effectual grace to His Son and one whom
to know His life everlasting. And if you be found in Christ
Jesus, you need not worry about anything. Let's sing another
hymn. 186, the church is one foundation.
Number 186, the church is one foundation. Please stand with me.