Thank you, Brother James and
David. I asked James if he'd sing that
this evening for us, and it is always a great blessing to hear
him sing. And I do love that song, O Love
of God. Thank God for his everlasting
covenant love to His beloved people. I'd like you to go with
me this evening, if you have your Bibles, to Revelation chapter
14. And I encourage those of you
who are watching by way of internet, if you'd get your Bible and also
go to this passage of Scripture, Revelation chapter 14. In verses 8 through 11, John
sees a curse. A curse that is put upon those
who receive the mark of the beast. That is, those who believe a
gospel that is not God's gospel. It isn't the gospel concerning
the Lord Jesus. It isn't the gospel of God's
grace. It is what is said to be in Galatians
chapter one, another gospel. Those who believe that salvation
is ultimately based upon men, they believe another gospel. And those who believe that are
under the curse of God. Beginning in verse 8 of Revelation
14, And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen,
is fallen, that great city, because she hath made all nations drink
of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Babylon, we know,
is God's name for all who religion that is false. There is good
religion, there is what the Bible calls true religion, but there's
also religion that's wrong. We can't all be right. There's
just no way. Those people who think that we're
all on different roads, but as long as we're sincere, all roads
wind up in heaven. That just isn't right, is it?
It can't be right. The Lord Jesus said, I am the
way. That's just one way. There's
one way to God, one way to heaven, one way to salvation. One way
to justification, one way to acceptance with the Holy God.
Christ Jesus is that way. He's the living way. And all who try to get in another
way, it's just not going to end well for them. I may be speaking
to somebody this evening. Somehow you think that God will
make an exception for you. that you'll be able to get into
heaven's glories, you'll be able to be accepted by God some other
way. You're deceived into thinking
that. That just can't be. If there's
another way of salvation, then wasn't the death of Christ needless? It would be a needless death
if there's another way of salvation. If you say that There are other
routes to God other than the substitutionary sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus, then you are charging God with the needless
death of His only begotten Son. And that's a foolish charge.
There is but one way of salvation, and that's in the Son of God.
That's in the Lord Jesus Christ, and all who preach anything else. They're lumped under this one
word of Babylon. Babylon. And what Babylon does,
Babylon makes people drink, leads people to drink, of the wine
of the wrath, the wine of the wrath of her fornication. She has an elixir. You know, when we talk about
false religion, I'm not trying to be cruel. I'm not trying to
say, well, we are know-it-alls. But I'm saying false religion
is anti-God and anti-Christ Jesus. We're not mad at those people.
We're not angry with those people. We do pray for them and ask God
to teach them the truth. Listen, I came out of false religion
and there's some of you that came out of false religion. Actually,
in reality, all of us did because we had a religion of worship
of self. And the Lord has brought a side
of that. But if he doesn't bring a side of it, and of course it
says over in a revelation chapter 18, the Lord will call all of
his people out of Babylon. If we're not brought out of Babylon,
then we're under the curse of God. People drink the elixir
of Babylon. It's a very tasty beverage. because it exalts man, makes
man feel good about himself. Man gets patted on the back. Man gets congratulated. It's
by man's will. It's by man's work. Man gets
the recognition. And people get just drunk on
this wine. It says in verse nine, then the
third angel followed them. This third angel said with a
loud voice, if any man worship the beast in his image and receive
his mark in his forehead and in his hand, the same shall drink
another wine, another elixir. But this is the wine of the wrath
of God. This is unmixed, undiluted wine,
the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture,
without weakening it into the cup of His indignation. And no man is able to drink this
wine that is without mixture and live to tell about it. except
for one man, the God man. He took this cup
of the wine of God's wrath, wine without mixture, the wrath of
God without mixture, without being diluted, he drank it dry. You remember he said to Peter,
Peter drew his sword and when our Lord was being arrested and
Peter thought he was defending the master, and he cut off the
right ear of the high priest's servant. His name was Malchus. Our Lord Jesus picked up that
ear and put that ear back on that man's head and he cured
him. He healed him instantly. And
he said, he said, Peter, I've got a cup to drink. I've got
a cup to drink. He said, the cup which my father
hath given me, shall I not drink it? And thank God he drank it for
all of his people. Those of us who are the people
of God, who've been brought to believe the Lord Jesus, those
of us in whose stead the Son of God lay down His life, We'll
never have to drink this wine of the wrath of God. The Savior
drank it for us. That's substitution. This is
the good news. You'll never even have to sip
of it. The Lord has no wrath. He has no indignation. He has no fury toward His people. For all of that was given to
the Lord Jesus, and He drank it. He did away with it. Our
sins deserve death. The wages of sin is death. Christ
Jesus drank that death. He took in all of the anger of
God, all of the wrath of God, without it being diluted at all. God didn't cut him any slack,
even though he was his only begotten son. Oh, how furious is the wrath
of God. No man can tell. No man knows. But all of that wrath, due to
us, our Lord Jesus consumed it when he died upon the cross of
Calvary. But those who die in their sins,
oh, listen to me, dear sinner. May God get your ear. May God
get your interest. May God get your heart. Those
who die in their sins, they must drink the wine of the wrath of
God without mixture." Oh, how horrible. It's a fearful thing to face
the angry God. Would you not right now flee
to Christ Jesus? Oh, that God would enable you
to do that. Oh, that God would give you an
interest in His beloved Son. all that he would make you to
see. There is salvation in none other except that name, which
is above every name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. For
those who die in their sins, this is what awaits them. The
rest of verse 10, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
And the smoke, the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever
and ever, and they have no rest. No rest. It's interesting in verse 13,
and we're going to get to this more fully in a moment, in a
few moments. Those who are the Lord's people
It says this, look at verse 13, and I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, write, blessed, or for emphasis, I'll pronounce
it, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth,
yea, or yes, saith the Spirit, that they may rest, that they
may rest from their labors. But for those who die in unbelief,
who die without Christ Jesus, who die graceless and godless,
it says in verse 11, no rest. No rest. No rest day nor night. Those who worship the beast and
his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." No rest. Where can I find rest, preacher,
for my poor soul? The Savior said, come unto me,
all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Rest. And when we die, we enter
into an everlasting, blissful rest. That doesn't indicate inactivity,
but rather everlasting service in the cause of Christ and a
rest from the things of this world that we would consider
hard labor. I tell you, sin, we labor under
sin, don't we? All of God's people, we still
labor under sin. How'd you like to have rest from
that? That's what it means to go to glory. Rest from your sin. You see so much error, you hear
error around us. Those who mock the gospel of
God's free and sovereign grace. Oh, to have rest from all of
that. That evil one, he fires, he shoots
at us fiery darts of temptation. One of these days we'll have
rest from all of that. Never to be tempted again. And
the greatest evil of all is the evil within us. We weep over
our sin. We confess our sins. We mourn
over our guilt. one of these days, all the weeping
and mourning and crying will come to an end and we will have
rest from our labors. You see, John, he has seen these
who are involved in Babylon. He sees
Babylon fallen. He sees those that have drunk
the wine of the harlot and he sees them forced to drink the
wine that's in the cup of God's indignation. He sees their agony
and their everlasting torment. But then his attention is diverted
to another group of people. You see, if we would be honest,
and that's what we want to be. We want to be honest with everybody.
There's only two groups of people. Those who are finally saved and
those who are finally lost. Those who are righteous in the
Lord Jesus. and those who are wicked. And
John, he's just seen, he's heard these angels talk about Babylon
and its fallen. He's heard them say what's going
to happen to those who die, worshiping the beast, who have the mark
of the beast and worship the image. He's heard what's going
to happen to them. He sees the smoke of their torment
ascending up forever and ever. And these people have no rest.
And that grief, you know that grieves, John. That's a sad sight. The thought of people perishing
in their sin, there's a sadness to that. And would to God that
we were more broken hearted over those who are on the very precipice
of eternity and yet they don't know Christ Jesus. But then John's attention, just
like that, his attention is diverted. And he says in verse number 12,
here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments
of God and the faith of Jesus. His attention is diverted toward
another group of people. He sees that these are the saints
of God. The saints of God. In other words,
it's like the Spirit of the Lord says to John, enough of the negativity
of these who are perishing, John, I want you to rejoice. There's
another group of people who are safe forever. And they're the
children of the Lord. They're the saints of God. We're
saints of God. We've been sanctified by God
the Father in everlasting covenant grace. We've been chosen by the
Lord unto salvation. Jude verse 2 says that. We've been sanctified in Christ
Jesus, washed in his blood. First Corinthians chapter one
and the second verse says that. And we're sanctified by God the
Holy Spirit. He sets us apart. to be the recipients of God's
grace. Our Lord Jesus in His high priestly
prayer in John chapter 17 said, sanctify them through thy word,
thy word is truth. We're saints, we're sanctified
people and John sees, he says, this is the patience, here is
the patience of the saints. The saints of God, what do the
saints of God do? Wait on God. We wait on the Lord. We are to some degree a patient
people and we need to be more patient and tribulation worketh. Patience is what it says in Romans
chapter 5. Here's the patience of the saints.
Here are they that keep the commandments of God. Does that mean that those
who go to heaven are those who kept the law of God? Well, we
kept the law of God in Christ Jesus. And according to Romans
chapter three, we keep the law of God when we believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. But this keep the commandments
of God. God said, believe on my only
begotten son, and we obeyed. We obeyed the Gospel command.
Christ said, come unto me, and we came. He said, believe, and
we believed. You see, where the Word of the
King is, there is power and authority. When He told us to do something
by His effectual grace, we did it. He said, repent, we repented. He said, believe, we believed.
He said, come to me, we came to Him. These are they that obey
the commandments of God. It doesn't have anything to do
with our works here, for by the deeds of the law, there shall
no flesh be justified in God's sight. He sees people who keep the commandments
of God in the faith of Jesus, the faith of Jesus, the body
of truth that has Jesus for its center. Everything's about him. These are those who keep, who
obey the body of truth. And he says in verse 13, look
at verse 13. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying, write, write this down. And John, he had his quill out
and he was writing. And this is written forever,
forever. This is the word of God that
liveth and abideth forever. God said, my word will never
perish. And the voice from heaven, the
voice of God said, write this, John. Boy, he got his ink pen
out, he got his quill out. Lord, what do you want me to
write? Write, blessed are the dead. which die in the Lord from
henceforth. That is, from the moment of death,
you may rest assured, those who die in the Lord, they're forever
blessed. And the Spirit says, yes, says
the Spirit, yes! That they may rest from their
labors and their works to follow them. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. Now it doesn't say blessed are
the dead, end of the sentence. For everybody who dies do not
enter into a state of blessedness. Now it is for certain that all
of us will die unless the Lord is pleased to come back soon. The question is, will death be
a blessing for you or will it be the beginning of a curse? Death is a blessing for the saints
of God. Death is a blessing for those
who obey the commandments of God. Death is a blessing for
those who believe that body of truth, the faith of Jesus. Death is a blessing. But it's not a blessing for everybody. Sometimes we hear concerning
people who have died, well, they have suffered so much and now
their suffering is over. Only if they were God's people.
Only if they were saints of God. Only if they kept the commandments
of God, to believe on Christ. Only if they kept the faith as
it is in Jesus. Death is not a blessing for everybody. And death doesn't end the existence
of the soul. Life, the life of the soul goes
on. When God made Adam, he breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and that's a life that
will never die. That's an existence that will
just keep on going forever. An endless existence. Those only will find that death
is a blessing who die in the Lord. In the Lord. He says, blessed, blessed are
the dead which die in the Lord. All the beatitudes of the word
of God. All the blessings that are set
forth in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Bill read
to us a few moments ago from Psalm 32, blessed is the man
unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit
there is no guile. I read to begin the service from
Psalm 65, blessed is the man that thou choosest and causes
to approach unto thee. Psalm 34 verse 8 says, O taste
and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. You remember the Beatitudes of
Matthew chapter 5, blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Filled
with what? Filled with righteousness. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are
those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against
you falsely for my sake. And there are other beatitudes
scattered throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. James writes in James 1 and 12,
blessed is the man who endureth temptation. And in the book of
the Revelation, we find seven beatitudes in the book of the
Revelation. But of all the beatitudes in
the word of God, and there are a bunch of them, There are lots
of Beatitudes in the Word of God, but of all the Beatitudes
in the Word of God, this is the most unusual. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. The world says, blessed are the
living. And that's really the way we
think, naturally, blessed are the living. Blessed are the prosperous. Blessed are the rich. Blessed
are the healthy. Oh, the Lord has blessed me with
good health. We talk about blessings as though
they were literal things. They are real, but real blessings are everlasting blessings, which
are in Christ Jesus. And we have already been blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. That's election, predestination,
redemption, effectual calling, enlightenment of the soul, All
of the blessings of God, justification, sanctification, redemption, all
of these blessings of God are in Christ Jesus and they have
been ours since before the world began. And we could say of them
exactly what we said of the gospel this morning. These are everlasting
blessings. They don't just begin in this
life. They originated with God and they continue forever. But this is unusual. Blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord. What does it mean to die
in the Lord? Well, it means to die united
to Him. In covenant grace, it means to
die resting in Him as your Savior. It means to die relying on Him
whose bloody death satisfied the justice of God, appeased
God's anger and God's wrath. To die in the Lord means having
committed the welfare of your soul to Christ Jesus. It means to die loving God's
way of saving sinners. It means to die believing on
the Son of God. It means to die with a saving
interest in Christ Jesus. I am interested in the Savior,
aren't you? I am vitally interested in the
Savior. There is a name I love to hear,
and it's the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a message
I love to hear. It's a message of redeeming grace. And when I hear the gospel set
forth, my ears perk up and my heart rejoices. Just to be reminded
that I'm just an old sinner and nothing at all in myself. But
the Lord Jesus Christ, He's my all in all. And He paid the price
of redemption at the cross. I love that message. I have an
interest in that message. That's what it means to die in
the Lord. And I'll tell you this, to die in the Lord, you must
live in the Lord. Do you remember reading in Hebrews
chapter 11, the great faith chapter, right? Somebody called it the
heroes of faith. And it says this, these all died
in faith. That's the way I want to die.
But you're not going to die in faith unless you live in faith. You got to live in faith. The subject is death. And that which is vital is that
we die. in the Lord. Now, our culture
likes to avoid the subject of death, and if we are going to
speak about death, let's joke about it. But all of us have been to the
funeral home, and we've stood before the casket of somebody
we loved a great deal. And we know it's nothing to joke
about. But the world, the world wants
to avoid this subject. Don't talk to me about death.
It's morbid. That's so sad. Let's talk about happy things.
Well, I'll tell you what is really happy when somebody dies in the
Lord. That's happy. That's happy. I think we've kind of got things
mixed up. A newborn baby comes into the
world and we say, oh this is wonderful, what a blessing. And
a believer dies and goes to glory and we say, oh no, how sad this
is. No, the baby coming into the
world, this world, in this condition, in this environment of ungodliness,
and immorality and perversion, we might well weep at the birth
of a baby. I'm glad I don't have young ones
to raise now. Bless your heart, I pray for
y'all. But it's tough. It's tough. We weep. But when a child of God goes
to glory, Oh, I know we gonna miss them. We'll miss you. And I hope you'll miss me. But
I'll tell you what, we'll rejoice if they died in the Lord. That's
right, we'll rejoice. Their days of suffering are over.
Their days of sorrow are over. Their days of struggling are
over. They're over. They're with the Lord, which
is far better is what the Apostle Paul says. He speaks of death
and he says, it's to be absent from this body, this body of
sin, this body of flesh, this body that's decaying, this body
that's carnal. It's to be absent from this body
and present with the one who loved me and gave himself for
me. That's happening, that's a blessing
right there. That's a reason, that's a reason
it says, write this down, write this down. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord from now on. From now on. Blessed, what does
that mean? well off, happy, highly favored. It's a word that refers to spiritual
joy, spiritual fulfillment, and deep down spiritual satisfaction. That's why David said in the
Psalms, I'll be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. That's what he said. That's when
I'll be satisfied. Are you satisfied now? Well,
I'm satisfied with the Lord Jesus. I'm satisfied with my Savior. I'm satisfied with the salvation
He's accomplished. I'm satisfied with the righteousness
with which I'm clothed. I'm not satisfied with me. I'm
not satisfied with me at all. And I won't be satisfied with
me Until that day when I awaken his likeness, I'll be satisfied. Be satisfied. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. It isn't a blessed state to be
in merely to die and leave a diseased, worn out, suffering body. That's not blessedness. That's
not true happiness. True happiness is to be in the
Lord, to die in the Lord. Leave all the worries behind. John is told, write it down.
Write it down. The people of God, when we die,
we go to be with the Lord Jesus, which is far better. Oh, the unspeakable blessedness
of being with the Lamb of God. No wonder David said in Psalm
116 and verse 15, precious In the sight of the Lord is the
death of his saints. Whose saints are they? They're
his. They're his saints. Know what
the word precious means? Valuable. Excellent. Highly prized by God. Well, he refers to us as his
jewels. His precious jewels. He said,
He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of my eye. We're His children. We're His
children. How can we be certain that those
who die in the Lord are blessed? That they're with Him in glory?
Let me give these to you quickly. Seven things. The purpose of
God assures it. That purpose, it can't be disannulled.
Can't be frustrated. Christ said, of all those that the Father
gave him, he said, I'll raise them all up to the last day.
That's the purpose of God. Secondly, the blood of Christ
Jesus assures it. Every sinner he bought, he's
going to have. Going to be with him. Thirdly,
the strength of God or the might of God or the power of God assures
it because we're kept by the power of God. Fourthly, the grace
of God assures it. See, we're saved by grace at
no point in salvation. Let's say from over here, from
this side of the pulpit to this side, let's say this represents
salvation, the span of salvation. All the intricacies that God
has worked out Himself, from this point to this point, it's
all of God, and none is of man. None is of man. The grace of
God assures us that those who die in the Lord will be with
Him forever. I'll tell you something else that assures us that those
who die in the Lord will be with Him. prayers of Christ Jesus. He said in John 17, Father I
will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am
that they may behold my glory. I'll tell you something else,
the reign of Christ assures us of this. He reigns. Nothing can defeat his government. Seventhly, the Word of God assures
us of it. And let me finish up here quickly
by pointing this out. Yes, said the Spirit. Yes, said the Spirit. Do you
need any more assurance of the blessedness of those who die
in the Lord, going into His presence? Do you need any more assurance?
The Spirit of God who wrote this book, that One who is the Great
Comforter, that One who is said to be the very promise of the
Father, the One who has quickened us, who indwells us, The Spirit
of God, if we have any doubts about this, the Spirit of God
says, yes, this is true. Yes, this is true. That they may rest from their
labors, struggles, and their works do follow them. Let me give you this quickly. Our works don't go ahead of us
as though to pave the way. No. Because for by grace you
say through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So your works
don't go before you. Secondly, you don't take your
works with you. No. Well, Lord, here's my bag
of works. I got this bag of works. These
are all things I've done for you, Lord. No. He don't take
your works with you. Because your works, now listen
to me, your works have no effect upon your standing in glory.
None whatsoever. Well, don't you think the more
I do for God, the more I'll get from God? Absolutely not. Because this is not a salvation
by works, it's a salvation by grace. You see, in heaven's everlasting
glory, that thief who believed, he received exactly the same
inheritance as did the Apostle Paul. And he wrote nearly half
the New Testament. In fact, if you think he wrote
the book of Hebrews, then he wrote over half the New Testament.
And he established churches? And he suffered for the cause
of Christ Jesus? And he died not the death of
a felon as did that believing thief. He died a death of martyrdom
because he preached the gospel. Cut his head off. And yet in
heaven, both of them are equal. So I just don't believe that.
You don't understand the message of grace then. Because you see,
the thief went to heaven the same way the apostle Paul did. And their standing in heaven
is the same. And their inheritance is the
same. Well, you mean one didn't get
more than the other? The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul. You can't have more than Christ
Jesus. I'll guarantee you, you're not
going to have any more of Him than I'm going to. I'm going
to have Him all. And you'll have Him all. Because
He's all we want. He's all we want. Well, what about works? They
follow us. They follow us. They bring up
the rear. These are evidences that we were
the children of God. And these are works that He ordained
that we perform. And works that were done for
His glory. And I'll tell you something else.
Works that we didn't even recognize that we did. That's right. Read Matthew chapter 25. The
Lord shall say to the sheep on his right hand, come ye blessed
of my Father from the foundation of the world, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you. He says, you did thus and so,
you did all of these things. I said, Lord, when we do all
those things, Lord, all I've done is sin. That's what we're
going to say, Lord, I've just sinned. He said, when you did
it, these things for my people, you're doing it for me. Doing
it for me. I like what one writer said,
their works do follow them. He said the word works means
fruits. Their fruits follow them. Preachers of the gospel, you
know what our fruit is? You. You. Remember in Matthew chapter 7,
a good tree cannot produce corrupt fruit. You hear a preacher of
the gospel and you believe his message, you're not going to
be corrupt fruit, you're good fruit. And I'll tell you, you
follow the preacher who preached the gospel, you follow him right
into heaven. You moms and dads, you take the time to teach your
kids the scripture, You try to set before them an example of
somebody who loves Christ Jesus. You bring them to the house of
worship. And then you die and go on to glory. And then God saves your children.
Saves your grandchildren. You know what they do? They follow
you right on into glory. You Sunday school teachers, you're
students. That's your fruit. You're teaching
them the gospel. Maybe you'll never see any indication
from them that they believe this blessed message. But maybe, perhaps,
if God's pleased to do it after you're dead and gone, God brings
that word that you put, that seed that you put in their minds,
which you wrote up on the chalkboard, He puts it into the heart. And
one of these days, they just follow you right on the glory. I like that. I like that. Their works do follow them. Do follow them. Oh, the blessedness
of dying in the Lord Jesus. Because then we see Him face
to face. Be with Him forever. Let's sing
a closing hymn, 186. Number 186, The Church is One
Foundation. Hymn number 186. Shall we stand
as we sing this hymn of dismissal? 186. The Church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is His new creation by water
and the Word. From death He came and sought
her to be His holy bride. With His own bloody Father, and
for her life He died. He let from every nation yet
one Lord of the earth, One Lord, one faith, one word. One holy name she blesseth, for
thanks, one holy food. And to one hope she presseth,
with every grace she'll do. With toil and tribulation and
tumult,