Thank you, Joe. Let's open our
Bibles again this evening to Revelation and the 14th chapter. The book of Revelation, and we
will look at chapter 14. I have read and re-read this
section of Scripture, these 20 verses, It seems to me this divides itself
into seven sections, which I will give to you at this point. First of all, in the first five
verses, we see the Lamb of God with the people of God. That is the 144,000. Reading the scripture, it says,
and I looked, John said in low. A lamb stood on Mount Zion, and
with him an 144,000 having his father's name written in their
foreheads. And then he says, then he heard. First he saw, as he looked, then
he heard. He heard a voice. A voice from heaven, you'll notice
it is a singular voice that he heard. It is the voice, once
again, singular, singular voice of many waters and as the voice
of a great thunder. And I heard the voice of these
harpers. They were harping upon their
harps and they sung. It's many people singing, but
it's as one voice. And they sung, as it were, a
new song before the throne of God, which is where they are.
And before the four beasts, those, I believe, are symbolic of preachers
of the gospel. And the elders, the 24 elders, I believe this is a representative
number of the 12 Old Testament patriarchs and the 12 New Testament
apostles. So here, this is the new song
that's sung before the throne of God, before the four beasts
and the elders. No man could learn that song
but one specific group. They're a redeemed group. from the earth, they're the 144,000. And then they're described. These are they which were not
defiled with women. This, I believe, is a reference
to false religion because Babylon is said to be the mother of harlots.
It says, for they're virgins, not in themselves, but in Christ
Jesus, they're virgins. And these are they which they
follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth. This much we know about
God's people, whatever age, whatever time period you might be talking
about, It makes no difference. This is the way you would sum
up all of the people of God. What do the people of God do?
They follow the lamb wherever he leads. Our Savior said in
John chapter 10, where he identified himself as the good shepherd,
then he said in the 27th verse, my sheep hear my voice, I know
them, What do they do? They follow me. And so this is typical of all
the, this is true of all of the people of God of every age, that
which we do, we follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth. These
were redeemed, redeemed, He didn't redeem all men, but He redeemed
these out of men, out of mankind, in other words, being the first
fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found
no guile, for they are amazingly, and this is due solely to the
grace of God, they are without fault. Think about that for a little
bit. Without thought, standing before the throne of God. Here's
the Lamb on Mount Zion with the 144,000. This is the Lamb of
God with all of the elect of God. This is the Lamb who died,
but He still lives, the scripture says. because his death was not
his defeat, it was his victory. The cross of our Lord Jesus,
that's where the war was fought, and that's where it was won,
at Calvary. That's where our sins were destroyed.
That's where our iniquities were taken away into a land that is
uninhabited. That's where everlasting righteousness
was brought in at the cross. And our Lord stands, the scripture
says, on Mount Zion. He is not disturbed. He is not
weary. He is not troubled. He stands,
and this is the very, very posture of being victorious. He is standing and He's standing
with all of His people. With all of His people. The second
section of this chapter is verses 6 and 7. Where John sees an angel
who has the everlasting gospel which goes forth into all the
world. Let me read verses 6 and 7. And I saw another angel, another
minister. and he flies in the midst of
heaven. He's on a mission. He has something he's to do.
He has the everlasting gospel, and he has this everlasting gospel
in order to preach it unto them that dwell on the earth. And
to every nation and kindred and tongue and people saying with
a loud voice, See, no preacher of the gospel is ever ashamed
of the message. Where like all of God's preachers
are to be like the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1 and verse
16. He says, for I'm not ashamed.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and then to the Gentiles, because therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, that
just shall live by faith. And so all of God's preachers,
they say this with a loud voice. They preach with a loud voice
unashamedly. And this is what they say, fear
God. Give glory to God for the hour
of His judgment has come. Worship Him. Notice what we're
to do. Fear God, glorify God, and worship
God, the one who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and
the fountains of the waters. This is what we're to do. Then,
here's the third thing, John sees another angel. This angel
has an announcement to make. He announces the fall of Babylon. Look at verse 8. There followed
another angel saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great,
great city. because she has made all nations
drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Babylon is
God's word for all of false religion. And throughout the ages, Babylon
has made men to drink of the elixir of her false gospel. And John sees another angel And
this angel makes an announcement that Babylon is fallen. Now you
will remember in our studies in the book of Revelation, and
I reminded you again this morning, that in each of these visions,
there are seven visions. We're in the fourth vision now
from chapters 12 through 14. In each of the visions we can
see from the first advent, to the second advent, from the beginning
of when our Lord Jesus entered into this world and redeemed
his people unto God by his blood, unto his second coming, when
he comes in judgment, each one of the visions, we can see our
Lord Jesus in both his first advent and his second advent,
and now John, he takes us to see the end. We see Babylon,
or he hears an angel saying, Babylon has fallen. Now, that
won't actually appear in detail until we get to the 18th chapter.
It's in the 18th chapter that John will see this great false
religious system. He will see it fall. But the
announcement is made right here in chapter 14. Babylon is fallen,
is fallen, that great, great city. Especially toward the book
of the Revelation, John will present to us two cities. One
is the city of Babylon. That's false religion. The other
city is Jerusalem. That's the city of God. The city
of God. Remember, all of the book of
the Revelation is about the victory of the Lamb and His followers
over the dragon and his followers. And as we get toward the end
of the book, toward the last few chapters of the book, even
as we are right now, we'll see Babylon appear. Babylon, this
great city. It's everywhere. False religion
is everywhere. It has many names. It has many
titles. There are a multitude of denominations. But all false religion sets forth
the deliverance of man, the deliverance of man from his whatever degree
of sinfulness that any particular religion might set forth, deliverance
or salvation by the works of man or by the will of man or
by the ways of man. This is false religion. And John,
John hears the announcement, Babylon is fallen. It's fallen. And when God brings her down,
she'll never be raised again. We'll get to the 18th chapter
and it says that the Lord, as it were, put a millstone around
her neck and she sunk into the very depths of the pit where
she deserves to go. And in her is to be found the
blood of the martyrs. She has martyred so many of God's
people. In fact, our Lord Jesus, He was
murdered by religionists. False religion murdered our Lord
Jesus Christ. They took Him because He taught
salvation by grace. He taught the necessity of redemption
by His own blood and the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the chief
priests and all of the other Jewish Jewish leaders of religion,
they all believed in salvation by keeping the commandments,
salvation by doing, salvation by endeavoring to keep the law
of God, so forth and so on. It's what you do in Christ Jesus
said, Salvation's in me. He said, I'm the way. I'm the
way. Judaism is not the way. Keeping
the law of Moses is not the way. He said, I'm the way. I'm the
truth. I'm the light. No man cometh
unto the Father but by me. The Jewish religious leaders
said, you come through us. You come through us. You come
through the temple. And our Lord Jesus, He denounced
them. And they, as it were, butted
heads from the time he began his public ministry. He said
he was God. And they said, you're a liar.
He said, I'm God come in the flesh. I'm the son of God. He said, my father worketh hitherto,
and I work. And they said, we're going to
kill you. And finally, they did. They did. But that was all in
the purpose of God, because it was ordained that he died, because
that's how his people would be saved from our sins, was by the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here, John hears the announcement. Babylon is fallen. Babylon is
fallen. Oh, blessed day. Oh, glorious
day, may the Lord bring it soon to pass when every mouth of every
false prophet will be stopped. When he shuts the mouth of all
those who lie against God. All those who would rob him of
his glory in salvation. You see, the secular world would
rob him of his glory in creation. That's what the secular world
does. That's what the educational world does. They rob God of His
glory in creation. And men rob God of His glory
in what we call providence. Because they say, I heard somebody
talking yesterday, said Mother Earth hasn't been good
to us lately, has she? That's how men talk and they're
fools. They don't know any better. They don't know any better. They
don't know that God rules in all things. But in the religious
realm, men deny salvation by God's free grace. That salvation
is totally the work of God. So this angel announces the fall
of Babylon. Fourthly, in verses 9 through
11, Another angel announces the very curse of God upon all those
who receive the mark of the beast in their forehead or their right
hand. Verse nine, the third angel followed
them, saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast
in his image and receive his mark in the forehead or in his
hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without measure into the cup of his indignation.
And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of his holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. The smoke
of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever. And they have
no rest, day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and
whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. It's not a literal
brand, as I said this morning. The forehead means the mind,
the thoughts, the heart, the beliefs, the judgments of a man. And here John says that the wrath
of God is going to fall upon all those who believe, who think,
who are persuaded that salvation and righteousness and acceptance
with God are based upon something we do. For if you believe that way,
If you believe your soul's destiny, your soul's salvation is dependent
upon something you must do, my friend, you have set yourself
on a great collision course with God Almighty. Because God says
salvation is of the Lord. That's what His book says. And
you're not going to rob Him of His glory. He said, I am the
Lord. That's my name. but my glory
will I not give to another. And I won't give my praise to
a graven image, he says. Those who believe that salvation
is by their works and efforts, therefore they put their hand
to do something, to merit something before God, to earn their salvation,
that's what they do. I said this morning, and I think
it bears repeating, when the saints of God get before the
throne of God's judgment, we plead only the merits of Christ
Jesus. That's what we do now. Why do you think God accepts
you now? Do you come to God in your prayer
and say, I've gone to church today, and Lord, I've prayed,
and Lord, I've put something on the offering plate today,
and therefore, please bless me. Why, you don't bring up anything
that you do. You say, oh God, I'm such a vile
sinner. Receive me, accept me for Christ's
sake. Receive me, accept me on the
basis of the blood that my Savior shed upon Calvary's cross. We
don't speak of what we've done because we've done nothing. We've
done nothing. He's done everything. And the
work He undertook to do, He finished it to the satisfaction of God. And then fifthly, in verses 12
and 13, we see the blessedness of dying in the Lord. Look at verse 12. Here's the
patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments
of God in the faith of Jesus. These are people who believe
the gospel. People who obey the gospel command
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 13, and I heard
a voice from heaven singing to me, write, blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord from henceforth. From now on, from the very moment of their
death, they're blessed. They're blessed. Yea, saith the
spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works
do follow them. Their works don't go ahead of
them. Their works don't pave the way to glory. Their works
follow them, and their works are the works of Christ Jesus,
the works that He has performed. This is the blessedness of dying
in the Lord, verses 12 through 13. The apostles said in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 and verse 8, oh, how blessed it is to be absent from
the body and to be present with the Lord. And then the sixth
thing, at the very end of this age, there's going to be a great
harvest of the Lord's people. Verses 14 through 16. John said,
and I looked. And remember, he's taking us
right up to the end of the age. I looked, and behold, a white
cloud. And on the cloud there sat one
likened to the Son of Man. having on his head a golden crown,
and in his hand a sharp sickle, literally a reaping hook, a reaping
hook. 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. It's time to reap the wheat. It's time to reap the wheat.
The time has come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the
earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud
thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. In
other words, Christ is coming to gather his elect. That's what
this is. He's coming to gather his elect
from the four corners of the earth. Oh, blessed day. get to the end
of the book, and the Lord Jesus will say, behold, I come quickly. And John will speak for all of
the church, and he'll say, even so, even so, come, Lord Jesus. I believe that's the prayer of
the saints of God. You know, in the Old Testament,
we've talked about this before, back in chapter 12, when the
woman, the Old Testament church, travailed Travailed in pain for
the Lord Jesus to come the first time. The New Testament church,
we travail in pain and we say, oh Lord, come again. Oh Lord,
come back. Come back. Come back and put
an end to all of this nonsense. Oh Lord, come back and then I'll
be free from sin. the experience of sin. I know
I'm forgiven of my sin, and I know I stand in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I know God doesn't hold any sin
against me. God doesn't see any iniquities
in his people, but in my experience, I'm full of sin. I'm weary of
it. I'm sick of it. Lord Jesus, please
come and relieve me of the body of this death. That's what wearied
the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 7. Oh, wretched man that I am. He didn't say, oh, wretched man
that I used to be before the Lord saved me by His grace. He
said, oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Who shall deliver me? I want
to be delivered, don't you? I want to be delivered. And he
said, I thank God through Christ Jesus, my Lord. And I tell you,
he's coming back to deliver us. To deliver us. And he's going
to reap his wheat. He's the one who, in the coven
of grace, he planted us. He's the one who sowed us. He's the one who redeemed us.
He's the one who's done all of the labor. And he's the one who'll
reap the harvest. And what a glorious harvest it
will be. And then, lastly, at the very
end of the age, there will be the judgment of all unbelievers,
verses 17 through 20. And another angel came out of
the temple, which is in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle. He
had a reaping hook. And another angel came out from
the altar, which had power over fire. He cried with a loud voice
to him that had the sharpsicle saying, thrust in thy sharpsicle. And this time, it isn't a gathering
of the wheat, but it is thrust in thy sharpsicle and gather
the clusters clusters of the vine of the earth gathered the
grapes For her grapes are fully ripe and you say oh, well, this
doesn't sound too bad at all The angel thrust in his sickle
into the earth verse 19 and gathered the vine of the earth and cast
it into the great wine Press of the wrath of God. This is
not good You see this is another group There are only two groups
in the whole world at any given time. There's the righteous and
the unrighteous. There's the just and the unjust. There's God's people and there
are the people of the evil one. There's the weak, there are the
tares. That's all there is in this world.
And in this case, these are grapes that are ripe to be picked. And
when God cuts him down, he's gonna throw him into the wine
press of the wrath of God. In the wine press. Verse 20,
trodden without the city, blood came out of the winepress even
under the horse bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred
furlongs. And you'll read a bunch of junk
by writers about that. All this is saying is the wrath
of God is going to be awful. It is going to be unbearable
for those who die in their sins, those who hate God, those who
believe in being saved some other way than God's way. Those who
despise the way of grace and the way of substitution and the
way of satisfaction. Oh, how awful it will be. It
will be a blood bath, as we would say. A blood bath. So this is what John has led
to see here in the 14th chapter. You get to the 15th chapter,
begins another vision. But let me go back for just a
very few minutes to the beginning of the chapter and make a few
comments about the lamb and his followers. And I think what I'm
going to do is actually, I'll go as far as I can this evening.
A few more minutes and then we'll pick it up again Wednesday, Wednesday
evening. At the beginning of the chapter,
John is enabled to see the Lamb of God in his ransomed people.
He sees the church of our Lord in her everlasting glory with
Christ Jesus. I said this morning, and I think
this bears repeating also, in light of chapter 13 where
we saw two beasts, pagan governments, and then the false lamb. In light of that, some of the
people of God through the ages have become greatly discouraged.
And indeed, as you look around, you see the opposition to the
gospel. You see that the truth of God
is in the minority. There are times when we become
dismayed, and we grow weary, and we grow faint. Isaiah did. Isaiah in chapter 53, that great
chapter about our Lord Jesus, who is the lamb led to the slaughter,
Isaiah begins that chapter, chapter 53, by saying, Lord, who hath
believed our report? It's a good report. It's not
a report that we We invented it. It's God's report. All we're
doing is reporting, telling what God has done. And Isaiah says,
who has believed this report? And anytime our hearts get down,
when we become dismayed and we become discouraged, we need to
remember Revelation chapter 14 and verse one, where John sees
all of the elect of God with the Lamb of God at the very throne
of God. Don't let your hearts be troubled.
The purpose of God cannot be defeated or nullified. Now, as John looks, it says,
And lo, a lamb stood. This is the sight that meets
his eye. This is what catches his vision. It's quite different
from the previous chapter with the beast, the hideous beast. And then the false religious
beast, but now he sees a delightful sight. He's the Lamb of God standing
on Mount Sinai, which is another name for the church. Among the
Jews, Sinai was a name for heaven, and we can make an application
of that, but really it's the people of God. We're Mount Sinai. We're the people of God. He sees
the Lamb of God standing on Mount Zion. He sees the 144,000 with
their Father's name in their foreheads. They don't have a
brand in their foreheads. We don't have a mark. We have
a seal. That's an important distinction
to make. Those who follow the enemy, they
have a mark. They're branded. We're not branded. We have a seal. We have the seal
of God upon us. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. That's the seal of God. The seal
of God is the spirit of grace. The spirit of grace has been
given to us to seal us. We're preserved by His grace. We're not branded. We're not
marked. We're sealed. We're sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise. I said this morning, at least
a little bit, I said about this, that it seems to me the vision
of the Lamb of God on Mount Zion with 144,000 is intended to encourage
the people of God. And it sure does encourage me,
because I see the Lamb of God standing. I see Him standing
in glory, and who is He with? And we would first, we might
expect to read standing with all of the angels. No, not standing
with all of the angels, but standing with all of his people. He has
always stood with his people and for his people. Go back before
the world was ever made. Go back into the very covenant
of grace, into the council of peace, and see the Lamb of God. See Him standing there with us
as our representative. For it was the Father who gave
us to him. And there's all the 144,000 given
to him in sovereign grace. And he stands among his people
and he says, I will be their surety. I will be their shepherd. I will be their savior. I will
be their great sin offering. He always stands with his people. Oh, what a blessed sight. This
is the Lamb with a capital L. When we read of Lamb here in
chapter 14 in verse 1, we're immediately put in mind of the
justifying death of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was the Lamb,
as it says in Isaiah 53, who was led to the slaughter. When Abel offered his sacrifice
to God, which God accepted, it was an offering of the firstling
of a flock, a lamb, a lamb. Abel, believing what his father
had told him about the seed of the woman coming, Abel, having
received the information from his father and his mother as
to how God had taken animals. And I would venture to say, though
the Bible doesn't say it, lambs, but the Bible doesn't say that.
But that wouldn't surprise me. But whatever it was, whatever
these animals were, God killed them. They were innocent of any
wrongdoing. They had not rebelled against
God. They had not defied God's orders, not those animals. But
God killed those animals. God shed blood. The very first
blood shed on this earth was innocent blood shed for the guilty. And that teaches us the gospel
right there. There is from the end of Genesis,
the third chapter, all the way through the book of God, all
the way through to the end of the book of the Revelation, this
river of blood that flows. And this is kept ever before
us. If the guilty are to go free,
an innocent victim must die in their place. And Abel, hearing
that message from his mom and dad, Gotta have an animal, an
innocent animal. God demands blood without the
shedding of blood is no remission of sin. And Abel brings the firstling
of his flock. Oh, Cain. Oh, he doesn't go for
that kind of religion. He goes for religion, the religion
of Antichrist. A religion based upon what he
does. And so he labors, and I'm sure
he labored hard in the fields and the garden and so forth,
and he brought his very best, and God had no respect on his
offering. God had no respect at all. There
wasn't any blood. There wasn't any death. Death. That's what sin deserves,
and that's what the law of God demands. Death. God said in the
day you eat thereof, thou shalt surely die. Death for sin. Abel believed the Word of God. He believed the Lamb of God was
going to come someday and take away his sins. And he said, Lord,
I bring this Lamb to you. And I offer it to you as an offering
for my sin, in anticipation of and looking forward to that day
when the Lamb of God comes into this world to put away my sins. When we read here in Revelation
chapter 14 of John seeing this Lamb, it puts us in mind of Abraham
and Isaac on Mount Moriah. When Isaac spake unto his father,
He said, my father. And Abraham said, here am I,
my son. And Isaac said, behold the fire
and behold the wood. But where is the lamb for burnt
offering? Isaac had heard his father tell
those two servants You guys stay here, I and the lad will go yonder
and worship." And Isaac knew what people in false religion
don't know. You cannot worship God without
the lamb, without the blood of the lamb. And Abraham said to
his son, My son, God will provide himself a lamb
for burnt offering. And you know that satisfied,
that satisfied his son. So the scripture says, so they
went both of them together. If a lamb's gonna die, I'm satisfied. And if God's going to provide
it, and God's going to be the lamb, well, let's go, let's go
and worship. Let's go and worship. When we
read of the lamb of God, we think of the Passover lamb that brother
Joe read to us about a few moments ago, without spot, without blemish,
a male of the first year. That lamb died. Its blood was
applied on the two side posts and the upper posts of the door.
As you read there, as you followed him in reading in the book of
Exodus, did you notice the graduation? He said, take a lamb, a lamb. A lamb. Then he said, the lamb. Then he said, your lamb. And
that's the way it graduates. As God deals with us about our
need of redemption, of our need of the Lamb of God, at first
he's just a lamb. But then he becomes more special.
He's the lamb. And then he becomes your lamb. This is the lamb I need. I need
the lamb of God. John looked. He said, lo, a lamb
stood. A lamb stood. I love that passage
of Scripture in Acts chapter 8 pertaining to the Lamb standing,
to the Son of God standing. You remember when Stephen, who
was the first martyr, and he had preached and the people,
like a bunch of hungry wolves, they fell on him and gnashed
on him with their teeth. And then he looked up and he
saw heaven opened. And he saw the Lord Jesus standing. Standing. Standing. And he said to them, I behold,
I see heaven opened. And the Son of Man standing on
the right hand of God. And that Jewish, that bunch of
Jewish religious leaders, they just went berserk. They did. They went berserk. And they cast him out of the
city and picked up stones to stone him. And he cried out, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit. He fell down. Then he cried out
with a loud voice. He said, Lord, don't lay this
sin to their charge. He saw the Lord Jesus standing,
standing. And let me give you this and
we'll go home. Here in Revelation 14, John sees the Lamb standing with
his people, all of his people. And you say, well, but how can
this be? Because we're not with him. Like even now as you read this,
you say, but here we are, we're gathered together at 1812 13th
Street in Ashland, Kentucky. How can it be said that we're
with Him in glory? Listen, we're with Him because
we're united to Christ Jesus. And you've got to get this, wherever
He is, that's where His people are. Now look with me in Ephesians,
the second chapter. Ephesians, the second chapter,
and we don't have time. I could even go through chapter
one. Over and over again, it speaks about what we are in Christ
Jesus. I'll give you a brief list, and
you know these. In chapter one and verse three,
we're blessed in Him. We've already been blessed. And
we say, and the scripture instructs us, the Lord bless us. Well,
we've already been blessed. We can't be blessed with any
more because we've been blessed with all spiritual blessing.
But where are they? In Christ Jesus. The morning
when the roads were bad, I woke up early and I turned on the
television. I found a religious program and I figured, well,
this will wake me up really good right here. And so this guy,
and he said, I want you to open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter
one. And he said, I want to read verse
three. Hey, off to a good start. And so he turned to this and
he read, blessed be the God and father, Ephesians one, three
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us, and he said
that word blessed means that God has privileged us. Well, that's okay. That's okay.
He has privileged us. He said with all spiritual blessings. He said, now listen, we have
spiritual blessings and out of the spiritual blessings, there
comes physical blessings. He said, it's out of the spiritual
blessings we get physical blessings. We get wealth and we get health. And then he says, this all happened
in heavenly places. He said, where did it happen?
And there are thousands of people said, in heavenly places. He
said, but you got to get this. He said, in Christ. He said,
where are these blessings? He said, in Christ. And they
all said, in Christ. He said, now where is Christ? He said, in you. So he said,
all of the physical blessings that God can ever give you of
health and wealth, they're already in you. You've just got to tap
into them. That's the reasoning of false
religion. This is not about health and
wealth. Because those mercies, and I'm thankful to have a measure
of health, and I'm thankful for whatever prosperity God's given
me and God's given you. But listen, these things are
gonna come to an end. Spiritual blessings are everlasting
blessings. Where are they? They're in Christ
Jesus. Of course, he didn't get to the
fourth verse, but in the fourth verse, we're chosen in Christ.
And I've just got to read these to you, because my time's gone. In verse 6, we're accepted in
Him. In verse 7, we're redeemed and
forgiven by Him. In verses 8 and 9, we're instructed
by Him. In verse 11, our inheritance
is in Him. In verse 18, we're enlightened
by Him. Chapter 2, verses 1-5, we're
raised from the dead in Him. I fully believe in regeneration,
but this is not talking about regeneration. You see, when were
we raised from the dead? According to this, keep this
in the context. It's when our Lord Jesus was
raised from the dead. You see, you cannot separate
the Savior from His 144,000. Wherever the Lamb is, that's
where His people will be found. When He died, we died with Him.
When He is buried, we were buried with Him. When He arose, guess
what? Those of us who are by nature
dead in trespasses and sins, We were raised together with
Christ Jesus. That's what this is about. It's
about our everlasting union with the Lord Jesus Christ because
you see it says in chapter 2 and verse 5, even when we were dead
in sins have quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you
saved. When was Christ quickened? At his resurrection. His resurrection. That's when we were quickened.
That's when we were raised from the dead. But here's one more
thing, verse 6, "...and hath raised us up together." All of
us together raised us up and made us sit together where? In heavenly places in our living
head. You see, where the head is, that's
where the body is. Where the bridegroom is, that's
where the bride is. Where is the bridegroom? He's
at heavenly places. And John says, yep, that's where
we are. That's where we are. And this
is the great encouragement to the people of God. When you see
all that's going on around here, just remember this, not only
one day will we be with Christ in glory, in the mind and purpose
and will of God, we already are. So take comfort, children of
God. We're with the Lamb of God. We're before the throne of God.
And the Lord himself said, you're without fault before me. Well, I'm going to continue with
this Wednesday night, the Lord willing. Well, let's sing a closing
song, 77.