Well, we come back for the third
time to Revelation chapter 11, and the focus this morning is
on the last six verses, is it? From 14 to 19 at the end, and
simple title, the seventh trumpet, because that is what blows in
verse 15, the seventh angel sounded. Now, I feel it necessary to remind
you, I know you might say, oh you keep repeating things, but
it's so important that you keep the context in mind, the context
of the book and the purpose of the book. Revelation comprises
seven distinct visions of this creation, from the creation of
the world to its end, and this creation is, you might say, the
stage on which the forces of evil and rebellion against God
strive for complete sovereignty, but where the Kingdom of God,
God's Kingdom, finally triumphs. God must be supreme. All of the
Bible, what is the message of the Bible? It's the account of
the kingdom of Satan versus the kingdom of God, and the triumph
of the kingdom of God. And how is God's kingdom to triumph? What is the mark? What is the
key, what do they call them in business? KPIs, isn't it? Key
performance issue, or something like that. What is the thing
that is the measure of the triumph of the kingdom of God? The answer
is this. that it is populated with a multitude
of people, God's people, who are sinners, who are rebels on
the side of Satan by nature. They're really by nature from
birth on Satan's side in his kingdom. But these are rebels
who in the gospel of God's grace are made They don't become, they
don't do it themselves, they are made the righteousness of
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what 2 Corinthians 5 verse
21 says. He was made sin for his people. He took their sin that they might
be made the righteousness of God in him. And the demands of
divine justice. See, God is holy, and this is
a concept that really is beyond us. He is so holy. He is so pure. His thoughts are so much higher
than our thoughts. His way is so much different
than our ways, because we are always bound by this sinful nature
in this fallen creation. But the demands of divine justice
are that sinners shall die. God said to Adam and Eve, in
the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die. In the
day that you disobey my command, you shall surely die. The soul
that sins, it says in Ezekiel, the soul that sins, it shall
die. That is what is necessary to
satisfy divine justice. And that demand of divine justice
for the people, the multitude from every tribe and tongue and
kindred that the Lord Jesus Christ represented and were placed in
union with him before the beginning of time, he fully met that demand
of divine justice in his death as a substitute, He who is God
incarnate. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
incarnate, and He who is God became man that He might do that
which God the Spirit cannot do, which is die a human death to
satisfy His justice. So in the person of His Son,
He, God, became man that He might die that death. And hence, the
seven-sealed book of Revelation chapter 5 that is on the hand
of God in heaven, that seven-sealed book, that seven-element plan
of God's recovery of His kingdom from the clutches of Satan, that
plan can only be implemented by one who is worthy. And only
one is worthy, And that's Christ, the Lamb of God. He and Him alone
looked to the lion of the tribe of Judah, and He looked, and
there in the middle of the throne was a lamb as it had been slain. A slain lamb, because that slain
lamb the fulfillment of all the lambs and animal sacrifices of
the Old Testament, that slain lamb has satisfied the justice
of God. It's why on the cross as he died
he cried, it is finished, it is finished, the work is finished,
it is finished, it is done. We'll see later in Revelation
that same idea of it is done, it is finished, when the just
judgment of God falls on those who bear their own sins. So the
implementation of God's plan is coming to its triumphant end
in the days in which we're living now. I'm sure it is. I'm sure
it is. You say, well, do you know when?
No, of course I don't know when. But as Jesus said to his disciples,
look at the signs. Look at the fig tree. Look when
you think you're going to get, you watch the signs of the seasons.
Watch the signs of how things are developing. I think evil
has developed. in these last few years on a
scale beyond anything that the world has ever witnessed before.
You say, oh, there's been some pretty evil things. Yes, there
have. But the utter and complete moral debasement of society has
gone on apace, accelerating. Now the book of Revelation was
given, what, 1930, about AD 95, something like that. 1930 years
ago or so, give or take, Why was it given, God says in
the first verse, to show his servants, those who believe him,
the things that must shortly come to pass, the things that
are going to happen. This is why it's not wrong for
us to have an interest in these things. God deliberately gave
it to show his servants the things that must come to pass. And in
the first three chapters of Revelation, and of course you know that the
chapter and verse divisions are arbitrary, but they're extremely
useful, so we still use them. I think it was a monk that divided
the Bible up into chapters and verses, and it's a very useful
thing, so that we can refer to things easily. But the first
three chapters of Revelation picture the Church of Christ
in the world, in this world, living in this world, this kingdom
of Satan, with Christ, who is the manifestation of the unseeable,
unknowable God. Christ, the manifestation of
God, walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks,
His churches. He's walking amongst them, and
what is He doing? He encourages them, He corrects them, He praises
them, He rebukes them, and He motivates them to persevere to
the end, because He sets out all of the blessings that are
there to be obtained in that Kingdom of God when it's triumphant.
The second vision is chapters 4 to 7, and that's a heavenly
perspective of this creation, with God supreme, and the seven-sealed
plan in His hand, and the Lamb who alone is qualified to open
the seals because only he accomplished redemption, which will populate
the kingdom of God. And he opens the seals to implement
God's plan to disrupt Satan's kingdom. What is Satan's plan?
What is his kingdom's objective? It's a utopia. It's a peace. It's worldwide unity of all the
peoples of the world getting on. You say, oh, what a wonderful
idea, what a wonderful notion. But here's the key thing. The
key thing that causes it all to collapse in ruin, it's without
the righteousness of God. It cannot happen without the
righteousness of God. But chapter 7 of that vision,
you know, in the midst of some terrible things, it assures God's
people of final victory. It assures God's people. An innumerable
multitude in heaven is what John sees in vision. If you're a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, I think he saw you and me there in that
vision. Vision number three is chapters
eight to eleven that we come to the end of this morning. And
those chapters lay out the seven trumpets. You see the seventh
seal opened and revealed seven trumpets of judgment. further
details of the judgments that were announced in the seals,
but intensifying towards the end. They've always been there
to some extent, but intensifying towards the end. You know, the
world is going to become a less and less comfortable place in
which to live. A place that is increasingly
damaged, and I'm not talking about eco-zealotry or net-zero stuff
like that. I'm not talking about that, I'm
talking about God making this place less comfortable to live
in. But chapter 10 And chapter 11,
the first half, assures believers again, as chapter 7 did. It assures believers of Christ's
sovereign rule, and their state as the world progresses to the
end. The state of believers is safety
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And their state is, as the two
witnesses of chapter 11, the two witnesses, the people who
believe and the preachers who proclaim the message of salvation,
they are to preach the word for 1260 days. That means throughout
the time until Christ returns, because what is 1260 days? It's
three and a half years, symbolical. Three and a half is half of seven. Seven is the number to complete
God's kingdom. And as I told you, in the middle
of time, and this is all symbolical, don't take it too literally,
but in the middle of time, as Galatians 4 verse 4 says, when
the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son,
made of a woman, made under the law to redeem those who are under
the law, that they might receive the adoption of sons, whereby
we cry, Abba, Father. So for that time, half, till
he comes again, from his accomplishment of redemption until he comes
again in judgment, keep preaching that little book, keep preaching
the message of the Gospel of Grace for 1260 days, throughout
the time until he returns, and meanwhile, exactly the same time,
42 months of 30 days, work it out for yourself, it's right,
42 thirties is 1260, 42 months, six times seven, six, the number
of man, less than the number of God, the number of the kingdom
of Satan, trying to be the kingdom of God, six times seven, always
falling short, 42 months, during that time, the unbelieving world,
The world that hates the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ tramples
the truth of God, tramples the gospel of God underfoot. And
the voices cry out from the horns of the altar where the blood
of the sacrifice was symbolically placed. That blood cries out
because that is the only, only blood that can achieve redemption
from the curse of the law. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us. He bore it in
our place. That blood is the rejoicing of
the people of God because that blood has accomplished their
salvation. But the world, the unbelieving world, despises it. and treats it as nothing, and
tramples it underfoot as something which is worthless. And so that
preaching of the gospel, 1260 days, they're told to kill with
the fire of God's word. You know, is not my word like
a fire? The word of God is like a fire.
And it kills the opposition to the gospel. And yet the beast
of Satan we saw last week rises up and kills the two witnesses. And they lie dead in the streets
for three and a half days. Is that not so much like the
church in this country and in most of Europe. I'm not sure
about the United States yet. There are still plenty of churches
that do hold to the truth. There are plenty of churches
that hold to a complete denial of the truth in the name of religion,
but there are some true churches there. Whereas here, there are
virtually none. Honestly, you hardly find one. And the witnesses
lie dead in the streets for three and a half days. But then the
spirit of God comes into them and they stand on their feet.
Verse 11, after three and a half days, the spirit of life from
God entered into them and they stood on their feet and great
fear fell upon all. And then in verse 12, they're
taken up to heaven. Verse 12, a great voice from
heaven saying, come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven
in a cloud. The people of God have gone to heaven. When we
get to that point, they've gone to heaven. This is a picture
of how things will be, and it's told to us in a way that it seems
as if it's already happened. It is as good as already happened. They're taken to heaven. Before
the seventh trumpet blows, they're taken out of this kingdom of
Satan. They're taken out of it into
heaven. And look, there's a damaging result of that removal of the
people of God. There's a damaging result in
verse 13. The same hour there was a great
earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell. And in the
earthquake were slain of men seven thousand, and the remnant
were affrighted. They were scared when they saw
what was happening. This is all to happen. When the
people of God have been taken out, this is all to happen. And
they gave glory, they acknowledged, I don't think they worshipped
as true worshippers, but they acknowledged that God is who
he's always said he is, and that he is to be honoured and respected. It does say, you know, every
knee shall bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. So then the second woe is past,
says verse 14, and behold, the third woe comes quickly. quickly. That's important. The
third woe comes quickly. And so then what we have is a
high-level summary of the end, like a management summary. The
end is spelled out in detail in the remaining chapters, chapter
12 to chapter 22, the remaining four visions. It isn't a chronological
progression, but a changing perspective, a view from a different angle.
is given to John. And the detail of the end and
how God finally triumphs over the kingdom of Satan, it's given
in deepening detail. In verse 12, as I've just said,
God's church has gone to heaven. Come up hither, they said. Come
up hither and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud. Just as
Jesus said in Matthew 24, we saw it last week. In Matthew
24, before he goes to the cross, he's telling his disciples how
the end will be. And he said, two will be in a
bed and one will be taken and the other one left. Two will
be working in the field and one will be taken and the other one
left. There will be a time coming when the unbelieving world will
be aware that those who have believed and trusted the Lord
Jesus Christ, who are his people, have been taken out of this world
before the final intensity of judgment that brings the end,
before that comes. He will take his people, and
they will, where have they gone? They've gone. They've gone. They
were here, but they've gone. They will be conscious of the
fact that they've gone. And then there's that very painful
damage that we'd read about in verse 13, that has been inflicted
on Satan's kingdom. Exactly what? I don't know. I
don't know what. But the effect of the people
of God being taken out of this world before the seventh trumpet
blows clearly is Something that cannot be missed because people
are frightened when they see it. A great earthquake. A tenth
part of the city fell. I don't know what that means,
but what it means is that there is significant, unavoidable damage
that you cannot avoid happens to this world and this kingdom
of Satan. Seven thousand. Seven, the number of God, the
perfect number of God. Thousand, ten times ten times
ten. That's completeness cubed. Seven,
the number of God, perfection times ten cubed. The number of
completeness cubed. It's the number that God has
determined. But you see, things don't continue
long when the people of God have been taken out. Because he says,
the third woe cometh quickly. Quickly. It's not going to be
long. The seventh trumpet initiates the final judgment. The seventh
angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven. It initiates
the final judgment that we'll see in the following chapters.
What is announced here is that which to us is yet to happen
as if it had already happened. It's that there's no doubt about
the end of the story, but the detail is to follow later. If
I might use an analogy, and I hope without taking away the seriousness
of the message that I seek to bring today, but for those of
you in England who love cricket and love to see England win,
there's a certain series of matches going on between England and
the old cricketing enemy, the Australians and it's called the
Ashes series and it's five test matches of five days length and
it's been a thrilling contest so far and three matches have
gone and two are to remain and currently it stands as Australia
won the first two by a narrow margin and England won the third
by a narrow margin. Either one could have gone either
way. Now, what we've got is as if I could say definitely that
England will win the sea. If they win the next two matches,
the final two matches, they've won 3-2, OK? If Australia need
to win another one, they've won, right? But it's as if I could
say England are certainly going to win, but the detail I don't
know, we'll have to wait till it happens. Well that's a bit
like this end of chapter 11. The end is the triumph of God's
kingdom, but the detail will be filled in in the following
chapters. So be sure that you understand,
take this on board, this is not academic stuff that you can stand
back from and you can choose you know well you religious folk
if you want to go and follow that's that's very interesting
for you it's nice it's nice for you to to have an interest and
something to keep you occupied but it's not for me no no don't
bother me about it I'm sorry but the message of God's book,
the message of this book is that you have a stake in this. All
of you, all of us, all of us are involved in this. All of
us have a stake in this. I have a stake in this, we all
do. These, as Psalm 68 verse 20 says, it says, these are the
issues of death. And if they're the issues of
death, they're the issues of life. They're the most important
things. You know how our society makes
the biggest fuss ever about the issues of death, and yet our
society corruptly does the very things that cause death, and
they themselves cause death in hundreds of thousands every year.
I won't go into why, but some of you will know what I'm talking
about. Psalm 68 verse 20. This is in this book. Our God
is the God of salvation. Unto God, the Lord, belong the
issues of death. You better know that. What did
Psalm 2 say? Pay attention. Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry with you, and you perish in the way. Kiss the
Son. Kiss the Son of God. Draw close. Seek to find the Son of God. Because this concerns your eternal
destiny. You know it's appointed to man
to die once, and then the judgment. Oh, they'll just switch the lights
off. That's my view of things. I don't care what your view of
things is. What's the message of the Word of God? It's appointed
to man to die once, and then the judgment. You struggle to
cling to your godless, materialistic, humanistic philosophy all you
like, but you can't opt out of this. It's appointed to man to
die once, and then the judgment. Oh, it doesn't involve me. I
wasn't religious. You go and judge your religious
folk. No, no. You, all of us, are involved.
And there's a great divide coming, is the message of this book.
There's a divide. It's pictured as Christ on the
throne, dividing the sheep from the goats, the sheep from the
goats. The sheep is people from the goats whom he never knew,
taken to heaven or left for judgment. You know, there will be two working
in a field and one will be taken and the other left. Two grinding
at the mill, one taken, the other one left. There's going to be
a great divide and it's determined by the redemption which is accomplished
by Jesus Christ because that redemption alone, not your good
works, not what a good person you are, not that you've got
a good record of not doing any harm to others, the redemption
accomplished by Jesus Christ is the only thing that makes
a difference for whether you are among the sheep or among
the goats. So what are you going to do, just wait and see? Now.
Seek divine truth. Ask the question that Job asked,
how should a man be just with God? Because if you've got to
face the judgment, don't you want to be found just with God?
Job asked, how should a man, this is what I want to know,
how should a man be just with God? How should a man be justified
with God? How should a man be counted righteous
with God and not deserving of the condemnation of God and the
punishment of God? No, don't give up until you find
the answer, and I'll tell you where you'll find the answer.
I'll tell you the only place you'll find the answer. You'll
find it in the One who said, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Me. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved than that of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who said to those
who are burdened and heavy laden, he said, come unto me all ye
that labour and are heavy laden with a burden of sin and I will
give you rest for your souls. He said, all that the Father
gave me in electing grace before the beginning of time, that multitude
that no man can number, he said, all of them will come, and none
will come unless the Father compel him to come, but he said this
too. You say, well, that rules me out, doesn't it? How do you
know? He said this too. He said, whoever comes to me,
I will in no wise cast out. If you come to him seeking truth,
Lord, I'm a sinner. I know I've broken your law.
I know that I am worthy of your condemnation. I am not fit for
your heaven. I know you would be perfectly
just in condemning me to a lost eternity. but have mercy on my
soul, have mercy on me, cry out to him, whoever comes to me,
he said, I will in no wise cast out. So then we see the perspective
of those who are the people of God, the redeemed of God in heaven.
Look at verse 15. The seventh angel sounded and
there were great voices in heaven saying, and I'm going to change
the translation slightly to what it actually says in the original,
the kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord
and of his Christ. You see, because in actual fact,
the nations form one kingdom of Satan 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, it doesn't actually say, and art to come,
because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned
without any challenge. This is the perspective of the
redeemed in heaven who were taken out before the seventh trumpet
blew. They see an overwhelming display of the sovereignty of
God and Him in His Christ. The usurped kingdom of this world,
when was it usurped? In the Garden of Eden, by Satan,
when he deceived Eve and Adam, for love of his wife, ate the
forbidden fruit with her. That usurped kingdom of this
world was seeded by Adam and all of humanity in him. for we
were all in Him. We were all in Him when that
happened. This kingdom of this world of
which He'd been made God's viceroy to rule over it in Genesis 1
and 2, it was ceded by Adam, it was given, it was surrendered
by Adam to Satan in the fall in Eden. And that usurped kingdom
is recovered in these verses. The announcement of it is there,
that it's recovered. And all rivalry is eternally
defeated. Forever and ever. You see, it
says forever and ever. They worship God, there in verse
15. the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign
forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders
who represent the people of God, twelve patriarchs, twelve apostles,
they represent the whole people of God in heaven and they fall
on their faces, they're so overwhelmed by this vision of sovereignty
and majesty. That they fall on their faces
is the picture. It's overwhelming is the vision
of the sovereignty and majesty. We know God is sovereign, but
we're blasé about it. We just say it glibly, but they
see it and they're overwhelmed by it. You know like when Daniel
saw a vision of the pre-incarnate Christ, God in Christ, and his
life drained from him. He felt like a corpse. The life
his vitality drained out of his being and this is the vision
that the church in heaven is just overawed, completely overawed
with the sovereignty of God and they worship and ascribe honor
and glory to the one who has triumphed saying you've taken
your great power which always belonged to God alone, but it's
now displayed in plain sight. There's no challenge. Satan is
no longer able to question the people of God. He's no longer
able to say as he did to Eve, has God said? Has God said you
mustn't do this? God's redeemed people are safe
in eternal bliss. They're reigning with Christ.
They're possessing their inheritance in Him. They're judging with
Him. All of these things are in this
book. All of them are here. There's
no democracy there in this kingdom of God, this triumphant kingdom
of God. No democracy. Oh, democracy's so wonderful,
apart from the fact that the world's full of sinners. and
politicians are sinners, and don't we see it all the time? No, no democracy there in this
kingdom, just the most benign dictatorship. The heaven of God,
the bliss of his people. This is the result of the seventh
trumpet blowing. So what's the perspective of
those left on the earth, the reprobate? Verse 18, the nations
were angry. And thy wrath is come, and the
time of the dead, that they should be judged. And that thou shouldst
give reward unto thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints,
and them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldst
destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God
was opened in heaven, and there was seen in the temple the ark
of his testament, and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings,
and an earthquake, and great hail. Amongst the people left
behind of this world, outside of Christ and His redeeming grace,
there is anger. They were angry, it says, the
nations were angry, that Satan's... What were they angry at? They
were angry that Satan's plan for utopia, which they bought
into and went along with, That plan to be accomplished without
satisfaction of divine justice, they're angry that that plan
has failed. That divine justice must prevail
and be implemented. That sin must receive its due
reward. That the multitude God has removed
to heaven are rewarded. They're angry that the multitude
that God has removed to heaven are rewarded. Look, it says there,
that he should give reward unto thy servants. Who are they? The
prophets, the preachers, the saints, the people of God. All,
all God's people are saints. Not just the ones the Roman Catholic
Church says are saints. No, all. Because it means set
apart for the service of God. All of them. From those who are
the great ones, the valiant for the faith, right the way down
to the weak little lambs. Look at it, it says there, small
and great, just all them that fear thy name, small and great,
the strongest fear the name of God, right down to the weakest.
And they all have their reward in heaven, that you should give
your reward. What was the reward? God said
it to Abraham. Genesis 15 verse 1, fear not
Abram. I am thy shield, said God, and
thy exceeding great reward. What's the reward? It's God.
It's the possession of God and his possession of us. It's the
presence of God, whilst at the same time destroying those that
destroy the earth. They destroy the earth by being
signed up to the plan of Satan for his kingdom to triumph falsely,
corruptly. Those who by their sin and rebellion
bring just divine judgment to end this present creation. That's
what it is. It's those that destroy the earth. It's because of their sin it's
going to destroy this earth. Divine judgment is going to end
this present sinful creation, to roll it up as a scroll. You
see, they have trampled redeeming grace and the shed blood of Christ
at such great cost, they've trampled it as worthless underfoot. They've
despised blood atonement. They've despised the fact that
The only way to be right with God. How should a man be just
with God? By the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. By
Him being made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Which we must be, for nothing
shall enter in to that kingdom of God. Nothing that defiles,
nothing that corrupts. This world has striven to build
its Babel Towers. Babel Towers, Genesis 11. It's
striven to build its Babel Towers, a tower that will reach to a
heaven of their own making, of their own imagining. And they've
seen God bring it down to destruction, as he did in Genesis 11 when
he corrupted the languages of the world. Do they have a valid
case to be angry that God has rewarded His multitude in heaven,
that He's given reward to His servants, the prophets and to
the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great? Do
they have a valid case that God is unjust? They're about to justly
be judged and punished for their sin. Do they have a valid case
that God has chosen to reward His people with life? No. Their view is that, well, they're
sinners like us. Don't they deserve it? Doesn't
the church deserve to be punished for its sin and not go to heaven? In verse 19, the temple of God
was opened in heaven, and there was seen in this temple the ark
of his testament. We'll see more of this in the
next chapter, when we see Satan, the accuser of the brethren,
cast out of heaven by the power of accomplished redemption in
Christ. In verse 19, at the end of chapter
11, the dwelling place of God with his people, that's the temple,
where God dwells with his people. It's pictured in the Old Testament
temple, but its reality is the heaven of God, which we'll see
in later chapters. It's revealed. And it's opened
for them to see. And the ark of his testament.
Do you know that ark that they carried in their wilderness wanderings? They were given the law and make
the ark of shitting wood and carry it on poles and it's only
the Levites were to carry it and it went with the people and
it was placed in the holy of holies of the tabernacle and
then in the temple in Jerusalem. It all symbolized saving grace. It all symbolized saving grace. It symbolized the fulfillment
of the broken law. The law, the tablets of the law,
were in that box, the ark. You know, great things have been
made of it, haven't they? Raiders of the Lost Ark and all
that sort of thing is all alluding to this Ark of God. In it was
the broken law, the law that the people had broken. And over
the top of it was the mercy seat of gold with the cherubim. and
that was where the blood of an acceptable sacrifice was sprinkled
to make atonement on the day of atonement when the high priest
went in there once a year. All shadows symbolizing the Lord
Jesus Christ, all shadows symbolizing that God in Christ, God, Christ
is God manifest, and His blood as a man, a true man, The blood
of redemption has accomplished that peace with God, so that
there on that mercy seat, in this gospel of grace, in the
holy of holies, God spoke with a man as he does with his friend,
face to face. There's no valid case. that these
who are not there have got to say that this is unfair, for
Christ has died. Remember how Paul puts it in
Romans 8. I'm going to read this and then
I'm going to finish with that. Romans 8 verse 31. You know these
words well, but this is applying them in this context. Paul says
this in verse 31 of Romans 8. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Do you see what
it's saying? If God did so much to justly redeem his people from
the curse of the law, what else is there that he will not give
us? Who can be against us? Verse 33, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect, like these people on the earth
being angry that God has rewarded his servants in heaven? No, God
has justified them. They're not sinners anymore in
that condition. Their sins have been taken away
as far as the east is from the west. Who is he that condemns? Who is he that says you are guilty
of this, and that that charge would stick at the bar of divine
justice? Who is it that condemns? Christ
has died in the place of that one. Yea, rather, not only died,
but risen again from the dead, who is even at the right hand
of God, who makes intercession with God for us. Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? That love of Christ is so strong. Who shall separate us? Shall
trouble, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness,
peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long in this world. We are counted
as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded,
says Paul, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Is
that not a beautiful portrayal of the accomplishment of redeeming
grace in the work of Christ. Oh that God might give to all
who hear this the faith to embrace it and believe it to the saving
of their souls. Amen.