Let's take our Bibles now and
turn to Revelation chapter 14. Lord willing, I want to finish
this chapter this morning. If you'll recall our study, there
were six angels revealed in this chapter. And each angel seems like has
a job assigned to him. And it's perfectly okay with
me. You can make this application either way as to angelic beings
or as unto men or ministers who are often called angels. And
the picture set before us here in Revelation 14 beginning with
verse 14 is that of the Lord Jesus Christ coming again to
judge this world in righteousness. and reap the harvest of the remainder
of his saints in this world. Now that's often stated in the
scripture, and I don't want to spend a lot of time going around
to show you those things, but the dead in Christ shall rise
first, he said. Then they which are alive and
remain shall be caught up with them to meet him in the air.
Here's the picture. Sitting upon the cloud far above
the earth sits the king of glory, the denied one, the rejected
one, the one in whom people have laughed and mocked, disregarded
his words, disregarded his messengers and ministers. And now he suddenly
appears. That's how the scripture said
when he comes back, he's coming back suddenly. You know, folks
think they got time, well, I'll watch the signs of the times
and then I'll do this and I'll do that. Well, there's two things
wrong with that. One is, his coming is not going
to be gradual. And two, you don't have the ability
to do anything to start with. So here's the king of glory,
the rejected king of glory, but he comes in all the glory of
his father's house, and here he is sitting upon the clouds
just exactly the way he promised he would be, far above the earth,
and he's finished the work, and now he's about to put the period
at the end of the sentence. This is gonna, he's gonna put
a period at the end of the revelation of the glory of God. This is
his final act. And he's coming to finish the
work his father gave him to do and put a period at the end of
the revelation of God in Christ. Now last week I told you that
we need to think more dimensionally when we think about judgment.
Men were judged in Adam. How long ago was that? I don't
even know. But thousands and thousands of
years ago. Men were judged in Adam and that
judgment was passed. Isn't that what it says? By one
man sin came into the world and death by sin and so death passed. Did it quit passing? No. It's still passing. It passed
unto all men. How do I know that? Because of
all of sin. all of sin. So when we think about judgment,
we want to think dimensionally. And then men were judged in the
days of Noah. They were judged by their actions
and by their evil imaginations and God brought a flood upon
this earth and destroyed all but eight souls. So we need to think more dimensionally
and then he tells us that men are judged as they hear the gospel. They're judged. They're judged
in the light of it. We're judged in the light of
circumstances as we go through this world. Circumstances, when
we have the opportunity to come, to hear, but we say, no, we're
going to stay home and watch a football game. You think God's
not going to judge you for that? You think he's going to take
his gospel being preached and his glory being revealed to men
and this fellow said, well, here's what I think about it. I'm going
to stay home and watch football. We're judged as we hear the gospel. We come and we sit and we hear
and we turn our nose up or we slam our Bible down or we stomp
out the door or we just sit there and tune it out. You think God,
you don't think judgment's going to follow that? You need to read
the scriptures. So when we think about judgment,
we want to think about judgment dimensionally. All through the
gospel age, salvation and judgment are being exercised. Listen to
this. Over in 1 Corinthians 1, verse
18, Paul wrote, For the preaching of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness, but unto us which believe it is the power
of God. I'm not an expert on the Greek
language, but I've got books by men who are, and I know men
who are. And they tell me that this verse
speaks of them who are perishing. Not of them who have already
perished, but of them who are perishing. A perishing man looks
at the gospel and considers it foolishness. You write it down. That man's perished. That man
is yet under the wrath of God. And then when he talks about
those that are saved, he's talking about those who are being saved.
You know, folks with refuge don't want to hear that, do they? But
you're being saved. You're not plumb saved yet. If
you're not exactly conformed to the image of Christ, you're
not plumb saved yet. You're being saved. God's exercising
his grace. He's exercising his mercy. He's
doing a work in you by His Holy Spirit. Preacher, you're talking
about a progressive sanctification? No, sir. No, sir, I'm not. I'm
just telling you that you're not plumb saved. You still have
an evil nature. Sin still is your constant companion. But if I understand the gospel
right, there is a second death, a final and permanent death,
which as I showed you last week, is poured out without mixture.
What's he talking about without mixture? Without any mercy. Without any word of mercy. It's poured out without mixture.
Here and now, even the reprobate enjoys the benefits of the living. He still enjoys it. He still
eats steak, eats beans, goes to the barbecue, goes to the
fish fry. He just enjoys himself. He goes
out and plants his crop and God rains his rain down on his crop
just like he does mine. The reprobate enjoys benefits
of the living and though he's perishing, he still walks among
the living and he eats and drinks and breathes God's air with the
saints. He still enjoys a lot of those benefits given to us
of God. He's not yet entered into the
second death where he shall experience nothing but torment day and night. Not even a word of mercy, not
even a word of hope. Nothing to quench the fire. Even His false refuge here offers
Him some peace and hope, but not there. Our Lord said, when
that overflowing scourge, and He's talking about that day of
judgment, when that overflowing scourge comes through, He said,
your refuge is going to be swept away. You're not going into hell
with a refuge. You're going in there with nothing.
Your refuge be gone. He said your covenant with death
is going to be disannulled. And your agreement with hell
shall not stand. To them that are perishing, the
preaching of the gospel, that is the preaching of salvation
by grace alone, the preaching of righteousness, peace, and
reconciliation in Christ alone, The preaching of an all-sufficient
Savior, and whose obedience and sacrifice saves to the uttermost
those that come unto God by him. The preaching of the gospel. The appointment of a covenant
surety and federal head whose offices were given to him to
save his elect, whose blood was shed, that precious blood of
the everlasting covenant was shed for his elect, whose righteousness
was wrought out for his elect. The preaching of the gospel to
them who are perishing is foolishness. That's the judgment of God. But unto us which are saved,
or being saved, it's the power of God. It's what keeps me from
bawling. It's what's able to present me
faultless before the presence of his glory. It's what's able
to cover my sins and blot out my sins before God. The preaching
of the gospel to them who are saved or being saved is the power
of God. And all through the gospel age,
God's elect are being gathered unto himself. You know, religion
would have a God passive in this thing of salvation. He's done
all he can do. Now he's not doing anything.
He says, it's all up to you. That's passive. Religion would have God passive
in the salvation of sinners. He's waiting to see what they
might do. He's waiting to see which way
they're going to go. He's waiting to see what kind
of attitude they might have toward their sins, whether or not they'll
choose the way of life or go the way of sin. But if God is
passive in the salvation of sinners, man is doomed. He's doomed. If God's folded his hands and
done all he can do for you, and the rest is up to you, you're
doomed. You don't have a hope before God. Because there's none
righteous, none good, none that understandeth, and none who seek
after God. So if God's passive, you're doomed.
You're doomed with the rest of this world. If God's passive
in the salvation of sinners, man's doomed because of destruction
and misery are in his ways. No matter which way he contrives. Destruction and misery are in
all his ways. There's a way that seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof is destruction. The way of peace, it says, he's
not known and there's no fear of God before his eyes. He's
doomed if God's passive. If God's passive in the salvation
of sinners, then he's doomed because the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. What's that mean? That means
when the gospel's preached to him, it has no effect on him.
Now if God's passive in that, you're done. Because the natural
man won't have it. He won't receive it. But John
didn't see a passive savior sitting on the cloud, but one who carried
in his omnipotent hand the sickle to harvest. He came with a sickle. He's not passive. He's not going
to sit on the cloud and see who's going to do this and who's going
to do that. He's going to do the work. And he comes with a sickle to
reap. Verse 15, Revelation 14. And
another angel came out of the temple, and he cried with a loud
voice to him that sat on the cloud, thrust in thy sickle and
reaped. For the time has come for thee
to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. I want you to
turn with me over to Hebrews chapter 3. What determines the
ripeness of the harvest? This angel cried, and I believe
these are ministers of God. They cried unto him, thrust in
thy sickle. and reap because the harvest
is ripe. Now you go out there, I know
different ones of you grow corn, you grow a garden, and you know
when to go out and pick them beans. You know when to go out
and break that ear of corn off. You know. Well the time of the harvest
is known when Christ thrust in his sickle. You know, some of
you went over here to some Midianites over on the other side of, anyway,
they're over here and they're selling vegetables and stuff
on the other side of Bradley. And I went out there and I bought
a couple of watermelons from them, boy, and they were excellent
watermelons, just excellent watermelons. And I asked everybody that sells
them, I asked them the same question. I said, how do you know when
that melon's ripe? You know what this fella told
me? Most of them got all these little things they do, you know,
and thumping it and all this. You know what that man said?
He said, it's ripe when I tell you it's ripe. You know when the harvest is
ripe? When the Lord thrusts in his sickle. When he says it's
ripe, it's ripe. It's ripe. The angel said, thrust in thy
sickle, for the time has come for thee to reap the harvest
of the earth is ripe. And the time of harvest is known
as the gospels brought to chosen sinners. That's the sickle. Now watch this here in Hebrews
3 verse 6. He's talking about Christ. And he said, but Christ is a
son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast
the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith today, if you'll hear his
voice, harden not your hearts, as in the day of provocation
in the wilderness. When God speaks through his ambassadors,
don't harden your hearts. He's harvesting souls. You're going to sit and harden
your heart? The one opportunity that a man
may have be saved and he's going to sit there and harden his heart? God knows when to harvest and
when to wait. He knows what to harvest and
when to do it. All right, Revelation 14, 16.
And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth. And when he did, the earth was
harvested. It was reaped. I get so tired
of hearing religion talking about begging sinners to the front
of the church and trying to talk men into doing something for
Jesus. Let me tell you something. If
he plunges in his sickle, the earth will be reaped. They'll
be reaped. That's just how fast, that's
just how soon, and that's just how powerful He is. If He'll
thrust in His sickle, the earth will be reaped. And this is true throughout the
Gospel age, and it'll be especially true when the Son of Man shall
come again for that final and complete harvest of His wheat. And for now, right now, we cry
for him to thrust in his sickle. Because without him, we can do
nothing. Isn't that what Paul said? I
can say all the words, I can teach all the doctrines, but
I can't harvest the soul. And I'll give you another reason,
because we can't always tell wheat from tares. He said, you
let them grow together, I'll do the harvesting. We can't always tell wheat from
tares, and here's another reason, because we're not sufficient
for the job. We preach. That's it. Huh? How long is it going to
take us to learn that, Carol? We preach, and that's it. I can't
drag them into the kingdom of God. I can't pull them down the
aisle. I can't change their heart. I
can't change what they are. I have to wait on God. I have to wait on God. We're not sufficient for the
job. We preach, but only God can harvest. And then look here
in verse 17. And another angel came out of
the temple, which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. Now here's another one. medicine
got sick and there can be a little doubt
that they're saying you'll symbolic of the angels of the lord is
not talking about a man here although it it has application
he's believe it now shabby day there's a there's a application
uh... to the preaching of the gospel
But there can be little doubt here that this angel is symbolic
of the angels of the Lord to whom this task is assigned. Over
in Matthew chapter 13, you can study that this afternoon if
you want to. Our Lord gives a parable about
a husband man sowing good seed in his field. And then he went in, he'd spend
all day sowing seed. And he went in, laid down, went
to sleep. While he was sleeping, an enemy
come and sowed tares in the same field where he sowed the seed.
And then in verse 36, his disciples came to him and they asked him
about the parable. And here's what he said. He said,
he that soweth a good seed is the son of man. The field is
the world. The good seed are the children
of the kingdom and the tares are the children of the wicked
one. The enemy that showed them is the devil. The harvest is
the end of the world. Now listen, and the reapers are
the angels. That's the reapers. As therefore the tares are gathered
and burned in a fire, so shall it be in the end of this world.
The son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather
out of his kingdom all things that offend. Now, you notice
here, they're sickles not gathering wheat, just hares. Just hares. They're going to
gather all things that offend and that which do iniquity, and
shall cast him into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth. And then in Revelation 14, 18,
another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire. And he cried with a loud cry
to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle,
and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes
are fully ripe. This angel, I believe, as most
of the angels that we talked about, is talking about ministers
of the gospel. Let's look at this verse just
a little closer. This minister, he comes out of
the altar. Isn't that where he comes from? He comes out of the altar. This
is where the sacrifice was burnt. as it was symbolic of the suffering
Christ for our sin. His blood was shed and his body
was burned in our room instead. And this verse speaks of such
men who reject the particular and all sufficient sacrifice
of Christ for his elect. And they're described as a fruit
bearing vine producing clusters of grapes. They had promise of bearing fruit. What's that mean? That means
they were ministers. That means they were professors
of faith, religious men. They had promise of fruit. They
appear to be the real thing, but rather they're called here
grapes of wrath. This angel has power over fire,
not all fire, but this particular fire which has to do with the
wrath of God towards sin. And he knows this power is power
to apply it. To the believer, that fire is
applied to Christ who satisfied the justice of God. To the unbeliever, that fire
is fire of judgment. It's fire of judgment. And if
you won't have that fire as it consumed the sacrifice, then
you're going to bear it. You're going to bear it. Maybe talking about the authority
of this angel to apply that fire as those objects come before
him. This fire that consumed the sacrifice, it paid the sin
debt of all God's elect. But to all those who reject the
sacrifice of Christ, this fire should be applied to them. And
Jesus Christ, because he was the God-man mediator and representative
of his people, he suffered in our stead, bearing our sins in
his own body on the tree. And he suffered until he had
satisfied the justice of God on our behalf. You know, I was
thinking this morning, I was reading a scripture, I
can't even remember where it was now, but the thought came
to me, God only saved one man. Did you know that? He saved his
son. But when he saved him, he saved
everybody in him. Everything that he put in him,
he saved. Just like that Ark of Noah, everything God intended
to save, he put on that Ark. Everything God intends to save,
he put in his son. He saved one man, but when He
saved him, He saved every one of us. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. The true minister of God is in
tune with God's justice and judgment upon this unbelieving world. And he's in tune with it, whether
it's his son or yours, or his daughter or yours, or his father
or yours. It says, Of our Lord, in being
found in passion as a man, he humbled himself, become obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also
hath highly exalted him, giving him a name above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee is going to bow. of things
in heaven, things in earth, and things under there. And they're
going to call Him Lord. Now listen to the glory of God
the Father. They're going to justify Him
for everything He did. He's Lord of heaven and
earth, Lord of the dead and the living, Lord of creation, providence,
and salvation. And here He's revealed to us
as Lord over damnation too. This Lordship is fully consistent
with the glorious character of His Father. This angel didn't tell the reaping
angel to hold back his sickle. He knows what he's doing. He's
cutting down those grapes of wrath. He's harvesting those
wicked souls. He's cutting down the tares and
gathering them up to be burned in the fire. And this angel that
comes out from under that auker, he knows that his family's included
in that. He didn't say this in total indifference
because the angel was going to reap the world. His family was
part of that world. His sons and daughters was part
of that world. His mother and father was part
of that world. And this thing comes in close
to this angel that's administering this fire. And what's he telling
him? He didn't say, hold back your
sickle. Give me one more shot. No. He said, plunge in your sickle. Plunge in your sickle. He'd be
just if he does. What would you do with the power
if he gave it to you? Huh? We wouldn't know how to
administer it. Verse 19, And the angel thrust
in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the
earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden
without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto
the horse bridles. by the space of 1,600 furlongs. Now, I don't like to get into
too many details, but this caught my attention. One of the old
historians said that that was the exact length of the nation
of Israel. The exact length of the nation
of Israel. So that he speaks in a spiritual
manner of all those who are identified with natural Israel in their
hypocrisy and legalism and ceremonialism. Now he's going to destroy them
all. Those who are numbered with the
beast and lured by the great whore and receive their name
and wear it publicly and proudly. There's a time when God shall
reap these grapes of wrath. Some in time. In time, he did
King Herod, didn't he? King Herod, he got ripe for reaping. People were calling him God and
acknowledging him as God and he was letting them. And God
took him. He took Ananias and Sapphira
too. They were playing games, made
promises to God flippantly, lied to the Holy Ghost. God took them. Coriath and Abiram opposed the
authority that God gave Moses. God opened up the earth and swallowed
them up. He takes some in time, but he's
going to take them all when they're fully ripe. The Bible said it is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It's a fearful
fact. Be it men or spirits, they are
gods to command these angels, and when the order is given,
and the sickle is thrust, the grape shall be cast into the
winepress of the wrath of God. In either case, the Lord's elect
are with him, sealed in him, kept in him, and in the cloud
with him in that day of judgment. And I tell you, as I study these
things, sometimes it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand
up. When you really start looking at these words that the Holy
Ghost has inspired this man to write, and how he describes hell,
and the torment, and the suddenness and quickness of this harvest,
don't that make chill bumps run up and down your arm? Boy, it
does mine. but all what hope and what joy
and what peace we have knowing that we know him. Thank you.