Turn with me this morning to
Revelation chapter 14. In verses 6 through the end of this
chapter here in Revelation 14, he mentions six angels. All of them having a ministry. All of them doing something important. these six angels. And it is,
I believe, of utmost importance that we see these angels and
identify them with the ministry which God has given to them. All through the scriptures, the
Lord sometimes, he refers to the angel as the angel of the
covenant, which is Christ. All through the Old Testament,
you run on that angel and the A on angels capitalized. And
most generally he's talking about the angel of the covenant, which
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And then sometimes he's talking
about heavenly creatures, the angels, ministering spirits sent
forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation.
Our Lord warned about offending his little ones. He said, because
their angels stand before our Father. And then sometimes he
uses the word angel to describe his ministers and pastors, preachers
of the gospel. They're sent forth to minister
to those who shall be heirs of salvation also. They're ministers of God, and
in that sense, they're angels. So I think it's important here,
we're going through here and he's talking about angels, is
to identify what he's talking about. Is he talking about preachers
and pastors? Is he talking about heavenly
beings? What's he talking about when he talks about these angels?
Well, I think it's important that we see these angels and
identify them with the ministry that God's given to them. So
what do these angels have to say? Well, the first angel sounds
the gospel to all the people in the earth. He flies across
heaven and he sounds the gospel, the everlasting gospel. The second
declares the fall of Babylon, which is the great whore of religion. And then the third angel sounds
a warning. He warns men of the earth about
these beasts, Satan's beasts, that which the great whore rides
upon. The third angel sounds a warning
to any and all who will identify themselves with the beast or
follow after him or bear his name in their forehead. And then the fourth angel cries
for the Lord to thrust in his harvesting sickle. He sees the
Lord and in his hands is a sickle. And he's coming forth to harvest. And this angel encourages him
to do it. He longs for him to do it. He
sees him with the sickle. He knows in whose hand the sickle
is. And he knows that he knows the
difference between the wheat and the tares and he's all for
it. He cries and encourages him to
thrust in his sickle. Then the fifth angel comes out
from the temple And he has a sickle. He's not sent to harvest the
wheat so much as it is the tares. And then the sixth angel encourages
the angel with the sickle to use it for what it's intended
for. I do not believe, personally,
if you want to believe that these are angelic beings, you can do
so. I won't argue with you. A lot
of the most notable writers that I read, some of them believe
that these are angelic beings and some of them believe that
they're talking about preachers, talking about men. Won't part with you, but I don't
believe personally that these are angelic beings because nowhere
in the word of God does our Lord designate the preaching of the
gospel to angels but to men. Angels gather when men preach
the gospel to learn it, to hear it, to see it, to be amazed by
it. They gather together and listen. And I don't believe that this
is referring to any one or certain individual or any one certain
time in history. But what I do believe is that
these angels are describing the pastors and churches which he
calls angels, he calls them angels of his churches. He does that
in the very beginning of the book of Revelation and refers
to them often as you go through the book. These men all preach
the everlasting gospel, and to hear them is to hear from heaven.
That's what our Lord told those 70 that he sent out. He said,
you go out and preach, and he that heareth you, heareth me. They're ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by them, be you reconciled to
God. And then they all declare that
false religion is a fallen enemy. It's been defeated. Its ways are irresistible, except
in Christ. By the wisdom of Christ, we know
what false religion is, we understand what it is, we understand the
danger of it, and we escape it. We escape it. And that's how we preach it.
Yes, it's a great danger. Yes, it's a monster. It's a beast. It's earth terrorizing. It's a great beast. It's everywhere
you look. It's in motion. It's effectual.
You look around you and you just see thousands just following
after religion. But I don't ever see religion
as omnipotent. Do you? No. No, I see Christ
on the throne. I see a sovereign God sitting
upon the throne using religion to his own end. So they all declare
that false religion is a fallen enemy and they all sound a solemn
warning to all who's gonna follow and worship the image of the
beast. I don't know how many times I've
stood up here and warned you of these things. and they all preach the gospel,
the rejection of which is judgment and death. I don't preach that hard enough.
I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to press upon
my hearers the danger of rejecting the gospel as it's being preached.
I'm telling you, it's a danger. He that heareth not Christ, the
wrath of God, he's not going to see life. He's already seen
it. It's already been declared to
him. He's not going to keep declaring, declaring, declaring. There's
a great danger in the rejection of the Gospels that's being preached.
Great danger. And these men preach that. He that believeth not, you go
preach our Lord said, he that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved. He that believeth not, what?
Shall be damned. And then fifthly, they are all
anxious for the end to come and to be delivered even from the
presence of sin. And they all encourage each other
to preach this gospel in such a way that this sickle of the
Lord that harvests the tares shall do its intended job. I
pray as I preach that the Lord be glorified first and foremost. Believe or don't believe. Walk
out the door angry or sit there and rejoice. Whichever you do. My main goal is that he be glorified
in the preaching of the gospel. He gets all the glory. He gets
all the glory. And then secondly, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for you is that you might be saved. That God will take this grace
and mercy and open your heart and pour it in. Give you an understanding. Give you that grace of God that
reigns under righteousness through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so
we encourage one another to preach this gospel in such a way that
the sickle of the Lord shall do its intended job. Now let's
look at these verses with these things in mind, and I'll try
to show you why I'm so convinced that this is what this is talking
about. Let's read verses six and seven together. And I saw
another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every
nation, and to every kindred, and tongue, and people, saying
with a loud voice, fear God, don't fear man, fear God, and
give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come. and
worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the
fountains of waters." Now when we think of judgment, we almost
always, I mean immediately, our mind is tuned to that great day
when time shall be no more. When the Lord, there's a great
and general resurrection and He resurrects all men and He
makes them to stand before Him in that final day of judgment.
Isn't that the first thing when you think about the judgment
of God? That's where your mind goes. It goes straight to the
end, straight to that great and final day of judgment. But I think we need to think
of judgment in a more dimensional way. There's a sense in which
this world has already been judged in Adam. Judged of God. Fall of man and the curse of
his fallen nature is the result of God's judgment coming upon
our federal head, Adam. Now I want you to listen to what
the scriptures say here. I'm not just trying to throw
these things out as facts that we can debate about. I'm trying
to tell you what the scriptures say. What God has seen. In Romans
5, 18, he says, as by the offense of one. Now listen to this. Judgment. Who's judgment? God's judgment. Came upon all men unto condemnation. That's judgment. God's judgment
fell upon man and animal. and he judged him, and he condemned
him, and he's still alive, and he's still generating children,
but those children are under that judgment. By one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so this death, this spiritual
death, passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. We sinned
in Adam, and we sinned, we come forth from the womb, speaking
lies. Paul said in Romans 7, 14, we
know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal, sold under sin. God's judgment upon mankind as
a race took place in the garden in the person of our father and
our federal head, Adam. And he tells us that plainly
in that chapter, in that resurrection chapter in 1 Corinthians 15 that
I've read at so many funerals. He tells us that, as in Adam,
all die. All die. There's no life there.
It's not in you. The potential's not in you. There's
nothing in you, in this natural man, but death and condemnation. Secondly, the judgment was manifested. God's judgment. I'm talking about
thinking about this judgment dimensionally. We fell in our
Father Adam, way back yonder in the garden. And now he tells
us secondly that this judgment was manifested in man's attitude
and conduct toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this over in
John 3 verse 19. Our Lord said this is the condemnation. This is the condemnation that
light has come into the world and men love darkness rather
than light. Why? Because their deeds are
evil. Their deeds are evil. In both
the appearance of Christ and the gospel, we preach the judgment
of God as it's manifested in men. And it's no better illustrated
than it is at the cross. Men despised him. And they loved darkness rather
than light. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth, abideth on him. That's judgment. Just as true
as you're going to be judged at the end of this world, you've
already been judged in your father Adam, and you've been judged
in your attitude and conduct toward the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then there's a consequential
judgment. that's vitally connected to the preaching of the gospel.
When this angel came forth out of the temple, now this is important. This is the place of worship.
He's coming out of the temple. He's carrying a sickle. Well, what's this sickle all
about? The Lord's got a sickle. He's going to harvest his wheat.
He said, you leave the wheat in a tare. You let them grow
together. And that day, I'll take care of the harvesting the
wheat. lest you uproot some tares. This
sickle ain't about that. It's not about harvesting wheat.
This sickle is about cutting down the tares. And it's been
designated, handed to this man, and he comes out of the temple
with this sickle. Well, you say they harvest souls,
too. We preach the gospel. Men believe
God harvests souls. Yes, but he harvests the souls.
I don't. I don't. There's a consequential judgment
that's vitally connected to the preaching of the gospel. And
this is a disregarding of the gospel which is described in
the scripture as trotting underfoot the Son of God. Think about it. Counting the blood. Blood of
the everlasting covenant, counting that blood as an unholy thing,
just a common thing. And doing despite under the spirit
of grace. And this leaves a man with nothing
but a fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation. You can
read about that over in Hebrews chapter 10. The gospel we preach
is the answer to the judgment of God and it rescues men from
eternal judgment. and it leaves the rest where
they're at under the judgment of God. There's only one hope given in
the earth, and that is Christ, who is the gospel. All right,
secondly, over here in Revelation 14 and verse 8, and there followed another angel. And he says Babylon is falling. It's falling. That great city
because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath
of her fornication. I'm going to tell you something.
There's no greater enemy to your souls. No greater enemy in this world
to your souls than false religion. That's the greatest enemy that
you'll face in this world. False religion. False religion is described in
Proverbs chapter 7 as the enemy of wisdom. And Christ is our
wisdom. So when you read the book of
Proverbs and you're reading there about wisdom, he's talking about
Christ. Just take the word Christ every time he says wisdom, write
that in there. She's the enemy of wisdom. She's
the strange woman with bladders with her lips. That's religion. Good brother, huh? Bladders with
her lips. That rich young ruler come to
our Lord and he said, what'd he say? Good master, huh? Before our Lord stopped him in
his tracks, he said, why callest thou me good? There's none good
but God. You saying I'm as good as God?
Or are you just flattering with your lips? This is the strange
woman. She flatters with her lips. It says in Proverbs that in the
black and dark of night, Now, I want you to understand
this. Just try to get a picture in
your mind. In his mind's eye, Solomon could see this young
man, void of understanding. And he's going out into the night.
And he passes by her house. And in the black and dark of
night, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and
subtle of heart. She knew how to lure him, how
to arouse his senses, what he wanted to hear, and what he wanted
to do. She was subtle of heart. She's without now, he says, lying
in wait. Who's she waiting on? These young
men with no understanding. Or old men with no understanding,
as far as that goes. And she caught him. And she kissed him. And told him she'd been looking
for him. We'd been looking for you. And she took him to her house.
And this house was decked in tapestries with carved works
and fine linen and perfume. And she talked about nothing
but love. She didn't talk about judgment.
She didn't talk about the beast. She didn't talk about false religion.
All she wanted to talk about was love. That's religion. I don't care what you've done
in this world. You go to a funeral home and there's some preacher
that'll go down there and preach you right into glory. Start talking
about how much they loved you. They didn't love you enough to
tell you the truth. But they love you when you're
laying there dead in that casket. Talked about nothing but love
and with her much fair speech she caused him to yield and with
flattering words she forced him. And he went after her like an
ox going to the slaughter. Solomon said her house is the
way to hell. Huh? That's the beast. That's false religion. Preachers,
scent of God, warned men. They warned men about the beast,
and they warned men about the harlot, and they warned men about
Babylon. Babylon's used to describe religion
from the time it was built. False religion is irresistible
to all, but such as hear the gospel. Those who hear see her
end. They see her exposed for what
she is and fallen from power, all power over God's elect. And then thirdly, verse nine,
back in Revelation 14. The third angel followed them,
saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast and
his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand,
the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. They've
already drank of the wine of her fornication. Now they're
going to drink the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured
out, now listen, without mixture. I'm going to tell you something.
There's wrath. The wrath of God abideth on them, those who won't
hear Christ, those who won't hear the gospel. But that wrath
is still mixed with mercy. That rain still waters their
garden just like it waters mine. They still eat, enjoy good health,
breathe God's air, huh? But not in this day. They're
going to drink the wrath of God. The wine of the wrath of God
without mixture. Without mixture. Which is poured
out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. 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 of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever. And they
have no rest, day or night. No rest. who worshipped the beast
and his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Now I won't
sound a warning every time I preach about the danger and death that
accompanies false religion. A preacher, I can understand
the dangers of a cult. Jim Jones, Father Divine, I can
understand the dangers of that. or some bowing down to some heathen
image. But most religions are not like
that. They appear friendly and loving, and their doors are open
for all to go in. And you come in, and they shake
your hand, and they hug your neck, and they come on in, come
on in. Their doors are always open.
They dress nice. They speak nice. And her places
of worship are so appealing. They're not like these cults.
They don't take you over to some desert place somewhere. That's because she's a whore. That's why she acts that way. She says what she knows you want
to hear. She shows you what she knows
you want to see. And she puts her arms around
you because she knows that's what you're expecting. She's
a whore. She's a whore. And she has Satan
for her father and follows him blindly right into hell. They
said, we have God to our father. He said, if God was your father,
you'd love me. I come forth, I proceed forth
from God. I'm not your father. You're of
your father the devil, and the lust of your father you'll do.
They're going to drink of the cup of his indignation without
mixture. And the smoke of their torment
will rise up forever and ever. Revelation 14, 12. Now, here's
the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments
of God and the faith of Jesus. I heard a voice from heaven saying
unto me, Write, you write this down, you put this in a book. Write, blessed are the dead that
die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors, And their works do follow them. The patience of the saints is
seen in their perseverance in the faith. Christ is their hope. He was their hope back yonder.
He's their hope today. He's their hope tomorrow. And when they don't have enough
sense to hope anymore, He'll still be their hope. He's their hope and he's their
confidence and their assurance before God. I don't know what you think about
assurance. So I just wanna say a couple
words and then I'm gonna move on. Assurance is confidence in
Christ. Paul said, I'm persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. That's assurance. Assurance,
you're not gonna come to Christ until you're assured that he
can do what he says he can do. When you're assured that he is
who he says he is and he can do what he said he can do, then
you're gonna come to him. You're gonna come to him. And
you're gonna have assurance in him. Now, what men call assurance
is assurance in how much faith they have. But I want you to
listen to how our Lord describes faith. He said if you had faith
as the grain of a mustard seed, so tiny you have to look hard
to see it in your hand, you could say to that mountain,
get out of the way, and that mountain would leave. So it's
not in the strength of your faith, it's in the strength of your
Savior in whom you have faith. Do you follow what I'm saying?
Now if you want to go through life examining your faith and
saying, I just don't know if I got enough faith, it ain't
in your faith. Your faith's not your Savior,
Christ is your Savior. You're not going to have assurance
until you see Him for who He is and believe in Him As to what
he says, then you're going to have assurance, and you'll rest
in him. This is the patience of the saints.
They persevere in the faith. Those who died in him are risen
with him, seated with him in glory, and shall be with him
in the judgment, and with him through all eternity. Blessed
are they that die in the Lord from henceforth and forever. You see what he's saying? They're
blessed of God. And then verse 14, I looked and
behold a white cloud and upon the clouds that one like unto
the son of man having on his head a golden crown and in his
hand a sharp sickle. Now the son of man is the name
by which Jesus Christ was both prophesied and called all through
the Old Testament and even after his incarnation called the son
of man. It was as a man, that's what
this son of man is talking about, it's talking about the incarnation
of Christ, the incarnate Christ, the God-man. It was as a man
that God appointed him as the sovereign mediator, one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. It was as a man
that he was despised and rejected. We will not have this man to
reign over us. It was as a man that he died
on the cross, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. It was as a man. It was as a
man that he appeared to his disciples after his resurrection. He didn't
appear to him as a spirit, he appeared to him as a man. Here,
stick your hand in the nail hole. Thrust your hand in the hole
in my side. He called him to himself. He
said, come and dine. He had fishes on the fire and
he sat there and ate with them. It was as a man that he ascended
into glory. They walked out with him and
they saw him step onto a cloud and ascend up into glory. A man! And it was as a man that he offered
his blood unto God in glory, and God accepted it. Listen to
this. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of
God. And unto them that look for him,
he's gonna appear the second time without sin unto salvation. And John looks, and he sees the
Son of Man sitting upon a cloud, not on an earthly throne. They
all want to have that temple rebuilt, and he's gonna go up
there and sit down on the king's throne over in Jerusalem somewhere.
Nah, he's gonna sit on the cloud. He'll sit on his own throne.
Not gonna sit on man's throne. And in his hand a sharp sickle.
Before he will judge this world in righteousness, he'll first
harvest his wheat, and not one precious grain gonna be left
behind, not one. The dead in Christ shall rise
first, and they which are alive and remain, he gonna call them
up to him, too. And when he judges this world,
his people gonna be with him, with him.