Several years ago, there was
a truck driver by the name of Rupert Lewis, making his regular nightly run
from Vicksburg to Jackson, Mississippi. Made the run every day, every
evening, but on this particular occasion, it was raining as only it could rain in that
part of the country, just torrential downpour. It's dark, you could
hardly see the road, it was raining so hard, but he knew the road
pretty well, so he kept on trucking. Soon he came to the Pearl River,
he crossed the bridge hundreds of times, but on that It had
rained, so the river had flooded and washed the bridge out. Rupert
Lewis, with his truck, plunged into the Pearl River. Somehow
he survived. He managed to make his way to
shore. As he was swimming to shore,
his heart began to race with fear, not for himself, but for
others. I thought to myself somehow,
somehow got to get up on the road and warn folks that the
bridge is out. And he did. He climbed up the
bank, drenched, bruised, cut, muddy. And a little bit, he saw
a car coming. He stepped out, waved his hands.
Car didn't slow down. He screamed, stop! The bridge
is out!" Right down into the river. Several
others came by. But before he could get anybody
to stop, pay him any attention, ten cars and two trucks had plunged
headlong into that swollen river. Eight people were seriously injured.
Sixteen people were dead. He had an urgent message that
many women needed to hear, but nobody would pay any attention. Nobody would stop and listen,
and consequently, many perished. Now that's a tragic but a true
story. I hope I've gotten your attention.
because I have an urgent message to deliver, an urgent message
to perishing sinners, an urgent message from God himself, I believe,
to eternity-bound men and women. Whether you realize it or not,
you and I are moving, oh, ever so rapidly through this world
of time. to a world of eternity, and you
and I soon must stand before the bar of the holy God. We're going to have to meet God
face to face. We're going to meet God in judgment. We're going to meet God who is
perfectly holy. God who hates every worker of
iniquity. God who must punish sin. We're going to meet him. We're
going to meet him. And I'm here tonight to warn
you one more time, the bridge is out. There's a great gulf
fixed. between you and me and the Holy
God. And into that gulf of eternal
perdition we must surely fall unless God himself bridges the
gulf for us. And blessed be God he has. He has. The Lord Jesus Christ,
God's Son, came into this world as a substitute for sinners.
And in the place of sinful men who could not themselves attain
unto God's holiness, the Lord Jesus Christ established perfect
righteousness. Not only did he establish righteousness
for us by his life of obedience to the law of God, but he perfectly
satisfied the justice of God's holy law by dying in the place
of sinners. And now through him, God can
be just and yet justify the ungodly. Now, my friend, somehow, somehow
between here and eternity, you've got to get to Christ. You've got to get to Christ. How can I reason with you? How
can I persuade you? How can I take hold of your heart
and make you see that without Christ you must be forever damned. The judgment of God is on you.
The judgment of God is on you. I'm not talking about something
that is going to be on you. The same wrath, the same judgment,
the same curse, the same condemnation that the damned in hell this
night are experiencing is upon every man and woman who believes
not the gospel. It's on you right now. And the
only way for that judgment to be taken off of you, the only
way for you to escape that condemnation is by faith in Jesus Christ the
Lord. Oh, may God get a hold of your
heart now and cause you to hear and believe the gospel. In Revelation
14, verses 6 through 13, John saw
three angels, three angels with messages from God for men and
women who were standing upon the brink of eternity. Those
three angels represent all faithful gospel preachers. God does not
preach to men by angelic preachers. He preaches to men by men who
are themselves angels and they are the messengers of God to
his churches, the messengers of God to his people. These three
angels represent all faithful gospel preachers sent of God
into the world to preach the everlasting gospel. The message
is sent to all who dwell upon the earth. Will you hear the
message? Will you hear the message? Will
you hear what God says to men and women who must stand before
his throne? Will you hear what God says to
men and women who are bound for eternity? Will you hear what
God says to you? If you'll hear and obey the everlasting
gospel, you'll live forever. accepted of God, in the presence
of God, in heavenly bliss. If you refuse to hear the message,
if you receive the grace of God, that is the gospel of his grace
in vain, if you harden your heart, if you will not believe, God help you, but he won't. He
won't. eternal judgment will be your
just and everlasting portion. You must be forever tormented
under the wrath of God from the presence of God and of the Lamb. Now, God's messengers are sent
into the world with a fourfold message to declare to all men. Let me give it to you as we go
through the verses. First, John shows us that God
sends his messengers into the world to preach the everlasting
gospel to all men. Look in verse six. And I saw
another angel fly in the midst of heaven. That is, I saw another
preacher sent of God out into the congregations of God's saints,
out into the church of God, having the everlasting gospel to preach,
to preach unto them that dwell on the earth. and to every nation,
and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice,
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 water. Now this angel flying in the
midst of heaven is a gospel preacher. He's sent of God to churches
scattered throughout all the world to preach the glad tidings
of righteousness, peace, pardon, and salvation through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, what a privilege. What a
privilege to hear a man with such a message. A little bit
ago, I told you about these men who are coming to preach to us
next week. Ten of the most outstanding men you'll ever meet in your
life. But more than that, they're men sent with a message from
God. What a privilege to hear them.
Turn over to the book of Isaiah. Let me show you how men and women
ought to look upon God's servants. Let me tell you how many women
who need the message do look upon God's servants. This is
many women who know themselves to be sinners in need of mercy,
many women who know themselves to be condemned in need of salvation,
who know themselves by nature to be dead in need of life. They
look upon God's servants this way. Isaiah 52 and verse 7, how
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings that publish of peace. Isaiah says, he says,
listen, listen, there's a messenger coming. There's a messenger coming. Oh, what a sound. What a sound. A messenger of mercy, a messenger
of grace coming to preach to men and women who deserve wrath
and deserve damnation. But there's a messenger coming.
He brings peace. He brings good tidings of good. He publishes salvation. He says,
look, Zion, the Lord thy God reigneth. Thy watchman, that's
what he is. That's what he is, a watchman.
One who watches over your soul. One who watches over your soul
as a man who must give an account, not only of his watchmanship,
but of your response. Not only must he give an account
of how he watched over your soul, he's a man who must give an account
of how you responded to what he had to say. Watchman, thy
watchman shall lift up the voice. With the voice together shall
they sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall
bring again Zion. Now, the gospel that we preach,
John describes in this passage in Revelation 14 as the everlasting
gospel. It is the everlasting gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. God's servants
are sent to proclaim glad tidings, the good news of salvation by
grace, free justification by the righteousness of Christ,
the pardon of sin through his blood, and eternal life in him. God's servant has but one message
to preach, one message. Now listen to me. I know what
I'm saying, I know why I'm saying it, and I know I'm saying it
with the authority of God. God's servants have but one message
to preach, only one. His message is the everlasting
gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, having said that,
those who preach any other message are not God's messengers. Why is this name given to the
gospel? Why is it called here the everlasting
gospel? This is the only place where
it's used. The only place where this name is used for the gospel
of Christ. Well, it's called the everlasting
gospel because it was devised, settled, and fixed from everlasting. It was devised, settled, and
fixed from all eternity. Turn over to, hold your hands
here in Revelation 14. We'll just be right back there. But turn to 2 Timothy chapter
1. 2 Timothy 1. The Apostle Paul is describing
the gospel which he preached. He says, God, in verse 9, God
hath saved us, and God hath called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own, now get it, according
to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest. Do
you see it? but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Now this is what Paul's telling us. He's telling us that the
gospel of redemption, the gospel of grace, the gospel of substitution,
the gospel of salvation by Christ was established, ordained, and
fixed by God in old eternity. And all that the gospel would
accomplish was ordained and fixed by God from old eternity. But
it is now made manifest by the appearing of Christ through the
preaching of the gospel. Apostle Paul is telling us most
certainly that we were saved from all eternity in the mind
and purpose of God. And I said, well, you can't say
that because that'll make folks think that it's not important
that we experience salvation. I don't know why people think
like that. We were saved in God's mind and God's purpose from eternity. He said so in Romans chapter
8. We were justified, called, and glorified in Christ before
the world was made. And now in time, O blessed be
God, our eternal justification is made a real experience to
us, for we've experienced justification. Our eternal calling is made a
real experience to us, for we've experienced calling. We know
our eternal glorification when we stand before God and have
been glorified by experience. Do you see what I'm saying? We
come to experience God's salvation, and having experienced God's
salvation by faith in Christ, we know our salvation from eternity. Having come to faith in Christ,
we know that God from eternity fixed us in Christ by his eternal
election. The gospel. is the message of
everlasting grace, settled and fixed from eternity. In the everlasting
covenant of God's grace, the gospel was devised, yes, and
it was proclaimed by God himself in heaven before the world was
made. Read Job chapter 23, or Job chapter 33 and verse 24.
The Lord God said in his purpose of grace, deliver him, deliver
him from going down into the pit. I found a ransom. I found a ransom. So that before
ever we went astray in Adam, before we ever fell in Adam,
The Lord God looked upon us in Christ. Though we deserve to
die in Adam, he looked upon us in Christ and he said, deliver
him from damnation. I found a ransom. There he is.
And he proclaimed the gospel before the angels of glory in
his everlasting covenant. God himself sent forth Christ
Jesus, a lamb, ordained before the world began, but manifest
in these last times for us. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
great shepherd of the sheep by whose blood we are redeemed.
And Paul calls it the blood of the everlasting covenant. That
is, it was the blood which was shed in God's mind and purpose
by which the covenant of grace before the world was made, was
ratified, established, set into motion and fixed with immutability,
fixed with God's own decree. The gospel we declare then is
an everlasting gospel. because it has been established
from everlasting. It's called the everlasting gospel
because it reveals and proclaims good news with regard to everlasting
things. It's the gospel of Christ by which God declares his everlasting
love to you. He says, I've loved you with
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. That's what the gospel reveals.
We could not know God's everlasting love. It's hidden in his heart.
We could not know it were it not for the gospel which God
devised by which he would reveal it. The gospel declares the eternal
purpose of God's grace. Yes, God has a purpose of grace. A purpose of grace by which he
rules the world. Back up. A purpose of grace for
which he made the world. A purpose of grace which must
stand. A purpose of grace which cannot
fail. A purpose of grace by which God
has ordained from eternity the salvation of sinners. in Christ
Jesus the Lord. Yes, the salvation of specific
sinners, even sinners whom he loved with an everlasting love.
The gospel of God's grace proclaims an eternal election. Eternal
election. I hear folks fuss and fight and
fume, carry on about it all the time. Some folks say, well, I
don't understand it. You understand it. You understand
it. There's nobody here who doesn't
understand it. Let's see. going to make an election. That's election. You understand
that, don't you? I picked that. I left that. That's
election. I said, well, I understand that.
Your problem is you don't like it. That's your problem. That's man's problem. No, it's
not even that. It's not that he doesn't like
election. He just doesn't like God doing the choosing. That's
man's problem. We'll go to war, Bobby, to defend
our right to elect, won't we? Sure, you went and served in
the services. What for? To maintain the freedom
to elect a fellow like Gary Hart to be President of the United
States. Shed our blood to elect some fellow that his wife can't
even trust him. Shed the blood of sons and daughters
to protect the freedom to make a choice for ourselves. But we
stand and declare that God Almighty from old eternity determined
for himself without any constraint, but the constraint of his own
sovereign will and his own sovereign love. He determined to whom he
would be gracious. He said, I'll be gracious to
whom I will be gracious and I'll have compassion on whom I will
have compassion and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.
Man says, no, sir. No, sir. What's the problem?
He hates God. That's the problem. Man who hates
the gospel doctrine of divine election, David, hates the God
who does the choosing. That's all. Nobody hates election. Everybody by nature hates the
declaration that God has chosen. Oh, but those people who by God's
grace have been chosen from old eternity. and have been called
in time by the hand of God's power through the preaching of
the gospel by the spirit of God. They see it and they come to
Christ and they trust Christ and they fully realize and acknowledge
with joy and gladness in their hearts. We love him because he
first loved us. We come to him because he first
came to us. We call him because he first
called us. We look to him because he first
looked to us. We choose him because he first
chose us. The gospel declares that election.
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Blessed be the God and
Father. Oh, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus before the world
began, according as he hath chosen us in him. before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him, in love having predestinated us, us, unto the adoption of
sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure
of his will. That's the gospel message of election. God's chosen
a people whom he's determined to save. The gospel is called
an everlasting gospel because this speaks of an everlasting
covenant. An everlasting covenant. Paul calls it the everlasting
covenant in Hebrews 13 20. An everlasting covenant. What
does that mean? That means it's from everlasting
and it extends to everlasting. That means it has no beginning
and it has no end. It's everlasting. It's an everlasting
covenant. And I don't know how to describe
it. I don't know how to declare it to you. I know that our puny
minds can't understand the way God does things. I don't mean
to imply that God thought about doing this and then did it. And
God decided to do that because he'd done the other. I don't
mean to imply that at all. But we can understand the fact
that God from old eternity always resolved upon and agreed within
himself by the work of his dear son. to accomplish redemption
and salvation for us. And in that covenant, it was
gratified, it was agreed upon, it was performed, it was accomplished,
it was signed, it was sealed, and Christ has come to fulfill
the covenant. That's what Christ came to this
world for. He came to fulfill the covenant.
He came to do the will of God. What is it? It's that will written
in the covenant. What is it? It's the will of
salvation for His people. The gospel speaks of that eternal
surety, the mediator of the covenant, whose goings forth in grace are
of old, even from everlasting. The gospel reveals everlasting
promises and everlasting blessings of grace. The gospel speaks of
everlasting righteousness, everlasting righteousness, the righteousness
that is given us of God in Christ Jesus from everlasting to everlasting. It'll never wear out. It'll never
get tattered. It's a garment that will never
grow old. Somebody asked me the other day about those Israelites.
A fella called me, he said, I've been looking at that. He said, their clothes didn't
get ragged, did they? I said, no, their clothes didn't
get ragged while they was in Wilton. They wore the same pair of shoes
for 40 years. That's what the book says. That's
what the book says. I don't know whether they passed
them on from older to younger, whether shoes grew with them.
I don't know how God did it. But I know this, their clothes
didn't get ragged and their shoes didn't wear out. And I'm telling
you that the righteousness which God imputes to his people, the
righteousness of Christ never gets old and it never gets ragged. Never. It's the fine linen, clean
and white with which we are clothed now and with which we shall for
eternity stand in the presence of God. The gospel proclaims
everlasting life, immortality, and salvation. It's called the
everlasting gospel because blessed be God, it will abide forever. All flesh is grass. The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth, the wind blows it away. But the
word of the Lord, the gospel of his grace endures forever. Though hell is engaged against
it, the gospel will stand. It will endure and overcome all
opposition, and it will be the joy of saints and the song of
their hearts experienced throughout eternity in heaven. It's the
responsibility of every preacher to preach the everlasting gospel
to all men. Our object in preaching is the
glory of God and the salvation of God's elect. That's our object
in preaching. I'm here tonight. I'm here tonight. Unless my heart's deceived, I'm
here preaching this message for the glory of God and the eternal
good of your souls, specifically the eternal good of God's elect
for the salvation of God's elect. That's what I'm here for. That's
the object of preaching. But our responsibility in preaching
is to declare the gospel to all men. Now, that's our responsibility. We don't know who God's elect
are, but we do know that God's elect are scattered among the
nations of the earth. God's elect are scattered in
every kindred nation, tribe, tongue and people throughout
the world, every rank of society, men and women, rich and poor,
old and young, learned and unlearned. God's elect are scattered out
there in Adam's fallen race. And I come with a message of
grace and redemption through Christ Jesus. And I proclaim
it to everybody who will give me an ear, declaring it with
this knowledge, with this confident assurance. Somewhere out there,
Darwin, there's an elect center who's going to hear it. And my
responsibility and my object is that elect center. But my
responsibility is to preach the message to everybody in my generation. That's my responsibility. And
that's our responsibility as a church. Darwin and I discussed this one
day while back. Why do you reckon God left us
here? Why do you reckon he left us
here on this earth? Can you stop and think about it? Are you complete
in Christ? The book says you are complete. There's nothing to be added to
his work of redemption. There's nothing to be added to
his work of righteousness. There's nothing to be added to
his work of sanctification. I mean, nothing, nothing. He
did it all. He did it all. Well, why didn't
he just take us to glory like he did that dying thing? Why
does he leave us here? Why does he leave us here? Here's
the reason. To carry this message to the
generations to come. for the salvation of his elect.
Now that's the reason churches exist. That is the reason churches
exist. If we ever lose a sense of this
responsibility, of this reason for our existence to proclaim
the gospel, we've missed everything as a church of Christ. When you
think of the church, when you think of Grace Baptist Church,
Try to think of it like this. Now, I know church is not a building,
church is people. But when you try to think of
the church, think of it like this. Here's a preacher standing here
with the word of God in his hand, with a message of grace from
his lips. And here's Grace Baptist Church
behind him. It's a sounding board by which the gospel is declared
in this generation. God, help us to see that. God,
help us to see it. We've got a responsibility. God's
given us the light of the gospel so that we may declare the gospel
to this generation. Is that right on the money, Lindsay?
That's our purpose. That's our purpose. All who are
without the gospel are lost. The preaching of the gospel is
the only means of salvation for perishing sinners. God ordained
that men should hear the gospel in order that they believe. He's
pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. All who hear
and believe the gospel most certainly will be saved by the gospel.
That's our responsibility. To preach the gospel to everybody. Our Lord said, go into all the
world, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Let me try to help you to understand something about
my sense of urgency in this regard. I fully realize that I travel
and I'm gone a great deal more than any pastor perhaps should
be. But I realize, I hope you do,
that in the days God has given me on this earth, whether they
be many or few, I have a responsibility under God. I have a responsibility
under God to preach the gospel of his grace. in the widest range
possible to everybody I can, to everybody I can. And you as
a congregation of men and women, this is the reason I keep stressing
and encouraging you with the support of missionary work and
the support of pastors and evangelists and men who carry the message.
I keep encouraging you. We have a responsibility as a
body of believers in this generation. I don't know how long God's going
to leave us here. I don't know. But I know that
we have one function, one purpose for existence. We exist for the
declaration of the gospel. And we have a responsibility
with whatever God puts in our hands, with whatever abilities,
with whatever strength, with whatever talent he gives us collectively. We have a responsibility to preach
the gospel to everybody we possibly can in the widest possible sphere
in our generation. Now, that's our responsibility.
That's our responsibility. The Lord God sends out his messenger
to declare the gospel to all that dwell upon the earth. And
in preaching the gospel, the gospel preacher commands
all men to repent and to turn from their idols to the true
and living God. Look here in verse seven. Here's
the preaching of the everlasting gospel. This is what I'm saying
to you. Now, listen to me. Listen to me, look here just
a minute. The gospel is not an invitation. I am not inviting
you to come and let Jesus save you. No, sir, I'm not. The gospel
is not an offer. I am not standing here offering
you salvation and begging you, won't you pretty please accept
it? I'm so sick and tired of men speaking as though God Almighty
is a beggar waiting for men to do him the favor of kindly letting
him save them. The gospel is not an invitation.
The gospel is not an offer. The gospel is a command from
God. I'm commanding you in the name
of God, with the authority of God, I've come to you as God's
ambassador, and I'm saying, believe Christ. Believe Christ. That's
it. Come to Christ. I'm not saying,
won't you pretty please come? I'm saying you better come. You
better come. Try to give you an illustration
of that. I was the first witness on scene of an accident last
year coming home from somewhere, up close to Ashland, where the
accident occurred. But I'm the only person apparently
who saw anything. Lawyer called me. There's a suit
going on. He said, now, if this thing goes
to court, you'll be getting a summons. You know what a summons is? That's
a little piece of paper that the sheriff comes and hands to
you. He says, Mr. Fortner, won't you
please come to court today? No, no. It's a piece of paper
the sheriff hands to you, opens it up and says, you be there.
You be there. You be there or you suffer the
consequences. And I'm telling you, everybody
here, you trust Christ, you come to Christ, you call upon Christ,
you surrender to Christ, or you suffer the consequences. That's
all there is to it. That's all there is to it. Oh,
preacher, don't you think somehow or another we got to, we got
to make folks feel like they're doing God a favor? God's doing
you a favor. I'm telling you, bow to the king
or perish by the king. One of the two. Look here what
it says in verse seven. Fear God. Let me give you another
word for it. We have a lot of explanations
for the fear of God. Believe Him. Believe Him. Believe Him. Believe the record
God has given concerning His Son. Believe Him. Believe God. And give glory to Him. Give God the glory. for all that
he's done. Give God the praise for all that
he is. Ascribe to the living God all
greatness, glory, power, wisdom, praise, majesty, honor, and all
salvation. Give glory to him. Give glory
to him when you're sitting like Job in sorrow and pain and you
cry, the Lord's given, the Lord's taken away. Blessed be the name
of the Lord. Give glory to him when you have
been delivered from some terrible, terrible judgment like Nebuchadnezzar
and you cry, I will extol the King of heaven. Give glory to
him like David did when he said, not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name be the glory and the honor and the power
and the dominion. Give glory to him like David
when the heathen came to him and in his trouble and in his
sorrow and they said, now David, where's your God today? He said,
Our God's in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Give glory to him. When, like
Jonah, you find yourself in the whale's belly, wrapped up under
the judgment of God, and you know your helplessness, you know
the despair of your condition, you know your hopelessness, you
know there's not one thing you can do for yourself, give God
the glory and cry, Salvation is of the Lord. Give glory to
him and worship him. There it is. Worship Him. Trust Him. Submit to Him. Adore Him. Serve Him. Don't misunderstand this next
statement. I know, all of you know, there's something
special. Something special about a worship
service. But there's something deceiving
about it, too. We've come here tonight to worship God. And I
pray, I cry, as the word is preached, Lord God, let us worship Christ. Oh, I want to worship him. But
I'm going to tell you what the essence of worship is. The essence
of worship is putting your hand to the plow and serving God. That's the essence of worship.
Worship Him. What's it mean? It means serving.
It means serving. It means serving when you're
singing a song like David sang a little bit ago and serving
when you're ringing up the cash register at the store. It means
serving. It means give yourself all that
you are, all that you possess, your time, your talents, everything. Give yourself. Give yourself
wholly. to the service of God's calls
and God's glory. Worship God. Secondly, God's preachers must
faithfully expose false religion and warn men of its deadly doctrine. Look at verse 8. There followed another angel
another preacher saying Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great
city, because she made all nations to drink of the wine of the wrath
of her fornication. Now Babylon is not talking about
a literal earthly city. No greater thing for Babylon
to be destroyed than it is for Iran to be destroyed. No greater
thing for Babylon to be destroyed than it would be for Russia to
be destroyed. That's not what it's talking about. Babylon means
confusion. And Babylon represents, typifies,
stands for all religion that is contrary to Christ, all false
religion, all anti-Christ religion. God will destroy Babylon. So certain is the destruction
of Babylon that it's here spoken of as being something already
accomplished. That which has been the ruin
of men's souls shall at last be brought to ruin by God. And
the reason for her destruction is this, because she made all
the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Her fornication is idolatry. Idolatry. The worship of a false
deity. The worship of a man-made god. Idolatry. Say, well, we don't
have any idolatry these days. Most everybody worships an idol. Most everybody does. They have
a God they have made, a God they have conjured up, a God they
have imagined, and they worship Him. That is, they serve Him.
Read 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Paul says, they come preaching
another God, another Jesus, and another spirit. Idolatry is the
worship of a false God according to a false gospel. Paul describes
it. He says they've come and they've
thrown a snare on you. They've thrown a curse on you.
They've bewitched you. They've turned you aside from
the gospel of Christ to something that don't even look like the
gospel, to another gospel. Preaching another Jesus, another
Redeemer, another Savior, another salvation, another blood, another
covenant. The wine of false religion. is the alluring methods used
to draw men to her bed of fornication. Wine intoxicates, stupefies. Men and women are intoxicated
and stupefied by the allurements of They drink in the red wine of
self-esteem and self-worth. Heard one of those tele-evangelists. That's a fine word for a false
prophet. Tele-evangelist. Smiling Bob out in California. Man must come to know his worth. Oh, it sounds so good, doesn't
it? Merle, you got to come to know your worth, your worth. Man must have a sense of self-worth,
self-esteem. Oh, that's so wonderful. That's
so wonderful. Men are intoxicated. They drink
the sparkling wine of emotionalism and entertainment. Look what
we've got going on. And they're intoxicated. They
drink the white wine of self-righteousness and good works, and they're intoxicated. They drink the sweet wine of
free will, sweet wine to folks who know
nothing of free grace. It's a bitter drug to folks who
know grace. They're intoxicated. They drink
the dry wine of ritualism and ceremony, and they're intoxicated. Somebody was telling my wife
the other day, You and Don have got to come see our Christmas
tree. Oh, it's a good thing she told my
wife. Every ornament is handmade and
it all represents something about Jesus. We had a play at the church
and I was the son holding up the son of righteousness. It
was such an impressive service. You could make tobacco grow with
that stuff. It'll take a while for that to
set in. When it does, you'll understand what I'm saying. They drink in the pink wine of
Chablis, the good feelings that men are so pleased with. They
take the deep burgundy of intellectualism and are intoxicated. The wrath
of her fornication represents the zealous lust with which false
religion pursues the souls of men, encompassing land and sea
to make one disciple. And when they have done so, he's
twofold more the child of hell than he was before. Babylon,
the great whore of false religion, must be exposed and men and women
must be warned that her house is the way to hell. Listen to
this. Listen to it. Hearken unto me now, therefore,
O ye children. Attend to the words of my mouth.
Let not thine heart incline to her ways. Go not astray in her
paths. For she hath cast down many wounded. Yea, many strong men have been
slain by her. Her house is the way to hell. going down to the chambers of
death. And I says, little Johnny's going
to church now. Where is he going? Oh, he's going
down the road. They don't preach much, but he's
going to church. That's good. Worst thing on this
earth could happen. The worst thing on this earth
could happen to anybody, anybody in this world. is to get mixed
up with Babylon. Get mixed up with Babylon. You
men and women, listen to me. Guard your children from the
religion of this world. Say, well, it won't hurt them
to go down there to Bible school. Won't hurt them to go down there
to Sunday school. Won't hurt them to go down to
their plays and their programs or ways. are the ways of death. Death. Would you take your son
Merle and introduce him to a harlot? Huh? Well, it won't hurt him
any. What fool. What fool. I know it's not popular to speak
against false religion. In these days, nobody believes
anything, but everybody believes everything is true. Everybody
believes everything is of God, except that which is true and
that which is of God. Men say it's bigotry and sectarianism
which exposes false religion. Be that as it may, if I am to
be faithful to God and faithful to your souls, I've got to expose
anything that will ruin your soul. And I'm telling you that
any confusion of idolatry with the worship of the living God
is Babylon. Any confusion. I'm getting more radical as I
get older because I see things more clearly. Don't you bring
any symbols or pictures or crosses or stained glass or anything
of the kind. Don't you bring anything around
in this place that even suggests that man must have a medium by
which he is inspired to worship God. It's idolatry. We worship God in spirit or we
don't worship God. If you've got to have a statue
of Mary or a cross around your neck or a cross behind the pulpit
to worship God, you don't know God. Any confusion of law and
grace is Babylon. Babylon. I'll preach you can't. You can't draw things so clear. God knows, and I speak with all
reference for the living God. God knows. I would not. unjustly or critically or for the sake of an opinion, shut any man out of the kingdom
of God's grace. I flat wouldn't do it. I wouldn't
do it. But I'm telling you for the sake
of your soul, when you begin to try to mix law and grace,
you've missed grace. You've missed it. I don't care
where you mix it. I don't care where you mix it.
I don't care whether you mix it as a means of redemption or
a means of justification or a means of sanctification or a means
of rewarding glory. You mix law with grace, you've
missed grace. That's what Paul said, Galatians
5. Any confusion of free will and free grace is Babylon. Either
salvation is entirely of God or it's entirely of man. Mix
the two up and you've missed Christ. Any confusion of the
works of man and the works of God is Babylon, and it will be
destroyed. More than that, all who worship according to Babylon
will be destroyed with her. Let me give you this third point.
Gospel preachers must declare to men the certainty and the
justice of divine judgment. I'm not going to preach on it,
I'm just going to read the verses. Look at verse 9. The third angel
followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the
beast in his image, that is, if anybody embraces the religion
of Antichrist, worships according to the dictates and the doctrines
of the beast, If any man worship the beast
in his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his
hand, the same shall drink the wine of the wrath of God, 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. You'll either worship Christ,
you'll either believe God, fear God, give glory to God, worship
God. Are you going to perish under
the wrath of God? My God, I wish you'd hear me. And when you do, it'll be right. It'll be right. It'll be right. Here is the patience of the saints.
This is what we've been waiting for. This is what we've been
waiting for. There's a day coming when God's
going to make right things right and wrong things wrong. There's
a day coming when God's going to set up his people and vindicate
their name and their cause in the teeth of their enemies. There
it is. I used to fuss with folks and
argue with them. Last time I had a fellow come and wanted to fuss
with me about the message of God's grace that I declare, I
said to him, well, I'll meet you at the bar of God
and we'll find out who's telling the truth. We'll find out. God's saints are waiting for
the day of vindication. Who are they? They are those
who keep the commandments of God. They believe Christ. Read John 6, 26. They believe
Christ. This is the work of God. Believe
him that God sent. And they keep the faith of Jesus.
They stay with it, persevering to the end. The Lord willing,
next week, maybe I'll preach to you from verses 12 and 13
and give you a little fuller explanation of them. In that
last day, God's saints will be forever
blessed. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Flee to Him. Flee to Him. There's
blessedness awaiting all. Eternal blessedness awaiting
all who flee away to Christ by faith. God help you to trust
His Son. Amen.