Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. In Revelation chapter 14, verse
1, John says, And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on Mount Zion,
and with him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having his
father's name written in their foreheads. I don't suppose there
is anyone who's ever read that who didn't wonder who are the
144,000? Is this a representative number? Is it a literal number? And who
does it represent? Is this a group of super saints,
the elect of the elect, people who through great works of self-denial
and righteousness somehow have attained to this super group,
the 144,000? And there are other believers
who do not attain to this. Is this what this means? Who
are? the 144,000. While it's a big
number, it's not that big a number. That's roughly half the population
of Lexington. So what is meant? Who are the
144,000 who have the name of the Father written in their foreheads? Now, Revelation chapter 14 is
a continuation of John's vision in Revelation chapter 13. And
in Revelation chapter 13, he'd been describing false worship
and false worshipers. Now, everyone other than God's
people were taken up at this time with false worship. We read in Revelation 13 verse
8, And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, the
beast. whose names are not written in
the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Now, this was a general defection.
Everybody but the elect was worshipping the beast. Now, we read as this
vision goes on, verse 11, I beheld another beast coming up out of
the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb. He looked like a
lamb, but he spake as a dragon, a wolf in sheep's clothing. A
dragon trying to dress himself up as the lamb so he appears
to be bringing the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
who's speaking. And then we read in verse 14,
and he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of
those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast,
saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make
an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did
live. And He had power to give life
under the image of the beast. And the image of the beast should
both speak and cause that as many would not worship the image
of the beast should be killed. Now, these people are faced with
this. If I don't worship, I'll be put
to death. If I don't bow the knee to the
beast, I'll be put to death. Verse 16, And He causeth all,
both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive
a mark in their hand or in their foreheads. And that no man might
buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the
beast, or the number of his name." You couldn't buy food. You couldn't
sell anything. You couldn't make a living unless
you had this mark. Verse 18, here is wisdom. Let
him that understandeth count the number of the beast, for
it's the number of a man. And his number is 603 score and
666. The number of a man. Now this
number has scared people to death. What does it mean? And people
are even afraid of this number when they see it. 666. It's the
number of a man. Adam was created on the sixth
day. Six represents man. And what
is man at his best state? Scripture says man is altogether
vanity. And this is a message of comfort
to God's people. When they see everyone bowing
to this beast, and all the world going after him, and these people
receiving his mark in their foreheads, John's saying, you don't need
to worry about him. He's just a man. He's just weak. He can't
defeat you. God still reigns. God's still
on the throne. God is victorious. You really
don't need to worry. That's what 666 is. It's the
number of a man, a man whose breath is in his nostrils that
God can take it away in an instant. God is in control. You have nothing
to fear. This is just the work of a man. And continuing in this vision,
John said, and I looked, not only did I see these people with
the number 666 in their foreheads and that had received the mark
of the beast, people who were not following the Lamb, And I
looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with Him
an hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written
in their foreheads." Now John says, I looked, and there was
a Lamb. I love the way the Lord Jesus
Christ is referred to as the Lamb, the Lamb of God. John said, Behold the Lamb of
God. which taketh away the sin of
the world." Now, why is he presented as a lamb? When John saw the
lamb, that doesn't mean he saw something with wool and hoofs
and so on. He's talking about the Lamb of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how is He God's Lamb? In
Genesis chapter 22, I think this is the way to understand Christ
being the Lamb of God. In Genesis chapter 22, God told
Abraham, take now thy son, thy only son, whom you love, speaking
of Isaac, and offer him up as a burnt offering to me. Now,
can you imagine what must have been going through Abraham's
mind as he knew that God had commanded him to take his boy
and to kill him as a burnt sacrifice to the Lord? Now, he didn't understand
all the reasons for the Lord telling him to do this, but he
obeyed. You see, whatever God says is right, whether I understand
it or not, we believe the Word of God. He obeyed God. And as a matter of fact, his
obedience proved that he believed God. The Hebrews chapter 11 tells
us that Abraham knew that If he did kill him, God would raise
him from the dead because God had promised the Messiah will
come through Isaac. God made that promise. Abraham
knew God's immutable. God could not lie. Whatever he
said must come to pass. And here was his reasoning. Well,
if I kill him, then God will raise him from the dead because
God said the Messiah is going to come through this boy. Now,
what if Abraham would have said, well, I can't kill him because
then God's promise won't come to pass. Therefore, I better
not. No, all he'd be proving by that is he didn't believe
God. But he believed God to the point where he was willing to
offer up his only son, kill him in obedience to God's command.
Now, as they're going up the mountain, Abraham had already
sacrificed him in his heart. He'd already done the deed in
his heart. He obeyed God. And as they're going up the mountain,
Isaac said, Father, here's wood, here's fire, but where is the
lamb? for a burnt offering. And Abraham
replied, My son, God will provide a lamb for a burnt offering.
God's the one who does the providing. You know, you and I can't provide
a lamb that God would accept. God is the one who does the providing. And God provides for himself. For him to do something for me
or you, he first has to do something for himself. He first has to
make sure that His law is honored and justice is satisfied and
sin is punished. He can't accept me just the way
I am. Somebody says, I want God to
love me just the way I am. He can't. Not until it be God. For Him to love me or you, something's
going to have to be done for Himself. Something has to be
done about my sin. And God provides Himself as the
Lamb for the burnt offering. He himself is the Lamb. Behold,
God's Lamb. When John sees this heavenly
worship, he sees a Lamb. And notice, the Lamb stood. That's the posture of victory. The Lamb stood on Mount Zion. Now, Mount Zion is the church. Mount Zion is every believer. Mount Zion is the church of God's
elect. Listen to this passage of scripture
in Hebrews chapter 2. Now, before I go on, understand
this. The church in the New Testament is seen in two senses. First,
the local church. The local church. group of believers
meeting in a place. And this is always a mixed assembly. There's no such thing as a pure
church. You always have wheat and tares in that sense. You
always have believers and unbelievers. But it's real. It's God appointed
a local church. And then there's the universal
church. This is the church for which
Christ died. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. This is the church
of God's elect. Feed the church of God which
he purchased with his own blood. Now listen to this passage of
scripture from Hebrews chapter 12 describing Mount Zion and
the Lamb's relationship with Mount Zion. He stood upon Mount
Zion. Mount Zion is called the city of the living God. The heavenly
Jerusalem. an innumerable company of angels,
to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, whose names
are written in heaven, and speaking of this 144,000, and to God the
Judge of all, and the spirits of just men made perfect, and
to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant. Now that's Mount
Zion, the church of the living God. Beautiful situation, the
joy, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion, Psalm 48 too. And there stood with him 144,000.
Now these 144,000 did not receive the mark of the beast. They had his father's name written
in their foreheads. Now, something very interesting,
if you read Revelation chapter 22, verse 4, speaking of these
same people, it says they had the name of the Lamb written
in their foreheads, but here it says they had the name of
the Father written in their foreheads. Is this a contradiction? No,
not at all. Isaiah 9, 6, speaking of the
Lamb, says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. That son wasn't born. He's the
eternal Son of God. Now, the child was born in time
when He became flesh, but the Son is given. He's the eternal
Son of God. And His name should be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. Now, that's the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Here He's called in Isaiah 9,
6, the Everlasting Father. He said to Philip, he that hath
seen me hath seen the Father. Are you saying that Jesus Christ
is the Father? No, I'm not saying that. But I'm saying he's co-equal
to the Father. He's God. And listen to this.
We bow the knee to the Christ, the second person of the blessed
Trinity, distinct from the Father, yet co-equal to the extent that
their names are interchangeable. God the Father said to God the
Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever. Now, this 144,000 have this distinction. They didn't receive the mark
of the beast. They didn't receive the number of man. They have
the name of the Son. They have the name of the Father
written in their forehead. Now, this number 144,000 is a
great number, but it's an exact number. Not 143,999, not 144,001,
but 144,000. This represents God's elect.
It's a great number. It's a number that can't be added to. It's a number
that can't be subtracted from. All of the names of the elect
were fixed in Christ before time began. This is a number that can't be
added to, and it's a number that can't be subtracted from, 144,000.
This is the same group that Paul spake of when he said, Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It cannot be done. Their sins have been paid for.
Now, verse 2, he says, I heard a voice from heaven as the voice
of many waters. Oh, what a powerful roar! And as the voice of a great thunder. How powerful and loud! And I
heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. How sweet! Nothing is as sweet as the voice
of a harp. So here we see what heavenly
worship sounds like. Loud, a roar, powerful, yet sweet. That's the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, verse 3. And they sung, this 144,000,
they sung, as it were, a new song before the throne. We know
what that new song is. We know the words to it or the
lyrics, if you want to call it that, in Revelation chapter 5,
verse 9. Here it is. And they sang a new
song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open
the seals thereof, for thou was slain And hath redeemed us to God by
thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation,
and has made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall
reign on the earth." Now there is the new song, and it's always
new. I'll tell you what, it's always
new to a sinner. a sinner who needs grace, a sinner
who needs the blood of Christ, the blood of His redemption.
The song is always new. It doesn't grow old. It doesn't
grow stale. It's always new. It's always
powerful, and it's always fresh. Now it says, they sang a new
song before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders,
and no man could learn that song but the 144,000 which were redeemed
from the earth. Who are the 144,000? They're
the ones who were redeemed. Thou hast redeemed us by Thy
blood out of every kindred, tongue, tribe, and nation. The only ones
who could truly spiritually learn this song are the ones who were
redeemed, the ones for whom Christ died. Now, if you're listening
to what's being said, you have to think, does that mean that
He didn't die for all men? Yes, that's exactly what it means.
He died for His elect. And why make an issue of this? Well, because the Bible does.
Why make an issue of this? Because if I say that He died
for all men without exception, and some of those people end
up in hell, that means He failed in His intentions. Why make an
issue of this? Because if God punishes people
in hell, For the same sin that He punished Christ for on the
cross, God would be unjust. God would be a monster if He
did that. If He punished Christ for my
sin and then turned around and punished me for it, He'd be unjust. God is just. He's holy. He's right. Whatever He does
is right. This is the issue. Here's the issue about Him dying
only for the elect. Listen to me. The only hope I
have that I'll be saved is if Christ died for me. And if you
tell me that he could die for me and I wind up in hell anyway,
you've taken away the only hope I have. Because the only hope
this sinner has is that Christ died for me and put away my sins
and I now stand before God without guilt. But if he can die for
me and put away my sins and I end up in hell anyway, or somebody
can end up in hell anyway, then I know I will. See, my hope is
the life, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ.
Now, the Scripture is very clear here. The only ones who could
know the words to this song and understand Him are they who were
redeemed from the earth. Now, let's go on reading. Verse
4 and 5, we're given a description of the 144,000. And you can tell
by this description whether or not you're in this group. Now,
it represents every believer. It represents all of God's elect.
It's not some kind of super saint and special class that only a
few attain to and the rest are kind of, this is the first class
Christians and everybody else is in coach. No, it's not saying
this at all. This is talking about God's people.
Now, look at this description of them beginning in verse 4.
It says, these are they which were not defiled with women. For they are virgins. They're not defiled with women. They're virgins. Now, is that
talking about celibacy? Is that talking about someone
who's so dedicated to Christ that he's taken a vow of celibacy
and he'll never enter into sexual relations with anybody out of
his devotion to God? And he's some kind of super Christian
and super priest. And let's see what the Bible
says about that. 1 Timothy chapter 4 says, Now
the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter time some
should depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils. And that's strong language, isn't
it? He calls this doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy,
having their conscience seared with a hot iron. And here's what
they do, forbidding to marry. Oh, you'll be more holy and pleasing
to God if you're celibate and you never marry and you never
enter into a relationship like that. And commanding to abstain
from meats which God hath created to be received by thanksgiving
of them which believe and know the truth. Now here, God calls
this thing of celibacy, thinking it's pleasing to God, the doctrine
of devils. So this is not talking about
someone who has taken a vow of celibacy and now they've reached
this special group of 144,000 people. Well, what is it talking
about then? Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11,
verses 2 and 3, he says, I am jealous over you with a godly
jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may
present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by
any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, So
your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity, the singleness,
the onlyness that's in Christ. Now, when I married my wife,
Lynn, I made a covenant with her. I'm to look to her only. She is the only woman in my life. I'm not to look anywhere else.
That's what the marriage vow is. That's what the marriage
covenant is. Now, someone who is corrupted from the simplicity
of Christ, they become a spiritual adulterer. They look somewhere
other than Christ for their comfort, for their peace, for their assurance. It's spiritual adultery. They're
corrupted from the simplicity, the onlyness, the singleness
that is in Christ Jesus. Now, I have a simple salvation. Christ only. It's not compound.
It's not complex. It's simple. Christ only. I have a simple reason for being
saved. Christ only. I have a simple
righteousness. His only. Not a mixture of His
and mine. Not Him. accepting the good part
of me and forgiving the bad part? No, it's His righteousness only
is my righteousness before God. I have a simple sin payment,
His blood only. I have a simple goal, simply
to be found in Him. I'm not looking to earn some
kind of higher reward in heaven. I simply want to be found in
Him so that all God sees when He sees me is He sees the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what Paul said. Oh, that
I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That's my
desire, simply to be found in Him. Now, these are the virgins. They look to Christ only. And then we read in verse 4,
These are they which follow the Lamb, whithersoever He goeth. They follow Him wherever He goes. You know, a lot of people follow
Christ to a point. I've seen people do it all my
life. They'll follow Christ to a point,
but at some point they'll stop. I think of that passage in John
chapter 6 where the Lord had been preaching to a big group
of people and now left Him. And he said, that's why I said
to you, no man can come to me except that were given to him
by my Father. From that time, many of his disciples walked
no more with him. They left and walked no more.
Now, they were not true disciples. They followed him to a point,
but they quit following. And the Lord looked at the twelve
and said, will you also go away? And Peter said, where would we
go? We believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ. the Son of the Living God. You
have the words of eternal life. These words that these people
don't like and are leaving over, we find them to be words of eternal
life. We don't have anywhere else to
go. God's people will continue in the faith. They follow the
Lamb whethersoever He goeth. And then it says in verse 4,
these were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto
God and to the Lamb. Once again, It's pointed out
these are the ones He redeemed. He didn't redeem all men. He
redeemed the 144,000. He redeemed the elect. Our Lord
said, I lay down my life for the sheep. Is everybody a sheep?
No. He said to some people, you're
not of my sheep. You're not of my sheep. They're
goats and they're sheep. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. Now these people, the 144,000, are the people that
the Lord Jesus Christ died for and accomplished their salvation.
And then it says in verse 5, And in their mouth was found
no guile. Now, this is characteristic of every believer. They're honest. In their mouth is no deceit,
no guile. What that means is they're honest
before God regarding what they are. They know before God that
they are nothing but sin. And to claim anything greater
than that would be a lie and would be hypocrisy. And they're
honest with each other. They don't try to put on religious
pious airs and so on and try to one-up on everybody else.
No, we're all truly fellows in the same ship. There's true fellowship
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're all sinners saved
by grace. In their mouth is no guile, no deceit. And then it
says last about them in verse 5, for they are without fault
before the throne of God. Now, did you hear that? Every
believer is without fault before the very throne of God. That
means when God sees every believer, He sees someone without fault,
without sin, perfect in Christ Jesus. How can that be? Because
Christ put away my sin, He died for me, and it's no more. This
is every believer, every believer, everybody for whom Christ died,
and every single one of them, they're without guile, they're
honest before God, honest with each other. And they're without
fault before the very throne of God. Now we have this message
on DVD, CD. If you write the church or email
or call us, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg, praying
that God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's
our prayer. Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen. It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, for Lord, that could not be. I did choose thee Lord, for Lord
that could not be. Tis not that I did choose