The world spends billions of dollars. And souls proving that they do not believe that he alone is holy. And that's where we have to stand our ground. No matter how much we're persecuted for it. The holiness of God is His essence.
The holiness that his servants receive is of course Rationed to us, like the moon has no light of its own. It reflects the light of the sun, and so is our holiness. Hmm. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Ricky is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville.
Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the last book of the Bible, Revelation. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Revelation chapter 15 is where Pastor Rick will be teaching from today on this edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Revelation 22 verse 3. And there shall be no more curse.
But the throne of God and the Lamb. She'll be in it. and his servants shall serve him. Without resistance, without confusion. With this happiness that the book of Revelation yields.
So the book of Revelation is constantly presenting the two sides. The wrath on the wicked And the salvation to those who would come. And it's going to end that way. Whomsoever will, let him come.
So don't side up against God and say, well, he's cruel and he's mean. No, who's the dumb one under this in this context? God, and you know, maybe you have a fatalistic Christianity. which is out there, which were you know, God just chose who's going to hell and and that Islam has the same thing. God wills it.
Inshallah, and something like that, they called it anyway. I don't believe in that. I believe the God of the universe will do right. all the time. without exception, and he has no obligation to brief me.
Hey, let me tell you what I'm going to do here. No obligation. What he is doing is saying, This is your life. This is what I want from your life.
Now go out and do it. And Exodus 15:2 is an example of Moses acting on that. This is my God. This is the God of my fathers. I will praise him.
I will serve him. Not fretting about, well, I wonder what's going to happen to the people over here.
Well, focus on what the people are, what's happening to the people where you are. You're not ubiquitous. You cannot be in two places at once. You have a hard time being at one place at once.
So let's remember the Song of Moses was sung. At the sea of reeds, when Pharaoh chased them, and now the song of the lamb is sung. at the sea of crystal in heaven. Purified by fire. The Song of Moses was first recorded.
The first recorded song in Scripture. The Song of the Lamb is the last recorded song in Scripture. Moses' song was the the victory over the Egyptian Pharaoh The song of the Lamb is the victory over all evil. not just what's chasing us as individuals. Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways. I can't figure out why there are so many people that say they're Christians, but they advocate for lies. They support things that aren't true, that aren't biblical, that are against God. And I'm a Christian. And it says, just and true are your ways.
So be careful of the things you support. Because your vote in this way counts big. It is an expression of what's in your heart or what's not in your heart. No complaints. are listed here from these Who are now in heaven?
About the judgments of God. Nobody's whining and fussing. This is cruel, this is mean. What would have been cruel and mean. was to continue the curse for all eternity.
And let the wicked never go judged. No complaints about what they suffered on earth. It's all behind them now. Everything is settled. This is where we're going as believers.
And he includes, oh, king of the saints. It's almost. a lamentation in that note. John, after this vision, he had to go about the rest of his life, which wasn't very long, 'cause he's very old at this time. And we, of course, invite the rule of God.
It's called lordship. You cannot just say, He's my Savior. But he's not my lord. To be Lord is to be the one to dictate what you're supposed to do, to call for obedience from Him. And I am surprised.
At how many Christians turn on pastors when pastors uphold the Scripture, uphold the truth, stop advocating for sin.
Well, how are you going to save them if you don't compromise? You're not saving them. You're setting them up. with a false gospel, and I don't save anybody anyway. The demonstration that a person is saved is they can't wait to try to obey Christ.
And then when they find out in all areas they cannot do that. They love the mercy. And the grace that is available. The mercy is the forgiveness part. The grace is that He still blesses you.
when you don't deserve it. We don't help anybody lost. By trying to Edit. or filter the gospel. God's standards are high, but They're higher than my flesh can attain.
but they're still high. And Christ makes a big deal about if you love me. obey my commandments. The Spirit was given to those who obey. In Acts chapter 5, that comes out yet again.
So be careful. Not to advocate for wickedness. Stand your ground. We can do it lovingly. I know from the pulpit we may not sound lovingly because we're passionate, we're making points, and we have a clock that's ticking away.
But when in the in front of everyone, individuals, we certainly take a little bit more time to.
sort of tailor our presentation to the individual. Without Editing A jot or a tittle. We will not take away from the truth. And if you do It's another gospel. And if you have another gospel, What does the Bible say?
Let them be anathema.
So you have more power when you understand these things. Than when you're trying to disagree with God, or you think you're more merciful than Him. You are breeding false converts or risking that, so be careful.
Well, in verse 4, who shall not fear you? O Lord, and glorify your name, for you alone are holy, for all nations shall come and worship before you, for your judgments have been manifested.
So there he is. He's not saying, well, there are other ways to heaven, there are other gods. No, you alone. I don't care if the world doesn't like that, well, we can care in the sense that we wish they would. accept it, but we don't care enough to change our view.
Who in their right mind would not bow to Christ in His glory?
Well A whole world of people. The awe of God halts men in their tracks and ultimately all will. bow and confess that Christ is Lord. When Moses was on Mount Sinai, He had considered himself a failure. and he was now shepherding somebody else's sheep on the back side of the desert.
Alone with his solitude, and that was going to be his life. He's eighty years old at this time. And there in Exodus 3, we're told that God shows up, grabs his attention. And Moses comes over. And of course, God says, take the sandals off your feet.
The ground you stand on is holy. No objection from Moses. No, well, you know, that's a bit much, and who, you know, we're all holy, you know, some nonsense. But then We read this. And Moses hid his face.
for he was afraid to look upon God. We're reading verse 4, Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? There is a power with God. We call it the glory. And it is unlike anything anywhere in creation.
No created being has this. John. Writes, when they came to arrest Jesus, They wanted to validate the kiss of Judas. And so they said, Are you Jesus of Nazareth? And Jesus said, I am.
He did not say, I am he. The translators put that in for ease of translation. But it's connected to, of course. When Moses says to God, who shall I say sent me? He says, I am.
Me, I'm it. And So they come and they say, Are you Jesus of Nazareth? And he says, I am. And then we pick this up.
Now, when he said to them, I am he, the he is added, I am. they drew back and fell to the ground. This is Laurel and Hardy. Wrapped into one. What is going on here?
There was a power there. That they had no control over and didn't even know what was happening. They thought they were just clumsy. One guy fell on a little domino kind of, and then the next few guys fell. But it was the power of God.
And it was preserved in Scripture to tell us, to remind us. Who shall not fear you, O Lord? Satan will tremble. Satan will be. snatched away forever.
and cast it into the lake of fire, prepared for him and his Fallen angels. For you alone are holy.
Well, the world disagrees with this. They do not agree that Christ alone is holy. When we say Christ, we're speaking of the Godhead. Of course He is our Saviour personally. But the world spends billions of dollars And souls proving that they do not believe that he alone is holy.
And that's where we have to stand our ground. No matter how much we're persecuted for it. The holiness of God is His essence. The holiness that his servants receive is, of course, rationed to us, like the moon has no light of its own. It reflects the light of the sun, and so is our holiness.
For all the nations shall come and worship before you. A repeated prophecy throughout Scripture. We know it. I'm going to say it again, Philippians two ten. And then at the name of Jesus, every knee.
Should bow. Of those in heaven, of those on earth? And it was under the earth. That about covers everything. Paul said that I may know Him in the power of His resurrection, in the fellowship of His suffering, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
For Paul, it was all about the next life. in this life. From here, it was about getting to the next life. And To do that. Called for this relationship with God, as we read from Exodus 15, that Moses sang about.
For your judgments have been manifested.
Well, they've been revealed. God is. Put sort of These uh signatures all over the place. When God is mocked and sin is flaunted, He must respond with wrath. with judgment.
Cannot just flaunt your sin. When In Scripture, there were times when there were those that did flaunt their sin. And One in particular was struck While he was speaking and eaten by worms, a slow, miserable death. That doesn't happen all the time.
Sometimes we wish it happened more. But it is of course A reminder of God in Scripture. That There is judgment. And we We can avoid it. No matter how messed up we are.
And I've been telling God about some of you how messed up you are. Yeah. Verse 50. It takes one to know one, right? If you think I'm messed up, look at yourself, Pastor.
Verse 5. And these things, after these things, I looked and behold, the temple. of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.
Well, at this point in John's vision, of God's wrath on Antichrist. And the doting followers of Antichrist is Going to resume. He's now going to start to get back to that seventh trumpet and the seven. Bowls or outpourings of judgment. on the world.
But he is now talking about The temple of God in heaven, as God is expressing. himself through these This vision, these images, these symbols. And as blessings flow from God's throne, Judgment also flows from there. It is the time of Jacob's trouble on earth, as Jeremiah said. And the tabernacle represents God's commitment to not ignoring sin.
And so the connection between now he's showing he's getting back to the seven jud the seventh trumpet and the the wrath that's coming out is that uh The end of that Horrific three and a half years of that seven-year period of tribulation. And in that three and a half years of the last part, the Jews are now being persecuted. And so now imagery concerning their temple is brought into this final judgment. And God is saying, I've not forgotten. about sin.
I know what you're going through. And I will put sin in its place. And so the law of Moses works perfectly. In an ideal environment, you say, well, that doesn't sound connected. It was very much connected because the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
But there's so many imperfections that we have That doesn't doesn't seem to have the power that we would like it to have. But it does. We're in an imperfect world right now. And so everything has to be fought for. And you watch any of those nature channels with animals?
And they fight for everything. Everything's a fight. Every day is a struggle for them.
Well, that's of course evidences of the curse. I saw they found of some giant bones In McDonald's. No, it wasn't McDonald's. Yeah, it was Texas or something. And here they come.
Um you know This happened 200 million years. How would they know that? And you see a little sticker on there. Yeah. Uh no, the you know scientists are those who who say what whoever is funding them wants them to say.
I'm not going down a rabbit trail. I'm just saying creation is creation, and there has come a curse, and it will end. But most of the world does not want to believe these things, but they can. And if you lose heart and think that the victory is impossible, then how can you witness of Christ effectively? No, you have to be on the hunt.
You have to know. That's what you're going to say about Christ is worth saying when God opens the door. The Law of Moses is perfect, but this is an imperfect environment, and yet it is still powerful enough to convert the soul. And so in an imperfect environment, It serves to resist the word of God in this world, resists and lessens the spread of evil and the dominance of sin. That's why you're the salt of the earth.
And as the salt of the earth, you're not supposed to be trying to Justify sin or make away for For it. to flourish. When I find poison ivy on my property, I spray it immediately. Because I understand the danger of that. Anyway, I don't know, you might not identify with that.
So John couldn't see inside this temple in heaven. I don't know. I don't think I'm communicating these things that are so rich to me. I know what I'm saying. I know what I'm thinking.
I know the power of these things. And yet, there may be those that just I'm not moved by any of this.
Well, that's the adventure of preaching. John, at this time, that he mentions the temple. Remember, he was not a priest. On earth, he could not look inside the temple of the Jews. That was restricted to the priest.
But Mark 15, here's the connection. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. When Christ was crucified, that opened the door to heaven for us all to freely and boldly come to Christ. without having to go through a priest. Verse six And out of the temple came seven angels having seven plagues, clothed in bright Linen And having their chests girded with golden bands.
Well, this leads to the final judgment. As mentioned in verse 1, For in them the wrath of God is complete, and clothed in pure Bright linen and having their chests girded with golden bands. Yeah, notice how oftentimes these spiritual creatures are. Are quite dapper. They're dressed up.
I mean, the high priest, of course, Christ with his garment that was seamless. You have he who comes up from Basra was magnificently garbed. And you have these guys with this bright linen, pure bright linen. Their uniformed appearance impressed John, and he writes that part down. Notice he doesn't mention their hairdo's, and I don't know what's going on with that.
But anyway, their attire indicates that their actions are pure, their judgment is blameless, they're not wrong. for being these vessels of judgment that God is using them. The pure linen connects them with the armies of heaven in chapter 19, verse 7.
Now, then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels. Seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. The wrath of God incidentally applies to those texting in church. They think you think you're getting away with it. I I n I n God's not that petty.
But don't text in church. or browse the internet, or whatever else goes on out there. And some of you know, because you watch and you tell me, you say, you know what that guy was doing the whole time? What? You know how long I stayed prepping that service?
You know the gems I brought out of that text that he can't appreciate it because he's a goat. Then I get in the flesh, and now I'm bad.
Now God's got to deal with me because I'm in the flesh. All because of Buckaroo there that just had to go texting. Hi, what are you doing? I love you. Anyway.
Here in verse 7, these angelic beings The four living creatures, we discussed them earlier, it's a blend of. Those seen by Isaiah in chapter 6 and Ezekiel in chapter 1. And it just, again, lends to the creativity of God. Uh that that is awaits us in heaven. The coming catastrophes are not natural phenomenon.
That's part of what's going on here. These judgments will come in rapid succession, and they will intensify with each one. Verse eight, The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the Temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
Well, smoke or these clouds in Scripture often are visible manifestations of God. We see it in Exodus and Kings and Isaiah and other places. This is the temple in heaven. The very one that Antichrist Wants to blaspheme. Revelation 13.
Remember this? Then he opened his mouth. This is the beast that comes from The C, Antichrist. In blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.
So full of hatred for anything from the Bible. And it says here: no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were complete.
So, what John is seeing in this somber issue. Is that God is not going to be stopped. He's gonna Give full attention to this problem. The day is going to come. where this mess gets cleaned up and this is One of the great steps in that direction.
So you have the justice and the love of God intertwined. They cannot be separated. They cannot exist apart. When God judges, there's love involved, not for the one he's judging, but for the ones who he wants to preserve. Those who are judged to hell, it's not, the love stops.
It would be schizophrenic, as we would say, to think otherwise. Uh g I mean this it comes a time. when it can stop The choice is up to the individual.
Now I know a lot of Christians don't want to hear that.
So, what are you saying? God is. His wrath? His judgment, his eternal condemnation of the wicked to the lake of fire is love. You have more problems with that than just accepting The timer runs out.
And there are consequences. There are facts. that without them things would be worse. A holy God must judge sin and sinners, but also Offer a way of salvation, and that he does. And because we don't see it for everybody, doesn't give us the right to say, well, then obviously they're condemned.
I'll close with this verse. Acts chapter 3, verse 19. Before I read it. If you just read this chapter without me, You'd come away knowing the wrath of God.
So don't go saying I preached a hard message. Go away saying he preached the word of God. He didn't filter it out. Didn't tailor it. for someone who's influenced by the world.
He gave it as the Scripture gives it to us. Be careful, again, that you do not advocate against God and His Word. Aren't we about sick of all that through Christian history? Look at the Dark Ages, look how many the Middle Ages under the Roman Catholic Church, look at how many pagan things just flooded into Christianity, and much of it you can't get it out, it's still here. Even the Protestants, the Reformers couldn't get it out.
Close with this verse. Acts chapter 3, verse 19. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.
So that times of refreshing may come. from the presence of the Lord. Don't give me that lip about God is unfair and unjust and mean, and his wrath disturbs me. He offers grace, and if you're too much, If you're too self-impressed with sinful man to take that grace, well then you've made your choice. Just don't make that one.
Hmm. Uh This has been Cross Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston. This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand. Just visit us online at crossreference radio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings.
While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube. There's also an interviews tab where you can learn more about Pastor Rick's heart for ministry.
Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Hello. I didn't run up to the bottom of the city.
