There will be wars, there will be rumors of wars. This is under the curse. No one is untouched by Satan's rebellion. Therefore, To be touched by the love of God counters that rebellion. But it's still war.
And it's worth it, is it not? Or we have no such word as worship. The word worship means it is worth it. God is worth my adoration. He is worth my attention, my obedience, my submission.
He is worth it. I worship Him. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 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.
Now, here's Pastor Rick as he continues teaching through the book of Revelation, chapter 19, and his message called Heaven Rejoices. Where you will spend the rest of your existence. You see, a man is made out of three things: has a body. When you die, that rots away, burns away, it's gone. You have a soul.
That's who you are. That's you. The person behind the skin and the bones. Your mind, how you think, what you do, how you choose, how you interact with other people. The spirit is dead until it is born again.
Then the Spirit of God is in you. And now you are An inferior triune being compared to the Holy Spirit. but you're triune nonetheless. And that's why God has put such effort into giving us the scripture, and Satan puts so much effort in keeping you from it.
So, you want to go to a church where we just sang songs, and the pastor told me that I should feel good about myself because Jesus loves me so much, He's going to take away all my problems. Problem is you can't fight that way. You talk in a big fight, but you can't fight. You can't fight against what hell is doing to people. Or you can go around as saying what is obvious from the scripture.
God loves you. But how are you showing that love up? How are you showing that love to others? And the way we do it is by loving them back and not withholding the truth. and growing in The grace and the knowledge of God in that order.
Verse 3 now, we move away from the apostasy for a little bit, I hope. Again They said, Alleluia, her smoke rises up forever and ever. This is yet another verse that refutes the idea of Annihilation of the wicked. When the wicked die, they're not going to be annihilated, their soul lives forever. The soul does not die.
And if the Spirit has been brought to life, born again, it will live with Christ. But if you're dead in your trespasses and sins, you are now at a high risk. to be judged. The Old Testament prophets even taught this. But according to the Scripture, the torment of the wicked is eternal, and that's why we are so serious about souls being saved, and that's why even the angels rejoice when one sinner repents, because it's such a big deal.
God is not going to change his mind about evil. That's the point. The smoke rises forever and ever. Evil will end, it will not be around forever.
Furthermore. No one is going to undo his judgment.
Now Yeah. When I read the scripture, I'm just like you. I hear these things. I have a choice. I can say, oh, this is harsh and I don't want any more.
Or I could say, look, I know who the Lord is. He is merciful. He is just. But he's very serious. And if I side with him, I'll be far better off been siding against him.
And that's why we submit. That's why Job could say, The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. What's missing from that verse? Are his guts being ripped apart by the reality of life? that had fallen upon him that you can't put into print.
What squeezed those words out of Job? was a serious commitment to God in the worst circumstances you could think of. He still yielded. And then the Bible says, and all this Job did not. Curse God.
offend God. He remained true to the faith.
So, this verse in number three is saying there will not be a prison break of evil. Satan will have one brief supervised relief. At the end of the thousand-year period, the kingdom age that is to come. And if you're new to the Bible, you're saying, What are you talking about?
Well, it's going to take a little bit to catch up to that level, but the answers are there, and they're rather exciting. Second, uh 1 Timothy 2. This is what it says about the mind of God concerning sinners. He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth. Why would any Christian want to suppress that truth?
Because when I became a Christian, You know what God told me? You're going to hell. The way you are right now, the way you've come to me, you're going to hell. It wasn't, oh, Rick, I love you. You're so smart.
And, whoa, you're just one. I wish everybody could be like you. It was your damned. But the door was wide open. Why don't you come in?
And I did. And I have not left. Have no intention to. That door is open for everybody who hears the word of God. Verse 4, and the 24 elders and the 24 living creatures fell down and worshiped God and sat on the throne, saying, Amen, hallelujah.
We approve of everything you just. Saw in this vision, John, all the stuff the pastor was just preaching about. About Mystery Babylon and all the judgment upon evil. We're with you on this, Lord. We're not saying, oh, you're so mean.
It's so harsh, it's so unfair. God is not unfair. When you get to the other side of this life, the one thing you will not be able to say with any degree of truth is, God, you're unfair. Life is unfair. But we don't confuse God with life.
They're two different things. This life is under a curse. And that's why we're left here. To shovel out of this life those. For we're interested in a right relationship with God after the curse has run its course.
These characters in verse four are both Old Testament and New Testament saints and angelic beings rejoicing over the end of the wicked. Romans eight twenty two for we know that the whole world groans and labors with birth pangs Together until now. All creation suffers, animals eating each other, wars, all these things. There will be wars, there will be rumors of wars. This is under the curse.
No one is untouched by Satan's rebellion. Therefore, to be touched by the love of God counters that rebellion. But it's still war. And it's worth it, is it not? Or we have no such word as worship.
The word worship means it is worth it. God is worth my adoration. He is worth my attention, my obedience, my submission. He is worth it. I worship Him.
And there's plenty of other religions out there that are willing to accommodate you and make up some stuff that men have created in some tent or some garage, whoever they've created up, have no basis in reality. but it's appealing to the sinful nature that we all have. We all have a sinful nature. But those who are born again now also. Have a spiritual likeness to Christ, a spiritual nature.
And those two fight it out. to the end. Your flesh will not tap out. It will stay with you to the end.
So you bring to your fight enough ammo Listen. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice.
So you bring enough ammo. I love those kind of metaphors. I've got plenty more, but I have to suppress them lest the women say, you know what, cut it with all the military stuff. You have anything about doilies? Not one.
Nope. Anyway, verse 5. Then a voice came from the throne saying, Praise our God, all you servants and those who fear Him, both small and great.
So as I stand here talking to you, I can either be afraid of what you might say after service. Or I can be more afraid of what God might say if I don't say these things. I opt for God. What if you say, well, what if I punch you upside your head? Go ahead, try it.
No, no. Don't please. You just have to get punched in the head, I guess. Others have been crucified.
Some have been crucified upside down. Others have been fed to the lions.
Some of them have been burned at the stake while alive.
Some have been drowned. Persecution. We talked about those who have shed the blood of the saints. Because they felt the truth was more important. Than surviving this life.
So, how can you say to Jan Hus? You should have just toned it down. And they would not have set you on fire in front of everybody. Or The many other Servants That have been tortured over the centuries, who opted not. to hide God's truth.
because of what sinners felt about it. Anyway, the throne here in verse five is symbolic of the sovereign presence of God, the rule of God. This is an outburst of joy on the part of those in heaven. And that's what John is getting to see.
So if you say to yourself, what's going on in heaven? When all of these judgments are unleashed by God, they are rejoicing because they understand it's the end of evil. It's not God just picking on people, bullying people. It is the end of evil in his creation. And that is something to rejoice about.
But if you're not spiritual, if you're just a soul man, but you have not the spirit, you can't tap into that. You can't see it. All the portals are locked. The doors are shut, and God can't get in. And so, as we read from the third chapter of Revelation, Jesus saying, I stand at the door and I knock.
If anybody will open, I will come in and I will dine with them.
Well, to who did He say that? to people in church.
Well Any of you offended by what God's coming judgments are about? You're gonna want to fix that. Verse 6. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters. and as a sound of mighty thundering saying, Alleluia for The Lord God omnipotent reigns.
Heaven is not going to be a lonely place. The multitudes. It says a great multitude. There'll be many people in heaven. Which explains why God has waited so long to return, to end this.
Why doesn't God stop this madness? He is populating heaven. And the way He populates that is He lets people who are born have a chance to be born again. and be a citizen in heaven, and that takes time. He has used time to increase heaven's population.
Genesis 19. Verse 22, set this up. This is Sodom and Gomorrah about to be judged. But God couldn't end Sodom and Gomorrah just on the wicked without giving the righteous a chance to get out. Abraham agonized over the wicked in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Before God, back and forth. What if there's 50? What if there's 40 of them? And he's going back and forth. He's not saying, listen, Lord, they're rank sinners.
They're disgusting. They're sexually perverted. Wipe them out. That is not what Abraham did. Abraham was interceding on their behalf.
But God was not going to back down. He was very firm. The wicked know they're wicked. They'll have their out. And if they don't take it, they're done.
And Lot Lot had his chance. God had told Abraham, there are ten righteous ones in there, and he was right. In fact, one of them that got out became sort of a type of an apostate that gets out. And then looks back contrary to the commandment and the warnings and then suffers the consequence. That would be Lot's wife.
So The angel goes to Lot and he says, Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything against you. until you arrive there.
Well, that's in Zor, where Lot had asked, Can I go to there? And he gets to Zor and he can't live there. He goes to the mountains, the perversity takes place. Lot was a real. Head case, but the Bible calls him a righteous man because he knew who God was.
As weak as he was, he knew who God was. And that's what counted, and that was accounted to him for righteousness. And Peter says that.
Sodom and Gomorrah vexed his soul the whole time he was there. He was not comfortable. But his wife was.
So there are two aspects to the return of Christ. And again, the delay is because he's populating heaven. The first aspect of God's return is what we call the rapture of believers. Where God will do a miraculous thing and pull existing believers. out of this world without death.
Right to heaven. It's so sci-fi.
So is Genesis 1.1. If you want to look at it that way. In the beginning, God created everything from nothing. An evolutionist is not honest enough to ask this question: where did that first particle come from? It just magically appears and starts you know.
becoming things. Anyway, the second aspect of the return of Christ is not coming for his people, but seven years later coming with his people. and that is the second coming of Christ. And all heaven delights in the power of God exercised over evil and Satan's removal, which is going to happen. Just not yet.
Verse 7. It's funny how maybe you have somebody who's really into exercising. Or Yeah, I don't know, triathlons, stuff like that. And they're so into training and putting effort into this. You gotta want it.
Go to a gymnasium, they have all these motivational signs up. But then, when it comes to the Spirit, God can't do that. No, He does do that. He encourages us all the way along. Stay in there, endure, take the pain.
It won't be forever. I've got this with you. And we're supposed to respond with. All right, Lord, I'm in. I'm into the end.
at any cost to me. Verse 7: Let us be glad and rejoice, and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.
So humanity began with a wedding, Adam and Eve. And that's how it ends. The Bible is showing us. A union Between Almighty God And those souls who came alive and became his followers. But at a wedding, the bride receives the attention.
When she enters the sanctuary, she moves down the aisle. Everybody is, you know, they stand for the bride. Nobody stands for the groom. They don't even know where he was. He's somewhere in here.
But the bride gets all the attention. I've never seen an ugly bride. They might be out there somewhere. I've not seen them. I've seen them prepared.
They've spent a lot of time and money getting ready for that day. But here, the bride is not the star. It's the bridegroom. He receives the attention. This is how it should be.
The church is the bride. We prepare ourselves. How do we do that? By believing, by receiving the invitation. Oh, that'll make a Calvinist turn over in his grave.
I want to hear that happen. Anyway, there are those that say, you know, you don't have free will when it comes to salvation. It's kooky. Then why would God give an invitation? Because he's schizophrenic.
Anyway, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. The saints, again, make themselves ready when they die, trust in Christ, the salvation he promised. The Redeemed of all the ages have done this, so that it can be said now to Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.
Well, this is it. Christ's invitation has come. to individuals, to his church. It's an invitation to a wedding, not a funeral. It is an invitation to a banquet.
A sumptuous feast And the righteous look forward to it. This is how it shows up in the Song of Solomon. He brought me to his banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. Not sovereignty, that's there. Love is what I need.
I know God is sovereign. That terrifies me if that's all he is. I need to know he's going to be gentle with me, that there's mercy there. That he's not looking to just Wipe me out if I make a mistake, if I fail. I've said this many times.
I was a lot happier being a Christian before I became a pastor. And the reason for that is not because of the people, it's because pastoring exposes how weak a Christian you are. You thought you were going to be all that. And you find yourself I don't know what to say. I don't know what that means.
What am I supposed to say? That's a hard question. People expect me to have the answer. They expect me to be perfect. I am.
Anyway, so. But it's worth it. Would I do it again? No. Yeah, of course I would.
Of course. If God said, I'm calling you to the pastor, and now you know what's ahead. All the things you thought were going to be a problem, well, they are problems, but they weren't that big of a problem, and you just stepped over those. But. You You couldn't get away from you.
Because everywhere you went, there you were. Would you still be a pastor?
Well, Lord, how am I going to say no? I mean, when you make the invitation, that's a calling. I don't want to live the rest of my life having been called. And turn that calling down. That would haunt me every time I woke up in the morning, I should have been something else.
Listen to the Lord's language. Matthew 8, I say to you, many will come from the east, the west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God. He's saying, There are going to be Jews that are saved, they're going to be Gentiles that are going to be saved, and they're going to sit together at my table. And this is it: Old Testament, New Testament believers. Luke 22, verse 28.
That should mean something to you. He's quoting God's word. That's the authority, it's not his opinion, it's God's word. And if you want to fact check it, you have a whole book to go home and fact check it all you want. Luke 22, you are those who have continued with me in my trials.
And I bestow upon you a kingdom just as my Father bestowed One upon me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. All Christians are going to eat at that table. There's a spot for you at that table. I wonder if you could put your elbows on it. Verse 8: We've got to finish this up.
I'm almost done.
Some of you say, Look, this is a lot. This has been a lot. I need to just go do some Tai Chi or something and try to figure this out.
Well, rewind the message. You could do that. But there are others that are saying, no, I'd like a little bit more, please. Or maybe there's no one, but But I got the mic, so I got the advantage. Anyway, and to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright.
For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. It counts. How you behave counts. They are garbed in what they did. For Christ because of Christ.
Ephesians 5.27. That he might present her to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she should be holy and without blemish. No church is like that, no churches come close to that. but God sees. He sees the finished product.
All the filth has been washed away by his blood. Just as he treats the individual Christian, he treats the assembly of Christians. in the end. It says in righteous acts of the saints, plural. The saints, not just one of them, all of them.
You say to yourself, I can't be like Daniel. I don't have the courage of Paul. There are other saints. They're not the only ones. arrayed in fine linen.
Linen was the fabric of the priest. It's very cool. And when the heat is on. But it wrinkles up a lot. Anyway, we are a royal priesthood, and the linen, of course, speaks of the righteous acts of the saints through Christ.
Verse 9, Then he said to me, Write, Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true sayings of God. Um Fourteen times in this revelation, John is told, write this down. I want it recorded, I want it on record, I want people to read it.
Now Why do we get to go to the banquet with Christ? Because we're ready. I'll give one quick parable, we'll move to the next verse. Jesus gave a parable in Luke chapter 14. of Those who were invited to the wedding feast, and one showed up, and he wasn't dressed.
Appropriately.
So he's called out on that. Why aren't you dressed right? And this is what the Bible says. And he was speechless. I don't want to stand before God speechless.
I want to stand before God. in Christ. I don't want God's justice on me. I want his mercy and his love. And that's what he wants to give.
Church is the bride, and it consists of all who claim Christ, New Testament, Old Testament alike. And how do we also know that? Because we see Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord Jesus Christ subject to him, speaking to him about his coming death. on the cross. Abraham rejoiced to see his day and did.
Isaiah saw his glory. And what did Isaiah say? Woe is me. I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips.
We're all guilty before God, and yet he's willing to touch our lips. and use us for his glory. But the lips have to go through a purging and thus the heart. Coals put on the lips. Anyway, verse 10, and I fell at his feet to worship him.
But he said to me, See that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of. Jesus, worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Well, Jesus, of course, is Worshiped in the New Testament, and he receives it. When he is worshiped, he doesn't say, Stop doing that, I'm only a man. He receives it because he's worthy. When Peter went to the house of Cornelius, the Roman military officer, Cornelius starts to worship Peter, and Peter says, Cut that out. We don't give a pass to this.
Not for a moment. You worship Christ, that's it. John is overwhelmed with all that he's seeing, and he just kind of loses it here. And the angel doesn't give him a pass. And say, oh, that's okay, I know, you got all excited.
He says, don't do that. I'm a created being like you're a created being. Created beings are not worshiped, we're not prayed to. We worship, we pray to God. This prophecy, it says, worship God for the testimony of Jesus Christ, the spirit of prophecy.
It's delivery of truth from God, that's the essence of the life of Christ, the incarnation, the virtue. The crucifixion, the resurrection, the return. All of that, where he is right now, interceding. on behalf of sinners. And so the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Is the Old Testament, is the New Testament. And only God could say what I'm about to close with: Jesus speaking. If I am lifted up from the earth, it will draw all peoples to myself. There is no ethnic group that can say Christ did not die for me. He died for whoever would come to him.
Regardless of your ethnicity. regardless of anything. If I am lifted up, From the earth, that's a picture of the cross. I would draw all peoples to myself. Let's pray.
Our Father, so many truths, so many teachings, so little time to open them all up. And yet the greatest truth is your presence. made available to us. You promise to never leave us nor forsake us and by true faith We accept that even when we can't see it because we know who you are. 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.
