The Abiding Message of Revelation, Part 2

Review of Revelation's Purpose, Style, and Structure

0:00 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday evening, September 22, 2002, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now I began to speak to you this morning on the theme of the essence of the abiding message of the book of the Revelation. I told you, first of all, why I was constrained to do this and why I was taking up the subject with something of a Bunyan-esque disposition. When Bunyan said, I preached that which I did feel, that which I did smartingly feel, I gave you some rationale as to why I took up this subject with some sense of a smarting feelingness of its relevance and its meaning. I then addressed three introductory concerns, issues that in my judgment must be in hand if we are in any measure to understand and profit from our reading of the book of the Revelation. First of all, I addressed the subject of the purpose of the book, and basically its purpose is not that of a puzzle awaiting clever minds to unscramble it,

1:23 but it is a picture, a picture that fundamentally and essentially sets forth the Lord Jesus. It is a revelation of Jesus Christ and the glory of the triumphant Lamb. And its message and purpose, positively stated, is to give counsel to the seven churches of Asia Minor in the late first century, to set before them what the risen Christ, knew they needed to know both for their comfort, for their conviction, and for their stability. And therefore, like all of the letters of the New Testament written to specific churches in specific settings of specific need, they not only had immediate relevance to those to whom they came in their original setting, but for the people of God in all ages until the consummation of all things. Then I said a bit about the style or literary genre of this book, and while there is some ordinary prose in the introductory section, and in particular in the seven letters to the seven churches, prose addressed primarily to the ear in which the Lord Jesus says,

2:46 again and again and again and again, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. But the majority of the book is a different genre of communicating truth. It is that of vivid visions addressed not to the ear, but to the eye, and only to the ear in order to help the eye to see. And to whet your appetite for one of the books from which I did not quote this morning, Johnson's book entitled The Triumph of the Lamb, listen how he expressed this. Revelation is a book to be seen. John characterizes the message to which he bears witness as the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, adding the important description even to all that he saw, Revelation 1 and verse 1. Revelation 1 and verse 2. The motif of what the prophets saw is so pervasive in Revelation, the verb appears fifty-two times with John as its subject. I saw, I beheld, I told you dozens of times, Johnson has counted them, it's four dozen plus six. Is that six? Forty-eight and six would be fifty-four, no, forty-eight and four, that's fifty-two.

4:13 And so he reminds us that this is the overarching genre. It points to the fact that we must see if we are to understand its message. The visible, visionary mode of the message is reemphasized in the prophetic commission given to John by the voice of one like the Son of Man. Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, Revelation 1-11. Revelation comes to us as it came to the seven churches.

4:46 the seven churches in writing but it is literature that paints for us the scenes that John has himself seen. And I performed a miracle this morning, I turned the Republican elephant into a donkey, and some of you were very gracious to point out my miracle working powers, but at least you got the message that as the message in political cartoony is not in some wooden literalistic understanding of the cartoons but in its overall message so likewise in this genre or this style of conveyance of truth we are to seek the message not in some wooden literalistic interpretation of one-to-one equivalence with all the pictures but seeking to gain the overall impression of what in many cases are these very grotesque images then i said a word about the structure of the book after a general introduction we are given the opening vision in chapter one and then the seven letters to the seven churches in chapters two and three and then the vision of the throne in chapters four and five after which beginning in chapter six down to 22 and verse five

6:06 there are these seven cycles of patterns of the human experience from the first to the second coming that were relevant for the people of God in John's day, relevant for the people of God in the second and third and fourth centuries, and will be relevant for the people of God until the consummation, how many ever centuries may pass until the Lord returns. Then the book has some concluding interaction between John, Jesus, and the revealing angel. From 22.6 to the end of the book, you have a record of these various interactions that John has with Jesus himself and with the angel. Then I proceeded to identify some of the things which, in my judgment, constitute the essence of the abiding message of the book of the Revelation. We had time only to consider two of them. I simply state them. I don't

Christ's Presence and God's Sovereign Control

7:06 pause to expound them, to demonstrate them from the book. I only state them by way of review. Number one, Jesus Christ is...

7:15 ...in the midst of his church in all its trials, its apparent defeats, and its triumphs in the present age until the consummation. The opening vision is one in which John is given to see the seven lampstands, which we know represent the seven churches, because Jesus tells us so, and he appears not adjacent to them, above them, beneath them, or around them, but in the midst. And then the seven letters to the seven churches are the unfolding of Christ in the midst of his churches, discerning with his eyes as a flame of fire, speaking infallibly of the state of those churches, introducing every message with the words, I know your works. I know you. I am in your midst. I see your defects. I see your virtues. I commend you. I rebuke you. I

8:14 encourage you. I encourage you. I encourage you. I encourage you. I encourage you. I encourage you.

8:15 I call you to repentance. That's the great principle that we must grasp in our reading of the book of the Revelation. Christ is in the midst of the church in all of its trials, its apparent defeats, and its triumphs in the present age and on to the consummation. Number two, all that transpires in human history from the first to the second coming is under the sovereign control of God and of the Lamb. That's the message of the vision of the throne in chapters four and five.

Human History's Significance in Christ's Triumph (Principle 3)

8:52 John is no sooner taken into heaven with the promise he will be shown things to come when he sees a throne and he sees one seated upon that throne, God, the Holy One, God, the Almighty One, God, the Eternal One. And in chapter five, he sees a Lamb in the midst of the throne, midst of the throne standing yet one as though it had been slain and he alone is worthy to take the scroll of god's decrees and to open them and to unfold the subsequent history of the human race and of the church he is the worthy lamb who is the sovereign lord administering the decrees and purposes of god from his place of exaltation and of power now we come tonight to the third principle that again in my judgment constitutes the essence of the abiding message of the book of the revelation and it is this all that transpires in human history finds its true significance in relationship to the history and the ultimate triumph of the human race and of the church he is the worthy lamb who is the sovereign lord of Christ and of his church. All that transpires in human history finds its true significance in relationship to the history

10:18 and ultimate triumph of Christ and of his church. No philosophy of history comes near the mark of accuracy without a true understanding of history in the light of God's pronouncement in Genesis 3 and verse 15. It is proper to say, if we are thinking biblically, that the history of the world has both its true starting point and its sphere of reference in Genesis 3.15.

10:55 Now, I'm not saying there was no world before Genesis 3.15. I know Genesis 1.1 comes first.

11:01 In the beginning God created the heavens, and the earth. I'm fully aware of that. But in speaking of the unfolding of human history, in the development of clans, and then of nations, and then of the movement of those nations from the one couple who were present in Genesis 3.15, there is no true understanding of history that does not take its starting point and its sphere of reference from Genesis 3.15.

11:31 There God announces that He, has come to put enmity between Satan, the serpent, and the woman, between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, and He makes the promise that ultimately the woman and her seed will crush His head, and that in the process of having His head crushed, He will bruise the heel of the seed of the woman. And the whole history of the world is framed around the fact that the seed of the woman is the seed of the woman. And around the conflict of those two seeds and the ultimate triumph of the seed of the woman. But a triumph that will come in the way of the bruising of the heel of the seed of the woman So it should not surprise us to find the very language of the first book of the Bible way back in the beginning in the Garden where these words were spoken right in the middle of the book of the Revelation Turn with me now. me please to john chapter i'm sorry revelation chapter 12. revelation chapter 12. the chapter begins with what john describes as a great sign seen in heaven a woman arrayed with the sun in the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of 12 stars and she was with child and she cried

12:56 out travailing in birth and in pain to be delivered and there is seen another sign in heaven behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and upon his heads seven diadems and his tail draws a third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth and the dragon stands before the woman that is about to be delivered and when she is delivered that he may devour her child and she was delivered of a son a man child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up unto god and unto his throne and the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared of god that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and three score days now surely it's obvious who the woman is and who the child is and who this horrible creature is described as this red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and then in verse seven

14:02 her body was made to do no sin and then it was seen that there was the end of her life and no cause he left her alive also to then a kingdom to bring her in safety and that she might halt herself against the laws that at her mouth she had endured in female scarcity in every disease she had not been raised from virgin самое and in to lovely or Cathy and not in the magnesian angels were cast down with him and then there is this marvelous burst of praise of the triumph of the seed of the woman who has done this work of defeating the serpent the devil this red dragon the accuser of the brethren cast down and those identified with him overcome satan the devil because of the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony now verse 13 and when the dragon saw he was cast down to the earth this is the victory of the cross and the resurrection in the life history of our lord jesus he persecuted the woman that brought forth the man child the church and there were given to the woman the two wings of a great eagle that she might fly to the wilderness unto her place where she's nourished for a time times and half a time from the face of the serpent though she is protected there is still the enmity of the serpent seeking to

15:27 attack and assail her and the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water is a river that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream and the earth helped the woman and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth you see there's this great detail of this struggle of genesis 3 15 the seed of the woman here is the serpent seeking to attack the seed of the woman and what happens when he cannot destroy her seed her seed is caught up into heaven and those identified with her and the woman he attacks her verse 17 and the dragon waxed angry with the woman and went away to make war with the rest of her seed and who are they those that keep the commandments of god and hold the testimony of jesus so you see this framework of genesis 3 15 is the framework of all human history and it has its true significance with respect to the ultimate triumph of christ and of his church and as you read the book of the revelation you will see that the activity

16:44 of the beast of the false prophet of the harlot are all introduced in reference to the people of god to the city of god to the lamb of god to the servants of god and that the ultimate destiny of all of these various ones that come before us in all these various images is determined with respect to their relationship to the lamb of god the seed of the woman the people of god the servants of god the city of god and all of these motions among men and all of these events set before us under these various images are underscoring for us human history has its true significance in redemptive history that which transpires in human history finds its true significance in relationship to the history and the ultimate triumph of christ and of his church in the language of ephesians chapter 1 christ has been given as head over all things to his church not only is he head of the church but he's given his head over all things to the church

18:04 that he might govern all things for the accomplishment of his own saving purpose through the church throughout the ages so that when we think back to human history going back only so far as new testament times why was it that god sovereignly ordained that rome should conquer the world and that rome should have both the wherewithal in its imperialistic conquesting demeanor as an aggressive nation that conquered other nations to take the stuff of that conquest and create its roads why did god sovereignly ordain the emergence of the greek culture prior to rome and the universal acceptance of the greek language so that in the fullness of the times when god sends forth his son there is a universal language and there is a system of roads that when god sends his son and he accomplishes redemption and he fills his apostles with the spirit and commissions them to go into all the world there in place for them are roman roads and the greek language and the conversion

19:28 of saul of tarsus with his mastery of the thought patterns of the greco-roman world and all of these things you see looking from the outside we see the conquest of rome we see the previous influence of greek culture and we say that's an event in human history but from the perspective of the enthroned land these are the tokens of god's mighty power governing ordering disposing all of the events in human history to what end that christ and his people may triumph and that the lord jesus will have the reward of his sufferings as one commentator said things are not what they appear to be they are what god intends them to be and as we think of the events in our own day where so much of what is unfolding in the history of what is now called the front end of the 21st century so much of it seems to make no sense and so much of it seems uncertain but this much we know that all that transpires and that which will become recorded should the lord delay his coming as the history of the 21st century will have its true significance

Christ's Conquest and the New Heavens and Earth (Principle 4)

20:49 in relationship to the history and the ultimate triumph of christ and of his church then principle number four that in my judgment forms the essence of the abiding message of the book of the revelation and perhaps no principle is of greater importance than this jesus christ shall conquer all his and his people's enemies and bring in the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwells righteousness if the book of the revelation teaches you how to do it then you will be able to do it it teaches us anything it teaches us jesus christ shall conquer all his and his people's enemies and shall bring in the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwells righteousness the book of the revelation is filled with blunt statements and graphic images of the uncompromising antagonism that masters of ignorance sent he spreading the message that policeman should extend out in order to

22:06 scissors the рыв and regardless of that he will givepling thee that even the freedom thou hast� understandeth but thou be mode of testing me not itself but by thy power and blood the earth of this Judaismeminist by explicit promises and by vivid images it is made clear the lamb and his army are going to win the land and his army are going to win until we come to those marvelous descriptions in the orthodox quirks of god aland the wonderful predictive speech of Esteban from Abraham to Abraham and pardon your NV N branded vision for the видимatrix command points and rulers they have accomplished your faith to the divine latter part of the book in which we are given to see the new heavens and the new earth in language that drips with the imagery of the original paradise language that is extracted right out of genesis where the new heavens and the new earth are described under the image of paradise regained christ shall conquer all his and his people's enemies and bring in the new heavens and the new earth listen at this point to william hendrickson as he beautifully captures this strand of what i am calling the essence of the abiding message of the book of the revelation what is the theme of this book mr henderson asked and then he answers the theme of the book of the revelation

23:22 this book is the victory of christ and his church over the dragon and his helpers the book of the revelation intends to show you dear believer that things are not what they seem the beast that comes up out of the abyss seems to be victorious the text tells us he makes war with them overcomes them and kills them and their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called sodom in egypt where also their lord was crucified and from among the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations do men look upon their dead bodies three days and a half and suffer not their dead bodies to be laid in the tomb and they that dwell in the earth rejoice over them and make merry and they send gifts one to another because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth that's a quotation from the text in revelation but this rejoicing is premature in reality it's the believer who tries we read further and after three days and a half the breath of life from god entered into them they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them that beheld them the dominion over the world became the dominion of our lord and of his christ and he shall reign forever and ever

24:44 throughout the prophecies of this wonderful book the christ is ever pictured as the victor the conqueror and then he cites about twelve text he conquers death hades the dragon the beast the false prophet the men who worship the beast etc etc he is victorious hence so are we even when we seem to be hopelessly defeated there's the realism that in this conflict there is apparent defeat that eventually issues in glorious of the people of god and that's the message that you and i must grasp we must if necessary periodically go down to the latter chapters and so keep our souls in this certain eventuality of the ushering in of the new heavens in the new earth twenty one one i saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first have been the first earth or passed away and the sea is no more and i saw the holy city new jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god made ready as a bride adorned for her husband and i heard a great voice out of the throne saying behold the tabernacle of god is with men and he

26:08 should dwell with them and they should be his peoples and god himself should be with them and be their god he should wipe away every here from their eyes and death should be no more neither shall there be mourning or crying or pain anymore for the first things are passed away and he that sits on the throne you see where we're taking right back to chapters four and five he that sits on the throne says behold i make all things new and he said right for these words are faithful and true and he said unto me they are come to pass and as surely as we announced this morning and evening service and it has come to pass so there will be a moment in human history when everything that is said of the glory of the consummation of christ ultimate triumph and ours in him will come to pass perhaps no principle is of greater importance to grasp as you read this book there's a story in dr. point versus commentary the returning king that i love to tell a group of seminary students were getting some exercise in a local gym

27:36 and when they were done playing the basketball game they saw janitor over in the corner reading so one of the seminary students went over and says excuse me sir of what are you reading he said well i'm reading the bible oh you're reading the bible and where abouts are you reading he said well i'm reading the book of the revelation he said well you don't understand it do you he said oh of course i do you mean you understand the book of the revelation oh sure well tell me what do you understand the book of the revelation to be all about and you know what his simple answer was simple but profound in its accuracy and i'll say it the way he did with poor grammatical expression he said the book is all about this jesus is gonna win jesus jesus is gonna win you see he wasn't spoiled by the experts looking over his shoulder telling him that you've got to put this in this category and this category he read it as a simple-minded man and chapter after chapter as he sees the ancient conflict between the woman and her seed and the devil the serpent and his seed he says eventually god points us again and again to the triumph to the victory of the lamb jesus is gonna win and when you have doubts pick up the book of the revelation

The Blessed State of Martyred and Dead Saints (Principle 5)

29:03 don't get hung up on the details but read in sweeping sections and you'll see stand over section after section jesus is gonna win and if i'm in him i win in him and with him as hendrickson said chapter seventeen in verse fourteen gives this in its distilled essence these shall war against the lamb and the lamb shall overcome them for he is lord of lords and king of kings and they also shall overcome that are with him called chosen and faithful well then we come to the fifth principle that again in my judgment constitutes the essence of the message of the book of the revelation and i'll touch on this only briefly but i do believe it's one of the major emphases not in terms of bulk of material but significance and it's this all the martyred and dead saints are in a better state now than when they were on earth all the martyred and dead saints are in a better state now than when they were on earth now remember to whom this book was sent

30:25 people in the midst of persecution i john your companion in tribulation and there are clear indications especially in the seven letters to the seven churches that there's going to be an intensification of that persecution and one of the strands of truth that god wants to convey to saints in that setting is that all the martyred and dead saints are in a better state now than when they were here on earth see how this is conveyed in chapter six verses nine to eleven when he had opened the fifth seal i saw here you have the vision again underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the word of god and for the testimony which they held those are martyrs they cried with a great voice saying how long oh master the holy and the true do you not judge and avenge our blood our sin on them that dwell on the earth and this text will have relevance when i take up in a separate message in this series now concerning the issue of unconditional forgiveness that stirred up such a fuss this morning here's a text glorified spirits who don't extend unconditional forgiveness to those who put them to death put that in your head and think about it alright

31:47 oh master glorified spirits under the altar they were martyred saints they joined the company of spirits made perfect and now they are crying how long before you avenge our blood and there was given them to each one a white robe and it was said unto them that they should rest for a little time until their fellow servants also and their brethren who should be killed even as they were should have fulfilled their course where are the martyrs now under the very altar of god in what is their state dressed in perfection in holy rest awaiting the consummation is that better than rotting in a prison exiled on the isle of patnas being beaten being starved being socially ostracized of course it is that's the picture god gives to those who may face martyrdom and he says martyrs are in a better state than you are though they've come to that state through the brutality of the manner in which they died they are in a better state likewise chapter fourteen in verse thirteen this statement goes forth with respect to the dead in christ and i heard a voice from heaven saying write blessed are the dead who die in the lord from henceforth

33:17 yea says the spirit that they may rest from their labors for their works follow with them blessed are the dead who die in the lord from henceforth remember to whom this letter comes here are people facing the possibility of martyrdom of death for jesus and god pronounces a blessing upon such who die in the lord and dying in the lord they rest from their labors and their works do follow them in chapter fifteen two to four and i saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire and then that came off victorious from the beast and from his image and from the number of his name standing by the sea of glass having harps of god and they sing the song of moses the servant of god and the song of the lamb saying great and marvelous are your works o lord god the almighty righteous and true are your ways you king of the ages who shall not fear you o lord and glorify your name for you only are holy and all the nations shall come and worship before you for your righteous acts have been made manifest this is not yet the consummation this is a vision john has of glorified spirits those who came through victorious in their encounter with the beast please turn this cassette over to continue the message

34:44 this is a vision john has of glorified spirits those who came through victorious in their encounter with the beast and his image and the number of his name and they are wrapped up in worship static glorious perfected worship in the immediate presence of god and then the picture that john is given in chapter twenty verses four to six where he sees thrones and they that sat upon them judgment given unto them and i saw the souls not the glorified soul and body after the second coming but he sees the souls now how he sees souls what form they take i do not know but john identifies them as souls yet he sees them that had been beheaded for the testimony of jesus and for the word of god and such as had worshipped not the beast neither his image received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand and they lived and reigned with christ a thousand years they are living they are reigning in the presence of christ in this period from the first to the second coming and one by one as they die and as they are martyred they join this company of glorified spirits in the presence of the lord jesus

36:12 and we read verse six blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection over these the second death has no power and they shall be priests of god in christ and reigned with him a thousand years and then when the thousand years are finished when this inter-advental period is coming to a close and the enemy is given one last burst of opportunity to do his work in opposition to christ and his people then there is the final consummate coming of christ and judgment and then they reign in the new heavens and in the new earth forever now do you see the impact this should have upon those saints facing martyrdom and upon us if we are persuaded that the martyred and dead saints are in a better state now than when they were on earth and we are deeply viscerally persuaded of that reality then we can't be bullied from our attachment to christ by the threat of martyrdom now i know it's easy to stand in a pulpit throbbing with life and no threat to speak with bravado and triumphalism about death it is a sobering thing to die i'm not morbid about it

37:39 but i think a lot about it what will it be like if i'm conscious as death approaches i've never experienced death the thought of the experience of dying is a frightening thought the experience of death of dying i've never experienced it before it's an abnormal thing i only know life in my body soul existence i don't know what it's like to think without a body in which my brain is encased as the thinking individual i know nothing of life in a disembodied state and i don't want to speak with empty shallow carnal bravado but i do want to say this that if we have a well grounded assurance of our acceptance in christ we should be able to say with the apostle paul in romans 8 35 and following these very wonderful words and to be able to say them even if death is at our elbow and breathing down our back who shall separate us from the love of christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or death or nakedness or peril or sword verse 38 i am persuaded

39:07 that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord this same apostle wrote in first corinthians 3 these words that are a tremendous comfort to me where he speaks to believers in chapter 3 and says all things are yours verse 22 whether paul apollos cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours death is mine to do what to land me in the presence of jesus in the company of those white robed martyrs to sing praise to sing praise that i can never sing down here to see my savior face to face and when the people of god are well grounded in the blessed reality of what death can and cannot do to them and that in christ death is theirs as much as life is theirs that death neither life nor death can separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord this is the stuff

The Necessity of Overcoming for Inheritance (Principle 6)

40:32 that makes people look their accusers and opposers straight in the eye and say do with me what you choose to do i will not deny my lord this is the stuff of martyrs and dear people some of you some of us may need that stuff and then i hurry to the last two principles for in a very real sense these are the two most pressing pastoral issues in what i regard as the abiding message of the book of the revelation and here they are the saints must overcome in order to inherit the promises and then i'm going to follow it with the seventh the true saints of god shall overcome and inherit the promises but the message of the book of the revelation gives us both and what god hath joined together let no man put asunder let's look at them the message of the book of the revelation is this the saints must overcome in order to inherit the promises and here i want you to turn with me and get the message through the eye gate as well as the ear gate in revelation chapter 2

42:00 and 3 in the seven letters to the seven churches there are several common denominators in all the messages one of them is this every single message concludes with a promise to those who overcome as well as an entreaty to hear what the spirit is saying to the churches notice now chapter 2 and verse 7 he that has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to him that overcomes to him will i give to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of god now i want you to notice beginning with this all the way through the promises to the overcomer are not promises for add-ons to salvation there are some people who wickedly teach that there are two kinds of christians non-overcomers and you'll just make it in the gates and be a second-class citizen forever and then they're super-duper overcomers and they go strutting down the streets of glory first-class citizens no no jesus when he speaks of what will come to overcomers he speaks of things that are of the essence of the final consummate glory of heaven beginning with this first one to him that overcomes i will give to eat of the tree of life which is where in the paradise of god and when we turn

43:29 to the latter chapters of the book of the revelation the redeemed are seen in the paradise of god they have access to the tree of life there's no other second-class non-overcomers who still make it to the paradise of god you overcome or you miss paradise that's the thrust of the words of our lord jesus to eleven chapter two in verse eleven he that has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches he that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death he won't go to hell that's the second death according to revelation chapter twenty in verse eleven verse fifteen you want to escape hell then you've got to overcome if you don't overcome you go to hell that's the teaching of the passage chapter two in verse seventeen he that has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to him that overcomes to him will i give of the hidden manna and i will give him a white stone and upon the stone a new name written which no one knows but he that receives it and here the imagery is difficult to sort out i'll not trouble you with the varying various opinions about it suffice it to say the peculiar blessing bound up in whatever

44:56 our lord is conveying is reserved only for the overcomers verse twenty six the next message to the next church he that overcomes and keeps my works to the end to him will i give authority over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers as i also have received of my father if we suffer with him we reign with him if we overcome we reign with him no overcoming no reigning with him chapter three in verse five he that overcomes shall thus be arrayed in white garments notice and i will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life and i will confess his name before my father and before his angels in the day of judgment jesus will either confess you before his father or deny you this is not a matter of extra rewards folks it's a matter of life and death would you have christ confess you to be one of his then you must overcome he that overcomes he that overcomes the overcoming is the activity of the true saint of god chapter three and verse twelve he that overcomes i will make him a pillar in the temple of my god

46:25 and he shall go out thence no more and i will write upon him the name of my god and the name of the city of my god the new jerusalem which comes down out of god from heaven and my own new name would you be a vital integral part of that glorious dwelling of god in the eternal state then you and i must overcome and then verse twenty one of chapter three the seventh message he that overcomes i will give him to sit down with me in my throne as i also overcame and sat down with my father in his throne seven letters to seven churches with seven distinct columns that there are of grace that he not must observe He that overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

47:52 Would you have God own you in covenant love and intimacy for all eternity? Would you know the blessedness of the full flowering of adopted privilege in the age to come? Then you've got to overcome. It's that plain.

48:09 For anyone to entertain any thought of being part of God's consummately glorified body of his people while not an overcomer is to be willfully, wickedly self-deceived.

48:28 Now put yourself in the place of those first century saints in Asia Minor. You read the seven letters to the seven churches. Some were tempted to grow cold in their love to Christ. And the Lord says to him that overcomes.

48:44 Some were being seduced by false teaching. Some were being seduced by immoral influences. Some were being pressured to back off under the threat of death. Go through the whole spectrum of all the things that would have torn them away from Christ, his word, his way, his truth, and his people.

49:07 And he says, would you inherit the promises you must overcome? You must overcome. You must overcome.

49:17 The saints must overcome in order to inherit the promises. This is the biblical doctrine of the necessity of the perseverance of the saints. We're in a war. That's the whole motif of the book of the Revelation.

49:36 The Lamb is overcome and shall overcome. And those who are with him will overcome. In him.

49:48 You see, when I'm convinced in the depths of my being that if I don't overcome, I'll go to hell, that makes me ruthless with so-called little sins that I know can flower into big sins and can draw me away from Christ.

50:05 That makes me merciless on those things that would erode the vital, life-giving context of a sensitive conscience.

50:18 As John Owen said, we see in every sin not just the modest proposal of its beginning, but the maxim of expression of its end.

50:30 And not only will the world think us overly scrupulous and overly fastidious, but dead, half-converted fellow Christians will think you extreme. But when you're persuaded, I must overcome or be damned. I must overcome. Or be cut off from the promises.

50:56 Nothing is too precious to be spared. The acts of mortification.

51:07 Dear people, I fear some of you really don't believe this.

51:14 The marks of ruthlessness in dealing with yourself are not prominent in your Christian life.

51:25 The book of the Revelation says there's a war. Jesus is going to win. And if you overcome, you'll enter into his triumph with him. But thank God for the balancing truth.

The Certainty of Saints Overcoming (Principle 7)

51:39 Not only does the book of the Revelation teach us, as the whole of the Bible does, that the saints must overcome in order to inherit the promises, it teaches the true saints of God shall overcome and inherit the promises. Look at chapter 12, verses 10 and 11. Revelation chapter 12. Verses 10 and 11.

52:05 In the midst of that description of the conflict, Michael and his angels, the dragon and his angels. Verse 10. And I heard a great voice in heaven saying, Now is come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of the brethren is cast down who accused them before our God day and night.

52:29 And they overcame. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony. And they loved not their life even unto death. What is the foundational and the procuring cause of their overcoming?

52:51 It is Christ's redemptive act. They overcame because of the blood of the Lamb. When the Lord Jesus died upon the cross, He did not die simply to make salvation possible. He died to procure salvation for his people.

53:15 And in his death, he secured everything necessary to bring those for whom he died from a state of sin and condemnation and death to a state of life and glory and glory. And everlasting blessing. And so, because he died for them and shed his blood for them, in due course, he brings the gospel to them. And by the Spirit's effectual work through that gospel weather, as we heard last week, like a flower opening to the sun in the case of Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened.

53:57 Or in the case of the Philippian jailer, like a thunderclap and a lightning bolt in a clear summer day, he arrests them. By the Holy Spirit, he reveals to them their need of Christ. Christ's sufficiency for their need. He brings them to turn from all trust in all other things and to cast themselves upon him.

54:17 He places his Spirit within them. He commits himself to intercede for them and to give them every needed supply to bring them safely at last to heaven. So that while we do not back off from this, this sixth principle, the saints must overcome in order to inherit the promises, we do not back off from the seventh. The true saints of God shall overcome and inherit the promises.

54:48 Why? They overcame him. That is, the accuser of the brethren, the devil and all his minions, they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb. That's the foundational and the procuring cause.

55:04 And having confessed him in the word of their testimony in a context in which they have indeed committed themselves utterly and entirely to Christ, loving not their lives unto death, they are his true people who've seen him as the pearl of great price. Because of the blood of the Lamb, they shall be overcomers. Chapter 17 in verse 14, a text we looked at earlier in another life, but let's look at it again more carefully. Because the whole cosmic conflict is brought into sharp focus in this text, 1714, these shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they also shall overcome that are with him, and notice how they are identified, called and chosen and faithful. The ones who are with him, shall overcome. And they shall overcome in their identity that is here given in three words, called, chosen, faithful. Now if we were writing it, we'd invert the order.

56:19 We'd say they are chosen, and because chosen, they are called, and because called, they are faithful. But notice that's not the order of the text. They are identified as those who are, first of all, called. That is, they have not been merely seen, they have not been merely summoned out of the world in sin to Christ and his salvation.

56:40 But the word calling, almost without exception, just maybe two exceptions in the New Testament, refers not merely to God's summons, but God's summons accompanied by his effectual working in which he takes out the heart of stone, and he brings the sinner to embrace that to which he calls him. That is Christ himself, in the fullness of his salvation, the repentance in faith. Calling, then, is the distinct designation of God's people. And these who overcome, overcome because they are his true people.

57:16 They are called. And when we ask, why are they called, and not others who are merely summoned, who hear his voice, and rather starve than come, why do they come? Because they are chosen. And if they are called and chosen, what will the evidence of that be?

57:38 They are faithful. They are faithful. Because truly called, and called because chosen, the manifestation of their identity as called and chosen is, they are faithful in the strength and in the power and in the grace that is conferred upon them in their calling, so that the true saints of God shall overcome and inherit the promises. And all of this, because they are under the canopy of the very last verse in the book of the Revelation.

58:14 Look at it. 22, 21. What is the last word? When one of the men would stand and read this letter in the seven churches, and remember, it was read.

58:27 So a blessing is pronounced on the one who reads and those who hear. These are the words that would ring in their ears with all of these images mingled in their minds and flashing forward and backwards and across their minds and overwhelmed with all of this imagery. How shall I stand against these hostile forces? This vicious, ugly beast and the false prophet and the seducing harlot.

58:56 How shall I be kept amidst all of these forces that would drag me from Christ and His ways? Here's the answer. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints.

59:15 Those who are indeed set apart unto God in union with Christ, they live, they persevere, they die, they are glorified by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the true saints of God shall overcome, and shall inherit the promises. And so amidst all of the struggle and all of the real spiritual energy and focused concentration of all of our powers in overcoming, we don't do so. But the big question mark, is it all going to come to naught?

59:57 We can say with top lady, yes, I to the end shall endure, as sure as the promise is given, more happy, but not more secure, the glorified spirits in heaven. And there is that confidence, yes, I must overcome, but I shall overcome in the strength and in the power of the Lord Jesus. Yes, God is at work in me, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. And that becomes the basis of my rolling up my sleeves to work out my own salvation.

60:35 With fear and with trembling. The Apostle Paul could say, I strive, I agonize, according to His working which works in me mightily. Well, Paul, do you do the agonizing or does God do it? He says, I do it.

60:50 But how come you're able to do it? Because He works in me, enabling me to do it. You see, that's the mystery, the paradox of the Christian life. But that's the reality that's set before us even in this blessed book.

Concluding Exhortation and Call to the Unconverted

61:03 Well, we come around the corner, we come full circle. I don't know where you placed your bets this morning. Some of you told me at the door that I didn't know we're betting men and women. That you were laying your bets that I wouldn't get through in two messages.

61:17 So, I get 10% for what you've done in my life. But seriously, my real aim was that by concentrating on this wonderful book for this one day, I might whet your appetite to dare to take it up with no commentaries and to read it believing that God can feed your soul with these things that constitute what I have called the essence of the abiding message of the book of the Revelation. And then as your appetite is whetted by that reading and you want some help in commentaries that are not complicated and don't go off in all this nonsense finding Napoleon here and Stalin there and Roosevelt here and all this other stuff, that you'd pick up the simplest of the little commentaries by Richard Bewes called The Lamb Wins. My wife and I read through it in our own family worship a few months ago and it was a great blessing. And then if you get through that and say, boy, that was a good read, I'd like a little bit more, then go to Verne Poitras' book The Returning King and then after that you say, man, I just really think I'd like to go through a third time, then I would recommend Johnson's book The Triumph of the Lamb. And then for those of you that say, well, I'd just like one more, then you get Hendrickson's book entitled More Than Conquerors.

62:40 And though they take a different position on some details, you will find an overarching sympathy with the things I've tried to set before you today. In many areas, I'm indebted to them. They've been my teachers. They've been my confirmers in the things that I believe I have seen in the book.

62:57 But I really do want you as the Lord's people to have this book as part of the spiritual bloodstream that is in you so that you might know the benefit of these perspectives in your Christian life. And my final word to you who are not God's children, I couldn't help but think at my desk, it's a terrible thing to be a loser. It's even more terrible to know that you're a loser and more terrible yet to know that that's all you can be as a loser. How many of you would go out and play on a softball team if you knew before the game ever started you're beat?

63:42 You're already a loser for the first inning. You want to play for a team there's not even a lick of a chance that you'd win? I think some of you are at least inwardly shaking your head. Now, who wants to be a loser?

63:54 And who wants to know that he's a loser? My friend, if you're not in Christ, you're a loser. You're a loser. You're aligned with the devil.

64:05 You are aligned with the devil and he's a loser. The book of the Revelation makes it plain. He's destined for the lake of fire. The beast and the false prophet destined for the lake of fire.

64:18 Babylon, destined for the judgment of God. Babylon, the symbol of this world. And all that you give your heart to, it's losing stuff, my friend. There's only one way and I don't say it to be flippant.

64:34 There's only one way to be a winner in this life and in the life to come and that's to be in union with the winning side of the living one who is Christ, who conquered the devil, who will in the last day cast him into the pit and all who've chosen to stay on his side with him. Break up your alignment with the devil. You say, how do I do it? That's what the Bible means by repentance and faith.

65:05 You see in Christ, the one who died for sinners, the one who's able to break your chains that bind you to the world of selfish interest and can set you free to serve and love the God who made you and you throw yourself upon the one who is called over 20 times in the book of the Revelation, the Lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's why it's an unusual conjunction of concepts. You think of a lion as triumphing and conquering but the one who conquers in the book of the Revelation is the Lamb, the Lamb who died and shed his blood for sinners and if you throw yourself upon him in the nakedness and vileness of your guiltiness and pollution, he'll receive you. He'll wash you. He'll forgive you. He'll take you into himself.

66:00 He'll put you in his army and you're going to be on the winning side and you'll triumph in the Lord Jesus. May God grant that as I trust he's fed the hearts of his people this day might mark the day when some got aligned with the triumphing one, even the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word.

66:34 We thank you that you've not left us in the dark concerning the unfolding of human history, that we are not held in the despair of those who really do believe that history is nothing but a meaningless cycle of the rise and fall of nations, the emergence and then the demise of systems of thought, political and philosophical, and have no sense that it's come from anywhere and going anywhere. Lord, what a horrible thing to have to live in such a vice-like system of despair. We thank you that in your word you've told us that history has movement and direction and a terminus and that it all centers in Jesus. And we pray that we may be found in him, that when history is wound up and when it issues into eternity, that we may be found in the new heavens, in the new earth, in Christ, more than conquerors through our blessed Savior. Amen. Use your word, we pray, to persuade some this day to align themselves with Jesus.

67:54 Encourage the hearts and minds of your people. Prepare us, Lord, for whatever the days ahead may hold, that we, by your grace, may be faithful even unto death, knowing that you will give us the crown of life. We ask these mercies with thankfulness in Jesus' name. Amen.