[0:00] And we read the Word of God found in Revelation 6, starting in verse 9 and going down to verse 17. It says, Let's pray.
[1:22] Lord, we thank You so much that You have given us this day. Lord, we are so thankful that we have the opportunity to read Your Word. Lord, we have the opportunity to see it as it is written, to see the truth that it contains.
[1:34] But Lord, I pray that our eyes and our ears and our hearts and minds would be opened. Lord, that we would be able to grasp the truth, and the truth grasped would be that which moves us to be conformed more and more to Your image, to live for Your glory and honor.
[1:46] We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Throughout Scripture, there is this great contradictory, it seems, of not just of terms, but of personalities.
[1:59] But really, it gives us the full picture. It gives us the picture as it really is. And it is the picture of a holy and true God. Many of us long to see God in His grace, in His mercy, in His love, in His concern, in these aspects of His personality, if you will.
[2:16] We hate to use that word because it is given human attributes to a holy being. But we see that these attributes of His character are true. They are real. God is merciful. God is gracious.
[2:28] God is loving. And God is kind. Scripture tells us very clearly that God is love in all that it embodies. But on the other side of that, God is also holy.
[2:40] And the holiness of God is the perfect balance to the love of God. Because God is love is often used as an excuse to sin or to move forward as we wish or to do the things which we want to do or long to do or the things which feel good to the flesh.
[2:57] And the love of God is used as a crush. And since God is gracious and mercy and loving and kind, then surely He will not judge me. Well, that would be to remove the other side of the character of God, and that is His holiness.
[3:10] The theme of Scripture speaks very clearly of this coming day of the Lord, which we see dawning here. It is repeated in just about every major prophetic book in the Old Testament.
[3:23] It is repeated often throughout the New Testament. It is referred to all throughout 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Paul refers to it in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 as he speaks of the reality that there is a day for their judgment.
[3:36] And this is where we begin to see the rapture of the church being fleshed out because Paul is speaking of a judgment for someone other than the church. And this is not saying that God shows favorit.
[3:47] This is just saying that God is just, that He is holy, and it is true. And the day of the Lord is often overlooked because it is something which we have a hard time grasping.
[3:58] It is something in which we have a hard time reconciling our understanding of who God is. But we really cannot fully comprehend the love which God extends to us if we separate it from the holy standard which God sets for us.
[4:13] The fact that He is loving and merciful and kind and welcoming us into His presence through the blood of the Lamb is only magnified when we understand the reality of the coming judgment for those who reject that truth.
[4:25] And it causes us to put the Lamb in His rightful position of authority. He is both Savior and Lord. He does have the right to reign and rule over our lives because of the price He paid.
[4:40] And that price is seen as great when we understand the judgment that awaits us separated from that price that was paid. It does not give us an excuse to take the blood of Christ lightly.
[4:51] As a matter of fact, the author of the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 10, it's a great passage of Scripture that was used to awaken this soul, this nation on the soul in which we stand, the American awakening, one of the great awakenings that happened in our own land, used by Jonathan Edwards when he preached his message, Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.
[5:11] And he was speaking to the church. Hebrews chapter 10 speaks of the reality that how should we get away with, and I'm paraphrasing a little bit here, how should we get away with trampling the blood of Christ under our foot?
[5:22] How should we look at Christ and look at the price He paid, look at the standard He has called us to, and trample it underfoot or take it lightly? How should we escape judgment if we do that? And this is the thing which, when Jonathan Edwards preached that message, caused the believers to grasp the back of the pews because they really felt like the earth underneath them was opening up.
[5:41] And many in the pews cried out screaming, stop, stop, stop, because they thought, as in the Old Testament picture, that hell was about to swallow them, especially when he got to this passage where it says in Hebrews chapter 10 that it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.
[5:58] What we understand is many people have a hard concept of believing that God can be angry. But Jeremiah 30 says this. I believe it is Jeremiah 30 verse 7 says that that day, the day of the Lord, is coming.
[6:13] It is the day of Jacob's trouble. It is the day with an intention of calling Jacob, that is the nation of Israel, back to himself. They will be saved. That is the nation of Israel.
[6:25] This, my friend, is the tribulation period. The church is raptured at the end of Revelation chapter 3, according to my understanding of those things, and we're not going to go through it right now, but what we're seeing is that day where God's holiness is now on display.
[6:41] Why? Because the agent of God's grace and mercy has been removed. That is the church. The church is the body of Christ. We're much more than a gathering of people who come together to shake hands or to fellowship and to have a good time.
[6:54] We're the body of Christ. We are the bride of Christ. We are to be the hands and feet of Christ. We are those who proclaim the price that Christ paid. We are those who announce the grace that God has given, the mercy that is extended, that whosoever will can come.
[7:10] But when that body is removed, the age of grace is through. And when the age of grace is through, the day has dawned, and the day of the Lord is there.
[7:24] And we see here all men before a holy God. And these last two seals, we have a contradictory of men. We're introduced to two groups of individuals, all of them being birthed out of the tribulation.
[7:41] Separate yourself from this. If you believe Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, then you as the church are gone. You're not here. Okay? But the reality is that all men will stand before him.
[7:52] And that day, we looked at this truth last week when we saw the seals, that these seals are centered upon mankind. God is not judging creation. God is judging the pinnacle of his creation, which is man, who had the right to choose.
[8:07] It's amazing that God gives man the right to choose, or the free will, if we will, according to Scripture, that man has this response to the God that he creates, or the God that created him.
[8:17] And man has the freedom to make a choice of what he's going to do with this holy God, because that which may be made known about God has been clearly revealed by God. Friend, you are without excuse.
[8:30] You are, the Bible says a number of times in the book of Proverbs, and even through the book of Psalms, that the fool has said in his heart there is no God. We would be foolish to look at creation, and to look at the testimony of God, and say that there is no God, and deny the existence of him.
[8:44] And therefore, God is just in that day of the Lord that is now dawned, and man will be held accountable for what they have done. You say, well, if it has nothing to do with me, I'm thankful you said that, Pastor, I'm going to check out.
[8:56] Maybe we shouldn't check out, because while we're not trying to scare one another into heaven, we are trying to motivate one another to tell others about the glory of heaven. Because there is coming a day of Lord, which is true and certain, and we see them contradicted here in the two groups of people we see in the fifth and sixth seal.
[9:13] We will look at both of them at the same time. We're not going to take time to go through verse by verse, but I want you to see with these two groups of people, those we find in the fifth seal and those we find in the sixth seal, I want you to see these four truths, and I will make my way through them quickly, because I know my time is a little bit limited.
[9:31] Number one, we see the people and their problem. Don't ever overlook the people. The book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ, right? It's not the revelation of things to come. It is not the revelation of end-time events.
[9:43] It is the revelation of Jesus Christ. God became flesh and dwelt among us, and we call him Manuel, and God became flesh, why? For people, right?
[9:54] God can deal with his creation while in heaven. We'll see that in just a minute. If this is about creation, if this is about the stars and the moon and the heavens and the planets and even the animal kingdom and all these things, God can deal with that from heaven.
[10:08] And you say, well, God can deal with man from heaven too, right? But he came to pay the price for mankind, for people. He dwelt among us. And what we see in this judgment is those which God has extended the most grace and mercy to, which is people, and we see the people and their problem.
[10:23] We are introduced to the first group of people here. It says, And when the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained.
[10:34] The first group of people we see are the martyrs. These are those, it says, The souls which have been slain. I love how, I believe it was John Phillips who said, Notice this, that these souls are alive, right?
[10:48] These are people that are dead. These are people who had been martyred. These are people who had been killed for the faith, and yet they are very much alive. They are alive because this tent, this body, this flesh is not your life.
[11:00] Your life is in your soul, right? Your life is in who you are. This is how God has set eternity in the heart of all men because that inside of us testifies to us that surely this is not it.
[11:11] I'm surely not going to run a course of life for however many years God has ordained this physical life to live, and then when it's done, it's done. That's it. You cannot, you would really have to go to great lengths to try to explain to me that when I die, there's just utter nothingness because we know something in us says that's not right.
[11:28] As a matter of fact, all mankind understands that that's not right because they're seeking to try to find some kind of fulfillment there, but what we see in this picture are the souls of those who are underneath the altar. Now, we don't want to take a long time to try to figure out what altar this is.
[11:41] Many people have spent a lot of time trying to split atoms, I guess, if you will, and again, they're getting carried away by the images and the pictures, and I think they're there. Is this the bronze altar or the brazen altar, the altar of sacrifice, or is this the altar of incense?
[11:55] And there are great arguments for either one of them. Most people believe that this is the altar of incense because they are praying, because the bronze altar was not a place of prayer.
[12:05] It was a place of what? Oh, you got me. You were there. This is where you need to know Leviticus, right, on Sunday night. It's a place of sacrifice. That's where they slew the animal and burned the animal. I don't think it's the bronze altar because the lamb is standing there, right?
[12:16] So there is no sacrifice on that altar. He was already slain and yet stands. I don't necessarily think it's the bronze altar because I don't believe in a literal building of the new temple, of a temple, because we are the temple.
[12:28] And the prayers of the saints are the incense that is being offered now. So what we see here is just this great picture, this imagery is in there surrounded, they're underneath their prayers, and they are gathered there, but they are gathered together.
[12:40] Now, these are not around the throne. These are under the altar. So these are separate from the elders and the multitude of elders that we saw somewhere else. My understanding is that these people are those who came to Christ during the tribulation or the first part of the tribulation.
[12:55] And some of you are saying, well, pastor, wait just a minute. You said that no one would come to Christ during the tribulation. And I would say that's not what I said because words matter. I said those who had had the opportunity to respond to the gospel, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and rejected the gospel will not have the opportunity to respond to the gospel after the church is gone.
[13:21] Why? Because God will not be mocked. You cannot sit there and say, well, I know that's true. I'm going to live my life. And if I see the church raptured, then I'll respond. God will not be mocked. It says 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, God will give you over to a debased mind so as to believe the lie.
[13:36] You will not be able to believe it. Your time has passed. But we understand this reality too. Not everyone in all the world has had the opportunity to hear the gospel. Maybe that amazes you, but do you know that there are people around the world today who have never heard the name of Jesus?
[13:49] Who have never heard the gospel? I mean, I'm talking about multitudes and multitudes and multitudes of people who have never heard the gospel of Christ. And the moment the church is gone, you know what's going to be left behind.
[14:01] Right? We understand it. Don't get caught up in, I know Tim LaHaye and all these, I think his last name was Jenkins, that wrote all the great left behind series, and they're great, by the way. Tim LaHaye was the pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, which is where David Jeremiah pastors right now.
[14:14] It's amazing. That church has had this great run of pastors who preach end-time events and do it very well. But these things were born out of biblical knowledge, and they were born out of biblical study, but yet they were just man's interpretation of that, so don't take it as scripture.
[14:28] But one thing we do know, that the moment the church is gone, okay, the moment the church is gone and the buildings are empty, I know if somebody went into my office, they're going to go into my office, and they're going to find Bibles land there.
[14:39] They're going to sign, I have sermon outlines, these that I print out that I hardly ever look at. Now, there's a whole drawer full of sermon outlines. There's all kinds of recordings all throughout history that will be, think of the things which will remain.
[14:50] Surely, someone who has never heard will have the opportunity to pick up the Word of God, because the Word of God is that which leads man to salvation, right? People always are going to investigate what is going on.
[15:02] People have a longing for the truth. The one thing that will remain is the Word of God. And look at this. This is their problem. We'll get to their testimony in just a minute. Their problem is this, is they found the truth, they believed the truth, and they paid the ultimate price for the truth.
[15:14] My understanding of this, and we'll see it later on, is that the moment they accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the moment they make this profession, the moment they begin to live out this profession, they will die. Because at that time, the church is gone, the age of grace is gone, the Antichrist is ruling, and this great leader of the world wants nothing to do with that.
[15:35] Because he has taken the place of God. He is the abomination of desolation that we find all throughout Scripture. He is the one who is trying to take the place of God, and he will not allow man to believe something.
[15:46] We've seen, friends, listen to me. We've seen precursors of this throughout history. You don't want to believe what we believe? Then that's fine. We'll let you go. We know the atrocities. We know the atrocities that take place during the Nazi regime during World War II, but what about the atrocities that have taken place in other places, like Cambodia and other regions of the world, when millions and millions and millions of people literally have been wiped out simply because they did not believe what we believe?
[16:10] This is the precursor of what's going to happen. These people, they believed the truth, they accepted the truth, they began to live out the truth, and they paid the ultimate price, and now their souls are under the altar. These are the first group of people in the problem that they had.
[16:22] They died for their faith. The second group of people we have is a people that encompasses all mankind. It says here in the sixth seal that these are the kings of the earth, the great men, the commanders, and the rich, and the strong.
[16:33] Look at this. The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich, and the strong, and every slave, and free men. These are everyone. What we need to understand is that this list is all inclusive.
[16:46] Everyone else, great men, rulers, kings, commanders, rich, strong, powerful, slave, or free, this includes everyone, which means no one is excluded from this list.
[16:58] And the reason no one is excluded from this list is because no one will be able to separate themselves from the problem they have, and the problem they have in the sixth seal is a big problem.
[17:08] Theirs is a problem of cosmic upheaval. Look at what it says. And I looked, and when he broke the sixth seal, he is the one who created it all. By the way, Scripture says that Jesus, through him all things were created, and for him all things were created, and he upholds all creation in his hand.
[17:24] And it says, and when he broke the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake. Now, that means a worldwide earthquake, not just a locale earthquake, right? There's a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth, made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth.
[17:38] You need to understand this in the original language. That word stars could mean literal stars, but it means any heavenly body. So many people, if you're reading a biblical commentary on this, it says it's an asteroid shower, a meteor shower.
[17:50] He is probably accurate. It is not that the stars, it doesn't have to mean that literally the stars fell, but heavenly bodies began to plummet the earth. And we see that all of creation is groaning.
[18:00] It says, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. Some biblical scholars believe that these are pictures of things, the turmoil that is going on on the earth, that each of these are representative of political world powers being shaken.
[18:12] And while that, I think, will happen, and I also believe that this is a literal picture of all of creation groaning and the creator shaking up creation because it says that this will be ripped apart.
[18:23] Isaiah says the heavens will be spread apart and it will be ripped. It says in 1 Peter that he will shake the earth to its core, to its foundation. And friends, you can look at the science, and there's a lot of science there saying that these things can happen.
[18:35] As a matter of fact, if you look at the earth's crust and you look at the platonic plates and you look at the different things, there's this layer there that's pretty much like plastic that is holding all of the continents together that many people believed was formed during the great flood.
[18:47] And that thing is just sitting there waiting. And if that thing was to be shaken, I mean be shaken, it is really very, very deep into the earth's crust. If that thing was to be shaken at its core, it would be an earthquake that went worldwide.
[18:59] And it would be such catastrophic events that it would literally begin to split open the earth and volcanoes would spew to such an extent that the lava and the smoke and the ash would literally blacken the stars.
[19:11] It would blacken the sun. It would cover the moon with red fire. And it would cause such an upheaval in creation that people would be terrified. Now that's a problem.
[19:22] And that affects everyone. Here's the people and their problem. Number two, not only do we see the people and their problem during this dawning of the day, we see the profession which they make.
[19:33] And this is important because this profession is something of utmost importance. And really, it is very similar to one another. We see the profession they make. The first people we see there in the fifth seal, it says that they were slain.
[19:46] Why were they slain? Because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained. They were slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained.
[19:59] They did not believe someone's opinion. They did not believe someone standing on a street corner, even though we'll have witnesses. The two witnesses haven't showed up yet or the 144,000, we haven't seen those yet, right?
[20:10] These are people who simply somehow or another got a hold of the word of God, began to read the word of God, believed the word of God, had a testimony as a result of the word of God, and had a testimony which was maintained.
[20:24] Maintained meaning even though everyone told them to stop believing, they would not believe. If this does not motivate us to take the word of God seriously, I do not know what will. They found the word, they consumed the word, they believed the word, and they maintained the testimony of the word, and they died for that testimony.
[20:45] The profession which they made is, this is true. Their profession shows us that it is more important to fear him who can cast both body and soul into hell than to fear him who has control over the body alone.
[21:00] That's the words of Jesus. Remember that, right? Don't fear man. Don't be consumed about the man who can destroy your body. These are those. Don't be consumed about the man who can destroy your body.
[21:12] Fear him who has control over both body and soul. And when they read the word of God, they began to see there is one who is stronger than the one who tells me he's going to kill my body. There is one who has control over both body and soul, and I will profess and maintain that profession.
[21:28] It is their profession which leads us and moves us to faithful, consistent obedience. It is their profession which should motivate us to be enduring saints.
[21:39] As a matter of fact, each one of the promises extended to the seven churches was a promise given to those who endure to the end, right? Or to those who overcome, to those who maintain their profession in light of the turmoil and all the distress that is beginning to take place upon the earth.
[21:55] So we see the profession which they make. Now, surprisingly, the profession of the second group is not that much different. It is a profession of who God is.
[22:06] We see here that when these things begin to happen, and we're going to skip over just a little bit, but look at what it says in verse 16, because I'm going to come back to the other stuff. In verse 16, we see what these people profess.
[22:17] Now, these people are the kings and the rulers and the commanders and the powerful and the strong and the mighty and those who are rich and the slave and the free man. This is everyone else, right? Who is alive during that time when all of chaos is going on in all of creation.
[22:32] Now, we understand that from the four horsemen, a third of the earth has already died. We understand that there was a false sense of peace, which the tribulation will start out with three and a half years of peace. And at midway point, according to the book of Daniel and also the book of Ezekiel, and even when we get into the New Testament passages of it, that halfway through, the one who is offered peace will turn and it will go from peace to war, right?
[22:54] So then we had war. Then we had famine, which famine always follows war and death and hell follow with him. We see that that is always an outcome of these things. And the third of the earth dies. And now all of a sudden, there's this cosmic upheaval of all of the creative work and they're going to make the profession.
[23:09] Look at what their profession says. It says, hide us from the presence of him. Do you see this? Man is professing, hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb.
[23:24] Now the wrath of the lamb is also a term used for the day of the Lord. So it's referring to the same timeframe. But what I want you to see here is that all of mankind makes this profession. There is one sitting on the throne and there is one who has the right to judge me and they are judging me and I don't like it.
[23:41] What does their profession show us? Their profession shows us these people know the truth. As a matter of fact, they believe the truth. They believe that there is one who sits on the throne, who is God.
[23:52] And they believe that judgment has been given into the hands of the one beside the throne, that is the lamb, that is the wrath of the lamb. Their profession is a true profession. But yet they do not join faith to that profession or surrender to that profession.
[24:09] If the profession of the first group of individuals shows us that it is better to fear him who has control over both the body and the soul than him who has control only over the body, the profession of the second group of individuals, and this is the one that really shakes the church to the core, shows us this.
[24:26] It is absolutely possible to believe the truth, to know the truth, to acknowledge the truth, and yet not be saved. You can nod your head and shake my hand and say that is true, that is true, that is true, and still not have salvific faith in Jesus Christ.
[24:46] You say, well, the Bible tells us that truth will set us free. Right. Truth will set you free. But you have to hold on to that truth and take action upon that truth.
[24:57] Probably one of the greatest examples I've heard of this, and my mind fails me. It has to tell me which region, but I remember the story and the testimony of following the events of World War II during one of the countries, inside one of the countries which the Nazis were moving into, an individual had went into a cave and had went into hiding in this cave because he knew the Nazis were coming.
[25:19] So he went, really, he just went into seclusion in this cave and he would come out at night and he would gather his food and he'd go back into the cave and he'd come out at night, gather his food, go back into the cave. And when World War II ended, the Americans flew planes over this region and dropped pamphlets saying the war was over, the war was over, the war was over, that you're free, you're free.
[25:37] Well, this individual would come out of his cave at night and he would pick up the pamphlets and he would see this as Nazi propaganda trying to draw him out of the cave. So he continued to go back into the cave and no matter how many years passed, he just, he thought this was Nazi propaganda and he said, there's no way I'm going to go into this.
[25:51] He lived in that cave some 30 years following the end of the war and it wasn't until some people were traveling through that region and happened to go into that cave that they found this man. Now the truth was, was the war was over but he did not take action upon that truth and lived confined by his own choice and his own desire.
[26:09] He knew the truth. He saw the truth. He may have even acknowledged the truth but yet he was not willing to respond to the truth and therefore lived as a slave to his own fear. Friend, it's the same thing so many times in our lives.
[26:20] People, we can acknowledge the truth, we can say, yeah, that looks right, we can read it, we can see it in black and white and red and we can shake our heads and say, yes, that is it but it is absolutely possible to know the truth and some can even say the truth and yet not be saved.
[26:35] Across many of our great universities across this nation, there are many classes which you can take biblical study classes and what you would find, theology of the Bible, study of the Bible, as you as an individual walking into that university would say, well, I'm going to take this biblical studies class.
[26:51] It's going to be greater. History of the Bible, I'm going to take this. I'll probably learn a lot but more times than not, now I'm of course pulling out our Christian universities and even our seminaries and things like that.
[27:04] I'm just talking about your major universities like you can go to Princeton and Yale and Harvard and you can take biblical studies classes but what you are going to find is that the professors teaching biblical theology and biblical studies most times are agnostic.
[27:19] They don't believe. They can teach you the truth but they have not surrendered their life to the truth. Their profession shows us it is not enough just to acknowledge the truth.
[27:31] It is not enough just to say, yes, that's right, that sounds right, yeah, it seems right. It is not enough to say there is one on the throne and there is a lamb who is in control. It's not enough to say that. Our life must match the truth we profess which means we must surrender to the truth and we see the profession which they make.
[27:49] So we see here the people in the problem, we see their profession. Number three, we also see their prayer because how men pray at this time really has a weight.
[28:02] It really shows us their surrender or their life, right? We see their prayer. Each of these groups pray by the way. We see the souls who are under the altar. Now their prayer kind of stumps us a little bit.
[28:12] Their prayer kind of confuses us because some have said that this is not a Christian prayer. There is no way that this is a Christian prayer but we see here the prayer that they offer anyway. It says, and when the lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained.
[28:29] And here is their prayer, verse 10. Some say, by the way, that this is the first prayer of petition we find in the book of Revelation. It's also the first time which we see God respond because of a petition of man in the book of Revelation.
[28:41] It says, and they cried out with a loud voice saying, now look at this prayer. You say, well this is a prayer I'd like to pray right now but wait just a minute. How long, O Lord, holy and true will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?
[28:53] Here is their prayer. Their prayer is saying, God, when will you judge them? And some people have a hard time with this and they scratch their head and say, well this isn't a Christian prayer. There's no way this is a Christian prayer. Well wait a minute. Let's take it in light of when it is offered, right?
[29:06] Let's take it in light. This is definitely not a church prayer because it's not the church age. As a matter of fact, this prayer is more mimicking or more of a picture of the Old Testament prayers which we have contained throughout the book of Psalms.
[29:18] They call them Psalms or imprecatory Psalms. They are Psalms calling on God to judge his people or calling on God to judge his people's enemies. They are Psalms which are saying, oh God, judge those who are rejecting you.
[29:30] God, judge those who are fighting against us. Now we live in a dawn of time which is so gracious. We live in a time which is so great. We live in a day of grace. We live in the church age and it is here that we intercede on behalf of others.
[29:44] It is here that we love our enemies. We pray for those who persecute us. We give to those who ask of us. It is here that if someone slaps us on the right cheek, we turn to him our left cheek. If someone asks us to go a mile, we go two miles.
[29:55] That is the day of grace. Friend, listen, the day of grace has a definite time and when that time is over, those types of petitions and requests on behalf of others stop.
[30:07] The reason we do not find it in the Old Testament God was gracious and mercy and loving in the Old Testament. We see him constantly extending his mercy and we see him putting himself on display through his people but yet the sacrifice for all men had not been made yet, right?
[30:22] And now that that sacrifice who is Jesus Christ has hung on the cross, we can intercede on behalf of others for their salvation. But when that day is over, it is not that we're reverting back to Old Testament times but the day of the Lord has dawned and now those who have died for their faith, they're not saying God judge my blood.
[30:43] What are they saying? How long will you refrain from judging those who have denied you? The focus is on the holiness of God. Isn't it a precarious prayer that says, oh God, you are just, you are holy, you will not be mocked, you will not allow, this magnifies for us the holiness of God.
[31:03] Now look at the prayer of the second group. The second group included all people, right? Do you notice their profession was that there is one sitting on the throne and there is the wrath of the Lamb. But did you notice who they prayed to?
[31:14] I only read it once but I'll read it to you again. Look at what it says. It says they prayed in verse 16. They are hiding, by the way, everything is falling upon them. They went into the caves among the rocks and the mountains which is kind of weird because the rocks and the mountains are falling down.
[31:28] Here in just a little bit in Revelation, the mountains actually will be flattened. So they went and hid in the very things that were terrifying them. Which, why? Because God will give them over to a debased mind so as to believe the lie, right?
[31:39] They will not be thinking correctly. And they said to the mountains and rocks, their prayer is to Mother Earth.
[31:51] They are crying out to the earth. Oh, earth, hide us from Him who is sitting on the throne. Oh, mountains, hide us from the Lamb that is judging us. What they don't know is they're crying out to the creation to have covering from the Creator.
[32:06] They're asking creation to be more powerful than the Creator. Now, while they believe the truth, their prayer is not offered to Him who is on the throne. Again, this just matches what we've already said.
[32:17] That acknowledgement of the truth does not mean that we petition or cry out to Him who is the truth. We see the reality that they're crying out to the earth and they're asking the earth to do things for Him. We see this all throughout creation.
[32:29] We see this in all humanity, people thinking that creation is somehow or another. Paul says it, that they sculpt idols made with their hands from creation and they worship them and they call out to the stone or the wood and they say, oh, these things are deaf and mute and blind and they do not speak, they do not hear and they do not eat and yet they cry out to them and they're falling down before these earthen gods and we see their prayer.
[32:54] Finally, not only we see the people and their problem, we see their profession, we see their prayer. Fourth and finally, we see the promise. Each of these groups are given a very distinct promise.
[33:09] Now, when this imprecatory prayer is offered and they're saying, how long, oh Lord, how long, oh Lord? Verse 11 says this, here's the promise. And if this promise is extended to the saints who come to believe in Christ during the tribulation, it is definitely one that is extended to us as well.
[33:25] It has an application to us, it has direct promise to them but it is applicable to us as well because the very thing that they are promised is the very thing that we are given as well. It says, there is given to each one of them a white robe.
[33:37] A white robe. Now, think about this just for a moment. We're given white robes, the righteous deeds of the saints. We're clothed in white, right? The church is clothed in white and we have this tendency to think that we should be clothed in white. I mean, I've given my life to Jesus Christ.
[33:49] I'm living my life for His glory. I'm trying to be faithful. I'm trying to follow Him. I'm at church. I mean, I'm at church and a lot of people aren't at church and He should clothe me in white. White robes signify righteousness, right?
[33:59] He is putting His righteousness over us. It is also peace and comfort and security. It is a place of authority. It is a place of prosperity even and we say, well, yes, I should have this but what about those people who never heard the gospel and they come to faith in Jesus Christ and in that moment then they die for the faith.
[34:14] It says that they are also clothed in white. Why? Because the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Remember the parable of those who labored in the field, right? Where the landowner went out and in the early day he found someone to work in his field and then he went out later in the day and found someone to work in his field and he went out later in the day and found someone to work in his field and then he went out at the 11th hour and found some people standing there and he said, come work in my field and they labored for an hour because he only worked 12 hours, right?
[34:39] It's just a 12 hour shift, nothing big. So at the end of that day he called them up and he called the last one, the one who'd worked an hour and he gave him his money and those who came first who'd worked 12 hours said, this is good, he just paid him what he promised us.
[34:51] We've worked 12 times as long as this man has worked, he will pay us 12 times as much and when the ones who had worked all day came, he gave them the same amount and they got mad. So why did you do that?
[35:03] We labored long and he said, wait a minute, my friend, did I not tell you that if you worked for me I'd give you a denarius? Yes. So then why are you mad? I gave you what I told you, right? It's my money if I want to give a denarius to him who worked only an hour, what is that to you?
[35:15] And that parable was given to show us it is not a matter of how long we have been a follower of Christ, it's not a matter of even how much we've done as a follower of Christ, the truth is that we are followers of Christ and followers of Christ are given the same thing, a white robe.
[35:30] If you're one who's been a believer for 80 years and you die and you're raptured and you're called into the glory and you're in his presence, a white robe. If you're one who believes the Bible in a moment and maybe you've been a believer for 8 minutes and you're beheaded during the tribulation, a white robe.
[35:42] Isn't that good? This is great reward. Now, that's the white robe. We know there's a crown of our rewards for our labors that we cast before his feet but that which we are clothed with is his righteousness.
[35:55] But then he says this, rest a while. Rest. These believers were born at the most tumultuous time in all of history. He says, just rest.
[36:06] Be easy. A promise of rest until the number who will die just as you have is fulfilled which shows us God is in control, right, of even the martyrs.
[36:19] So they are given his righteousness, clothed in his holiness and told to rest a while. That's the promise. Very easily, the promise to the second group which is the rest of mankind, those who deny surrendering their life to him.
[36:34] Not that they deny the reality of him but they deny the surrender that is due him. It is this real simple question at the end of verse 17. Verse 17 says, for the great day of their wrath, you see that word there, it's not our wrath, for the great day of their wrath has come.
[36:54] And here's the promise and also the statement, who is able to stand? I can answer that for you.
[37:06] No one. No one. No matter how strong they are, no matter the position they hold, no matter if they're a commander, if they're rich, if they're king, if they're a ruler, if they're a slave or they're free, the promise is, you will all fall before me.
[37:28] Who is able to stand? No one. Promise is this, all men will be drawn to fall before the Lord God Almighty.
[37:43] And none will be able to stand in their own strength, in their own might, in their own prestige, in their own position, or their own power. He says, no one who is able to stand?
[37:54] None. My friend, if none can stand before Him, and I'm closing, if none can stand before Him then, then my sincere belief is that it would be best if we fall before Him now.
[38:12] If none will ever be able to stand before Him in that day, then isn't it best if we fall before Him this day and we give Him His rightful position as Lord and Savior of our lives?
[38:25] Let's pray. Lord, I thank You so much for this day. I thank You that You've given us the opportunity of gathering together and looking at Your Word. Lord, I pray that we would take the truth that it contains and Lord, it would move our hearts and minds to faithful obedience to You.
[38:41] Lord, be magnified and glorified and we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[38:51] Amen. If you're able, you can stand. We're going to sing I Surrender All. All to Jesus I surrender All to Him I freely give I will ever love and trust Him In His presence daily live I surrender all I surrender all All to Thee My blessed Savior I surrender all
[39:53] All to Jesus I surrender Make me Savior Holy Thine Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit Truly know that Thou are mine I surrender all I surrender all All to Thee My blessed Savior I surrender all All to Jesus I surrender all Fill me with thy love and power, let thy blessing fall on me.
[41:02] I surrender all, I surrender all.
[41:13] All to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.
[41:43] I surrender all.
[42:13] I surrender all.
[42:43] I surrender all. I surrender all. I surrender all. I surrender all. I surrender all. I surrender all.
[42:55] I surrender all. I surrender all. I surrender all. I surrender all. I surrender all. I surrender all.
[43:07] I surrender all. I surrender all. great things in store for her. I've already challenged her that if you can, put a video testimony together for her. We'll see how that goes on, but it's great for her and great for the weeks ahead.
[43:21] That's going to be a great time. Hey, good time, a better time. We're going to start. We're going to remind you. We'll put this out later at 30th Sunday. We're going to want to serve on Sunday morning, okay? We're going to get a little crowded in here.
[43:32] We're going to try our best to keep it clean as we can. If things don't work and you're uncomfortable, we'll make it just as we can. We're going to try to be wise and also want us in the church to really understand the power of our God.
[43:44] So we'll put that out. We'll learn that for today. Thank you.
[44:17] Thank you.
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[49:17] Thank you.