We are the champions, we are the champions
We are the champions
Good morning everybody. Appreciate you being here today.
Our mission at the church at Argyle is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
That it's not about religion, it's about a relationship.
And not just a stagnant relationship, but a growing relationship.
That I do my best to try to feed you so you can grow and be more like Jesus.
Our calling is to be a church for people who don't like church.
There have been a lot of people who have had a bad experience at church
and they've been hurt by one thing or another and they say they're never coming back.
And so we're trying to be different here and be accepting and be open and be loving
so that people feel welcome and accepted here and that's important to us.
Our vision is to equip a thousand strong on Sundays.
See we have this group at 9, we have another group at 1030, we have another group tonight at 6.
And while this is going on in here, we also have our children's ministry next door
and also a deaf church that meets.
And what we're praying is to all those that on Sunday will have a thousand people here
that are being equipped and trained and encouraged to go out and be the church
wherever you are during the week.
Our strategy is to provide next steps that encourage three things.
Intimacy with God, that you grow to know God more and more.
That you have authentic community with each other and then a servant's heart to serve our world.
And when you're ready to take that next step, there are four steps that we believe are vital
for that growing relationship to connect in a life group, to find a place to serve on a volunteer team
that you give to the mission and that you invest in other people's lives
and you invite them to come to Argyle.
Today is part 10 in the series The Champion.
Ten weeks, can you believe it?
I have two more to go, lessons from the book of Revelation.
If you missed any of the series, you can get called up on our website at iargyle.com.
There are a lot of different ideas about the book of Revelation, believe me.
In my study, I have seen all kinds of different ideas among Christians and that's okay.
So I'm doing my best to teach you what I believe is true
and then we've decided that we're still going to be friends even if we disagree.
We've said that the book of Revelation is like the last chapter in a novel
and you would never just read the last chapter of a book without knowing what comes before it.
And so you need to know the whole story of God, the whole story in the Bible
or you won't understand what God is doing in the book of Revelation.
The book of Revelation comes with a special blessing.
Revelation chapter 1 and verse 3 tells us,
blessed is the one who reads the words of God's message
and blessed are the people who hear this message and do what is written in it.
The time is near when all of this will happen.
And even though the book of Revelation is full of symbols and signs,
this is a direct promise from God that those who read it
and those who do what it says will be blessed.
The book of Revelation brings us a message of hope that Jesus is the champion.
He's the king of kings. He's the Lord of lords.
God is in control of everything in human history.
God is in control of everything in the future.
And even though it seems sometimes that evil is winning the battle,
even though it seems sometimes that the bad people have all the power,
their ultimate doom is guaranteed.
Jesus will come in glory to judge and to rule.
That's what Revelation is all about.
Today we're in chapter 14.
We'll be looking at chapters 14, 15 and 16.
We're in Revelation 14 verse 1 if you want to follow along in your Bible.
Then I looked and there before me was the lamb standing on Mount Zion
and with him 144,000 who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads.
The lamb is Jesus.
Now there are actually two Mount Zions talked about in Scripture.
There's one in Jerusalem on the earth and there's another one in heaven also called Mount Zion.
We know that this Mount Zion that's being talked about here is the one in heaven
because Jesus is standing on it and we know that Jesus doesn't come back to the earth
until after the Great Tribulation.
The 144,000 are the Jewish witnesses that God has protected on the earth
until they complete their mission of sharing the gospel with the world.
Verse 2,
had completed their mission here on earth.
God had protected them through their mission but now they have been martyred
and they are standing with Jesus on Mount Zion in heaven.
Their persecution, their heartache, their suffering are over
and now that's been turned into a song of victory that only they can sing.
Verse 4,
I believe that this is symbolic of the 144,000 keeping themselves faithful to God.
Sexual purity is a picture of godly faithfulness.
I believe it's God's plan that sex between a man and a woman
in a marriage relationship is to be honored.
That sex outside of that marriage relationship is a sin against God.
Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4,
marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure
for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
Throughout scripture, sexual sin, fornication, adultery is used
as an illustration of being unfaithful to God.
That when we are not faithful to God,
that when we don't put God first in our life,
we are committing spiritual adultery with the world system.
Verse 4,
first fruits mean the very best and God always gives us his very best
and we should also give back to God our very best,
our first fruits, not the leftovers.
144,000 are an example to us of what a Christ follower should be.
Verse 5,
no lie was found in their mouths, they are blameless.
They were not perfect, they were not sinless, they were sanctified.
When we become a Christian, we do not become perfect,
we do not become sinless, we become sanctified.
We become set apart by a holy God.
And it's nothing that we have done,
but it's everything that God has done in and through us.
Verse 6,
then I saw another angel flying in midair
and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth
to every nation, tribe, language, and people.
Right in the middle of this terrible time of tribulation,
God sends his angel to tell everyone on earth that they can still be saved.
Verse 7,
he said in a loud voice,
fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come.
Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water.
Fear here means to respect and give reverence.
The angel's message is that your time is almost up
and so you don't need to fear Satan,
you don't need to fear the Antichrist,
you don't need to fear the false prophet,
you need to fear God.
Verse 8,
a second angel followed and said,
fallen, fallen is Babylon the great,
which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.
Babylon is what God calls the world system of the beast,
the political system, the economic system,
the religious system of the Antichrist.
The second angel is warning a world that is symbolically drunk
and committing adultery with this evil world system.
Verse 9,
a third angel followed them and said in a loud voice,
if anyone worships the beast and its image
and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand,
they too will drink the wine of God's fury,
which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.
Again, this is so difficult for us to comprehend
because we try to understand this in the light of how we get angry
and how we would punish someone ourselves,
but God is not like us.
He is a holy and righteous God who must respond against sin.
God continues to tell us over and over and over again
that the price for sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.
You see, the first angel invited sinners to repent
and to turn to God.
The second angel warned us that everything on earth
was going to be destroyed.
The third angel brings the ultimate warning.
Verse 10,
they will be tormented with burning sulfur
in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb,
and the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever.
There will be no rest day or night for those
who worship the beast and its image
or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.
The thought of being tormented with burning sulfur
is not a pleasant thought.
I was thinking back this week when our kids were growing up,
we've got twin girls and a son 15 months apart,
and so three toddlers, three endipers,
it was a joy at our house.
And we have a little saying like a lot of people do
when they would hurt themselves,
you know, kiss it, kiss it, mommy, kiss it, daddy,
and we'd kiss it and make it better
or if they burned themselves, blow on it, blow on it, mommy,
blow on it, daddy, and make it better.
When Rich was about two and a half,
we were at a church function
and the kids were with the babysitter
and we got a call that there had been an accident
and we were close by, this was back in the dark ages
before you had 9-1-1,
and so we rushed over to the house
and Rich had pulled a pot of boiling water off the stove
on top of him,
and it had gone all down his chest and down his arms
and he was burnt badly.
And so I gathered him up
and I don't even remember who drove the car,
somebody was driving, I don't even know where Donna was.
You were there?
And I'm holding Rich.
And the weird thing was he wasn't crying,
he wasn't screaming, he might have been in shock,
and I remember on about halfway to the hospital
we were going to St. Vincent and he looked up at me
and he said, Daddy blow it.
Oh man, you know like a knife right in your gut
because I wanted to blow it and make it better
and I couldn't do anything.
You know I thought about that later
that if my son grows up and rejects Jesus
and then I also thought as a father holding his child,
like God holding us
and not wanting us to burn,
you know I'll never make,
I don't think I will anyway,
a good hellfire and brimstone preacher,
not condemning those I think it's entertaining.
But I don't think I'll ever enjoy telling somebody
that they're going to hell
and it seems like some take joy in that for some weird reason.
People ask how can a God of love
sentence someone to a place of eternal torment?
See God's love is a holy love
which demands a holy judgment of sin
and so yes there is a place called hell
that's prepared for Satan and his followers.
But God has made a way of escape
for those who will accept it.
Verse 12,
this calls for patient endurance
on the part of the people of God
who keep his commands
and remain faithful to Jesus.
It is better to be patient now
and stand for Jesus
than to escape persecution now
and suffer for eternity.
Verse 13,
then I heard a voice from heaven say,
write this,
blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on,
yes says the spirit,
they will rest from their labor
for their deeds will follow them.
Those who pay the ultimate price for faith
will be blessed.
Verse 14,
I looked and there before me was a white cloud
and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man
with a crown of gold on his head
and a sharp sickle in his hand.
This is Jesus Christ in heaven
as he's preparing to go to war
in the battle of Armageddon.
Verse 15,
then another angel came out of the temple
and called out an loud voice to him
who is sitting on the cloud,
take your sickle and reap
because the time to reap has come
for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
So he who is seated on the cloud
swung his sickle over the earth
and the earth was harvested.
The harvest here is those who have chosen against God
and they will be gathered
and they will be judged.
Verse 17,
another angel came out of the temple in heaven
and he too had a sharp sickle.
Still another angel who had charged at the fire
came from the altar and called out an loud voice
to him who had the sharp sickle,
take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes
from the earth's vine because its grapes are ripe.
The angel swung his sickle on the earth
and gathered its grapes
and threw them into the great wine press of God's wrath.
The wine press here is symbolic of a great battle
as the enemies of God are defeated.
It's a bloodbath.
Verse 20,
they were trampled in the wine press outside the city
and blood flowed out of the press
rising as high as the horse's bridles
for a distance of 600 stadia.
This describes a river of blood
that was four and a half feet deep
and 200 miles long.
Today,
God speaks to us with grace
and mercy and still many refuse to listen.
There's coming a day when he will speak to us
with holy wrath
and then we will have no choice
but to listen.
Revelation 15,1
I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign.
Seven angels with the seven last plagues
last because with them God's wrath is completed.
Jesus saw another sign in heaven.
Seven angels with seven bowls of God's wrath
ready for action.
But before sending them out,
God wanted to once again encourage those
who were faithful.
And I saw what looked like a sea of glass
glowing with fire.
God's heavenly throne is built on a stage
that's transparent crystal
like a sea of glass.
Verse 2,
and standing beside the sea,
those who had been victorious
over the beast and its image
and over the number of its name.
All the Christians from the world
who had given their lives for the faith,
they were victorious over Satan
and the Antichrist
and the false prophet
and they were standing with Jesus in heaven.
Verse 2,
they held harps
given them by God.
They had been enlisted into God's heavenly band
and they were about to rock.
Verse 3,
and sang the song of God's servant Moses
and of the Lamb.
Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
King of the nations,
who will not fear you, Lord,
and bring glory to your name.
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship before you
for your righteous acts have been revealed.
The song of Moses was sung by Israel
as they crossed through the Red Sea
and escaped Egypt.
The song as the Lamb is a song of deliverance
from sin through faith in Jesus Christ.
The 144,000 sang a song that no one else could sing,
but this song can be sung
by every child of God who's been set free.
Verse 5,
after this I looked
and I saw in heaven the temple.
That is the tabernacle of the covenant law
and it was opened.
Out of the temple came the seven angels
with the seven plagues.
They were dressed in clean, shining linen
and wore golden sashes around their chest.
Then one of the four living creatures
gave to the seven angels
seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God
who lives forever and ever.
And the temple was filled with spoke
from the glory of God and from his power
and no one could enter the temple
until the seven plagues of the seven angels
were completed.
The final seven judgments,
the most severe of all,
are about to begin.
Chapter 16, verse 1.
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple
say unto the seven angels,
Go, pour out the seven bowls
of God's wrath on the earth.
These are the most powerful judgments
of all the tribulation
and they are preparing the way
for the second coming of Jesus to the earth.
The bowls represent actual plagues
that will happen. This is not symbolic.
They are horrible enough.
We'll read them without comment.
Verse 2.
The first angel went
and poured out his bowl on the land
and ugly festering sores
broke out on the people
who had the mark of the beast
and worshiped its image.
The second angel poured out
his bowl on the sea
and turned it into blood
like that of a dead person
and every living thing in the sea died.
The third angel poured out
his bowl on the rivers and springs of water
and they became blood.
Then I heard the angel in charge
of the waters say,
You are just in these judgments,
O holy one,
You who are and who were.
For they have shed the blood
of your holy people and your prophets
and you have given them blood
to drink as they deserve.
And I heard the altar respond,
Yes, Lord God Almighty,
true and just are your judgments.
The fourth angel poured out
his bowl on the sun
and the sun was allowed to scorch
the people with fire.
They were seared by the intense heat
and they cursed the name of God
who had control over these plagues.
But they refused to repent
and glorify him.
The fifth angel poured out his bowl
on the throne of the beast
and its kingdom was plunged into darkness.
People gnawed their tongues in agony
and cursed the God of heaven
because of their pains and their sores.
But they refused to repent
of what they had done.
The sixth angel poured out his bowl
on the great river Euphrates
and its water was dried up to prepare the way
for the kings from the east.
Then I saw three impure spirits
that looked like frogs.
They came out of the mouth of the dragon,
out of the mouth of the beast,
out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Satan, the beast,
the false prophet
will send out evil spirits
into the world.
Their job is to deceive the kings
to bring their armies
to the battle of Armageddon.
Verse 14,
they are demonic spirits
that perform signs.
They go out to the kings of the whole world
to give them for the battle
on the great day of God Almighty.
Verse 15,
look, I come like a thief.
Blessed is the one who stays awake
and remains clothed,
so as not to go naked
and be shamefully exposed.
All through the Scripture
we are encouraged to stay ready
for the coming of Jesus,
like a soldier prepared for battle,
like a homeowner
watching out for a thief
to break in.
Verse 16,
then they gathered the kings together
to the place that in Hebrew
is called Armageddon.
Armageddon
is the Hebrew name
for Mount Mageddo.
It's 60 miles north of Jerusalem.
Napoleon said it's the greatest battlefield
that he had ever seen.
Verse 17,
the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air
and out of the temple came a loud voice
from the throne saying,
it is done.
This final judgment
will bring the greatest earthquake
that has ever happened in the history of the world
and the voice is that
of God Almighty.
Verse 18,
then there came flashes of lightning,
rumblings,
pills of thunder,
and a severe earthquake.
No earthquake like it has ever occurred
since mankind has been on earth
so tremendous was the quake.
The great city
split into three parts.
The great city is Jerusalem
and this split into three parts
is judgment but it's preparation
for the millennial kingdom
that soon to come.
Verse 19,
and the cities of the nations collapsed.
Every city will be destroyed
except Jerusalem.
God remembered Babylon the great
and gave her the cup
filled with wine
of the fury of his wrath.
Babylon is the capital
of the antichrist empire.
It will receive
an even more severe destruction.
Verse 20,
every island fled away
and the mountains could not be found.
From the sky
huge hell stones
each weighing about 100 pounds fell on the people
and they cursed God
on account of the plague
of hell
because the plague
was so terrible.
Jesus is coming again.
Nobody knows when
and so the important question
for us today is
are you
ready?
Our key verse today
is Revelation 16 verse 15.
Look, I come
like a thief
blessed is the one
who stays
awake.
We've been talking about
some tough stuff today
and some of us
may be tempted to think
how can a God of love
bring us such terrible judgment?
But that
same God
the very same God
is the one
who sacrificed his son
to pay for your
sin.
And we remember
that sacrifice today
as we share together
in the Lord's Supper.
