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The Testimony of Three Angels | Revelation 14:6-11 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Revelation Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  In Acts chapter 14, verses 16 and 17, the apostle Paul stood
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  before a group of people in a town called Lystra, and he was
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  conveying to this group of people who are evidently
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  idolaters, that the true God throughout every generation has
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  never, ever left himself without a witness.
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  Even Gentiles who, unlike the nation of Israel, received
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  direct divine revelation. We're not without evidence of
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  God. Paul goes on to explain that God
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  has made himself known through His providential and gracious
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  provision. He he sent rain, and he gave you
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  fruitful seasons and abundant crops and harvest, and even
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  satisfied the hearts of men and women with joy and gladness.
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  In other words, Paul is communicating by the Spirit that
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  in every generation God in some measure has revealed himself to
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  all nations. And as we continue to explore
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  what God has made known about the final chapter of human
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  history, there are many new things that we have discovered.
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  But one thing remains unchanged that God witnesses to the
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  nation's that God will still, even in that era, make Himself
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  so clearly known. The only difference is as the
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  world draws nearer and nearer to its end, God's voice will become
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  louder and louder. And one of the ways this will
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  occur is through ready for this unusual angelic activity.
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  This is what John sees next in the chapter that we started
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  together in Revelation 14 recently, after getting a
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  glimpse of Christ standing victorious with the redeemed on
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  Mount Zion shortly after the the brief reign of the Antichrist.
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  There's something else that he is going to see extraordinary
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  events during the Tribulation period.
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  And in this new passage, we're going to learn that at some
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  point there will be 3 angels dispatched from heaven, each
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  carrying a unique message for the world.
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  And we're going to look at these things more closely today.
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  And if you want a summary of what we're going to examine this
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  afternoon, it is this, the testimony of three angels, the
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  testimony of three angels, particularly in the last days.
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  Let's read about it in Revelation 14, starting in verse
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  6. Then I saw another Angel flying
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  directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to
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  those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and
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  language and people. And he said with a loud voice,
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  Fear God, and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment
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  has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea
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  and the springs of water. Another Angel a second followed,
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  saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, she who made
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  all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual
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  immorality. And another Angel 1/3 followed
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  them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and
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  its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he
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  also will drink the wine of God's wrath poured full strength
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  into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire
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  and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the
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  presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment
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  goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night.
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  These worshippers of the beast and its image, and whoever
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  receives the mark of its name. Let's pray.
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  Lord, we know that the testimony of these angels are Your words,
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  and we ask that You would help us understand them.
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  And though we know that we are looking into the future, we pray
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  that we would hear Your voice for today.
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  Give us Your guidance, Lord, through these passages.
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  Give us an attentive mind and a receptive heart.
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  We pray that Your word would build us up and that it would
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  destroy all lies, all deceptions, all dormant sins,
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  all these things that seek to captivate us and draw us away
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  from You. We pray that You would conquer
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  our hearts afresh this afternoon.
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  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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  You know, as I read this passage repeatedly earlier this week,
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  there were two main questions that arose in my mind that I had
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  to answer. Before looking at these things
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  in greater detail, the first question that came to me is
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  simply this. Are these angels that we just
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  read about? Are they to be taken literally?
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  Are they real angelic agents? Are they actual messengers from
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  heaven? And the reason why I say that is
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  because with a lot of revelation, there are many who
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  want to see this as symbolic. And there are strange ideas of
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  what these angels represent, Everything from printed bibles
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  to satellites in the sky to a picture of believers throughout
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  the ages. But we shouldn't find it so
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  difficult to see these as actual.
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  Angels, should we? Because this is not the first
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  time that we see something similar like this in the New
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  Testament. May I remind you who announced
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  the good news of the birth of the Messiah to a bunch of
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  shepherds on a quiet night? What did Luke tell us in Luke
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  chapter 2 verse 13? It was an Angel with a multitude
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  of hosts in heaven praising God. Now listen, if you're willing to
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  say that these angels in Revelation 14 are symbolic, are
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  you willing to say the same about Luke chapter 2?
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  I doubt it. So if you're willing to take the
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  Angel and a heavenly choir visiting a group of shepherds
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  literally, then why would you be hesitant to see these angels as
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  actual angels? And if we're willing to see
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  these angels as literal angels, which we should, then we can
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  then answer the second question. When will this celestial set of
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  proclamations happen? And though we don't have the
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  exact moment we are granted the general timeline, how, we'll
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  look carefully at the words of the warning of the third Angel.
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  Again, look at verse 9 of Revelation 14.
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  And another Angel 1/3 followed them, saying with a loud voice,
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  if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on
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  his forehead or on his hand. That's quite telling, isn't it?
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  Because of this warning determines the context of it.
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  What do we see here that clearly for the Angel to say this means
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  that the Antichrist marking system is already in operation.
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  And if we can accept that, then we know, according to Revelation
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  13, that the peak of the Antichrist control, his fiercest
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  control, will happen in the last 3 1/2 years before Christ's
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  return. And so we know that these angels
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  making their appearance, racing through the skies to make this
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  very important announcement, few announcements will occur in the
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  latter portion of the Tribulation period, namely the
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  Great Tribulation just before, shortly before Christ comes
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  back. But just because they are saying
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  these things in the future, just because this is predictive,
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  doesn't mean that they can't speak to us now.
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  In fact, they do, and I want to simply divide our thoughts here
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  with these distinct messages and consider what they have to say
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  about the world and what they have to say about us as
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  followers of Christ. So let's consider message number
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  one from Angel number one. What will be said to alarm the
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  world before the last set of judgments will be poured out and
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  Christ cracks open the sky and makes his way toward the earth.
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  It's. Not surprising.
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  The first message is the gospel. It shouldn't surprise us that
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  the first thing that is heralded to those who dwell on earth is
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  the eternal gospel. And look at that.
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  The Spirit of God is so precise. He didn't just say gospel, He
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  said eternal gospel. And that means more than just
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  the fact that this gospel is the means to eternal life.
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  It speaks about how it is the ageless message.
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  There is no room for alternative interpretations of what this
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  gospel can be. There is no room for any other
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  ideas. For it to be the eternal gospel
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  means it's the gospel that we've always known about.
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  It's the gospel that has been prepared from eternity past.
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  It's the gospel that the prophets of old have prophesied
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  about. It's the gospels that the
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  apostles spread to the nation's. It's the gospel, the same gospel
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  that is still saving souls today.
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  It's that very same gospel. And what moves me about that
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  very important detail is that even in the last hour of all
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  things, the Gospel is still the only hope for humanity.
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  That message has an altered, it hasn't diluted.
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  It's still the same saving message.
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  It's the eternal gospel. In fact, the ministry of this
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  Angel at this time could very well be the fulfillment of one
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  of the things Jesus said would happen before He returned.
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  Do you remember what he said on the Olivet Discourse in Matthew
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  24, verse 14? He promised in Matthew 2414.
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  And this gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout
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  the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end
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  will come. So it is true that up to this
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  point we've seen the ministry of the 144,000 who very likely were
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  preachers. And we know that there will be
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  believers here during this time preaching.
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  And we know that in Revelation 11, there are two witnesses in
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  Jerusalem with great power preaching the truth, preaching
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  repentance. But on top of all of that, you
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  have an Angel who's suspended in the sky, flying through the
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  skies and amplifying the gospel, ensuring that not one part of
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  the world, not one nation, not one tribe, not one hidden clan
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  would miss it. This is God's grace.
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  This is his incredible mercy to a very undeserving generation
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  who have ignored much of his warnings and his pleas.
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  And yet still 1 Angel is sent from heaven to declare this
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  gospel, which is an exception because we know that in this age
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  that privilege has been given to who?
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  Believers. Angels don't preach the gospel.
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  We preach the gospel. Even when the Angel visited
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  Cornelius, I've always wondered why set up a whole meeting with
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  Cornelius and fetch for Peter and give Peter a vision and have
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  them meet together in Cornelius's home.
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  I mean, you already made it there to Cornelius's house.
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  Why don't you just tell him the gospel, right?
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  Because that honor has been given to us.
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  So let's not waste it. Let's not hide it.
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  But this is a different era. This is a different time.
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  This isn't surprising. The gospel is the first message.
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  But what may surprise us is the content of the message.
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  Supposing that we didn't read these verses, this is just me
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  telling you upfront, without any further information, that there
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  will be an Angel preaching the eternal gospel to this last
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  generation. What would you think he would
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  say? Confess with your mouth that
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  Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him
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  from the dead. What about there is no other
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  name given among men, no other name under heaven given among
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  men by which we must be saved. There is salvation and no one
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  else. Would you think that the Angel
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  would say something like that? Those are not wrong.
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  Those are indeed messages that pertain to the gospel.
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  But look again at verse 15, what he says.
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  Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment
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  has come, and worship Him. Fear God, Eternal gospel.
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  How did these true 2 truths relate?
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  Well to some they don't and that has LED some to actually say
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  because of this message, the gospel, this angels preaching
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  must mean something different than how.
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  The New Testament generally summarizes it, but remember,
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  this is the eternal gospel that's being explained here,
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  which tells us something very, very important about the good
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  news of Jesus Christ. Fearing God is the appropriate
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  response to it. There's a lot of misconception
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  about the fear of God, especially among Christians.
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  And as many of you already know, one of my favorite passages to
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  offer clarification is Psalm 33, verse 8.
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  In that verse we read here, let all the earth fear the Lord.
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  Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
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  Poetry was different in that time, and we know here that this
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  is Hebrew parallelism at work. What's Hebrew parallelism?
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  Well, one way it works is when one line is given, the second
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  one either expounds on that first thought or clarifies it,
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  or repeats it with different words.
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  And that's what's happening here.
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  Let all the earth fear the Lord. And then the second line says
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  that all the inhabitants of the world which mirrors let all the
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  earth. Stand in awe of him, which is
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  the same as fearing the Lord. Fearing the Lord is being in awe
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  of the Lord. An awe is a complex emotion.
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  It can mean different things, but it definitely doesn't imply
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  that the fear God means to be an absolute slavish dread of Him.
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  That would cause a lot more problems in our Bibles.
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  And our understanding of how to worship and relate to God.
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  But if it means to be in awe of Him, then it makes complete
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  sense. Now you might still be
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  wondering, but hold on. I thought the fear of God is
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  more of like an Old Testament Mosaic kind of emphasis.
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  But I want to remind you that this Angel tells us that it's
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  the right response to the gospel.
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  In fact, this is something that the New Testament confirms
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  elsewhere. Turn with me to First Peter and
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  look at these verses with me in chapter 1, First Peter.
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  Chapter 1 Peter is obviously addressing Christians.
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  And notice what he says in verse 17 down through verse 19, Peter
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  says. And if you call on him as
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  Father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds,
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  conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your
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  exile, knowing that you were ransom from the feudal ways
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  inherited from your father's, not with perishable things such
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  as silver. Or gold, but with the precious
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  blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
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  This is a fascination to me. This is staggering to me because
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  in between the glorious truths of calling God as Father in
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  verse 17 and being ransomed with the precious blood of Christ in
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  verse 19, you have the charge for us to fear God throughout
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  our pilgrimage on earth. Calling God his Father, being
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  ransomed by the precious blood of Christ, and in between, that
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  is what fear God. Well, again, you might run into
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  some issues that fear means to cower away from God, but if it
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  means to stand in awe of Him, then it makes sense.
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  I get to call this holy godfather.
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  That's awesome. I've been ransomed.
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  My soul has been paid for. Not with things like silver and
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  gold. But with the blood.
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  Of the Son of God, He's worthy of my awe.
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  So even in this we see that there are gospel realities
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  attached to the response of standing in awe of God, fearing
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  God. And that teaches us many things.
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  And one of the things that tells me that if someone professes
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  Christ but lacks reverence is void of seriousness, does not
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  even have a hint of majesty in their worship or on how they
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  relate to the Lord, I question if they've really tasted the
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  gospel. Professing Christians who are
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  overly casual make me nervous because fearing God is the
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  appropriate attitude that one will possess and grow in if they
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  really understand the gospel. You can't be trivial with this
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  gospel. You don't become buddy buddy
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  with Jesus because of this gospel.
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  You fear him, you Revere him. Yes, you embrace him as the
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  lover of your soul. But oh, he is still king.
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  He is still holy. And as we're about to find out,
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  even the Lamb supervises Hell. And so we consider these things
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  what the Angel is saying. Hopefully is becoming more clear
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  to us, but you may be wondering why this emphasis?
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  Why couldn't the Angel have highlighted a different
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  component of our faith? Why?
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  Why not come with a different angle concerning the gospel?
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  Well, when you factor in the state of the world, you realize
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  that this Angel is actually being very strategic with his
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  message. What's happening in the world at
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  this point? The Antichrist is ruling and
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  reigning. And because of that, you have
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  the masses standing in awe of him, glorifying him, adoring
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  him. And so this celestial being now
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  comes and he trumpets this message.
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  Fear God. Fear God.
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  Not this man, not this deceiver, not this false savior, fear God,
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  glorify him, worship him. And notice he highlights also
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  that God is the creator of all things.
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  This man didn't do anything even close to that.
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  So the problem with the nations at this point is not legalism.
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  The nations are not struggling with self righteousness here.
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  They're not drowning in their shame here.
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  What's their problem? Idolatry.
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  And it's being confronted with this message, misdirected
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  adoration. That's the issue that this
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  gospel presentation is pressing on, but it's still relevant for
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  us today. Listen, as a gospel people, you
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  and I are called to be God fears.
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  We're called to be God fears. And I want to exhort you before
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  we move on with this one thought from Proverbs 23, verse 17.
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  Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the
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  Lord all the day. I love that last part all the
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  day. Is it possible to fear God some
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  part of the day? I think so, depending on your
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  environment, like in this place right now, it's much easier to
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  stand in awe of God here with the right music and a sermon and
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  maybe even a building and its aesthetics may give us that
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  impression that we're in a holy space.
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  But you know what this charge says?
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  Fear God all the day. Not just on Sunday afternoon,
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  not just on Wednesday night, not just not just on Friday evening,
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  all the day. When your car, fear God.
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  When you're, when you're at work, fear God.
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  When you go on vacation, fear God.
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  Stand in awe of God always. And I can assure you this if you
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  and I fear God all the day. It's much more difficult to sin.
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  Throughout the day, so stand in constant awareness of the
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  majesty of God, the beauty of God, the holiness of God.
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  And the way you do that is you coat your mind with the
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  scriptures. You spend time with him, you
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  pray without ceasing, you include him in your plans and
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  your worries. Let him be in the forefront of
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  your thinking, your meditation. Fear God all the day.
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  I love Joseph in that story when he's alone with his boss's wife.
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  Nobody's insight. They could have gotten away with
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  it. But you know what?
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  Joseph had had it with a very difficult history and past.
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  He had an awareness that God is in this place.
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  How can I do this great evil against?
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  God, I wonder how Potiphar's wife reacted to that.
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  I would love to have gotten a picture of her face.
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  No, no, no, it may be you and me here.
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  But listen, I know God is here actually.
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  So we may get away with it with your husband, we may get away
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  with it from the employees, but God sees it all.
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  That's a man who fears God. That's a man who fears God all
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  the day. May we be the same.
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  So the first message that the first Angel preaches is the
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  eternal gospel. But the emphasis here is fearing
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  God, which teaches me that if I really know the gospel, there's
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  going to be in seed form this fear of God, and that's going to
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  grow. The more I know my God, the more
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  I understand the depths of the gospel.
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  Message #2 from Angel #2 Look back again in Revelation 14 we
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  go from the eternal Gospel. To the world will pass away.
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  That's the second message. Look again at verse 7 and verse
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  8. Verse 8.
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  Says another Angel. A second followed, saying
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  fallen. Fallen is Babylon the great shoe
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  made all nations drink the wine of passion of her sexual
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  immorality. Babylon.
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  Why is Babylon, this ancient capital city of a former world
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  empire, being mentioned here? Interestingly, this is not the
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  only time it appears in the Book of Revelation.
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  This is the first time. It's going to show up a total of
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  6 times in this book. And so we're considering this
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  Babylon, and we're going to see this in greater detail,
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  especially in chapters 17 and 18, where chapters 18 details
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  the destruction of this Babylon. Here's how we make sense of this
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  Babylon, according to the Bible, is more than just a historical
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  city. It is actually a symbol of a
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  worldly system that opposes God, that rebels against God, that
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  hates God. It is often a picture of a
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  center of idolatry that promotes hostility against God's Word,
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  His will, and His people. And that is something that is
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  acknowledged in this way elsewhere in the New Testament,
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  primarily with Peter. Turn in your Bibles to first
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  Peter in chapter 5 and look at how he ends this letter to his
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  audience. First Peter 5 verse 13.
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  Peter says as he is wrapping things up, she who is at
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  Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings.
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  And so does Mark, my son Babylon.
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  Some are satisfied to say that Peter's speaking about literal
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  Babylon here, but it's more likely that he's using coded
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  language to his audience. Describe a location of a
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  particular St. or a church that is sending their greetings.
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  This audience that Peter's writing to is aware of she who
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  is at Babylon. So you have to understand that
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  there was persecution in Peters day and even their letters could
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  have been confiscated by the government.
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  And so in order to protect those especially who are under
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  persecution, he would use cryptic language to identify
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  them. And that seems to be what's
• 25:19
  happening here. But what's more important is
• 25:22
  that this proves that this Babylonian analogy was common to
• 25:26
  the early church, and it's no different with John in
• 25:29
  Revelation. Why is John applying Babylon
• 25:33
  here in Revelation chapter 14? Because he wants to use it to
• 25:36
  describe the empire of the Antichrist.
• 25:40
  That the system the Antichrist has built in these final hours
• 25:45
  carries the same defiant spirit that we see in Genesis 10 with
• 25:50
  Nimrod who founded Babel and the Tower of Babel in Genesis
• 25:55
  Chapter 11. As though to say that what we
• 25:58
  find here at the final moments is the culminating expression of
• 26:05
  this Babylonian spirit. One of the main features of
• 26:10
  Babylon in the Bible is that it seeks to create a one world
• 26:17
  government and unified false worship.
• 26:20
  Again, think about the Tower of Babel.
• 26:24
  You have the collective world coming together to build this
• 26:27
  edifice, to make a declaration that we want to have governance
• 26:31
  apart from God. That's what that was.
• 26:34
  Come, let us make a name for ourselves.
• 26:39
  And you Fast forward and you go to Daniel, and you realize that
• 26:41
  Babylon is still in existence and it's at its strongest point
• 26:44
  ever. Nebuchadnezzar is the king, and
• 26:47
  what does he do? He gets a dream of succession of
• 26:50
  kingdoms. He's the first one, and he's to
• 26:53
  be replaced. And that wants to be replaced,
• 26:54
  and that bothers Nebuchadnezzar. And So what does he do?
• 26:58
  Well, if I'm the gold part of that statue and I'm only part of
• 27:00
  it, I'm going to make a golden statue of myself saying I'm not
• 27:05
  going nowhere. No kingdom's going to replace me
• 27:10
  from head to toe. If this statue symbolizes the
• 27:12
  timeline of history, then Babylon is going to rule and
• 27:15
  reign forever. Worship this image.
• 27:19
  So again, this combination of one world government and unified
• 27:23
  false worship. With the Tower of Babel, they
• 27:28
  were dispersed by God's power. With Nebuchadnezzar, both he and
• 27:32
  Babylon were humbled. Now we come to Revelation, and
• 27:37
  Babylon is making a comeback. And it will reach the highest
• 27:41
  point of its success. It will achieve what it's always
• 27:45
  longed for, global dominance. Babylon is here, John is telling
• 27:52
  us. And we're going to learn more
• 27:54
  about it because the Revelation, the Book of Revelation, has a
• 27:56
  lot to say about it. But what we have learned up to
• 27:58
  this point is enough for now. What should grip us, however, is
• 28:03
  how we see here that this Angel is speaking about the fall of
• 28:08
  Babylon as though it had already taken place.
• 28:12
  Did you notice the language? Fallen, Fallen is Babylon the
• 28:16
  Great. Well, hold on for a second.
• 28:18
  The fall of Babylon doesn't occur until chapter 17, namely
• 28:21
  chapter 18. So why is it being spoken of
• 28:25
  here in Revelation 14 as a past event?
• 28:28
  And This is why this Angel is declaring that the future doom
• 28:32
  of this evil wicked system is so certain that we can address it
• 28:38
  as though it had already occurred.
• 28:42
  Fallen. Fallen is Babylon the Great.
• 28:45
  You can imagine just how astounding and alarming this
• 28:48
  would be. For those who hear this
• 28:51
  resounding proclamation, you got to remember the nations here are
• 28:57
  going to be under a very complex infrastructure and a network of
• 29:03
  commerce and military and policing.
• 29:07
  It's going to be something that the world has never seen before.
• 29:11
  It's going to be so impressive and so widely accepted that this
• 29:15
  Babylonian system that the Antichrist is going to support
• 29:18
  will appear indestructible. In fact, look back at Revelation
• 29:23
  13 verse four, what the people said about the beast.
• 29:30
  Revelation 13, verse four. And they worshipped the dragon,
• 29:34
  for he had given his authority to the beast.
• 29:36
  And they worshipped the beast, saying who is like the beast and
• 29:40
  who can fight against it. So they're under the spell
• 29:47
  thinking that no one can defeat Antichrist, and with that no one
• 29:51
  can overthrow the empire that he has built.
• 29:55
  And all of a sudden, this Angel whisked through the skies and he
• 29:57
  says fallen. Fallen is Babylon the Great.
• 30:01
  Why is he saying that? Remember, he's addressing the
• 30:04
  nation's all the earth dwellers. He's saying that to help them
• 30:07
  believe the first angel's message.
• 30:11
  Fear God, Glorify Him, worship Him.
• 30:16
  The world as you know it, with all its pomp and all its
• 30:19
  possessions and all its pleasures and all its promises,
• 30:22
  will come to nothing one day. This world is passing away, and
• 30:29
  you're giving your soul to something that will vanish.
• 30:34
  You're trading eternal life for somebody that's going to be
• 30:36
  taken. Away.
• 30:39
  For something that is so certain to be demolished and destroyed
• 30:42
  that we can speak of it as though it already happened, this
• 30:47
  is a message that the world needs to hear now.
• 30:50
  And if we're honest, this is a message that Christians need to
• 30:52
  hear from time to time. The same John who's telling us
• 30:56
  what this Angel would say to the masses of unbelievers tells us
• 31:00
  this in his first epistle and 1st John 2 verse 17.
• 31:04
  And the world is passing away, and the world is passing away
• 31:08
  along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God
• 31:11
  abides forever. I love that.
• 31:15
  This is in the same breath where he tells believers, do not love
• 31:18
  the world or the things of the world don't love it.
• 31:21
  And he gives the reason why, at least one reason, because it's
• 31:23
  all passing away. You and I are just walking
• 31:27
  through the corridor. There is a door that's going to
• 31:30
  lead us into eternal life, which is true life.
• 31:32
  Don't camp in the corridor. Keep walking.
• 31:37
  Keep your eyes ahead. This world is passing away with
• 31:41
  all its desires, all those cravings that keep you up at
• 31:44
  night, all the things that you slave over, all the dreams that
• 31:47
  you want to see fulfilled, all of that is going to disappear.
• 31:54
  Those things that you think will bring fulfillment and identity
• 31:57
  and wholeness, that's going to pass away as well.
• 32:00
  It's not lasting. It's not designed to.
• 32:02
  It has an expiration date on it. But those who do the will of
• 32:07
  God, they will abide forever, forever and ever and ever.
• 32:12
  This world will pass away. Then we come to the final
• 32:17
  message, and you almost get the sense that they're building on
• 32:19
  one another. We have the the eternal gospel.
• 32:22
  Then we have a reminder of this world that has unfortunately
• 32:25
  sabotaged so many people's faith and trust in Christ to this last
• 32:30
  message. Here in verse 9 down to verse
• 32:32
  11, hell is real and another Angel 1/3 follow them saying
• 32:41
  with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast in its image
• 32:44
  and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will
• 32:46
  also drink the wine of God's wrath poured full strength.
• 32:51
  Highlight that poured full strength into the cup of his
• 32:56
  anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the
• 32:58
  presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the land.
• 33:01
  We'll pause there before we go to verse 11.
• 33:05
  If you remember Revelation 13, what we have there is
• 33:12
  instruction to believers of how difficult it will be for those
• 33:17
  at that time to refuse the mark of the.
• 33:18
  Beast, you won't be able to buy or sell.
• 33:23
  You won't be able to do the things that you think are your
• 33:26
  rights today. And the reason why I know that
• 33:29
  it is in part addressing believers because in Revelation
• 33:31
  13, verse 10, the last part of that verse, there's an there's a
• 33:35
  call for the endurance of the faith of the Saints.
• 33:39
  So yes, it's speaking about the future and yes, it is addressing
• 33:43
  what the world will look like. But what God has in mind through
• 33:46
  his word is the believers in that time to be able to endure
• 33:50
  because it will be challenging to reject the mark of the beast
• 33:54
  on a daily basis. But then you come to Revelation
• 33:57
  14 and you have this Angel informing the unbeliever how
• 34:04
  difficult they will be to embrace the mark of the beast.
• 34:10
  And even though this is a warning to the lost, it still
• 34:13
  carries instruction for the Christian.
• 34:16
  How do I know that peak at verse 12 of Revelation 14?
• 34:22
  Here is a call for the endurance of the Saints, those who keep
• 34:27
  the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
• 34:31
  He's talking about hell here in verses 9 down to verse 11 and
• 34:34
  immediately after he addresses Christians.
• 34:38
  What do Christians have to do with hell?
• 34:42
  It's not really about hell. It's about comparing and
• 34:46
  contrasting experiences. Again, Revelation 13.
• 34:49
  It's going to be challenging for those to stand for the truth and
• 34:52
  reject this mark, but it's going to be even more tragic for those
• 34:58
  who take it. One thing to learn from this is
• 35:04
  that we must view our sufferings from Heaven's point of view.
• 35:09
  This Angel is not only warning the lost, he's also reminding
• 35:12
  believers your suffering will be temporary.
• 35:17
  Their suffering will be eternal. You know one of the ways for you
• 35:21
  and I to endure anything, even the maniacal dictatorship of the
• 35:26
  Antichrist. Is to frequently meditate on
• 35:31
  eternity, to compare everything in light of eternity, to inform
• 35:37
  your heart that there is something more real, more
• 35:40
  lasting than whatever you're experiencing now.
• 35:45
  And I wonder if one of the reasons why eternity is not
• 35:48
  spoken of as much as it should in Christian circles is because
• 35:52
  it forces us to confront an aspect of eternity that makes
• 35:55
  people very uncomfortable, namely the reality of hell.
• 36:02
  And if pastors and churches don't erase hell from their
• 36:04
  teaching and their evangelism entirely, they try to redefine
• 36:10
  it to make it more palatable. But whatever theologians or
• 36:18
  podcasters may say about hell, no matter how clever or
• 36:22
  compassionate they may seem, every claim and every conclusion
• 36:26
  has to be measured with Scripture.
• 36:30
  And given the recent debates about hell among prominent
• 36:33
  evangelicals, my question is this Do the most prevailing
• 36:41
  interpretations agree with the testimony of this Angel?
• 36:46
  Is hell eternal? What does this word say?
• 36:52
  Is hell a conscious place? What does this word say?
• 36:56
  Is hell a place of uninterrupted torment?
• 36:59
  What does the Bible say? And according to this testimony,
• 37:07
  hell is eternal, hell is conscience, and.
• 37:11
  Hell is unending torment for the wicked.
• 37:18
  Doesn't mean it's easy to speak about it.
• 37:20
  That doesn't mean that we should enjoy thinking about it.
• 37:27
  But what it does mean is what God says is true and we need to
• 37:32
  submit to the truth no matter what.
• 37:35
  You know I've. Come to realize that one of the
• 37:37
  main reasons we struggle to understand hell is because of
• 37:41
  our inability to truly grasp God's holiness.
• 37:45
  If we're honest, sin rarely outrageous us, even the best of
• 37:50
  us, and that's partly because we are tainted by sin.
• 37:56
  And if you can testify, however, that there are moments where you
• 38:00
  have sensed righteous indignation and disturbance or
• 38:05
  being unsettled due to wickedness around you or even in
• 38:08
  you, then. How much more does the Lord feel
• 38:11
  being infinitely more pure and holy than us?
• 38:16
  There's something to say about the eternality and the severity
• 38:20
  of hell and God's holiness and how sin is not.
• 38:27
  Just about us fooling around here on earth.
• 38:31
  It's an assault against God and His law.
• 38:39
  I won't say more about hell now because we will see it again at
• 38:44
  the end of this book, but one thing I want to highlight is how
• 38:48
  Christ is identified in the sobering passage about hell.
• 38:53
  Look with me here again in verse 10.
• 38:57
  He will also. Drink the wine of God's wrath
• 39:00
  poured full strength. You know what that means?
• 39:02
  Full strength undiluted. There is no mercy mixed with
• 39:07
  this wine. Full strength of God's wrath.
• 39:12
  Into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire
• 39:15
  and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the
• 39:18
  presence of the Lamb. This would make more sense,
• 39:25
  perhaps to us if it's said in the presence of the king capital
• 39:28
  K, in the presence of the lion, in the presence of the judge in.
• 39:33
  The presence of the ruler of rulers in the presence of the
• 39:37
  Lamb. You know this very well, that
• 39:41
  the Lamb is a consistent symbol associated with Christ's
• 39:46
  substitutionary atonement and sacrifice.
• 39:51
  It speaks of his humility. It speaks of his loneliness.
• 39:55
  It speaks to his willful surrender for our salvation.
• 40:00
  What is it doing here in a passage about eternal wrath?
• 40:06
  And I believe one reason it's there.
• 40:08
  Is to highlight as a reminder that hell is ultimately for
• 40:11
  those who have rejected the one who drank the cup of God's wrath
• 40:14
  on our behalf. That's what hell is ultimately
• 40:18
  all about. Notice the imagery here.
• 40:25
  The wine of God's wrath poured full strength into the cup of
• 40:29
  his anger. That's a a very common symbol in
• 40:33
  the Old Testament. A cup speaks of God's judgement
• 40:35
  being poured out. There are different cups in the
• 40:38
  Bible and this should remind us of the words of Jesus and Luke
• 40:44
  when he was in the garden in chapter 22, verse 42.
• 40:47
  And he said, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from
• 40:50
  me. What was that cup?
• 40:53
  It was the cup of God's wrath, God's anger and justice against
• 40:59
  every sin that has and will ever be committed.
• 41:03
  That was what was in the cup. And what Jesus asked here was if
• 41:07
  it's possible, Father, let it be removed from me, yet not my
• 41:10
  will, but yours be done. And guess what?
• 41:12
  It was the Father's will for Christ to drink the cup, and he
• 41:18
  drank every drop of it. You turn that cup over and there
• 41:23
  is not one drop that will come out.
• 41:25
  He absorbed all of God's justice for our sin.
• 41:31
  And here's what the gospel looks like.
• 41:32
  It's you being willing to admit and joyfully accept the truth
• 41:38
  that Jesus Christ, the Son of God drank your wrath.
• 41:44
  And here's what millions are doing today.
• 41:47
  They reject that. And because they reject that,
• 41:52
  there's another cup reserved for them, and that's the wine of
• 41:55
  God's wrath. You reject the cup of salvation.
• 41:58
  You will have the cup of God's wrath to drink and it is
• 42:02
  eternal. It will never run dry.
• 42:06
  It is ongoing. Jesus Christ drank the cup of
• 42:15
  God's wrath and for those who choose not to believe it and
• 42:18
  surrender to the truths associated with it, there is a
• 42:22
  cup they will have to drink. It will be forced down their
• 42:26
  throats and they will be reminded for all of eternity
• 42:30
  that the reason why they are drinking it is because they have
• 42:33
  denied the Son of God salvation, the Lamb of God.
• 42:40
  And the question for us today, though I hope that all of us
• 42:44
  here are followers of Jesus Christ, is if you have put your
• 42:50
  trust in the finished work of Jesus.
• 42:54
  You know what's amazing here is the first Angel began with the
• 42:59
  gospel and he ends with wrath. The third Angel comes to
• 43:06
  complete the message, and this is very descriptive, it's very
• 43:12
  direct, but it's needed for a generation that has been lulled
• 43:18
  to sleep because of a Babylonian empire and system.
• 43:26
  Let's not think that we're more wise than God and how we should
• 43:29
  address the lost. Are there different vantage
• 43:33
  points and ways of communicating the gospel?
• 43:35
  Absolutely. But for you and I to deny the
• 43:38
  reality of hell is a great disservice to a people who need
• 43:42
  to know what's coming if they don't receive the free love of
• 43:46
  Jesus. The testimony of three angels
• 43:50
  for a future time are so relevant for us today.
• 43:53
  Are they not the eternal gospel? The world as we know it will
• 43:58
  pass away, and hell is real. Let's pray.
• 44:25
  Father, we thank You that you have given us a snapshot.
• 44:30
  Another snapshot of how you're willing to go so far to get the
• 44:35
  attention of a lost world. And Lord, we think about this
• 44:42
  message this afternoon, how it is an extension of your grace.
• 44:45
  Also because love warns, Lord, we pray that we would be
• 44:54
  faithful to the word no matter what, no matter the trends that
• 44:58
  are being set by people who have great platforms online.
• 45:05
  Help us stay true to Your word, every part of it.
• 45:12
  And Lord, thank you for the wisdom of Your word that in the
• 45:15
  same imagery of hell, we have vision of the Lamb.
• 45:23
  We pray that even through this message, people would see Christ
• 45:26
  and his love and sacrifice and they would embrace him.
• 45:30
  And Lord, for us who have put our faith and trust in You, help
• 45:34
  us grow in our fear of You. Help us not get entangled by the
• 45:39
  things of this world. Help us see it as all passing
• 45:42
  away. Our money, our bank accounts,
• 45:43
  our clothes, our cars, our homes.
• 45:46
  It would all pass away and the only thing that will last.
• 45:48
  Forever is the will of God, our service to you, our obedience to
• 45:53
  you. So Lord, we pray that even this
• 45:56
  message would recalibrate us. And Lord, even with the subject
• 46:02
  of hell, help us to know how to communicate it, when to warn
• 46:06
  about it. May that message even energize
• 46:11
  us to be more zealous with the gospel, for so much was said,
• 46:18
  but we trust that You'll help us retain it.
• 46:21
  And now, though we want to worship you because you have
• 46:23
  saved us from hell, we never have to fear going there.
• 46:27
  It is not our portion. We will rest with You forever
• 46:31
  and ever, and we are undeserving of it.
• 46:34
  Thank you for drinking the cup of God's wrath.
• 46:38
  Thank you that we don't have to take a sip of it.
• 46:42
  We are free forever, and for this we glorify you.
• 46:46
  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
• 46:50
  If you are free in this place because of the gospel, sing with
• 46:54
  your heart, knowing that even though everything is taken from
• 46:58
  you, no one can take your salvation.
• 47:00
  No one can take my salvation. I'm secure forever in Christ
• 47:04
  Jesus, and so are you. Let's stand and worship the Lamb
• 47:06
  of God. I remember years ago after
• 47:17
  preaching at a conference, somebody approached me and they
• 47:21
  want to have a long talk about hell and how this was the
• 47:25
  greatest struggle for them. This was not a Christian.
• 47:27
  This person admittedly said that they were living in sin.
• 47:31
  And after a long dialogue, one of the things that stood out to
• 47:34
  me was this person saying, why can't God just leave us alone?
• 47:41
  I just want to, I just want to live my life.
• 47:42
  Why do I have to have this thought that I can go to hell?
• 47:44
  Why? Why can't he just let me be and
• 47:47
  do what I want to do? And I thought, that's exactly
• 47:50
  it. People don't want God.
• 47:54
  And whenever it comes to this debate or this discussion about
• 47:56
  hell, you know, what's rarely brought up, what's really in
• 47:59
  focus is our suffering. It's eternal, it's conscience,
• 48:02
  all these things. Nobody ever talks about the
• 48:04
  suffering Christ had to endure to help us escape it.
• 48:07
  Nobody ever talks about it. That's what I've come to
• 48:09
  realize. Nobody ever thinks about what
• 48:12
  the Son of God had to endure. And people say, well, he endured
• 48:17
  a few hours of suffering. That's blasphemy.
• 48:22
  That's blasphemy because not of the duration of the suffering of
• 48:25
  the one, rather who suffered, who didn't deserve a millisecond
• 48:30
  of suffering and the the quality of that suffering.
• 48:36
  Things so deep, things so profound that we dare tread even
• 48:42
  exploring what happened on that cross for those hours.
• 48:47
  Nobody talks about what Christ had to endure in order to rescue
• 48:51
  sinners from hell. And today, perhaps you're in
• 48:55
  this place and you don't believe on Christ.
• 49:00
  I want you to at least think about the implications of what
• 49:03
  he suffered on your behalf. And even if you're in this place
• 49:07
  and you struggle with the concept of hell, take your eyes
• 49:11
  off yourself for a moment and plant them on Calvary and ask
• 49:15
  yourself, what did Christ suffer and why did he suffer?
• 49:20
  And you'll come to different conclusions.
• 49:23
  Lord, we pray that you would help us, although we're so
• 49:29
  broken and fallen in our thinking, always thinking of
• 49:33
  ourselves. Or thank you that you're not a
• 49:37
  God who just threatens and warns.
• 49:43
  You're a God who is much more willing to save us and redeem
• 49:47
  us. You don't desire that any would
• 49:51
  perish. Help us believe that.
• 49:55
  Help us believe that hell itself was not created for humanity
• 49:58
  intentionally. It was created for they, the
• 50:01
  devil and his angels. Lord, so we just asked in this,
• 50:05
  in this final moment, that you would win every heart to
• 50:09
  yourself and that we would accept what you suffered for.
• 50:15
  We thank you for your grace in this in Jesus name, Amen.
• 50:18
  Amen. Would you be seated for a
• 50:20
  moment, please? Last week we made a very
• 50:23
  important update that a building came to our attention out in
• 50:30
  Barrington and it is a beautiful building.
• 50:33
  And we spoke to our members about the potential of this
• 50:36
  building and we have had a majority approval, virtually
• 50:42
  almost 100% people saying this is, this is what we desire.
• 50:46
  We believe that this is an answer.
• 50:47
  To God's prayers. And so with that in mind, the
• 50:51
  leadership announced last Sunday that we would make an official
• 50:53
  offer and we did do that this past Tuesday.
• 50:55
  We made and we signed a purchase agreement for the church that
• 50:59
  currently owns that property. Been an interesting week.
• 51:04
  And the recent update is as of last Friday, they accepted our
• 51:08
  offer. Yes, you could do that, yes.
• 51:37
  So it is my absolute privilege to announce to the church
• 51:41
  officially and for the first time, that we have a new church
• 51:44
  home. We have a new church home, yes.
• 51:52
  So here's what this looks like from this point forward.
• 51:55
  The official closing date on paper is May 4th, so that's a
• 52:00
  couple months from now. It could be earlier, it could be
• 52:02
  later. These things get complicated
• 52:04
  sometimes. So we are going to leadership is
• 52:07
  going to be working very hard in these next few weeks.
• 52:10
  There's inspections, there's paperwork, there's conversations
• 52:14
  with the village and all these matters have to be addressed.
• 52:17
  So please be praying for us in these next few weeks.
• 52:21
  Also, Please remember that as we approach the closing that we're
• 52:24
  still saving up and asking God that we would enter into this
• 52:27
  new phase debt free. And so we're believing God for
• 52:31
  1.5 million in the next 30 days or so.
• 52:33
  And we trust that these funds will come in.
• 52:36
  He's already proven Himself so strong.
• 52:39
  I wish I can take the next 10-15 minutes to explain to you the
• 52:43
  many miracles attached to all of this.
• 52:46
  To deny it would be to deny a gift from God.
• 52:49
  I'm, I'm, I say that with total confidence.
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  There is so much happening in the background in our favor that
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  it is absolutely astounding. And there will be a time where
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  we will be able to sit down together as a family and look at
• 53:02
  all these details. But for now, I mean, it's
• 53:05
  amazing to think that we've been looking and praying and
• 53:07
  searching for 4 1/2 years and things turned around within a
• 53:10
  matter of a. Week and a half, two weeks, and
• 53:14
  so you've seen pictures. God willing, if all clears,
• 53:18
  there will be a day where you'll enter into this property, and I
• 53:20
  have no doubt that when you see it, you'll be even more happy.
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  It's an amazing piece of land. There's going to be, again, many
• 53:27
  meetings that we're having, especially in the next couple
• 53:29
  weeks. So Please be patient with the
• 53:31
  elders and the deacons and others who are working because
• 53:36
  this has already been a very busy time leading up to this
• 53:40
  point, and it's only going to get busier.
• 53:43
  So all hands on deck, you might be called upon to help us as
• 53:46
  well because this is our home. This is our new home.
• 53:50
  This is the home for your children, and this is going to
• 53:54
  be the home for many other souls who will receive God's word.
• 53:57
  This is going to be the home for fellowship and hopefully future
• 54:01
  conferences. This is very likely going to be
• 54:03
  the home of a school in the days to come.
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  Everything that we've ever hoped and dreamed for in a facility is
• 54:10
  offered in this place, and God and His great mercy extended it
• 54:13
  to us at this time. So rejoice in fellowship, give
• 54:17
  glory to God, and we will keep you up to date as much as we
• 54:21
  can. All right.
• 54:23
  God bless you, God is good. Have a wonderful week.
• 54:25
  Take care.