Indeed, Amen. And now if you please remain standing and take your Bibles and turn to Revelation. It's the book of Revelation, chapter 14. I'm going to begin reading in verse 6, and I'm going to read through verse 13. So verses 6-13 of Revelation, chapter 14. And I think you'll see right away John, who is writing this, John sees these angels and he says this, beginning in verse 6, I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. And he said with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory. because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and springs of waters." And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, "'Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.'" Then another angel, a third one followed them, saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast in his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of his anger. And he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night. those who worship the beast in his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit, so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them. Let's bow our heads and pray. Father in heaven, we do indeed thank you for your word. We thank you for this text that is before us right now. And Lord, we pray your blessing on the preaching of this word. Lord, we ask that your Holy Spirit would guide us in the way of truth, that your Holy Spirit would give us understanding of this text, that you would convict us of the truths that we see here. For your glory and for our good, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now you may please be seated. I should mention this. I meant to do it during the announcements. But remember, when you're not here, we still expect you to be in church. And Gail and Conrad, I don't know where you went for Christmas. They went to France. And they couldn't be at First Baptist Church, so they brought their bulletin and so forth from Notre Dame. They were in Notre Dame while they were gone, and so what a blessing that must have been for all of you. But you guys are here at First Baptist Church. And we are grateful for that. And I want to take you back to the year 2007. And I'm going to take you back to Michigan. Mars Hill Church in Michigan in 2007. I think many of you are familiar with Mars Hill Church. pastored by a man by the name of Rob Bell. And at that church, and it's one of those mega churches, at least in 2007, I think it was 7,000 members. So it's probably much, much bigger than that today. Well, in 2007, they had an art exhibit. The church sponsored this art exhibit. And the theme of the art was to be peacemaking. Well, one of the artists in the show included a quotation with his art from Gandhi. Well, a visitor to the exhibit wrote a note. I think it was a little post-it, those little stick-em notes. Wrote a note and put it right on that, next to the Gandhi quote. And the note said this, reality check, he's in hell. That is what led Rod Bell to write his book, Love Wins. Some of you are familiar with that book, the subtitle, a book about heaven and hell and the fate of every person who ever lived. Well, in the book, Again, some of you know this. In the book, he questions the existence of hell, and he says it's possible that hell doesn't even exist, or if it does exist, he says it's possible that there's nobody in it, not a single person in hell, or that it is temporary, and that it is a place where repentance is still possible, that you can get out. In other words, the loving God of the New Testament wins, hence the title of his book. Everybody goes to heaven. And certainly he is not alone in that. It has become quite common, I don't know if you're aware of this, but it has become quite common in many of our seminaries today to deny the existence of hell. Many of our seminaries have done away, there is no hell. You know, I was watching the news when these fires first broke out, and I was wondering if there was this historic and beautiful church that I'm familiar with, and I was wondering if it was on the path of one of these fires. And so I googled the church just to see if on their website they made any mention of it or something. And they didn't mention anything about the fires, but it was on their website. And so I just can't help myself. Anytime I'm on a church website, I always have to look at what they believe. And so I clicked on the thing, what we believe. This old, historic, beautiful church. What we believe. And this caught my eye. We believe the Bible. Great. That's wonderful. Comma. Interpreted through the lens of our reason, experience, and tradition, and whenever it agrees with the fundamental truth of God's love and grace as revealed in the life of Christ. In other words, we believe in the Bible as long as it fits our reason, our traditions, what we think it should or should not say. As long as it agrees with that, well, then we believe in it. This church also rejects the doctrine of hell. Well, why? Well, because it's inconsistent. They say, with the fundamental truth of God's love and grace as revealed in the life of Christ. In other words, they would say, wow, love, love wins. Well, today in our text, we're going to see three angels and each angel sort of like the seals that we've already seen before. They're going to introduce different prophecies. And as we look at this, what you are going to see is that yes, there is certainly an eternal torment for those without Christ. But you will also see that indeed love wins for those who are in Christ. And with the first angel, we're gonna see the eternal gospel. Second angel, we see the doom of Babylon. We'll see what Babylon represents in a moment. And then the third angel, we see the wrath and the mercy of God. And so first, the first angel, verse six, look at verse six, chapter 14. And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. Men and women, the preaching of the gospel is not done by angels in heaven. It's done by the church. And Paul's last words to Timothy were these, In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing in His kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. Do you remember when Jesus came, when He walked among us? He said to His disciples, And too often, people, we forget how important preaching is. And when I say preaching, you know, I don't mean lectures on moral living. I don't mean how to live a happy life. or how to raise happy kids. or the pastor's state of the union address, or anything like that. What I mean is the gospel. Preach the word, Paul says. And remember what we saw in chapter 12. Satan hates the church. Satan wants to destroy the church. And what better way to do that than by destroying the preaching of the word? I think a few weeks ago, probably when we're in chapter 12, I think I quoted J.I. Packer. J.I. Packer from his book, Hot Tub Religion. And in that book, he says, you know, if I were Satan, I'd want churches filled. I'd want them filled to the brim with lots of happy parishioners listening and believing a false gospel. Notice here, John says, I saw another angel fly in mid heaven. Angel, remember that can be messenger. This messenger has a gospel to preach. This angel represents the preaching of the church. Well, to whom? Well, John tells you, to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. That's a great commission, isn't it? Well, what's the gospel? Well, look at verse seven. Verse seven says this, And he said with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters. Notice four things right there. Notice first, fear God, fear God. Part of our problem in our world, certainly, and in our culture here in America, part of our problem today is that we have lost that fear of God, a reverent, holy fear of God. Do you remember what Jesus said in Luke 12, 4? He said this, I say to you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do, but I warn you whom to fear. Fear the one who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him." In Acts 10, Peter says, I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation, the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. Luke 1, verse 50. We saw this in the Bible reading last week. Luke 1, verse 50 says, His mercy is upon generation after generation of those who fear God. Exodus 14, verse 31 says this, When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. And remember when Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee? And I think you do remember it, because I mention it all the time. It's one of my favorite texts. But Jesus and his disciples are on the Sea of Galilee, crossing to the other side. Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat. And this great storm rises up. It was so bad, water's coming in over the side. The disciples are afraid they're going to sink, they're going to perish. So they wake Jesus up. They say, don't you care that we're going to perish here? And Jesus says, hush, be still. And immediately the wind stopped. Immediately the storm goes away, the water is calm. And as they're sitting on that calm water, what we should read next is, and they were all greatly relieved. What we do read, Mark 4.41 says this, they became very much afraid. And they said to one another, Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey him? In other words, they're now more afraid of Jesus than they were of the storm. Because who then is this that could do something like that? Men and women, the beginning of the gospel is the fear of God. Remember Peter's first sermon in Acts chapter 2? He's preaching to Jews. says this, therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Well, what was their response? I think you know. Now, when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart. Why? Because of the fear of God. Because of the fear of God and what he could do to them for what they have done. And so they say to Peter, what shall we do? What shall we do in this situation? Well, there in Acts 2, Peter says, repent and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. In Acts 10 that I referred to earlier, Peter refers to, quote, the word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ. You can have peace with God, Peter was saying, through faith in Christ. That's Romans chapter five, verse one, where Paul says, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So the first thing we see here is fear, the fear of God. And the second thing is give him glory. Give him glory. Matthew 5, verse 16, Jesus says this, let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven. Men and women, is that how you live? Does your light shine in such a way that people see your good works and they glorify God? I met with a man a week ago, great guy. A great guy, I've known him for decades now. Not a Christian, but he's seriously considering Christianity. And he has legitimate, good questions. And so we meet periodically, and he asks me these questions. And about a week or two ago, he asked this question. He goes, why do Christians keep reading the Bible? Why do they go to church? Week after week. In other words, I see what he's saying. If you've read Romeo and Juliet, you already know how it ends. You already know what it says. Why keep reading Romeo and Juliet? You Christians already know what the Bible says. Why do you keep reading it all the time? And I can understand why a non-Christian would go to church and maybe hear the gospel and so forth, but why do Christians keep going to church week after week hearing The same thing over and over. Why do you guys do that? I told him that's our purpose. That's our purpose in life. Remember, what is the chief aim of man? Westminster Shorter Catechism. What's the chief aim of man? Is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Our purpose is to glorify God. And certainly Jesus glorified God, didn't He? Remember in that high priestly prayer, John chapter 17, he's praying to the father. And remember he said, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which you gave me to do. When he healed the paralytic, Matthew chapter nine, we read this, but when the crowd saw this, they were awestruck and they glorified God. who had given such authority to man. Well, that's our purpose, is to glorify God. But we don't do it by healing the blind or raising the lame or anything like that. How do we glorify God? We do it by obedience. We do it by letting our light shine in such a way that people see God. My great hero, one of my great heroes, you know, is Corrie ten Boom. And you know the story. She lived in Holland. She's a Christian woman, lived with her Christian sister and her Christian father in Holland. I actually think it was Harlem, part of Harlem, right by Amsterdam. And they lived there above us. Her father was a watchmaker, a watch repair shop and so forth. They lived right above that. And it was World War II. And the Nazis were coming into Holland and they were taking the Jews off to concentration camps. And they wondered, what should we do? What should, what would, what would God have us do in a situation like this? And so they decided that God would have them hide Jews in their home to protect them from the Nazis. And so they built this elaborate hiding place. And I don't know, is it 10 or 12? Jews that they hid in their home and fed them and so forth. And many people in the community knew what they were doing and knew and helped them by bringing ration cards and stuff so they could get enough food to feed people. And somebody turned them in. Somebody betrayed them and told the Nazis what they were doing. And so the Nazis came and they were caught. and Corrie and her sister and her father were taken off to concentration camps. Her father died 10 days later in the concentration camp. Her sister lasted 10 months, and Corrie, by a technical error, a clerical error, was released. Well, after she was released from the concentration camp, and she's home now, she learned that the man who had betrayed her family and tipped off the Germans that he had been arrested, that had been brought to trial, and he'd been sentenced to death. His name was Jan Vogel, and Corrie wrote him a letter. The very man who betrayed him cost Corrie her sister and her father's lives. And she writes this. This is just part of the letter. I heard today that you are very probably the person who betrayed me. I went through 10 months in concentration camp. My father died in prison after 10 days and my sister after 10 months. I have forgiven you everything. Never doubt the love of the Lord Jesus. He is waiting to receive you with outstretched arms." Men and women, that glorifies God. that glorifies God because it points to our God, who is a forgiving God, who forgives amazing things. Now we should ask, why? Why fear Him? Why glorify Him? Well, the text tells you, it's still verse seven, because the hour of His judgment has come. But what judgment is He referring to here specifically? I think he's referring specifically to Satan's judgment. When Christ was crucified, Satan was judged. But there is a judgment that Paul refers to, isn't there? Acts chapter 17, where he says, all people everywhere should repent. Well, why? Because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness. through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead. You know, last week we read the Apostles' Creed, the end of the service. Remember that last part of that creed? He will come again to judge the quick and the dead. People fear God and glorify him. Why? Because the hour of his judgment has come. And fourth, still in verse seven, Worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea. Remember that guy that I told you about? A friend of mine, sincerely asking all these questions. And he asked a question, you know, why do you guys read the Bible all the time, even after you know what it says? Why do you read the Bible and why do you go to church week after week? Well, first, scripture tells us. Not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, that should be reason enough. But second, because we are saved to worship. A lot of times people think that that's the end, you've come to faith in Christ, you're saved, great, that ends it. No, we are now, that begins it, now we are saved to worship God. And the worship of God is not only very important, it is also a very serious thing. How should we approach a holy God in worship? And that's what the reformers wrestled with. And we always say, you know, the Bible is God's word that instructs us on how to live. Well, if it instructs us on how to live, does it also instruct us on how to worship God? The reformers believed that certainly it does. And so they developed what they called the regulatory principle that in our, when we approach God, we're only going to do what we see regularly done in scripture. And that's why at this church, I think you notice, you know, Steve is the one who puts together our form of our worship and the songs and so forth. I think you can see the elders here, we take this very seriously. How do we approach a holy God in worship? Now notice though, this angel here in chapter six, I'm sorry, in verse six, has an eternal gospel to preach. Do you remember before we began Revelation? Remember we looked at the Olivet Discourse? Matthew 24 is what we were looking at, where Christ is on the Mount of Olives with his disciples. And he tells them, you see that temple there? The Jewish temple is gonna be destroyed, not one stone left upon another. And he says this, but before that happens, Before that temple is destroyed, this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. The end of what? The end of the Jewish age. That will come after the gospel has been preached to the whole world. But remember, when we read there the whole world, that means the Roman Empire. or the whole known world. And that's why Paul said in Colossians 1.6, he referred to the gospel and he said, which has come to you just as in all the world, the Roman empire, the known world. Romans 1.8, Paul says, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. Romans 10, verse 18, Paul refers to people hearing the gospel. And he says, their voice has gone out into all the earth and their words to the end of the world. People, Christ said, before the temple is destroyed, the gospel would be preached to the whole world. And indeed it was. And therefore, verses six and seven, are telling the readers that the destruction of Jerusalem is near. And speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem, we come now to the fall of Babylon. Verse eight, look at verse eight. It says, and another angel, a second one, followed, saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality. Men and women, what is Babylon the Great referring to? Some say Rome, some say Jerusalem. I think it's a reference to Jerusalem for the reason that I just gave. Remember, Christ said the gospel would be preached to the whole world before Jerusalem is destroyed. And we just saw the preaching of the gospel. Now, fallen, fallen, very next verse, fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great. We see the preaching of the gospel in the fall of Babylon the Great. And what is the destruction of Jerusalem anyway? What was that all about? It was judgment. It was judgment upon the Jews for rejecting their Messiah. That's Luke chapter 19. Where Jesus says this, when he approached Jerusalem, the he being Jesus, Luke says this, when he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, if you had known this day, even you, the things which make for peace. But now they have been hidden from your eyes, for the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground, and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another." Why? Why will all of this happen? Because you did not recognize the time of your visitation. Your Messiah came, you not only rejected Him, you crucified Him. And speaking of judgment to come, we come now to the third angel. We could call this point, this third point, we could call it the severe warning and the wonderful comfort. The severe warning and the wonderful comfort. Look at verses nine and 10. It says, then another angel, A third one followed them, saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of his anger. And he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb." Remember that church I referred to earlier? We believe the Bible, interpreted through the lens of our reason, experience, and tradition. And their reason and tradition tells them that a loving God would never send someone to hell. So there is no hell. End of problem, right? Well, men and women, you can deny the existence of hell all you want. but it won't make it one degree cooler there, will it? There's a warning here. Two cups are mentioned. One is the cup of Babylon, the cup of heresy, the cup of the beast, the cup of rejecting Christ. Remember from chapter 13? Those who have the mark of the beast are those whose allegiance is to the beast. Those who are against Christ and his church Well, if you drink of that cup, there's another cup that you'll drink of, and that is the cup of God's wrath. You cannot drink of one cup without drinking of the other. Well, in Rob Bell's book, Love Wins, where he speaks against the doctrine of everlasting punishment, he argues man is finite. And God wouldn't punish a finite person for infinity. Or maybe God can't punish a finite person for infinity, something like that. So if there is a hell, he reasons, it must be temporary. There must be a way to repent and get out of it. It can't last for forever. But what does our text say? Verse 11. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name. Men and women, it can't get any worse than that. But there is good news, isn't there? Because we have immediately after this one of the most comforting passages in all of scripture. And that's verses 12 and 13. Look at them now. Verse 12, here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, right, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit so that they may rest from their labors for their deeds follow with them. We're reminded here. that the dead are not lost. The dead are with the Lord. Their resting is certain. But notice it says their deeds follow. People, we're not saved by our good works, are we? But deeds or works are testimony of who you belong to, who you trusted, who you followed, who you believed, One commentator has said this, in opposition to all forms of creature worship, Christians keep the commandments. They keep the faith. The New Testament knows nothing of lawless Christianity or of a devotion that denies the objective content of the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. That's Jude 3. Christianity demands obedience and faithful perseverance in the face of opposition. And naturally, that has consequences. And not all of them are pleasant. Men and women, the original readers of this revelation knew that keeping the faith could well mean their death, could well mean that they would be martyred. And so for their sakes, John records those next words. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Men and women, what a huge contrast we have right here. We have the fate of the non-believers, and their fate is that they have no rest day and night from their torments. But the saints, the believers, are encouraged to continue in faithfulness, for their eternal rest is coming, and their works will be rewarded. And so let's close with someone who knew firsthand about tribulations, and that is Paul. But he also knew that hope transcends the battle. And that person, again, is the Apostle Paul. And his last letter to Timothy, last letter that he writes to Timothy, when he knows he's going to be killed, he writes this, the time of my departure is at hand. I'm about to be poured out as a drink offering. And perhaps he knew that he was going to be beheaded. That's why he refers to the drink offering, that he knew he was going to be beheaded, and Nero did just that. But then he says this, in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord Jesus himself will give to me, but not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. His appearing is not a reference to the second coming. His appearing is a reference to his first coming. To all who have loved that Jesus left heaven, took on flesh, appeared amongst us, for all who loved him will receive that crown of righteousness. But then you say, well, in Paul's first letter, in fact, Wade, you read it right after the pastoral prayer. In that first letter to Timothy, he says that he's the worst of sinners. And indeed he was. So what about the wrath of God? Well, Paul knew that he would not have to drink the cup of God's wrath because Christ had already drank it on his behalf and on behalf of all who have loved his appearing. Let's pray. Father in heaven, how grateful we are for these words. What a wonderful hope we have here at the end of this text. Lord, we thank you for your mercy. We thank you for that place that you have prepared. Lord, we thank you that our savior, your son, Jesus Christ, drank that cup of wrath so that we don't have to. Lord, what a blessing that is. And Lord, may that motivate us, certainly in how we live. Certainly may our deeds follow. May we seek to glorify you. We pray in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.