And the title of this morning's message is Singing from Heaven's Hymnal. And I'm not just making a pitch to music lovers this morning, or even the crowd that prefer hymn books and hymns to other worship choruses. But this passage addresses the subject matter of the glorious climax of history. And I believe, like Other chapters that we've been reading in the book of Revelation, it challenges the dullness of our hearts and the coldness of our hearts that tends to settle in. It challenge is the blindness that we have to things that are real and eternal. And I pray that the word of God will enlighten and release us from blindness. and that we will have our hearts strangely warmed. We were singing, let everything that has breath praise the Lord this morning, and thinking of Wesley before he died and his words on his mouth, I'll praise my maker while I've breath, and when my soul is lost in death, praise shall employ my noblest powers. We are born to praise the Lord. We have eternity in our hearts. Every human being longs for something more than what they're going to experience in this particular episode of life in their earth suit. You know, there's something more for us and we want to see that more clearly. So let's look to the 15th chapter of the book of Revelation. Sometimes we sing, bless the Lord, oh my soul. worship his holy name, sing like never before, oh my soul. And my prayer is that this passage will admonish our souls to worship the Lord as never before. Beginning with verse one of Revelation 15. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous. seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished. And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. and they sang the song of Moses, the bondservant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty, righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name, for you alone are holy, for all the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. After these things, I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened. And the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. Let's pray. Father, it is an astounding gift that we have your word. We have the mind of our creator spelled out in scripture. And we have this perfect representation of who you are as your Holy Son clothed with humanity expresses perfectly your character, your purpose, your nature, your love. And we pray that you would help us understand that your Holy Spirit, who is our resident teacher, would inspire us with this message this morning, and that you would help us all and be changed to be more like Jesus. This is our heart prayer, and we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Often we hear people ask the question, are you on the right side of history? The title of a book I'm reading now called The Right Side of History, which is about more the political situations. But it's tossed around so often, right side of history. And whoever speaks of this, they're presuming that they're on the right side of history. that they know what road they're on and what their ultimate destination will be and how the details of their own life coincide with the entire human race. But we have the benefit of God's propositional truth in scripture. Truth that's coherent with reality. Truth that can be tested and found to be perfect and pure. The truth about our origin. The truth about the meaning of our lives. Truth about what truly is right and what is wrong, morality. Truth about destiny. Sometimes I talk with people and their plans and their goals, and they tell me what they want to do for the summer, and what kind of job they would like to have, and what kind of training they will get, and then what kind of, what's going to happen after that, I ask, and they'll talk about maybe their retirement, and then I say, what's going to happen after that? And what's going to happen after that? Have you thought about things that are real and eternal? Let God be true. That's what LGBT stands for. in my book, Let God Be True and Every Man a Liar, Romans 3, 4. Objective truth means truth that stands outside of ourselves. Well, there is a subjective aspect of we receive with understanding our discoveries, but there is objective truth. There is truth that will decide who is on the right or wrong side of history. This is the message that Jesus Christ brought. This is what the resurrection declares. The apostle Paul, when he was preaching on Mars Hill, filled with the Holy Spirit, he says, therefore, to the Athenians, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to all people that all people everywhere should repent, which means change their way of thinking, because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man he has appointed. What man? He's furnished proof of who that man is by raising him from the dead. The resurrection declares that history has a direction. that there is a day that will declare who is on the right side of history and who is on the wrong side of history. There is going to be a man who will judge the world in righteousness. There'll be a jury of peers, and your peer is God, who became a peer. And He understands everything about your life. He knows what holiness is. He is God. He also knows what it's like to be tempted at every point, even as we are tempted. And He has graciously given us an opportunity to meet Him in mercy rather than in judgment. This is the good news of the gospel. This is the gospel that we declare. We read about the end of history in this book. And we realize that there is a right road, and there is a wrong road. We read of the end of history as we know it in the Bible, and we hear it in the seventh trumpet that's sounded. Remember, we've heard this, and the trumpet is sounded in Revelation chapter 11, verse 15, and we don't see the effect of it until chapter 16, and we're right now in the middle. And in the 11th chapter, we hear the trumpet The seventh angel blowing the trumpet, in verse 15, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. This is the direction of history. But we also learn in the following chapters that there's an unholy trinity. There's a holy trinity, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But then there is an unholy trinity of the dragon, Satan, the beast, the Antichrist, and the false prophet, a counterfeit Holy Spirit. And so we see how There's this world system that affects basically the thinking of all human beings that are walking in the course of this world, subject to the power and the rulers of darkness. And it's got a political side, the Antichrist will manifest that. And it's got a religious side, and that's the false prophet. And then it has, of course, behind it all is the instigator, the dragon, which is Satan. But as we read through the scripture, we realize that this unholy Trinity makes war with the Lamb in Revelation 17, 14. And the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings. And they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. So we read in the back of the book, in the book of Revelation, about this glorious culmination of human history. And we see in Revelation chapter 20, verse 11, a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. And death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every man, according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. You've heard me say that If you're born twice, you die once. And it's true that if you're born again, you just have one death, but if you're only born once and you're not born again, you will die twice. That means you have the first death, which is your physical death, but then there is the eternal separation, which the scriptures talk about here in Revelation chapter 20. And in chapter 21, John says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And there we see that the Lord Jesus will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be any death. There will be no longer any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away. So when Jesus says, seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness in Matthew 6, 33. He's saying, get your eyeballs fastened on that which is eternal and real, that which is history's destination. If you want to be on the right road of history, Jesus says that there are two roads, basically. There's a broad road that leads to destruction, and many will be on that road. But there is a narrow road that leads to life. And Jesus says, enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it, for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few that find it. We don't like to hear that, but it's not about the great majority. It's about people who see things by the miracle of God's grace that are real and eternal. Luke 13, 24. quotes Jesus saying, strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. You see, in the end, there will be a separation of sheep and the goats, wheat and the tares, those that are in Christ and those that are in Adam. In Adam all die, in Christ all made alive. So before the kingdom comes, We must be in a right relationship with God. So that's what Jesus is calling for when he says, seek first the kingdom of God. He means you need to be in a right relationship with God to be on the right side of history. And this is what Jesus Christ came to proclaim, that there is a way to be right with God. Even if we've made a mess of our lives, even today, Guilty sinners can be forgiven and legally proclaimed righteous before God. There is a way to be right before God, and Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father. There is no way into the kingdom but by me. There is no other means whereby a holy God can have be propitiated. We've learned that word theologically. It means that the heart of God's righteousness must be satisfied. Justice must be done. There needs to be an atoning lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. You can't whitewash away your sin through excuses or through trying to outweigh your bad deeds with good deeds. How many sins does it take to be a sinner? One. You want to get your life together to have the kind of righteousness that you need before God, it's too late. There's only, there's absolute righteousness. That's what God requires. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, a righteousness that is not our own. You see, today may be a day of decision for you. It's a bifurcation. You have to choose what road you're going to go on. You're not going to be wafted into the kingdom of God. You know, God isn't going to just sort of random and say, you over there, you over there, you over there. No, it's got to come from your heart. Whosoever believes, whosoever believes in his heart that Jesus is who he says he is, Lord, confesses with his mouth that he is Lord and believes in his heart that God has raised him from the dead, he shall be saved and he shall receive a new life. And so this is what it means to enter the gate. It means that we make a decision, a decision for Christ. And we know, of course, it's by grace, but it's also your responsibility. Every human being is held accountable. Every human being has enough evidence to know that God is who he says he is. The invisible things of him make it very clear in Romans 1.20, so that all people are without excuse. And the Ten Commandments were given to conclude not that you're good enough, but you're not good enough. The Ten Commandments don't tell you how to be good. It tells you that you're not good and that you need God. You need a savior. So this is the truth. The Christian view of history is different. And in the Bible, we see the truth is marching on. God is marching down through the centuries and he's moving towards this great eschatological consummate, wondrous climax, the return of Christ. You know, being a Christian in John's day was tough, the author of the book of Revelation. Being a Christian today is tough. It's a little tougher in Sri Lanka than it is in Concord, Massachusetts. Last Sunday, there were kids in Sunday school, they were asked a question, they were saying, how many of you are willing to die for Christ? They raised their hands, and just by the end of the service, they were dead. Truth matters. Being on the right road matters. In Psalms 6, 10, there's a heart cry for justice, that justice be done. Now people are searching Sri Lanka and they're searching throughout the world for these terrorists and who are perpetrating these crimes. And we hear throughout history, how long, how long before justice is brought? How long before people learn they can't get away with things like that? You see, there's a cry of the human heart. And some people say, well, you know, I can't see how God could possibly judge people. Listen to some of the parents at baseball games. Hey, ump, that was a bad call. They're looking for justice, right? That's a very trivial kind of claim, human beings looking for justice. But think of how holy God is and how sinful we are and how we need mercy. Psalm 610 says, all my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed. They shall turn back and they will suddenly be ashamed. And that's so true that one day, people will learn that you can't get away with it unless you meet the Lord in mercy, putting faith in the blood of the Lamb where you are forgiven, but you will recognize the sinfulness of sin. And so I believe that there are some things in this chapter that we're going to look at. I'm going to give you very, very quickly. They all begin with the letter S and there's seven of them. Isn't it interesting that every chapter, it's always seven, seven angels, seven trumpets, seven bolts, And here, there are seven things I want you to see. First, there's the sign in verse one. There's the sea in verse two. The songs in verse three and four. The sanctuary in verse five. The seven angels in verse six. The seven bowls of wrath in verse seven. And the smoke in verse eight. I'll repeat that again. You don't have to write it all down now, because we're going to deal with them one by one. The sign, we see that in verse one. The sea in verse two. We see the songs in verses three and four. The sanctuary in heaven in verse five. The seven angels in verse six. The seven bowls of wrath in verse seven. And the smoke. There's a permeation of the smoke of the glory of God representing the power of God and no one is able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven bowls of the seven angels are finished. And then in chapter 16, we hear a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God. And so we see here that there is judgment coming and yet at the same time, the saints of the Lord, those original members of the church in the first century that were receiving this word, and us here today in the 21st century, and throughout all time, there's words for believers that God has offered mercy and protection as well as justice. And even as these severe judgments come upon the earth, at the very same time, God is offering his severe mercies. Mercies. So let's begin. You'll notice that there's a similarity in the plagues that we're going to see in chapter 16 with the plagues that were in Egypt. There are lots of similarities between the Exodus story that's celebrated by the Jewish community at Passover And the Lord said in the book of Deuteronomy that what the judgment that he brings in those judgments on Egypt are going to be similar to those that will be brought to the nations. If you read in Deuteronomy, he's saying these are prophetic of judgments that will come upon the earth. So there is a sign. Then I saw another sign in heaven. We have that word again, another. And it's the Greek word alos, which means another of the same kind. The Book of Revelation is a book that communicates with a sign language. And it's a language of symbols and signs. The word that John uses for a miracle or wonder or sign is semion, which means a indicator. It's like a signpost. It's a mark indicating there's something beyond it. the book of Revelation started that way. Do you remember the first verse? Revelation 1.1 gives us a clue as to the... language of the apocalypse in Revelation 1.1 says, the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show to his bond servants the things much which must soon take place. And he sent and communicated it by signs. He signified it. He didn't just communicate. He signified it. He gave signs. So we see another sign, meaning another of the same kind. Let's look at the first sign. There are three signs that are called in the book of Revelation that we've come across. The first one was in Revelation chapter 12, you remember? It was the sign of the woman and the promised seed. And this takes us right back to the beginning of the book of Genesis. How there was this prophecy that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. And so we see that the woman represents Israel, and it represents that messianic community, those that believed the promise. These are the spiritual sons of Abraham. These were those who were expecting the Messiah, and through this messianic community, this community of messianic faith, comes the man-child, the incarnation of the Son of God, the seed of the woman, Jesus of Nazareth, the expected one. And this first sign that is given is to introduce us to the hero of the story, Christ, the promised seed of the woman. Then there's the second sign, which we saw in Revelation chapter 12, three, the dragon, who is also called the serpent and spelled out in verse nine of chapter 12 Satan, the devil, the serpent, and we realize that he is at war with the seed. And so we see even today the rise of anti-Semitism. There is a war against the seed of the woman. And of course, the seed of Abraham is the anointed one. It's the Christ and all those that are in Christ. So there's going to be an acceleration of this in world history. We're seeing it today, but it's going to get worse. And I'm not saying that as a pessimist. I'm saying this as someone who knows what history is about. Remember, we've been given spiritual intelligence. So we know there is a war on. and there is the dragon and his war is against the seed, the Christ and all related to the Christ. In Revelation chapter 13 to 18, we see that the Antichrist and the false prophet will be persecuting the Jews and Christians as never before. And so in the 14th chapter of Revelation, we see the Lord Jesus on Mount Zion triumphing over evil and he is going to harvest the earth in judgment. We had the preaching of the angels, remember? The promised doom of the worshipers of the Antichrist, and then how there's going to be the treading on the winepress of God's wrath. So that's the second sign. And now this leads us to the third sign, which has to do with the seven plagues. Now the word for plague is actually a word that means a blow, it's a strike, it's a pounding. So it's not necessarily what we consider a plague today, it's some sort of disease. But these are judgments that are going to strike on the earth. And these are the final blows of judgment to the serpent's head. In them, the wrath of God is finished. And it is this that is in the mind of All those in heaven that are seeing this happen, they're saying, in this, the wrath of God is finished. It was a wonderful thing for us to appreciate last weekend the finished work of Jesus Christ, what he accomplished on the cross for us. He paid for our sins in full. No more sacrifice remains for sin, correct? We don't look now for someone else to take care of our sins. It's not Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross plus good works. It's totally what Christ has accomplished on our behalf. And when Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration, he was speaking with Moses and Elijah about what he would accomplish in Jerusalem. And the word that he uses for what he will accomplish is in the Greek word, the exodus, the departure he will accomplish. He accomplishes for us. a completion of what is prophesied in the first Exodus. In other words, he destroys the enemy and he separates us from the pursuer and he brings us into this place where we're no longer under wrath and under condemnation, but now we are in Christ Jesus and we're receiving the blessings that he has earned for us. This is a salvation that we rejoice in. And they would sing this song of Moses by the side of the Red Sea, saying, can you believe it? We were once slaves, now we're free. He said, we crossed over on dry ground. God made a way for us when there was no way. We didn't deserve it. God just opened up the Red Sea for us. We went over on dry ground. And then when we got to the other side and our enemy was on our tail, the waters came in and the enemy was defeated. And so Moses and all the children of Israel are looking at the Red Sea and their bodies of the enemy, their oppressors are just floating in the ground and they start to sing a song of redemption. They're seeing things from a new point of view. They're in a new place. And you know, we're in a new place too, on the resurrection side of the cross. And we look back and we see what Jesus has accomplished for us. Did we deserve it? We were once slaves to sin. We were once in bondage to the Pharaoh of this world, Satan. We were once in his kingdom, but we've been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son. And we are free. And so shouldn't we sing? Shouldn't we sing a song of salvation? So these people, you see this sign, this sign signifies something. It signifies that God is going to complete the work. History is going to catch up with the truth of the cross. And sometimes people balk on it and they mock it. They say, oh, it's the foolishness of preaching, you know, that these people are just, they're listening to the word of God. And meanwhile, they could be, you know, they could be out biking today. They could be out doing all this. Why do we do this? Why am I here this morning? Why are you here this morning? Think about it. Something happened inside you that changed what's important. That's why we're here. And that's why we're gonna continue the work that we've been called to do. Because we see things differently on this side of the cross. And what we're gonna see now in the final judgments are not natural disasters, but they're supernatural disasters. The justice of God is going to be enacted. In the past judgments, remember, there were first the seals, seven seals, and that was sort of the unfolding of the messages. Then there were the seven trumpets. What do trumpets do? Warn. And now there's no more warning. In the past there was, in your wrath remember mercy, but now people are saying we don't want mercy. So what's going to happen to them? This is going to be the full and final outpouring of judgment upon the earth. Verse one says, then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous. The seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished. And this sign is intended for us to bow and worship, to make us bow and worship. Notice that they're great and marvelous. Great and marvelous. This is what God says about them. You may read the book of Revelation and see these judgments as being heartless and cruel, but that is just a testimony of our own blindness. This is heaven's perspective. The angels and those in heaven are seeing that this is something great and marvelous. God is preparing to bring in a reign of justice and godliness and righteousness and peace and joy and love and glory. But to do this, he must sweep thoroughly the threshing floor. Do you remember that's what John the Baptist said when he started his ministry. Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. And he talks about how this one who is going to come is going to sweep the floor. Sweep away all the chaff. The wrath of God will be complete. We've understood that there's a terrible time in the future that's known as the Great Tribulation. And we're seeing these judgments that are coming out that express God's wrath. Now the word for wrath in the Greek is thumos. This word for wrath means a fuming, fierce indignation. and it's how a holy God feels about sin. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 28 says, anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. In other words, there's a judgment that the law breaker must experience if there's no appeal made to God's mercy. He then says, how much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the son of God and is regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace? In other words, if we make no appeal to God's mercy, what have we left to look forward to but the severe judgment of God? Verse 30 says, We know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. What kind of thing? Terrifying thing. You know, people are afraid of things today. You get all kinds of phobias. There are people who are afraid of tight spaces, claustrophobia, and there are people who are afraid of all kinds of arachnophobia. And it's used so lightly and meaninglessly today. People talk about homophobia, which means fear of same things. I'm not afraid of things that are the same. Are you? They talk of Islamophobia, like you're afraid of Islam. These are labels that are thrown around that are meaningless. You see, the thing is, we don't fear what we really should fear, and we fear what we shouldn't fear. Jesus said, do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Speaking of God, God is holy, and he's going to judge every human soul. So we're to fear God, and we're to give him glory. We see expressions of the wrath of God. Now, there are different kinds of wrath. We know that there's the, the wrath of just punishment when people do wrong. Isn't it true how people, they'll do things and they think they get away with it, but eventually things catch up with them. That's just one form of the wrath of God, being just the normal kind of consequences that people experience for breaking the law. You step out of a fifth story window wanting to break the law of gravity, you discover the law of gravity breaks you, right? It's just the law. You break the law and the law will break you. But then we see that there are different kinds of wrath. We see that there's the catastrophic wrath, the judgment that was brought upon Sodom and Gomorrah, the wrath of God. And now we're going to see the eschatological wrath of God, the wrath that is shown at the end of history when God brings judgment upon the earth. And they're called great and marvelous. Now let's look at the third. And they're great and marvelous because in them, the wrath of God is finished. It's over. And now the kingdom of God can come in. A kingdom that's established in righteousness. Not the righteousness of human beings, but the righteousness that is given through Jesus Christ. In other words, perfect righteousness. Secondly, the sea. And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name standing on the sea of glass holding harps of God. Now we see these are those that are victorious over the world system. These are the people who didn't give in to the beast and the messages of his image They didn't take the number. They didn't receive the mark. They did not follow the Antichrist. They took the consequences of their standing for Christ. Most likely, they were persecuted. And here we see, these are the martyrs, many of them killed for the revolting against the government and the false prophet. So we see that the sea speaks of several things and I want to sort of outline them because throughout the Bible, the sea is used in different ways. It's a symbol of separateness. You notice that the sea is coming out from the throne. We've read about the crystal sea in the book of Revelation chapter four, verse five. Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne, there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. So there's a separateness between the holy God and even the holy angels. Now we know that when we are in the presence of the Lord, we shall be like him and we shall be holy, but there's still a separateness. There's a uniqueness about the holiness of the one who sits on the throne. And so the sea of glass gives us a picture of that separateness. And when you stand on the seaside and you maybe see the other side of what's on the sea, you see there's a gulf fix there. In Revelation 15.4, we're going to hear them sing, thou alone are holy, speaking of the holy angels. And yet the Lord has to, you know, speaking of the holiness of God in respect to the angels, the Bible tells us that God has to humble himself to look upon an angel. That's how holy he is. And he's, of course, a purer eyes and can look upon sin. So we see a symbol of separateness, something like a sea of glass-like crystal in Revelation 4-6. We see it also in the book of Ezekiel chapter 1. We have this description of the sea When the prophet says, now over the heads of the living beings, there was something like an expanse, like the awesome gleam of crystal, spread out over their heads. Under the expanse, their wings were stretched out straight, one toward the other. Each one also had two wings covering its body on the one side and on the other. It's a real similar picture to the cherubim that are at the Crystal Sea. Secondly, there's a symbol of purity in the sea. You remember that the brazen labor was called the sea in the tabernacle. And those that offered the sacrifices had to wash themselves. They were cleansed by going to the brazen sea. Now, what does brass stand for? Do you remember what brass stands for? It stands for judgment. And so in the Old Testament, we have the brazen altar, where sacrifices are made, showing that there must be judgment for sin and atonement made for sin. And the priests that served had to wash themselves at the brazen altar, the sea of brass. And the brazen laver was filled with what? Water. What does the water symbolize? Cleansing. Now are you clean to the word that I have spoken to you. Being washed in the word in Ephesians chapter five. So it speaks of being washed in the word. So we see the symbol of purity in the Old Testament, but notice that it's not made of brass. The judgment is passed. And now we see, what's it made of? Crystal glass. And it's mixed with fire. What does fire speak of? Purification. So the sin has been judged and now it's just, there's been a purification. And notice because of this, it's a place of safety. The saints can stand on it. It's safety glass. You can stand on it. Judgment is passed. There's no fear. Why? There's no more condemnation to those that are in Christ. You know, the scriptures don't just say that believers are conquerors. It says that we are what? Why? Why more than conquerors? A conqueror could conquer, but then he could be conquered tomorrow. And haven't we seen that in human history? There's one army that conquers another, and then they've conquered. They're no more, Alexander the Great is no longer. And all these different kingdoms are no longer because those conquerors were eventually conquered. But those who are in Christ are standing on the ground where there is no more condemnation. There is no more defeat. This conqueror will never be conquered because his kingdom will reign forever. You can stand on it. That's a place of safety. Next, it's a place of worship. Not only are they standing on this sea of glass, but they are worshiping. They worship not just with their words, they worship with their lives. Many of them, like those children in Sri Lanka last week, were willing to die for Christ. They did not fear the one who would kill their bodies, but unable to kill the soul. Instead, they feared him who was able to destroy both soul and body in hell. They're standing in victory and they're singing, having crossed over on dry ground like the children of Israel. They've come through the waters of judgment, no longer to be judged. through the Red Sea of God's righteous wrath and judgment against sin, they are standing tall and singing, giving all the praise and glory to God for his saving works in and through the promised Savior. So they sing a God-focused song of praise, exultation of the greatness and the power and the glory of God. And this leads us to the next. They're going to be singing songs of praise. So let's look thirdly at the songs. They're holding harps of God. Who gave them the harps? God. Who owns the harps? God, they're harps of God. So the salvation is all of God. Who is the one who called you? God. Who is the one who rescued you? God. Who is the one who gave you opportunity to hear? God. Who is the one who caused you to hear and opened your eyes? God. Who is the one who gives you a capacity to praise him? A harp, that's what a harp speaks of, a capacity to worship. God. Who gave you the breath? to give praise, God. And they sang the Song of Moses, the bondservant of God. It's amazing it stayed on the top of the charts throughout history. And the Song of the Lamb saying, great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. So there are two songs that are referenced here, and they're combined, and I believe that they give us a composite picture of what kind of song we need to be singing. The Apostle Paul gives a command to believers, be ye filled with the Holy Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts and to the Lord. Now, I believe this is so important that we have a song in our hearts that we sing. You know, we need to admonish our soul. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Some of the songs we sing, we sing to the Lord, right? And we praise the Lord, but some songs we sing to our soul. Wake up, come alive, come alive. He's risen from the dead. Join him in this resurrection. That's what you were singing about. That was a song to the soul. That wasn't a song to the Lord, because the Lord doesn't need to rise again. It's a song to the soul. So bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all of his benefits. Don't forget. So let's put it together. These are a combination of themes from the song of Moses, which we've read about in Exodus 15, a wonderful song. And then there's the song of praise that we see in Revelation chapter five. Remember, we've talked about that worthy is the lamb. We were singing that earlier this morning. So let's look at the different themes. First, we worship who he is. What does the song say about who he is? This should be the criteria of our worship songs. What do we learn about who he is? Well, he reveals who he is through his name. These are his characteristics. And we realize that he is the Lord. He is God. He's the Almighty. He's the king of the nations. He is righteous and He is true. He is unique in His holiness. He's separated by the sea of glass and He is going to rule the earth. Not just like the kingdom of Xerxes from India to Ethiopia, but every nation will come to Him and worship Him for who He is. Secondly, we worship him for what he has done and is doing. And he is, he has done, first of all, the great work of redemption. And he's still doing wonders. In his providence, he's meeting your needs. Amen? It should cause us to marvel. And we reflect on the difference that he's made in our lives. But not only do we praise Him for what He has accomplished for us, what He is doing among us, but we praise Him for the way He has done what He's done and is doing what He is doing. He does it in such a unique way. Doesn't He answer your prayers in unique ways? Eleventh hours, and sometimes it's even You wonder how it even fit in there. His answers to prayer are so faithful, the way he has done what he's done. So he describes what he has done. Let me look at the scripture again there in Revelation. Righteous and true are your ways. Notice that, not just the works, but your ways. He does righteous things in righteous ways. He is true in his ways. He's merciful in His ways. So we worship His ways. Fourthly, we learn through these songs what He's due. Fear the Lord. That means give Him reverence. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify His name? Give Him glory. And we don't just do this with our words, folks. We do it with the way that we live our lives. We do it with our service. And then we have the fifth component, which is why do we do what we do in responding to the Lord? And it's all about grace. Him doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. We did not even understand a thing about history's direction apart from Him giving us His word. We would be clueless. We would be foolish today if it were not for His word. But what does it say here in Revelation 15 in the song it says, for your righteous acts have what? Been revealed, been revealed. What does that tell us? It's a gift. It's a gift. The spirit of wisdom and revelation has given us understanding of these things. So do we have something to sing about church? We do. And so we take a look now at the sanctuary. Very quickly here. After these things, I looked in the temple of the tabernacle, the testimony, heaven was opened. Now in the Old Testament, We've seen that the truth about Jesus Christ and his finished work is illustrated to us in the tabernacle, the tabernacle in the wilderness that became the model for the temple of Solomon. It all speaks of the glorious work of Christ. And in the Old Testament, we see that there's a holy of holies in the tabernacle. And in the book of Revelation, the Holies of Holies represents the throne of the Lord in heaven. It's the throne of God. In the holy place, there is the candlestick. And when we go to the book of Revelation, we see that there are seven flames, right, in front of the throne. Seven lamps in front of the throne in Revelation 4-5. In the Old Testament, there's a bronze laver the Book of Revelation, there is the Crystal Sea. In the Old Testament tabernacle, there's a brazen altar where the sacrifice was made. And we see in Revelation 6's 9 to 11, there is an altar but that altar is now an incense altar, an altar of worship. We see that there is a new kind of sacrifice, and it's a sacrifice of people who have been martyred for Christ, witnessed for Christ. You know, the Greek word for witness is martyros, which is where we get the English word martyr. So these are people who they're under the altar. Remember, we saw people under the altar in the book of Revelation. These are people who lived a life of sacrifice for Christ. So these are examples. There's the Ark of the Covenant. that's pictured in the Old Testament tabernacle and in Revelation chapter 11, verse 19. We see that there's the cherubim that are pictured on the veil of the tabernacle, and then we see the four living creatures in the book of Revelation. So there's a correspondence. And out from the tabernacle of the temple in heaven will come the angels. And by the way, in the eternal state, there is no temple. Revelation chapter 21, verse 22, I saw no temple in it for the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. So we see the seven angels coming out from this temple and they have the seven blows, the seven plagues. Clothed in linen, clean and bright and girded around their chest with golden sashes. Very interesting attire. They are dressed as priests with the linen clean and bright. But they also have golden sashes, which is the dress of a king. They are going out as those who are deployed by the one who sits on the throne, the perfect priest, the high priest, and the perfect king to execute judgment. We see sixthly, the seven golden bowls. The one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of wrath, the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. Now the word for bowl there, it means a small dish. Now why would it be a small dish rather than a deep bowl? It's because it's to be delivered swiftly and in one motion. A quick outpouring. You notice this is not a long tribulation. This is a short and final judgment that is brought, as we will see in the next chapter, Revelation chapter 16. Then there is finally the smoke. And the temple was filled with the smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And no one was able to enter the temple until The seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. And this reminds us of scenes that we have read about in the Old Testament. You remember when the tabernacle was finally completed in Exodus chapter 40, verses 34, the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses himself was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it. and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Now what do you suppose that means? That Moses himself could not enter into the tabernacle that he had been instructed to build. It means that it wasn't about him. And guess what? It's not about you. This wonderful story, even though it's our story, My granddaughter came down to my office this week and she just wrote on the board words from Fanny Crosby. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. And I just think, you know, that's true. We all have a song and it's our story. But guess what? It's not really our story. It's all about His glory. It's all about Him. The all-encompassing power and presence of the Lord. We see the same thing in 2 Chronicles 7 when Solomon has finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the house. The priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. All the sons of Israel seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground and they worshiped and gave praise to the Lord saying, truly, he is good. Truly, his loving kindness is everlasting. Then the king and all the people offered their sacrifices before the Lord. So before even the judgments come out, we just need to see this is all about the glory of the Lord. So here's a take home value. These are the things that we learn. And this has application for us today. First of all, this is a serious subject. This is why it's not often preached in churches today, the book of Revelation, because there's a solemnity about this. It means history is on a direction, but many people are on a crash course, and it's leading to destruction. Many are going that way. It reminds us that we need to be pointing people to the road that leads to life. It shows us that salvation is by absolute righteousness. It's not by our own works of righteousness. We cannot put ourselves in a right relationship with God. It is uniquely the work of Christ. We must put the full weight of our confidence in what he has done, because it's only what he has done that can make us right, that can put us on the right side of history. Thirdly, this chapter speaks of God's sovereignty. His wrath is held back. It could be today, we could be experiencing that quick dash of final judgment, but God in his mercy has given us an opportunity to respond to the revelation of his righteousness through the finished work of Jesus Christ. There's sovereign mercy. And then there are the songs. The Holy Spirit will take the ascendancy in our souls as we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs from heaven's hymnal. And the question I ask you today is, whose songbook are you singing from? What kind of songs do you sing? Oh, it's Monday morning. Oh, I gotta get up and set up the chairs at the ministry center. Oh, I've got to teach Sunday school. Oh, gotta listen to Pastor David speak till noon. Oh. Is that the song that you sing? Or are you singing the truth about who he is? The truth about what he has done? The truth about what he is doing? The truth about his ways? All his ways, aren't they perfect? Let us rejoice. Let us rejoice and give him what he is due. Continual praise. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. How long, Rick? Forever. Forever. Does it ever get old? No. Moses is up there and he's the song leader, right? He's saying, I got a request. Let's sing the song of Moses. Moses, we've been singing your song for centuries. Let's have something else. What do you want us to sing? Let's sing the song of Moses. Why do we go back to these songs of salvation? They're new, and they're fresh, and they're so real. Let's pray. I should say let's sing. Let's do both. Heavenly Father, thank you again for the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. And Lord, I pray that even those that are listening today, that you would make it clear to them that your loving invitation was demonstrated on the cross. as Jesus spread his arms open wide to receive repentant sinners to himself, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I thank you that you gave your seal of approval in the perfection of his work by raising him from the dead and that he lives and that we can know his presence, his counsel, His leading, His guidance, His protection, His mercies every day. So Father, I pray that as we go from this place, it would be with a new song. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.