The Glorious Second Coming of Jesus Christ: Part 4

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The Calling to Purity, Be Holy for I Am Holy: Part 5

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We're speaking about the glorious second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This will be a part four out of several.
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Well, I didn't mean to really, I wasn't anticipating to go this far with it, but it's been really on my heart.
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And then, Lord willing, we're going to return back to our study to 1 Peter. Lord willing, next
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Lord's Day. But the great question is still asked, how will it all end?
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How will it all end? That's the question, isn't it? We're not, we're not in the dark about this.
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The answer is given to us in the book of Revelation. And actually, how many people have tried to answer that question?
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Philosophers, psychologists, the so -called intellect of this day. And there's really only one who gives us the right answer to that probing question, and that is the
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Word of God. And that Word is found in the book of Revelation. You know, for the past several
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Lord's Day, like I said, we've been looking together in this wonderful Word of God, and what God has to say about the glorious second coming of Jesus, and how everything will end, and we know who wins.
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Jesus wins. To say the least, we have only scratched the surface of this little,
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I shouldn't say little, it's a great subject, to be honest with you. And in saying that, let me ask you a few questions, personally, this morning.
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In regard to the second coming of Jesus Christ, are you seriously anticipating His second coming?
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Are you always aware that He can come at any moment, at any day, at any time?
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Does your life live up to that you are prepared for His coming?
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Does your life live up and show that you are prepared for His coming?
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Are you ready to see our Lord face -to -face when He comes in all
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His power and in His glory? Do you long to see His face? Are you awaiting that great and glorious day when
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He comes back and we shall see Him face -to -face in all of His glory? Oh, I want to see
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Him. I want to look upon His face. The one who saved me, bow His grace.
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You know, if someone were to ask you to give them a vivid description of the appearance of Jesus Christ, I ask you personally, could you give them the description of Jesus Christ?
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You know, there are a lot of people that ask. And they contemplate and they say, how did
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Jesus really look like? And you know, we've got all this artwork from the past and really,
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I'm going to tell you the way I really feel about this according to the Word of God.
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Any image that's given is a false image. Any painting, it is another image of who
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Jesus Christ really is. And the Scripture says, and God's law, the second commandment, if I'm not mistaken, that we shall not have any graven images.
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But yet people post on Facebook all these images, these false images of this long -haired, buddy -like
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Jesus, Jesus. But it's not the Jesus of the Bible. They throw it out there and they put a verse of Scripture right beside it.
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And yet the Word of God says, you shall not have any graven images. It's very clear.
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But yet there is a description that is given in the book of Revelation. And let me give you a little bit more of description before we look into the description of Jesus Christ Himself from the
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Word of God, which is accurate, by the way. But like no other book in all the 66 books of the revealed
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Word of God, the inspired Word of God, the all -sufficient Word of God, the book of Revelation of Jesus Christ, by the way, it is the
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Revelation of Jesus Christ. You've got some Bibles that title it, and this is wrong, that have titled it the book of Revelation from the
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Apostle John. Now, the Apostle John did write it.
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But really, it's not the Revelation of John the Apostle. It is the
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Revelation of Jesus Christ. So you have some prints of Bibles out there that say that from the beginning.
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I hope no one has a false print here that says that. But it should say accurately the
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Revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, let's look at that just briefly.
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What does Revelation mean? In definition, Revelation means it's an uncovering. It's an unveiling.
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It is a disclosure. And in the New Testament, this word describes the unveiling of spiritual truth.
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And that spiritual truth is the revealing of the sons of God, Christ's incarnation, when Jesus Christ came in human flesh, that God dwelt among us, tabernacled among us, and is glorious appearing at the second coming of Jesus.
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That is the Revelation. He will be revealed in all of His might and His glory when
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He comes back the second time unto salvation. In all of its uses, the word
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Revelation refers to something or someone hidden that has become invisible.
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It's like He's hidden behind a veil and the curtain is rolled back and He comes out.
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And you see Him in splendor and glory and majesty. So what this wonderful book, and by the way,
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I like what Ravenhill says, this wonderful book, Revelation, is a book of majesty, it's a book of mystery, and it's also a book of misery.
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This wonderful book reveals or unveils is Jesus Christ in all of His glory.
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Actually, the whole Bible, all the 66 books of the Bible is about Jesus. All roads, all scriptures will lead you to the cross, to Jesus Christ.
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One way or another. And really, the truth about Jesus and His final victory is found in Revelation.
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So if you and I desire to know how it is going to all end, read the book of Revelation.
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A lot of people say, I don't understand it. I still don't understand a lot of it.
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I'm 55 and I've been studying it since age 17. There's a lot I still... And I've studied it and went over it and over it and over it and I've heard so many different views of the amillennium, premillennium, postmillennium, all these different views and I'm a panmillennist.
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It's all going to pan out. It's going to come out and Jesus wins. And so with me, turn with me this morning, this
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Lord's Day, isn't it wonderful to have this book, this wonderful book? And by the way, this book has come to us in the sea of blood, beloved.
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Many, many godly men have died and burned to the stake. William Tyndale was one of them.
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He was burned to the stake, strangled at the same time, put to death because, he interpreted this, he wrote this wonderful book down in English.
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So go with me to Revelation chapter 19, Revelation chapter 19 and let us stand one more time in honor of God's word as we read verse 11 to 16, 11 through 16.
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Now, since this is the last part of this, let me read,
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I'm going to back up a little bit and read verse 1 to 16 for you that have not gotten the whole scope of what this is really telling us.
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But hear the word of the living God. The apostle John writes this down as he's in the spirit on the
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Lord's Day. Chapter 19 verse 1, listen to this. After these things
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I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our
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God. Because His judgments are true and righteous. For He has judged the great harlot who has corrupted the earth with her immorality.
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And He has avenged the blood of His bondservants on her. And a second time they said,
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Hallelujah, her smoke rises up forever and ever. And the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures fell down and worshiped
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God who sits on the throne saying, Amen, Hallelujah. And a voice came from the throne saying,
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Give praise to our God and all you His bondservants who fear Him, the small and the great.
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Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters, like the sound of mighty peals of thunder saying,
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Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. It's glorious.
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Verse 7, Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him.
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For the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean.
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And the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And then He said to me, Right, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the
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Lamb. And He said to me, These are true words of God.
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And then I fell at His feet to worship Him. But He said to me, And this is speaking to the angel,
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Do not do that. I'm a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus.
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Worship God. But the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Listen to this.
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And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and He who sat on it is called
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Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are as a flame of fire and on His head are many diadems and He had a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.
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He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.
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From His mouth comes a sharp sword so that He may strike down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron and He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the
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Almighty and on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
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Let us bow in prayer and seek the face of our God real quickly.
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Father in heaven, this is Your holy word. This is Your eternal word,
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O God. Lord, we are told to have an attitude of fear and trembling and great respect and reverence as we read
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Your word. O God, give us a heart like this. O God, melt our hearts of stone.
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Lord, we need Your help this morning. We need ears to hear, to hear what the
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Spirit of God is saying to us. O God, we need eyes to see. Lord, we need a heart to understand.
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And Father, we cannot do these things. We cannot make them happen. Your Holy Spirit must make this happen.
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Only You can grant this to us, O Father, to us poor sinners, O Lord. So we come humbly before You, Lord, this morning and grant,
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I pray, to each and every one of us that we may see Your Son in His glory. Lord, we just want to see
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Jesus. Lord, and Your word, every word of it is inspired by You.
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It breathes out from You all about Your Son. You even said, this is my beloved
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Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. So Father, may we hear.
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Give us ears to hear by Your grace, and Lord, change us forever. We ask this in Jesus' name and for Your glory.
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Amen and amen. Thank you very much. You can be seated. Verse 11,
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And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. You should think about this. Second time in Revelation, John the
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Apostle sees both heaven opened up and a white horse.
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Last Lord's Day, we saw that the rider on the white horse is in our text. In Revelation 19 .11,
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here is a different rider than the rider in Revelation 6 .2. Actually, the rider of the white horse in Revelation 6 .2
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is the man of perdition, the Antichrist, which tells in that text that he has a bow and there's no arrows, so he gives world peace in which he will, and it's a false peace.
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But here in Revelation 19 .11 is the prince of peace. He comes back in power and glory, and he will reign forever and ever as King of kings and Lord of lords.
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That's the message of the text. But here in Revelation 19 .11, this rider of the white horse is none other than the
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Lord Jesus Christ Himself. This morning I'd like for us to look at 12 ways, and I'd like to finish this.
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I'm going to recap a little bit, so bear with me. To those that did not get this message last week,
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I'm going to recap because this is something you do not want to miss. As I said before in the introduction of this message, if you are to give a clear description of Jesus Christ and how
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He really is pictured, this is the description right here from the
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Word of God that we could tell people accurately that this is the way Jesus describes
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Himself by the Spirit of God. Right here in the Word of God, the
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Apostle John penned it over 10 ,000 years ago.
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By the way, we're going to worship Him tens and thousands and thousands of years. Amen? But here, over 2 ,000 years ago it is penned.
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And the first description that is given to us in verse 11, after John saw heaven opened, and it says this of Him, that He has a white horse.
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And by the way, we looked at white horses, are horses that kings ride on in battle.
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You always say, this is even portrayed in pictures today. You see a king riding out in triumph and power, and he's riding on a white horse most of the time.
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You see this. But Jesus comes back in a white horse, and as the
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Scripture says, even all in verse 14, all the armies which are in heaven clothed, and the armies is just not the saints, it's the angels too, thousands and ten thousands of them, coming back and following Jesus Christ, their fine linen on clothed, and they're following Him on what?
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White horses. It's a battle. And by the way, no one has to fight this battle,
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Jesus does all the fighting for us. And all the saints of God, all He has to do is speak the word, and it's over with, and the nations are stricken, and they're down.
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We're going to see that. But the description that's given is, the very first one, is
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He that sat on this white horse, is called faithful and true. That's the first description.
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Faithful and true. I saw heaven open. Behold. That word behold, don't overlook those little words.
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Behold means to look. Look. See. See it.
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On a white horse, He who sat on it, is called faithful and true. Revelation 3 .14
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says, to the angel, that means the messenger, of the church of Laodicea, isn't that interesting?
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The lukewarm church, one of the worst of the churches, in Asia Minor. And Jesus speaks and says, the
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Amen. The faithful and true witness. The beginning of the creation of God.
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What does this mean? It means that Jesus is the Amen. It signifies the certainty, that He, you could be certain.
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The veracity, that God is a God of truth. You could count on it. God is, whatever
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God says, let God be true. And every man found liar. That's what the word of God says.
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Every man be found liar. But God is true. That is so true. You have liars all across the world.
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You can actually say, just about in the seed of every man, in the heart of every man, there's a lie.
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There's a lie. But He that comes to God, when we come to God, born of the Spirit of God, we come to the truth, and we follow
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Him, who is true and faithful. But He is the way, the truth, and the life. And we're no longer an error, and false, bearing false witness, but we are desiring the truth.
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The Spirit of truth abides within us, of the children of God. So when the
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Spirit of God takes residence within the children of God's being, and spirit, we desire truth.
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We desire truth. And why? Because Jesus is true and faithful. It is
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Christ who is true and faithful, the God of truth, the God of truth. All the promises of God are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
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Don't you think of that. Every promise in this Bible is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. All God's promises, and unconditional covenants, and the guarantee of everything
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He has spoken, is all affirmed by the person and works of Jesus Christ.
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You know, think of that. He also, He is faithful and true.
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A true witness. A true witness. He is a completely trustworthy, perfectly accurate witness to the truth of the living
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God. Jesus Himself. And after all, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
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No one comes to the Father but by Him. Don't you listen to these lies today, that all these other religions, and you have these bumper stickers, and it says, what does it say?
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It has a picture. Coexist. Thank you, Miss Lillian. I'm going to tell you what.
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That's a lie from hell. All religions. What it's basically saying, well, we've got to be peaceful, and we've got to be contemporary, and we've got to be in unification one way or another.
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But you know something? The real, Christianity is set apart from religion, beloved.
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Christianity is, and I'm going to tell you why. I'm going to tell you why. Because we come to the one true and living
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God. Now, other Islamics and them, and all these other religions, they think they're going to the true living
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God too. In the name of Allah, in the name of Buddha, and stuff. But how do we know? How do we know? Well, Jesus is true and faithful.
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And this Word of God is true. And they have their Bible. We have their Bible. Okay, we don't need to shed blood over this.
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But you know something? In the Crusades years ago, there was a lot of blood shed. And because, and there was a lot of Christians that shed their blood.
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Why do you think that so many reformers and martyrs died on the stake? Why do you think John Hus, years ago before, a hundred thousand, not a thousand, but I don't know, many centuries ago in the
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Dark Ages, way before Luther came and was born, and nailed the 95 Theses, John Hus was considered like the, the, the, what is it?
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The swan, the goose. I'm sorry, the duck. And then Luther was like the swan that came and did the same thing
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Hus did. And all Hus did was preach the Word of God and said, Jesus Christ is the head of the church.
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Did you know the Roman Catholic Church burned him to the stake for that? Because he said he's the head of the church.
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Look at Pastor John MacArthur in California. He says, Jesus Christ, not Caesar, is the head of the church.
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Look at, look at the government and look at what the persecution that this man has taken because he's making that, he made that statement.
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When that statement's true, Jesus Christ is the head of his church, not the
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Pope. How dare you say something like that? Who do you think you are?
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That's what they say, but you know all we're doing is saying what the Word of God says, beloved. Jesus said he's the head of the church, that means he's the head of the church.
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Not because a man says it, but because he says it. And that was the purpose of the
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Reformation. Is that we don't go by the authority of the church. We don't go by the authority of Popes.
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We go by what? The authority of the Word of God. And that's why you have the solas.
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The sola. Sola gratis. By grace alone. Sola fide. By faith alone.
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Sola gloria. By the full glory of God alone. You have the solas. And it's distinct.
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And getting back to true and faithful, Jesus Christ is the true and faithful witness.
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He's completely trustworthy. Perfectly accurate. Witness of the truth of God. And after all,
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Christ is that truth. Scripture says this. Scripture says this. That in righteousness,
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He judges and wages war. His holiness demands justice, beloved.
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I'd like to read from Daniel 9, 13, and 14. Listen to this. Daniel chapter 9 is a great chapter.
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Please study this in your devotional time. Daniel is a godly man. God showed him many visions and actually showed him the future just like John.
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Daniel confesses his sins and the people's sins before God in Daniel 9, 13, and 14.
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Take note what he says here. I'm just reading a couple verses. But as it is written in the law of Moses and all this calamity that has come on us in Babylon and all that happened, yet we, notice what he says, we have not sought the favor of the
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Lord our God by turning from our iniquity. That means repentance. Turning from our iniquity and giving attention to your truth.
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Verse 14, but notice what he says here. Therefore the Lord has kept, in other words, watched over the evil, the calamity in store and brought it on us.
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God's sovereign, right? He allowed it to happen for a purpose. And what did he say?
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For the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds, which
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He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice. Notice what
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Daniel's doing? He's confessing the sins of himself and of his people. And he's basically saying to all this calamity that has happened, that has come on us, all this evil, the
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Lord our God is righteous. You see, God is absolutely righteous with respect to all
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His deeds, which He has done, and we have not obeyed His voice. And basically what he said, God has allowed all this to come on us in His sovereign purpose because we have sinned against the
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Lord and we have not obeyed His voice. Isn't that where we are today?
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We have not obeyed the voice of God. Paul, Mars Hill, going all the way from Daniel to Paul, Paul the
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Apostle preaches to these pagan philosophers on Mars Hill in Acts 17, 31.
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Notice what the Apostle Paul says on Mars Hill. Because he, speaking of God, has fixed a day.
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There's a day coming, beloved. He's speaking about Judgment Day. In which He will judge the world in righteousness.
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You hear that? In righteousness. Through a man. And by the way, the
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M right there is capitalized. Speaking of the man, a man. Jesus Christ.
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Whom He has appointed. There's no escaping this. Listen to this. Appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising
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Him from the dead. Jesus is raised from the dead. He will judge all of flesh.
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Every person that has ever lived on the face of this entire earth. Isn't that amazing?
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This will take place at the Great White Throne Judgment. Speaking of this, and by the way, you do not want to be at the
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Great White Throne Judgment. But we're going to all be judged. But at the
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Great White Throne Judgment is all of those who have been and went to hell.
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Turn with me to Revelation 20. We're going to look at this real quick. What do you mean hell?
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People go immediately to hell? The Bible says those that are in Christ as absent from the body and present with the
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Lord. They immediately go right into the presence of God. So those that die without Jesus Christ immediately go right into hell.
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Now beloved, let me tell you, if you've studied this, hell is like jail. It's a place of torment.
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It is a place of darkness. It's a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, which Jesus says is a place of tremendous, horrifying torment.
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But they're placed there temporarily. There has to be a verdict.
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Amen. And here the verdict comes, and notice what it says. It speaks about the sea here.
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That talks about the sea of all the souls, all the millions of souls that had died and gone into hell in punishment.
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They're going to get a final punishment. This scripture speaks of it. Listen to this.
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Verse 11. John says this, and then I saw a great white throne. That's the throne of God.
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And him who sat upon it, Jesus, the lamb, the lion of the tribe of Judah, whose presence earth, listen to this, earth and heaven fled away.
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They didn't want to see him. And no place was found for them. There was no place that they could go.
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They had to go before him. Listen to this. And I saw the dead, this is those in hell, and great and the small standing before the throne.
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And the books were opened. The books, plural, there's books. And another book was opened, which is the book of life.
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That is the book. And the dead were judged from the things which are written in the books.
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You know what those books record? Every single thing that every person has ever done.
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Every thought, every motive, according to their deeds.
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Now these are not saved, folks. Listen. And the sea gave up the dead. That's the sea of hell.
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That's what he's talking about. And which were in it. And death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them.
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And they were judged. And they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds.
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God takes an account of everything, beloved. Every thought. Every deed.
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And then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. The lake of fire. That's the final verdict.
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The lake of fire. This is the second death. The lake of fire. And notice what it says in verse 15.
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If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Beloved, this is a day of judgment of all those that do not know
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Jesus Christ. It's sobering, isn't it? It's very sobering.
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But you know, the reason I read that is that Jesus Christ, God, and the
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Father has given the judgment to Jesus Christ. He is the righteous one, by the way. Jesus is true and righteous.
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They killed the righteous one. They hung him on a tree.
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But see, he took the sin. He took the wrath of God upon himself. And that's why, if you don't put your faith in Jesus Christ and follow him and surrender to his lordship and follow him by faith and trust in him, then what are you trusting in?
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Yourself. Your own works. Your own good deeds. And see,
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Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost. You know, and this will take place at the
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Great White Throne Judgment. And Jesus Christ will judge every soul that ever lived.
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Well, let's go to the third description. I've got to get through these descriptions today. The third is,
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His eyes are like a flame of fire. Back to Revelation 19. Notice, His eyes are like a flame of fire.
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Doesn't that say that in Revelation 1? In verse 10 through 18? Let me read it real quick.
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I cannot back away. Here's another description. John gives the description here. The way Jesus is described.
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Notice what he says. Verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet.
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It's saying, write in the book you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and Laodicea.
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Very important. Jesus had something to say to each one of those churches. Study that in your devotional time.
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There's a loveless church. There's a persecuted church. There's a compromising church. There's a corrupt church.
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There's a dead church. There's a faithful church. There's a lukewarm church. Where do we sit?
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Where do we find ourselves in? If Jesus were to write a message and hand it to me, read this to your church,
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Redeeming Grace Church, what would He say? Well, He says,
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John says, Here, then I turned to see the voice, He turned behind me and was speaking with me.
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And again, keep in mind, this is a man that walked and talked with Jesus for three years. And having turned,
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I saw seven golden lampstands and in the middle of the lampstands, I saw one like the Son of Man clothed in a robe reaching to His feet and girded across His chest with a golden sash.
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And His head and His hair were white like wool, like snow
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His eyes. And His eyes were like a flame of fire. That's His love.
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That's His holiness. Notice what it says, verse 15, His feet were like burnished bronze and had been made to glow like a furnace.
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And His voice was like the sound of many waters. There ain't no way somebody can make a description like this and post it on Facebook.
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And His right hand, and He held seven stars. By the way, the seven stars is the seven, like the messengers of the church, the seven churches.
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And out of His mouth came a sharp two -edged sword. We're going to see that in a few minutes. And His face was like, listen to this, was like the sun shining in its strength.
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You ever try to look at the sun? Try looking at the sun. You can't look at it for long.
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You think about, one godly man said this about Jesus, looking at the sun is going to pale looking in the face of Jesus.
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No wonder the apostle Paul saw Tarsus was blinded. He was blinded for three days as he was persecuting the church.
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Jesus came after him. A great conversion. He wasn't seeking
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God. He wasn't seeking Christ. On the road to Damascus, he was knocked down when he seen
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Jesus. No one else saw. He saw the vision. Verse 17, here's the response
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John had. And keep in mind, this is the beloved, the apostle John. When I saw
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Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. As paralyzed. And He placed
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His right hand on me saying, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living one. I was dead.
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And behold, I'm alive forevermore. I praise God. And He says,
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I have the keys of death and of Hades. You want to escape the second death? Throw yourself in the arms of Jesus.
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By faith. Then He says, therefore write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after these things.
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Well, let's go on to the next. Let me give you one more. I touched on this very quickly, but Daniel 10.
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Jump with me to Daniel. We've got to see this one more time because the reason I'm pointing this out is this is thousands of years before Jesus came and was incarnate.
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You see what I'm saying? Before He came and was made flesh. Well, Daniel saw the vision as well.
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And notice what he says in Daniel 10. Notice what he says in verse 2.
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In those days I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. I did not eat any tasty food. He was fasting.
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I did not eat meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth.
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Did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed. He fasted for three weeks.
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On the 24th day of the first month, I was by the bank of the great river that is
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Antigris. I lifted up my eyes and look, behold, there it is, behold, look. There was a certain man dressed in linen.
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Now keep in mind, this is before Jesus came to the earth. He's seeing the pre -incarnate Christ. Whose waist was girded with the belt pure gold ethaz.
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His body was like beryl. His face had the appearance of lightning. His eyes were like flaming torches.
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His arms and his feet like the gleam of polished bronze. And the sound of His words were like the sound of atonement, like a hurricane.
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Now I, Daniel, alone saw the vision while the men were with me did not see the vision.
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Nevertheless, a great dread fell on them and they ran away to hide themselves.
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And he says, so I was left alone and saw this great vision. Yet no strength was left in me. It sapped him of his strength.
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And all he could do was my natural color turned like deathly pallor. It was like white like a ghost in our vernacular.
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And I retained no strength. And he said, but I heard the sound of His words. And as soon as I heard the sound of His words
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I fell into a deep sleep and my face, with my face to the ground. Let me stop right there.
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Now does that sound like a weak, hippy like Jesus? I'm here to tell you that was
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Daniel the prophet. The apostle John, they both reacted to no strength left in them. They fell to their, to the,
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I mean the ground with their face down. And worshipped. Awesome.
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Awesome. Awesome. Daniel sees Christ in pre -incarnate appearance. The fourth description, let's go back to the description, is he has many crowns on his head.
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And on his head are many crowns, diadems, diadems. As you well know a king has a crown, but beloved let me tell you this, the king of kings have many crowns.
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He has many crowns, many jewels, many diadems upon his head.
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Made me think, when I was writing this down, I said you know Jesus at one time wore a crown of thorns.
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He was mocked. He was beaten. They led him to a cross to be crucified.
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But here he comes back as the lion of the tribe of Judah. And he has many crowns on his head.
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He comes back not to be crucified, but he comes to slay nations. Oh my, oh my.
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Let's go to the fifth description. He has a name written on him which no one knows except himself.
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It has a commentary in itself, beloved. Apostle John could see a name, but was unable to comprehend it.
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Pastor John MacArthur says of this, there are unfathomable mysteries in the Godhead that even glorified saints will be unable to grasp.
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End quote. As I mentioned last week, Deuteronomy 29, 29 fits right here.
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The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but to the things that are revealed belong to us and to our sons forever that we may observe all the words of this law.
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You know we do good to obey what we do know. How can we handle more?
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We can't. Amen. Amen. Sixth description. He wears a robe stained with blood.
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Verse 13. He's clothed with a robe dipped in blood. Stained in blood.
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Dipped in blood. With this robe, go with me very quickly.
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Today is going to be communion service. I think this is appropriate to bring this up. John, go to the gospel with John.
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I want you to look at something. Chapter 19 at the crucifixion. A fulfillment of a psalm.
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And this is when Jesus was crucified. Look at verse 23. Then the soldiers, chapter 20.
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Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took out, took his outer garments and made four parts.
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And part to every soldier and also the tunic. Now the tunic was the seamless woven in one piece.
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So that they said one another, and listen to this, let us tear it, let us not tear it, I'm sorry. But cast lots for it.
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To decide whose it shall be. This was to fulfill the scripture.
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They divided my outer garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Wow. Think of this.
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They divided his outer garments, and for his robe they cast lots. It's absolutely awesome.
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You know, what does the prophet speak about this? About his blood dipped on his robe.
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Go to Isaiah 63. I want you to see this. I think some of you know where I'm going to go on this.
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Isn't it wonderful to know the works, the books of the Bible, and the prophecies, and you see the fulfillment.
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By the way, this is a great prophecy. Notice chapter 63. This is glorious.
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Notice what the prophet says. And I'm going to begin with verse 1, and take it all the way to verse 6.
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Who is this who comes from Edom with garments of glowing colors from Boazar?
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This one who is majestic in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength.
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It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Notice what it says in verse 2.
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Why is your apparel red, and your garments like the one who treads in the winepress?
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Verse 3. I have trodden the winepress, tro alone. Who's that speaking of?
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That's Jesus. And from the peoples there was no man with me.
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I also trod them in my anger, and I trampled them in my wrath. It goes from Christ as Savior to Christ as Judge.
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Notice that. And their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I stained all my raiment.
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Notice what he says in verse 4. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption has come.
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I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished that there was no one to uphold. So my own arm brought salvation to me.
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Notice what it says, my own arm. He's God. And I trod down the peoples in my anger.
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This is a fulfillment. I'm sorry, this will be fulfilled in Revelation 19. And made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.
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How much clearer can it be? You see that about his garments?
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Like the one who treads in the winepress? Oh my.
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Let's go to the seventh description. I can camp right there, but I gotta go on. Seventh description is that, it says his name is the
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Word of God. His name is the Word of God. Isn't that a glorious name? He has many names. Oh my, we could take a series and go through all the names of God.
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Each and every one of them are glorious. I'm sure there's some going through your head right now, but his name here is called the
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Word of God. Warren Wiersbe said, the Word of God is one of the familiar names of our
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Lord in Scripture. Doesn't this go right hand in glove with what
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John said? In John chapter 1? Listen to what he says here.
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Let the Word of God speak, amen? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
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Word was God. Not a God. God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things came into being through Him.
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Talking about Jesus Christ. And apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of man, and the light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
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He's the Word of God. He's the Word of God. That's glorious.
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Let's go to the eighth description. The eighth description is found in verse 14 of Revelation 19.
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And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.
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Now I want you to note, I've already mentioned briefly on this, that John sees more than one army here.
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The armies. That's talking about all the angels. John sees the armies indicating both angels and the saints accompanying
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Jesus. Or we see this in Scripture. Oh my, it's all over Scripture. But let me just give you a couple of verses.
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Go to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians.
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Notice what he says in verse 6. For after all this, all it is only just for God to repay affliction with those who afflict you.
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Vengeance is the Lord's, amen? I'm sorry, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Chapter 1, look at verse 7.
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And to give relief to all you who are afflicted, to us as well, when the
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Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels and flaming fire. There it is again.
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Dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And what does that tell us right there? To those who believe and know God will obey the gospel.
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To those that do not know God does not obey the gospel. You know why?
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Because they do not have a heart of love within them to obey God. They disobey.
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Notice verse 9. These will pay with the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the
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Lord and from the glory of His power. Scripture is so black and white, isn't it? And from when He comes to be glorified in His saints.
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This is talking about Revelation 19. On that day to be marveled at among all who have believed, for our testimony to you was believed.
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He comes with thousands of His saints. Look at Jude. Look at Jude 14.
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Jude, the book of Jude, the book right before Revelation. Verse 14.
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And it was also about these men that Enoch, we know little about Enoch but we do know he walked with God and God translated him.
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That's how close it was with God. He was the seventh generation from Adam.
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This goes way back. Notice what he says. These are thousands and thousands of years, folks, way before Jesus even came to earth.
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Notice the prophecy. Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones.
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What's going to happen? Verse 15. To execute judgment upon all. Not some, all. And to convict all the ungodly.
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Notice how many times he says ungodly. All the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an ungodly way.
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And all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?
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When the King of kings and Lord of lords comes back, what's going to happen? The Word of God is going to strike the nations and they're going to all be stricken.
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He comes back with the holy ones. The ninth description is found in verse 15 of chapter 19 of Revelation.
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From His mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it He may strike down the nations.
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What kind of power is that? We're not talking about one nation here, folks.
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We're talking about the nations. All He's got to do is speak the
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Word and the nations are stricken. They're dead. There's more study into that, but it's incredible.
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The language here is figurative, but it describes the all -powerful Word of the
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Lord. Isaiah 11 verse 4 says, but with righteousness He would judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and with the breath of His lips
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He will slay the wicked. Hebrews 4, 12 and 13.
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You're familiar with Hebrews. What does it say about the Word of God there? Amen.
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That means Jesus is living and active. Amen. The Word of God is living and active.
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Isn't that great? There's power. It gives life. It's living. It's active.
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It's always working. And it's sharper. It's just not as sharp.
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It is sharper than any two -edged sword, piercing as far as the division of the very soul and the spirit.
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Listen to this. Both the joints and the marrow. And listen to this. And able to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart.
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It judges our thoughts. My thought life is judged by the
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Word of God. Do you ever get convicted by the Word of God in your thoughts? How about the motives of your heart, the intentions of your heart, the reigns of your heart, why you did it and why you didn't do it?
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The Word of God judges me. I don't judge it. It judges me. And these people think they got the
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Word of God on trial. Forget it. On this day of vengeance, God's going to judge them.
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Verse 13, And there is no creature, no creature, beloved, hidden from His sight.
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He sees everything. He sees everyone. He knows. He sees everything you're going through. Good and bad.
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The Bible says, The eyes of the Lord run to and fro about the whole earth, seeing whom He may show
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Himself strong. And it says, But all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him whom we have to do.
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In other words, you're going to have to give an account one day, so you better make sure you're living holy.
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That's convicting. I stepped all over my toes. Let me go to the next description.
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Because my time is running out, I know. Oh my goodness. Tenth. It says,
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He will rule them with a rod of iron, an iron scepter. What does that make you think of?
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Psalm 2. Amen. That's a bullseye, Brother Keith.
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Psalm 2. Listen to this. Why are the nations in uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing?
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The kings of the earth take their stand. Listen to this. And the rulers take counsel together against the
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Lord and against His anointed, His people. Saying, Let us tear their fetters apart.
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Let us cast away their cords from us. That's what they're saying. We're going to tear them to pieces, in other words.
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What does it say? It was God. Don't you think God's worried? He who sits in the heavens laughs.
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He goes, Ha! And the Lord scoffs at them. And then
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He will speak to them in His anger. Notice, He will speak to them. And terrify them in His fury.
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Saying, But as for me, I have installed my king. Who's that? Jesus. I've installed my king.
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Upon Zion. My holy mountain. And I will surely tell of the decree of the
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Lord. And He said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will surely give you the nations as your inheritance.
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And the very ends of the earth as your possession. And you shall break them with a rod of iron. And you shall shatter them like earthenware.
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Now therefore, O king, show discernment. Take warning. Now He, God's telling them what you should do.
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O judges of the earth, You better be careful. Listen to this. Verse 11. You worship the
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Lord with reverence. And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son that He not become angry.
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And you perish in the way. For His wrath may be soon kindled. And how blessed are all who take refuge in Him.
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You'll be blessed today. You want to take refuge from the wrath of God? You go to the rock of ages.
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You go to the cross. You hide in Jesus Christ. And let Him be your refuge today.
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Hallelujah. I got to get through these descriptions. Isn't it glorious? Look at all that's in the descriptions of Jesus.
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Oh my, the 12th. I'm sorry, the 11th. The 11th description is,
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He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God. We've already saw that in Isaiah 63.
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The wrath of God the Almighty. The Almighty God. The wrath of God. Jesus Christ treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God.
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What gives Him the right to do this? Can I tell you this? He took the wrath.
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He took that wrath. So He has every right to tread the winepress of the fierce wrath of God.
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Look at Revelation 14. I tell you,
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I got nothing to... I like when MacArthur says, I got nothing to say. The Word of God says it all. Amen? And I say
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I got nothing to say. I'm talking about I myself. But God's got something to say.
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I'm just going to speak it. Blow the trumpet in Zion. Amen? Sound the alarm in His holy temple.
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Revelation 14. Notice what He says here. Look at verse 17.
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Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle. And notice another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar.
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And He called with a loud voice to him who had a sharp sickle saying, Put in your sharp sickle. Gather the clusters from the vine of the earth because her grapes are ripe.
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Meditate on that one. See a little there. So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters.
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This is a harvest, beloved, from the vine of the earth and threw them into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
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And the winepress was trodden outside the city and the blood came from the winepress up to the horse's bridles for a distance of 200 miles.
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Wow! You're talking about bloodshed? And by the way, this is mingled with great giant boulders of hell and water flowing with blood all over it.
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And you're talking about a slaughter? How's it going to end?
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Look at this. Jesus wins, beloved. Let me go to the last description.
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On His robe and on His thigh, He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Basically, that means
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Christ is exalted and He's victorious. He has a name.
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He is highly exalted. Now go to Revelation 17. Look at this. 17, look at verse 13 and 14.
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These have one purpose and they give their power and authority to the beast. You have to read the rest of that but it's speaking about the meaning of the woman and the beast.
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You have to look at this. Chapter 17, verse 13. Look at verse 14.
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And these will wage war against the Lamb. This is what's going to happen. And the Lamb will overcome them.
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Who wins? The Lamb. Jesus. The Lamb of God. And the
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Lamb will overcome them because He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. And those who are with Him are the called and the chosen and the faithful.
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You want to be with Him? Called, chosen, and faithful. Called, chosen, and faithful. Praise God.
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Well, beloved, Deuteronomy 10. Where's this name?
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It's all over the Bible. Deuteronomy 10, 17. For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, great and mighty and awesome
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God. The Apostle Paul said this in 1 Timothy 6, 15. He is the blessed and the only sovereign, the
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King of kings, the Lord of lords, the only one who has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light.
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No one has seen, can see Him, to Him be honor and eternal light.
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The Lamb that is slain shall one day return as the Lamb who is the
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Lion of the tribe of Judah. Let me close this. Go to Isaiah 61.
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Isaiah got a lot to say to us about these things. Oh, it's wonderful.
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Chapter 61. I want you to look at verse 1 and 2. Now, as you go to this chapter,
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I want you to take another chapter. I want you to go to the New Testament. I want you to go to Luke chapter 4.
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I want you to hold your finger right there. I want you to see something. And my conclusion here.
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Then we're going to have communion. What do you think about this? Now, hold your finger at Luke chapter 4.
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I want you to see this. This is beautiful. It's so important to understand this.
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Because to understand the gospel, you've got to understand two things. The law condemns every one of us.
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There is nobody on this earth that can live up to the law. There was only one that did, and that was Jesus Christ.
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He fulfilled the law to every jot and tittle. Folks, we can't do that.
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We can't fulfill the law. We can't obey the law. I'm basically saying one day.
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We can't do it within an hour. How many times has your thoughts wondered this morning in hearing
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God's Word? It is within our nature somehow to get distracted, as Brother Keith said, and not focus on the
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Lord Jesus Christ and have pure thoughts and holy thoughts constantly and loving God constantly.
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I can't do it. But Jesus did it. But what
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I'm trying to say is the law discovers our disease. Luther said this. But the gospel gives the remedy.
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You've got to understand the gospel to understand the good news that God so loved the world that He gave
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His only begotten Son. You've also got to see that the light came and the truth condemns us before we believe.
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You see what I'm saying? As unbelievers. Because the light comes and shines on our sin.
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And what do you want to do? If you do not want to obey Christ or believe Christ, you go the other way and you want to hide.
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Notice most crimes is when? In dark times. In darkness.
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They think they're getting by with it. No one can see them. Well, we think the same thing. We can't be self -righteous about this.
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We think, oh, we can get away with this. And God doesn't. No, no, no. God sees.
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Now, I want you to see this. In Isaiah chapter 61, verse 1 and 2, notice what it says. The Spirit of the
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Lord God is upon me. This is a prophecy that Jesus fulfilled because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted.
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He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners.
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Verse 2, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our
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God to comfort all who mourn. Don't forget that, the day of vengeance of our God. Now, go to Luke 4.
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Luke chapter 4, Jesus fulfills this. In verse 16,
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He came to Nazareth when He had been brought up where He had been brought up and as it was His custom, like it is our custom to go to church,
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He entered into the synagogue on the Sabbath. He stood up to read. All He did, this is the
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Son of God. He took the book of the prophet Isaiah, it was a scroll by the way, and they opened up the scroll.
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He was handed to Him and He opened the book found in the place where it was written, where we just read,
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The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim the release to the captives, the recovery of the sight of the blind, to set free those who are oppressed and to proclaim the favorable year of the
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Lord. Wouldn't you love to hear the voice of Jesus speaking that? Did you notice that Jesus stopped right there at the proclaimed favorable year of the
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Lord? This is wonderful.
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Listen to this. He closed the book. It's like He goes,
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You know what that says to me? The favorable year of the Lord has come. Grace has come to you.
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He was basically saying, I am that grace. I am the one, the Spirit of the
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Lord is upon me. By the way, He just went through the temptation. He was just baptized in the waters, and God the
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Father said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased in. After that, the
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Spirit drove Him in the wilderness, and He overcome all the temptations. Then He goes to the synagogue, and He reads this, and after He read it,
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He closed it, and He gave it back to the attendant. He sat down, and listen to this, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
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Like, whoa. And He began to say to them, Today, this
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Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. The age of grace has come.
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Jesus Christ, before God closed the ark's door, there was a time,
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God has a calendar time, and that time was closed. God closed it. But can
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I tell you this? Jesus Christ closed this book, saying, at that point, grace has come to you.
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But one day, He's going to pick that book back up, and He's going to have His judgment clothes on.
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His judgment robes on. And then He's going to finish the sermon. And guess what sermon
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He's going to finish? The day of vengeance of our God. He's going to finish it. And by the way, we just read it.
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Revelation 19. Paul Washer said this, and I'm going to close with this. I've got more to say here, but I think this is enough to be said.
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I've preached already an hour. And I want you to think about this.
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Washer says, Inside 25, 50, 75 years, from now, every one of you will see
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Jesus. Either He is coming here, or you're going there. It really makes no difference.
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You will see Him. You will see Him. There's no escaping
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Him. Appointed for once man to die, and after that the judgment. And then He said this, You will stand before Him, and if your name isn't in the
01:03:39
Lamb's book of life, you will be cast into hell. Beloved, that is so true, it's sobering.
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But Jesus will be Lord of all, or He will not be Lord at all. You cannot have
01:03:54
Jesus as Savior, and have Him Lord. He must be, if He's to be your Savior, He's to be your Lord.
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You must surrender to His authority. He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and to say that we receive
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Christ, and the fact that we reject His right to reign over us, is utter absurdity.
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It is a futile attempt to hold on to sin with one hand, and take Jesus with the other.
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You can't do it. For me in my house, we will serve the Lord. And Joshua said that.
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He says, You want to serve and follow God? You come on this end.
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You follow Him. You want to follow Baal? Then you follow Baal. There's nothing in between.
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I want you to think of this. The signature of saving faith is surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
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And that's what Jesus meant when you follow Him, you deny yourself, and take up your cross and follow Him. How important is that?
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We don't hear this, do we? Because we're not hearing the gospel. The definite test of whether a person belongs to Jesus Christ is willingness to bow to His divine authority.
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In other words, He has the right to own you. He has the right to tell you what to do.
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For the time is near. Be ready. Because He's coming as a thief, when you least expect it.
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Are you anticipating His coming? Are you looking? And will you love
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His appearing when He comes? Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this Word today. Lord, it is
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Your Word. It is holy. Lord, I pray there's anyone here today. Lord, let them see before You would be the judge and come as to be their personal judge.
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We thank You. If they, Lord, by Your Holy Spirit, repent and believe the gospel, that they put that trust in You, the
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Lord Jesus Christ, who took the wrath of God for us, and not only has taken and forgives us of our sin,
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Lord, You've not only done that, there's a double imputation here. You take our sin, and You've given us
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Your righteousness. Lord, how glorious this is. This is just the gospel. It's good news.
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But Lord, we must repent. We must hate the sin that You so despise and hate.
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So Father, help us this morning. I pray that You would grant those that do not know Your repentance today, that they may serve
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You and love You with all of their heart, Lord. That they may come to Jesus to deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow