Revelation 14 (con't)

Started from there. Well, good morning gentlemen.

Ladies, yeah, I thought when I got here, I thought it was a lot of in the ladies class because there was nobody else here. And then.

Hmm. How are you?

It will be difficult. Yeah, well, good morning everyone.

Yes. Well, get him straight now. Well, why don't you pray for it?

Will you? Will you open us up with a word of prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of laughter.

We thank you for the blessing of brothers and sisters in Christ. And we thank you for this time that you've given us this first day of the week to come to your house.

We pray that you'd be with us as we study your word, that we would be more conformed to the image of Christ and that we would come to know you better.

And who to know is to love in Christ. And we pray. Amen. Back to Revelation 14, beginning in verse one.

Then I looked and behold, the lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with him was 144 ,000.

Having his name on the name of his father written on their foreheads, and I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters, like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which

I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders.

And no one could learn the song except for the 144 ,000 who had been purchased from the earth.

And these are the ones who have not been defiled with women for they have kept themselves chased.

These are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. And these have been purchased from among men as the first fruits to God and to the lamb and no one

I'm sorry, and no lie was found in their mouth. They are blameless. And I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth and to every nation, tribe and tongue and people, he said, with a loud voice, fear

God, give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who has made heaven and earth to see in the springs of waters.

And another angel, a second one, followed saying fallen, fallen is

Babylon, the great she who made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.

Then another angel, a third one followed them saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and his image and receives the mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels in the presence of the lamb.

And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night those who worship the beast and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name.

Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, right, blessed are the dead who die in the

Lord from now on. Yes, as the spirit, so they may rest from their labors and their deeds will follow them.

And then I looked and behold a white cloud and one sitting on the light, the white cloud was like that of the son of man having golden crown on his head with a sharp sickle in his hand.

And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to him who said on the cloud, put in your sickle reap for the hour to reap has come because the harvest of the earth is ripe.

Then he who swung I'm sorry, he who said on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth and the earth was reaped.

And another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven. And he also had a sharp sickle.

Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came up from the altar and he called to the loud with a loud voice to him who had a sharp sickle saying put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters for the vine of the earth because her grapes are right.

And the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth and threw them in the great winepress of the wrath of God.

The winepress was trodden outside the city and the blood came from the winepress up to the horse's bridle for a distance of 200 miles.

All right. Last week we did not finish because there was a semi colon and I am not a skipper nor a passer over.

So I have to back up and finish verse 11. Last week we talked about the eternal conscious torment.

Everybody remember that correct. Any questions about that. Disagreements. All right.

We get to another passage where that passage there where people say those who do not believe in eternal conscious torment will say this is not speaking of eternal conscious torment.

These are usually proof text and I think I went over that last week that these summer uses proof text for this is not eternal conscious torment.

But when we get to the end part of verse 11 which I did not get to because there is a semi colon verse 11 and this is bad grammar from the translator standpoint at least in the new

American standard verse 11 starts with a and anybody else start with and that's bad grammar just to let you know you never start a sentence with a with a hand but verse 11 says and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and some translations may have a period there.

Mine has a semi colon. Yours has a period semi colon. New American standard.

Comma. What do you got. Semi colon.

What do you got. Semi colon. My King James starts with a period doesn't it. No. No. A semi colon.

Oh wow. ESP has a comma a comma. OK. Well a semi colon and a comma are they work the same but they're both to Gary to carry together two ideas almost like a conjunction is and I know

I looked at multiple translations because in your Greek and now that I have Bert here

I can lean on him. There's not in your original Greek. There is no punctuation.

So you're trying to put together these ideas when they're translating. Do they come together.

This here specifically qualifies the smoke that goes up forever and ever.

So the smoke that goes up forever and ever is then qualified by not giving those who who worship the beast and his image who have received a mark of his name.

No rest forever and ever. So what does that tell you about this specific torment that takes place.

Eternal. Correct. Eternal. But in multiple translations and I could have brought you know there's one hundred and seven different English translation maybe even more now and please

Lord don't give us any more. Some of them start with a new sentence there and that new sentence then make can give the separation from these ones that were being tormented with fire and brimstone forever and ever and then they have no rest day or night.

Well one why do they not have any rest day or night. Because it's eternal and it's conscious.

Correct. And the word when we'll get to it in just a minute. There is a member there's this constant contrast and parallels that go all the way through Revelation.

And here it says that these who worship the beast who have denied the lamb have no rest.

But then if you keep reading when you get to verse 13 those who die in the

Lord they now have rest. So you say you can't say so. I was just one are you just breathing real hard.

I just wanted to correct Cameron had read this first. We got into him last week. I know. Yeah. And hey look and I'm not going to get off on a way on tangent on that but just there is.

I do understand. Let me before you say that if someone believes that in annihilationism they're not

Dan. That's not damnable heresy. If I said I said that last week and I want to make sure because there are men that I believe are godly men but I think they're wrong.

OK. And then they would probably say I am wrong. But those that I have spoken to that are orthodox in their understanding of the rest of scripture that do hold to annihilationism.

It primarily has to do they've made their decision based on feeling. And I think

I mentioned that last week if I remember. Yeah. I'll be honest with you that that that would be comforting for loved ones that are in hell.

OK. If you have a loved one in hell. Hey that eventually this is going they're going to be just cease to exist.

The problem is the Bible doesn't teach that. Actually we could go on and on about how it attacks the person and work of Christ how it attacks

God's justice with God being just have to continually punish the center because once that center goes to hell he doesn't cease to sin.

That is the main issue. When that center eternal eternality is

God confirming men as a whole. OK. Let's just flatline it for a second confirms men and women in whatever condition that they want to be like when you came to faith in Christ.

How did you do that. Because God opened your eyes and opened your heart and now you want to serve the

Lord. God confirms you in what you believe. What does he do to those who are unbelievers.

He confirms them in their unbelief. And what are we born. We're born into this world.

Enemies of God. We hate God. Therefore when that person goes to hell do they cease to hate

God. No. Matter of fact now that that hatred isn't that's the gnashing of the teeth.

Not just in pain. I agree there is a part of that that we bite down when some aren't. But the gnashing of teeth is in fury still towards the one that created them because God does demand worship.

So that rest day and night that semi colon comma whatever you have in your in your translation is connecting those two together as a conjunction.

And it says those that worship the beast and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name.

Let's what I've already said. Can you can you not have the mark of the beast and and still not be a

Christian. No everybody comes into the world with the mark of the beast.

That's the point. There are only two ways. God's way and every other way and every other way is the following of the beast.

OK. So there is no middle road. There is no there is no. Well I didn't know

I had the mark. Yeah you did because you're an idolater. You either worship the lamb or you worship everything else and everything else comes under the guise of beast worship everything.

That's why I said a few years ago why the roads that lead to destruction there is the way that leads to life and difficult that way. What's the difficult way.

Christ exclusivity one and only the wide road. You can be whatever you want. You can be a

Mormon. You can be you can be a bowing down to goat's blood drinking animal blood whatever whatever range you want.

That's the wide road or you can trust in your own morality. That's even part of it. And then we get to verse 12 says here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

Now I do believe that one translation does say here is the call of your says patience and I think the

ESV says the call. Just let you know calling in the original. It just it's a it's not there.

But what they're saying is is they're trying to say look this is this is a proclamation to continue to persevere.

Now what is perseverance. Is yours. What did you say

Mike. Endurance patience. OK. If we were to go through and look through all of the

New Testament you would see different words translated for the

Greek word hippo monas which is the word for perseverance. If you were to go back to.

Well to me the biggest book on perseverance would be Hebrews. If you were to back up to Hebrews and you go to chapter 10 verse 36 he specifically tells them this you lack in endurance.

So what was the reason for writing the book because you're lacking endurance. What do we all need.

We all need endurance which is the same thing as perseverance or what you're to get patience.

OK. Or. And as we have patience that patience is then generated by the person in the work of the

Holy Spirit within us to lead us and guide us not only into all truth but to lie to lead us and guide us to continually to be faithful running the race.

So. And Hebrews. Chapter 10 verse 36 it ends and you lack for need of endurance or perseverance.

Then what comes right after that. A whole chapter of men and women that were continually being faithful and persevering and enduring in faith.

What do we call or what the whole the whole of faith and we have all of those ones with men and women that had failure to meet some of them were prostitutes some of them were pushed outside the covenant community should have been pushed outside the covenant community but by faith they were brought in.

OK. So let's just take rehab. Should Ray have been part of the covenant community.

No she was outside the covenant community and was a Canaanite but by faith she believed in the

God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and she put her trust in them and.

By faith she threw that scarlet rope cord whatever you want to call it out the window so that God when

God's people came in to decimate Jericho they would see that and she believed that God was going to save her and her family and that is what happened.

Just a few weeks ago when I preached on Esther how we sanitize the stories you know the rabbis really try to sanitize rehab.

If you read old rabbinical literature they try to make her not be a prostitute not a person that sold her body for sex.

They try to say she was an innkeeper. That's what yeah. She was just the innkeeper.

Oh OK. So she wasn't a prostitute. She was just the madam. What I mean what what is it. So it's that's how they try to you know sanitize her story but by faith she believed and then you just keep going through all of those very great acts of faith all through that book.

But as you go I mean that chapter and as you go through there what do you continually see that you read as you're reading though you remember every time those persons did a great act of faith.

What do you remember that they did following great acts of unbelief great acts of unbelief.

I mean think about you know Abraham. Abraham was great. Do we love Abraham. OK. He was the first Hebrew.

But what did he do. I mean he and he. Oh yeah. Yeah. Half why.

This is my. This is not my wife. It's my sister. OK. Well yeah kind of she was

OK. Was his half sister. But he didn't tell the truth. And look look how he put her in harm's way to save his own skin.

And then you got men like Bairack and I say Bairack I don't want to say

Barack. What about him. You know he cowered.

Well Deborah. Sorry Mr. If you go I'll go. What was he was supposed to be the man with intestinal fortitude.

She should have been the one. If you go I'll follow. But what did she have to do. She had to stand up with the one with the guts to say we'll fight.

OK. Failure. What about Gideon. Failure.

God told Gideon you have the battle. Oh well God you know what.

Why don't you just let me lay out this fleece. And I have heard it preached that that fleet man that was that was faith that he was to know that was an act of unbelief.

God had already told him he was gone. And what did he do. God's in said OK. You don't believe me.

I'm gonna do it again. Make it wet. Make it dry. Yeah it's like OK. And he finally did what he was supposed to do.

Great act of faith defeated the Midianites. But what did he do right after that. I remember he said

I don't want to make him king. And he said I can't be king. That'd be wrong.

But I tell you what you can do. You can bring me all your gold earrings. Bring me all your gold. I'll just make an ephod.

What was an ephod. Be a priest and then it was a thing of idolatry.

So you see once again you have the great acts of faith. Great acts of unbelief.

I mean come on. We're talking about Jephthah. God gave him the battle.

And he says hey whatever comes out the door. You have to do that you fool.

And what came out the door. It wasn't it wasn't Bobo the goat. It was his daughter.

And what did he what did he do. A sacrifice. Let's just be honest. It would be the only time in scripture that the word burnt offering was never used as a burnt offering.

Now that hard to swallow. You better believe it is. He laid his daughter up on that rock pile. He slit her throat and lit her body.

That's horrible. Once again act of unbelief. That was preceded for a great act of belief.

But they persevered in faith and Samson. We can just forget him. He's a moral train wreck. OK. Look at all those people.

But they persevered in faith. OK. Failure. The persevered in faith. Some of those people.

We didn't read them in Hebrews chapter 11. I wouldn't say man look Samson wasn't in there. I wouldn't believe it.

Or lot. Yeah. I mean there's we could go through those. And as it even says time would not give us.

There's not enough time to go through all of those. But great perseverance and trusting that Yahweh was who he said he was and that he would faithfully see his people to the end.

And those people continually persevered in faith not in seeing the promise.

You remember that's what it says in Hebrews. They had not received the promise. And what was the promise that the

Messiah would come. So what did they do. They were putting their faith in what was to come and they persevered not ever seeing it not ever seeing it.

Now there's two in here this section here where it says here is the perseverance of the saints.

It is qualified by the perseverance of the saints are those who do what.

Keep good. Keep the commandments and what I think and the fact that OK I think this is speaking of two two separate groups collectively as a whole to those that persevere.

I believe that the first group is the Old Testament saints. OK. You can disagree with me.

That's fine. OK. If you disagree. And the reason why I say that is because under the

Old Testament that we're supposed to keep the commandments of God. What are you supposed to do under the new testament. That under the

New Testament faith in Jesus Christ. Did the Old Testament know any. Let's just be honest.

Did anybody in the Old Testament know anything about Jesus specifically. No he had not yet been revealed in time and space.

But what they had to do was trust in the commands and the already given revelation that God had given them through the commandments that came through.

Will just be summed up under the mosaic legislation under what they gave through Moses on the

Mount Simon. So here is the perseverance of the saints those who kept the commandments of God.

Now I do want to make sure you understand that I don't think that the Old Testament saints in any way shape or form were kept by keeping the law.

They were kept by faith. But what did they have to put faith in.

Let's just take for instance when they sinned they would take whatever sacrifice necessary and they would take that to the brazen altar to the to the the priest.

He would then sacrifice it there and with the butcher tables they would took part in that that sacrifice.

They were trusting in the system which God set up to put off their sins.

So let's even take for the Day of Atonement one time a year. Hebrews tells us that one time a year that man went in there with the funny clothes took all his funny clothes off he went in there with just a clean tunic.

He went in there and he offered up on to the holy of holy in the holy of holies a sacrifice sprinkled it on the horns of the altar one time a year and it wasn't for all the sins of the kind of everybody it was for the sins of the

Israelites only and it was for a specific type of sin one type of sin that which was done in ignorance.

So what did they do. They trusted as that man went in there on their behalf after he offered up a sacrifice for himself and for his family.

He went in there and he offered up that sacrifice to propitiate their sins for one more year.

What were they doing. They were trusting in that sacrifice the system in which God had set up to put their sins off for another year.

That doesn't mean that they were trusting in obedience to the law they were trusting in the revelation that God had given to forgive their sins.

Understand. Question. OK. Fast forward. Christ comes fulfills all the types and shadows.

Old Testament now has been fulfilled in Christ. It is now according to Hebrews chapter 8 verse 13 it is obsolete and is now being destroyed.

Many some translations say vanishing or going away has become obsolete. But the Greek word that you use there is being destroyed or is now set for destruction.

And when the book of Hebrews was written there was still men out there making sacrifices wearing funny clothes doing their funny little incantations.

But he was saying that's coming to an end. Now God was gracious.

He God the day that Jesus was resurrected and everything was fulfilled that the front

God could have been just he could have wiped the temple now clean but he did he graciously let that go on for another 40 years depending on how you understand when

Jesus died for another 40 years and they use that as a place to go and evangelize.

Where did Paul what would Paul go and do. Other than start a riot on the Temple Mount synagogues he would go to the synagogues and then when he when he went to the temple he went the last time they had to crowd surf him out of there.

He went there to show solidarity with his Jewish brothers and look

I'm not your enemy. And he went there to pay a vow with two men. Remember the crazy mess that happened.

They thought he brought some Gentiles inside not the court of the Gentiles but actually brought him into the court of men and they thought a riot broke out.

Well they had to get him out of there. Well Paul was there one to evangelize and to show his solidarity with his

Jewish brother and that look I'm not your enemy. I'm bringing you the truth that you don't have to bring goats and turtle doves and sheep here anymore.

The sheep the perfect lamb that came to take away the sins of the world has come. OK. So as he would go and do those things for 30 years 40 years of the other apostles do the same thing.

Where did what did Peter and John do on their way to the temple. What did they do.

He healed a man of his lame. All right. So it was always used as a place to go and proclaim that look what this stood for has come.

Even they didn't understand it until the spirit came. The the gospel of John says that when he said

I will destroy this temple in three days and they eat it. They didn't know at the time he was speaking of his body and it'll be resurrected.

They thought he was talking about that structure and remember the conversation. What do you mean this place has been being built for another 46 years and you think you're going to destroy it in three days and they said they didn't understand that he was talking about his body.

So God could have wiped it clean but he did. He used it as that continual act of him showing look you don't have to do this anymore.

There was a transition from going from the old into the new. Look if your whole if all of your society and economy was wrapped around this building where God supposedly dwelled.

OK there you would have some huge hurdles to get over to say this is irrelevant anymore.

And I think well I don't think I know that God was being gracious to show them that look that it's over.

It is over. And if you continue to make these abominable sacrifices I will knock it down.

And that is what he did eventually. So the two groups

I see here the saints is the old and new testament ones that kept the commandments that were given to him by Moses and then the others those of faith keep faith in Christ.

Hey we're no longer under the law of Moses would we all agree. Look there is no law of Moses that you and I are bound to.

We are now under the law of Christ. Don't mean that we don't have anything to obey but we are no longer under the law of Moses if there's anything of the law of Moses that has not been fulfilled.

You and I are in big trouble because Jesus says I have come into this. I have come to not do away with the law but to fulfill the law.

That's why when he was with John he says you must baptize me that I would fulfill all righteousness.

He had to do that which was required by the law not to somehow earn righteousness.

Look Jesus was righteous. He didn't need to earn anything. What was he doing. He was demonstrating that he was the

God man. And as we look at this perseverance of the saints we could even go back to earlier in the book.

What is part of persevering is not just obeying and doing the commands of God and keeping faith in Christ but is his purse as part of persevering through tribulation.

Back earlier in the book chapter 1 I think it's around verse 8 or 9.

John says I am with you and persevering in this tribulation. So what was

John already enduring. He was already enduring tribulation and he was persevering in the faith.

What are we to do. Same thing he's doing persevering in the faith and you can back up and mine.

You can just just go over but maybe one page in your Bible and we got to the end of verse 10 of chapter 13.

And it was that that kind of odd way of saying the lex talionis one destined for captivity.

He'll go to captivity if anyone kills with a sword with a sword he must go. I'm sorry if anyone who kills with a sword with a sword he must be killed.

And then it says here is the perseverance of the faith of the saints. So you have to two things.

One there's going to be persecution. You're going to have to persevere through that and it may cost you your life.

That is what the book of Revelation is saying. It was warning the compromised church.

You keep compromising. You're going to find out you've been cut off. Those who are not compromising they're encouraged to continue to stay the course continue to stay the course.

So the perseverance of the saints has to do not only with persevering through persecution the lips this tribulation but also in continuing in faith.

Say this clearly person supposedly walks for the Lord for 25 years and then walks away from the faith is that person say no no no.

Did he lose it. No never had it. Never had it.

May Charlotte you probably heard me say this guy Charles Pendleton. And I remember he was. Remember Charles. You knew him.

I can pick on you now you're here. Charles Pendleton. He was in the early years of Billy Graham.

He was in the early years like the old black and whites pictures and packing stadiums before he really went to a real investor type taking investments to build his his his evangelistic ministry.

It was a man that was with him for 25 years. His name was Charles Pendleton. Charles Pendleton comes out and says you know what.

I'm an atheist. Now I imagine doing it 25 years going and saying forget what we think about the mass evangelism thing.

Just forget about it. Let's just be honest. Here's a guy who sat beside what was considered to be

America's pastor. OK. So all people he did preach the word he preached the law in the gospel.

We have to at least say that about Billy Graham. He wasn't preaching a false gospel and people were saved under the preaching.

And then here's this man that was his right hand man comes out one day and says you know what I don't believe any of this.

I was doing it for for the power for the position. And then he goes out for the next years after that and then begins to proclaim against Christianity.

That was that is what you that is the definition of apostasy. And that would not say that he lost his salvation and he never had it.

Those who persevere to the end will be saved. But why do those who make it to the end persevere.

It's because of the preserving power and I don't want to teach cases less than coming up on perseverance of the saints on Wednesday night.

But that is it. I prefer preservation of the saints because we are preserved to the end.

Does our sanctification model look like this from the time we get saved straight up to heaven.

No man that thing is up and down and hey and just just go through your own life.

You go through times whether it is your sanctification is getting better but then it goes down whether it be through chastisement or discipline from the

Lord or it could be him pruning you. What does it talk about.

Jesus says I'm the vine you're the branches. He continues on. What does he do. He prunes those who are producing my new fruit.

He prunes them so they'll do what produce more. Hey man when you start hacking on something that hurts.

So that in that time of being pruned you're coming down in your sanctification. Why. So that you can then come back up in your progressive sanctification so that you can produce more fruit.

Now that the goals here.

Oh oh. The goals here would just say heaven you get saved down here.

Meet the cross here. And I would say that there is a momentum this direction.

OK. But it's like this. And sometimes you're like this and then sometimes you're like this and then sometimes you're like me and then down here again.

But that's the stock market. Yeah I mean that that is our progressive sanctification model.

Progressive sanctification the heretics say it's a clean shot straight up because there is nothing in scripture that says it's a clean shot.

That's why we learn we confess we repent that our life and the life of perseverance is a lifestyle of repentance.

That means your sanctification is down and it's up it's down and it's up and it's all heading to this way conforming us into the image of a son to one day we get the glory and we'll be like Christ not

God's but we'll be perfect just like him. Question. OK. That's the goal.

And I've got seven minutes to try to do this part. I don't think I'm going to do it. Verse 13.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying right. Blessed are the dead who die in the

Lord from now on. There is we have to say this is one of the

Beatitudes that are in remember four score and seven years ago when we started the beginning of this book did the opening

I was like hey there's seven Beatitudes in the book and this is one of them and the

Beatitudes are the blessed are this is one says blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on.

Is it from now on in verse 13 from that point on. Is it from the time of the revelation on.

What is it saying. Because in Greek the prepositional phrase from now on it can go anywhere.

I think most of our translations have probably translated it. Those who die in the

Lord from does everyone say from now on. Does everybody say that from now on. Well henceforth.

Because it can go anywhere in Greek construction it doesn't it's not bound like our

English translations to try to go somewhere. So where is it say is it saying that those who die in the

Lord from this point on are blessed. Well what about those that died before this.

Are they not blessed. If you're honest that's how I would read it if maybe

I'm done like always go well what about this guy. He was he got saved before this.

What about him. I understand this to be blessed are those who die in the

Lord meaning after the finished work of Christ because the whole book has to do with the revelation of who

Jesus Christ who is the lamb at the beginning of the book. OK.

It is those who die in the Lord and I probably should have done this to see how many times the word

Lord is in reference to Christ and him alone. But if I remember correctly the majority of the time is not referring to God the father is referring to Christ so blessed are those who die and we could say we could use this as a synonym for instance.

Blessed are those who die in Christ from now on. Everybody that dies look

Old Testament saints ultimately were they in Christ before the foundation of the world.

Yes but were they in Christ and his finished work. No matter of fact Jesus had to go back and leave them the captive out of captivity.

Why. Because they could not enter the enter heaven because their sins have not been yet been atoned for.

So where were they at. They were at Abraham's bosom or Abraham's side or paradise. However you want to understand that that's where they were at.

They were not in the presence at the throne room of God at that point. So blessed are those who die after the finished work of Christ.

Why. Because absent from to be absent from this body is to be present with who the

Lord and who is the Lord speaking of in that context. Christ being in the presence of Christ and then it says yes says the spirit and I agree with that.

When it says blessed are those who die in the spirit like yes. Oh sorry I didn't mean to make you jump.

Yes. Yes. That's right. That's good. That's awesome because that means there's nothing left to be finished other than his coming to redeem to come in and bring his his bride home with him says and yes says the spirit.

So they may rest from their labors for their deeds follow with them.

Once again we're at the end here where you're seeing the contrast in this paragraph between the no rest for the wicked and then rest for the righteous.

What are we being our rest from. It says here their labors. Well what are those labors.

I'm not going to write them on a board I'm just erasing this. What are they. What are our labors.

What's that. Sure. Certainly trials of life.

What else. I'm all those are correct. I mean there could be there could be a multitude of answers for here.

Rest from work might as well. Certainly. Yeah. We we often forget that we are still we have entered.

Excuse me. We have entered our Sabbath rest in the sense of Christ. Yes sir. I'm going to say specifically the work done in the verses that may rest from their labors and their works do follow them.

So that's something that follows them. Yeah. But that to follow that train of thought I don't have time to do it.

But I don't know. Maybe I do is our works are important. We are we're saved by works.

It just ain't our works. OK. Let's just be honest. We're saved by the finished work of Christ. But as he said our works are going to follow with us.

Well how do we. Why is that the case. Well me when we stand before Christ on the final day we're going to be judged with everything we did thought word and deed every idle thought and word will not go undone.

We will be all stand bare before God and we will give an account. Those deeds will be tested by fire and whatever they are whether they be wood stubble and hay that will be torched.

But those things that were done in right motive says that those things will be done and they will be tested by fire and they will be precious jewels gold silver whatever.

Hey I'll just be honest with you. I think that's difficult at times to know if our motives are pure or not.

I mean think about the things that you do sometimes do we do it too. Are we doing those things because we're really doing it to honor

God or we just doing it for self -satisfaction. When I'm out doing street evangelism this is the question and I'm not saying anybody's this is somebody in here or this is your attitude but gas and hey you know we go through acts of morality.

Why do you do what you do. And it's all man well you know well I think I'm good I do these things like I feed the homeless when

I see him I try to see a guy on the corner and he needs help I give him money to to get him food or or something to drink him.

Why do you do that. And I kid you not I would say probably 90 percent of the time the answer is man because it makes me feel good.

Because it makes me feel good. Now I'm not saying you should do it to make you feel bad. OK. But they do that.

What's the motivating factor. Self self. It's not self giving.

Makes me feel good. Well I mean if we do stuff because it makes us feel good or because we find we find comfort because I'm doing this because it gives me comfort.

Well I mean those things are going to be torched in the day of judgment because you're doing for the wrong motive whether it's standing out on the corner belting the gospel we should be doing that for the for the glory of God and for the preservation of the saints and the bringing in the lost whether we stand here and teaching this shouldn't be done for me to be a spectacle we were doing this so that we can better know and understand

God so that when we leave this place we love him more than when we came and that we can leave here better proclaiming him.

That is why we're doing it. We're not doing it to stand here to be a spectacle question. So deeds do matter.

We're saved unto what good works. God did not save us for us to sit and go and do our own thing.

We were created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of doing good works to go out and do the works that Christ did.

Man it'd be awesome if we could go out and do some healing. But that's not what he did but he has given us.

Remember when they were going out and they were doing the healings. I don't know if anybody ever remembers this.

He's going and they came back and they were talking about how you know that they could heal heal the lame cast out spirits and all of these things.

And Jesus says there's gonna be a day you're gonna do more work better works than that.

You're like what? What is better than healing a man with leprosy?

Well you know what's better than healing a man with leprosy? Preaching the proclamation of the reconciliation of the message of the gospel to someone.

Hey what is more important than being able to walk again? Jesus proved it to the guy that was lame.

He first he told the guy your sins are forgiven. Hey that guy probably never cared if he ever walked again.

I mean imagine hearing that. Hey buddy your sins are forgiven. Did Jesus go on about doing his own thing? And you remember what was said.

They said you just forgive a man's sins. Jesus this is so tickles me.

Jesus said oh well what's easier for you to say for you to say to get up and walk or forgive his sins.

And they're like we can't do either. Jesus said watch this. Hey buddy get up and walk. Jesus not only forgave the man's sin but he showed him that he had the power to forgive sin by doing a miracle.

The best miracle in the world is not making someone walk. It's seeing the regenerating power of the spirit reconciling a sinner to a holy

God and giving them justification and then adopting them into the beloved.

That is what it means for them to find rest. Our labors will be done. We will no longer have to fight this world.

The enemies of the world the flesh and the devil will be over and we will be in the presence of the lamb forever and ever.

And those are the days that we long to see. I'm not ready to die yet but I am ready to be in the presence of my savior.

And with that being said we will pick up in verse 14 next week because we have run out of time.

Will you close us out Dan with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father Lord thank you for this time of study Lord I thank you for changing our wants, changing our desires.

We cannot do that in and of ourselves. I'm so thankful that you've done that for us. We just pray that you will be with Keith as he comes before us in just a few minutes

Lord to preach your word. Uphold and keep him and open our hearts and minds that we would understand the things of God and ask his things of us.