Good morning. Welcome to Mars Hill. A quick announcement I wanted to make, as you’re all getting settled: We have a special open house today. We entered into this building this past March, and we still have two sections of the building that we’re incapable of using because the construction is not done.

We’re finishing up final construction and wanted to make you aware of that. On the yellow sheet that you got on the way in, it’ll give you a timeline and a budget number, as well as some prayer requests. And as we’ve been going through the book of revelation, what we continually see is that God takes needs and he makes them known. And as they’re seen, either angels or people or God get involved to meet those particular needs.

And so, what we’re trying to do today, is just take some of the needs of the church, make them visible to you. Right now, we have sort of a jerry-rigged kids’ space upstairs. It really isn’t that great for the kids, and it’s not big enough. And so, on the back side of the building, we’ve opened up some space today that you’re gonna see that’ll be concluded, hopefully, around Christmas, and be able to accommodate a lot more children.

We have upwards of a hundred small kids every single week at church, and we have upwards of almost now a baby being born every week as an average. Yeah, so it’s great.

[Applause]

That’s a lot of morning sickness, too.

(Laughter)

And so, we’re gonna need a lot more kid space. We’re finishing up that kid space that’ll have sound, light, video for kids’ worship. It’ll have classrooms for teaching activities. All that kind of stuff. We want you to go see that. That’s open on the back side today.

And as well, on the other side of the rear wall in this room, there is a series of two rooms. One’ll be bathrooms and kitchen and a classroom, and then a large area that will be a concert venue for all-ages concerts, a classroom for Bible studies, film, and theology. It’s gonna be a really nice multi-purpose room.

The sound that’s in this room will all be put in that room. And then the new sound that’s coming in here, as Tim said, should be done by next Sunday, and you should have, literally, some of the best acoustics in the city of Seattle. And that will make this one of the premier concert venues.

So, our plan is to finish up this building by Christmas, and then take our offices from our old building that’s a few miles away and move them upstairs, so that everything is here and centrally located. Right now, we’re still between two different locations, and then we can rent our other space out for about 3,000 bucks a month, money that we’re having to spend right now because we’re in two locations.

So, I would encourage you, drop in, check out that space, check out the space on this side. Do what you can to help contribute to the cause. It’s flooring, general construction, signage, a kitchen, finishing up office space.

One thing, too, that I’m really excited about is we would like to get a baptismal put in on the stage over to my left. At our last building, our small building, we had a baptismal. We don’t right now. We had a little run-in with the city this summer, too. We can’t do any more baptisms in Lake Union, so we’re in trouble. We can’t baptize anybody. Harbor Police showed up and it was very exciting.

(Laughter)

The Bible says to go forth into all the nations, make disciples, baptize people. We have nowhere to baptize people. And what we would like to do is build that in just off to my left. We have people coming to Christ, literally about every single week at this church. And one of my great joys as your pastor is to see people meet Jesus and get their lives transformed.

The problem is, you guys never get to meet them and hear their stories. And that’s one of the great joys that we have as Christians is hearing what God has done in someone’s life. We would like to have the baptismal on the stage, and we’d like to do the baptisms during the service.

We’d like to bring the new Christians forward, introduce them to you, let you meet your new brothers and sisters in the faith. And we’d like to have them tell their story and baptize them. We’d like that to be part of our regular church service. Because it’s not long enough – we need to extend it, so we’re gonna throw in more events.

(Laughter)

So, if you guys would be willing today, check out those spaces. Do what you can to help the cause. We’d sure appreciate it.

We are in Revelation 14 today, and we’re doing a series on the appearances in Heaven of Jesus Christ, and we’re looking at the doctrine of worship. And before I pray and get into this text, I will preface it today by telling you that this is going to hurt. This is going to be one of those sermons that you’re going to wish you had the flu or were home watching the Hawks game today.

As a preacher, I am not a salesman. My job is not to package God in such a way that you will buy him. My job is to unveil God as he truly is and let you deal with him. And so, today what we’re going to do is we’re going to see God as he truly is, and he’s truly pissed.

(Laughter)

That’s how it’s going to go. You need to know that. So, you’re gonna need to stay through the whole thing. Okay?

(Laughter)

Stay through the whole thing, or else. Okay, here we go.

(Laughter)

I’ll pray, and then I’ll yell at you for an hour.

Lord Jesus, thank you for an opportunity to study your Word. Lord Jesus, we all confess that we have a propensity to reduce you to less than you truly are, to envision you as something that we wish you were that you simply are not. We have a desire to make ourselves bigger than we are, to make you smaller than you are.

We have a propensity, Lord God, to take away your holiness and your justice and your anger and your wrath, to reduce you to a therapist or a counselor or someone who comes to hold our hand but not judge our sin.

Lord Jesus, please give this church ears to hear. Please enable us to hear what the Spirit has to say to this church. Lord God, as I speak today, please give me words of strength that come not out of anger, but out of genuine concern as, Lord Jesus, there are many in this room who do not know who they are dealing with, and they are playing with their eternity in a very devastating way.

Father God, I pray for a Spirit of sobriety upon us today. I pray for a Spirit of intensity. I pray that you would get your glory, that we would get our joy, that we would be reconciled to you, and that we would take your hand of friendship so that we would not extend to us a fist of wrath.

Lord God, as we open your Word today, please be clear, and please keep us from resisting it. Amen.

Jesus Christ is the one true God who has always been and always will be. He created everything that is. Everything subsequently belongs to him, you and I included. God made us to live in relationship with him, to respect and obey his laws, and to enjoy all that he has made.

You and I, as well as everyone else, have sinned against God. We have done as we pleased. We have given him the finger. We have gone off and done exactly what we wanted. Everyone is sinful. Everyone is rebellious. Everyone is far from God.

God, knowing this great separation, actually got off of his throne and came here to earth as a human being, out of great love and humility and compassion. The Lord Jesus was not obligated to do anything for us, but because of his great mercy, he decided that he would come looking for us.

He came; he lived without sin; he lived in humility. We killed him. He died. When he died, he died for my sins, the sins of all of his people. He rose three days later, and he ascended back into glory. It’s important for you to have pictures in your mind of Jesus as he truly is.

It’ll be very tempting for some of you to always see him as the humble, poor, Galilean peasant, who suffered unjustly. That’s indeed true. That’s how Jesus spent the final three years of his life, in humility and then suffering, ultimately, in a bloody death.

But three days later, the tomb was empty. The Lord Jesus rose from death, and if you were to see him today, you would see him as John sees him in Revelation, high and exalted, seated upon a throne. You would see him ruling over all creation. You would see him in glory. You wouldn’t see him in his humble, bloodied state.

It tells us in the Bible, as well, that Jesus is coming again. And his second coming is not going to be in humility. It will be in glory. And it will not be to suffer; it will be to conquer.

In Revelation 14, we see the beginnings of the second coming of Jesus Christ. It begins here in Chapter 14, verse 1. It says, “Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb” – that’s Jesus, and he’s standing. We’ve seen throughout the book of Revelation that often Jesus is seated, resting. He’s been seated on his throne for 2,000 years.

A day is coming, we don’t know when – could be today – where he will stand. This is the beginning of war. This is the point at which God is fed up with human sin; he has had enough. This is the point where God cannot stomach the injustice and cruelty of men and women on the earth.

This is that same point where a King, who is sickened by what is going on in the world, stands up from his throne to actively involve himself in human history, right wrongs, and bring about justice. Many of you will not like this picture of Jesus standing. You will not like this picture of him as a warrior and as a King, coming for justice.

But you have to think about it from the perspective of God. God is perfect and good. God made the earth. God made us. We have ruined everything. We have sinned grievously. God has come for us, and we killed him. God rose and invited us to be forgiven and still be friends with him.

God waits 2,000 years, patiently, extending a hand of friendship that we continually reject. And at one point, God is done with his kindness and commences with his justice. And he stands. He stands.

“With him were 144,000” – these are God’s men. You’ll see in a little bit what it takes, gentlemen, to be one of these men. The Lord Jesus Christ stands, and standing with him are his men. The finest men in the history of the church. The finest men in the history of the world. The men who love God stand with him.

Your duty, men, as a man of God is to hate sin and to be as sickened by it as Christ, and to stand with him against it. Not to participate in it. Not to be yet another one of those guys who feels up his girlfriend, loafs on the job, doesn’t balance his checkbook, ignores his Bible, and then comes to Sunday and raises his hands.

Paul says he wants men everywhere to lift holy hands. Feel free to come here, gentlemen, and raise your hands, providing they’re holy. These are the finest men. And when Jesus is sick of it, these men are sick of it. When Jesus can’t stomach the condition of the earth, these men stand with him. They stand for him.

It is my sincere prayer that I’ll be one of those guys, and that you men will be there with me. What we need more than anything else is the Lord Jesus Christ in his authoritative place as King, and his men standing at attention.

The problems that we have in our culture with the way women are treated, with the way children are neglected, with the way the church is impotent and fruitless has to do with the fact that it is not the Lord Jesus Christ who is failing to stand in authority. It is the failure of his men to rise to the occasion with him.

The Lord Jesus Christ stands, and 144,000 men stand with him. What happens then? We are told, “They have his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads” – these are men who have been marked out, and they belong to Jesus Christ and God the Father.

Their identity is in the Father and the Son. Their life is for the Father and the Son. “And I heard a sound from Heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps” – music commences.

This is the beginning of war. “And they sang a new song” – not just songs out of the Psalms. Not just songs out of the hymnals. Not just songs out of the history of the church. Songs that are written out of these peoples’ experience with God. These are songs of war. These are songs of battle. These are songs of triumph.

These are songs of victory – “before the throne and before the living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000” – this is the battle cry of God’s men, and they’re songs that only holy men get to sing. Only the finest men get to sing this song of triumph and victory. I desire with everything that is in me for you men to be there singing that song. That’s what we want.

We want men who belong to the Father, live like the Son, stand at attention, obey their King, and when the time comes get to sing of victory. That’s what we want. These men get to sing. I want you to just envision the voices of 144,000 men of God, filled with the Spirit of God, sick of sin and death, seeing the Lord Jesus rise from his throne, and with all that they have, singing to him. I can’t wait to hear that.

I pray I get to sing. I pray I get to sing with my brothers. The Lord Jesus stands. His men stand. His men sing. In our day, the worship of God’s people is all too often about defeat. It is all too often overtly feminine. It is not strong. It is not masculine. It is not victorious. It is not triumphant. And here it is, 144,000 men – 144,000 men standing at attention as soldiers at the service of the Lord Jesus, singing. Like David in the Old Testament. Mighty men of courage and valor.

Men who don’t sing out of their weakness, men who don’t sing out of their frailty, men who sing out of their redemption. If you would like to be one of these men, I invite you. The first thing we’ve been told is that you must have the name of the Father and the Son on you. You must belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. You must be marked out as a child of God.

He goes on to tell us how these men made this significant choir – “they have been redeemed from the earth.” Gentlemen, have you been redeemed? Have you been taken from death to life? Have you been taken from sin to grace? Have you been taken from Satan to the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you been purchased, and do you belong to him?

The first thing: You must belong to God. And your redemption must include God forgiving all of your sins, you becoming a new creation in Christ. What then must happen is this, “These are those who do not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure.”

There is one issue for young men – one issue, and it’s perversion. There was a day when your enemy would use a multitude of tricks and tactics to attack you men. Today, he only uses one, because it is like the nuclear bomb, and it gets you all. It’s your lust.

Looking at pornography, putting your hands all over your girlfriend, flirting with your secretary, fornicating, sex outside of marriage, adultery, infidelity, lust. We are not a church that is anti-sex. We are pro-marriage. In our culture, children, sex, and marriage are three completely disconnected issues – not in your Bible.

In your Bible, sex is for marriage and sex also includes children. In our culture, we distinguish those three, and guys don’t need to get married or have any yearnings to be a father, but can feel free to have sex. Those are not men who stand with Christ. Those are not men who will make the Kingdom of God. Those are not men who will rise and sing.

Don’t be deceived. God will not be mocked! A man reaps what he sows. There is no place in the Kingdom of God for perverts. There is no place in the presence of the King for men who are addicted to their own lusts.

If you are a young man struggling with lust, use your energies to grow up, be married, and enjoy your wife. That’s God’s answer for you. This is an intensely serious matter. I know we’re supposed to be talking about worship, which is songs, right? It is songs. But it’s songs sung by qualified people. And the men need to lead the singing. And the men need to lead the Church. And the men need to lead the home. And the men need to lead the city. And the men need to lead. They must stand.

[Applause]

And what kills God’s men, what’s killing you men is your own lust. You can’t pick up your Bible if you feel guilty and ashamed. You cannot speak about the transforming power of Jesus Christ if the night before you were feeling up your girlfriend, or sitting down in front of your computer with your pants around your ankles. It doesn’t work that way.

And the good news is that Christ has died for all your sins, and he will forgive you, but you must go and sin no more! If you cannot control your own pants, you do not have the ability to lead a wife, to lead a child, to oversee a home, to commence a ministry, to teach God’s Word.

These are men who did not defile themselves. They kept themselves pure. They loved God, waited for a woman who loved God. Then they could be like their father Adam. They could be naked with no shame. They could practice Proverbs 5 and enjoy the breasts of their wife. They could read the Song of Songs and make it sing again. Nothing wrong with that at all.

But the defilement – you live in a culture where more money is spent every year on pornography and illicit sex than pro baseball, basketball, football combined. Right now, there are 74,000 pornographic Web sites. Some of them you can’t even avoid because the pop up comes up, and you eliminate it, and it puts up two more.

But you must be like Job in Chapter 31, verse 1, where he says, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look upon a woman lustfully.” Men, if you want to be there that day, and you want to stand with the Lord Jesus Christ, and you want to stand next to John, and you want to stand next to Paul, and you want to stand with David, and you want to stand with Luther, and you want to stand with Calvin, and you want to stand with Spurgeon, and you want to sing, you need to pay attention.

These are men who belong to God. They’ve been redeemed, and they don’t defile themselves. Here else is what they do – “They follow the Lamb wherever he goes.” These are men who are all about Jesus. That’s what they are about. If Jesus should go into a place of suffering, they go there to suffer.

If Jesus should go into a place where there is need to serve, they go there to serve. Wherever Jesus goes, whatever Jesus does, that’s where they go, that’s what they do. Some 74 times in the Gospel we are told that so-and-so followed Jesus. That’s what it means to be a disciple. You’re all about Jesus, following him, by grace being like him.

If you want to be one who sings, you begin today following Jesus. And one day, when you enter into his Kingdom, you will continue following him. Other commandments for our men – “They were purchased from among men and offered as first fruits” – these men are the finest men, the best men.

When the Bible speaks of first fruits, these are the crops, the tithes, the people who are exemplary. We give our tithes and offerings. We should be giving our tithes and offerings, the Bible teaches, out of our first fruits. We give to God first. We give to God best.

Now, there will be a great multitude, we have been told, in Heaven. Here, the 144,000 men, they are first fruits. These are the finest men of God in all of history. These are the men who love and serve God more faithfully than all other men. They are given first because they are best.

Some of you have this bizarre notion of Heaven, that it’s this big democracy. It’s not. Some people are more faithful to God. Some people will be first fruits unto God. Some men will stand and they will sing. Other men will make it into the Kingdom. Other people will make it into the Kingdom. But you want to be first fruits. You want to give first fruits.

How many truly great men do you know? I don’t know where God’s gonna get 144,000. That seems like a lot. That’s actually encouraging to me. There’s a lot of men in this church. I think I’d have a hard time finding 144 – 144,000? These men are the best.

You gentlemen need to set for yourself not a goal of being saved and falling into Heaven. You need to set for yourself a goal of being first fruits and one of the 144,000, the finest men, who when the Lord Jesus stands, you stand next to him. And when he comes to avenge, you come with him, and you follow him wherever he goes.

“They were purchased from among men offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb.” Here’s the last two things that we find, “No lie was found in their mouths” – these men don’t lie. They don’t tell their wife that they’re being pure when they’re not. They don’t tell their girlfriend that they love her when they don’t.

They don’t tell their God that they love him when they don’t obey him. They don’t lie. When other men ask them how they’re doing, they don’t lie. When they open the Word of God and they’re convicted of sin, they pray and they repent and they don’t lie. Men are prone to perversion. Men are prone to laziness. Men are prone to lying to cover it all up. Not these men.

And it says, “They are blameless.” They are not perfect, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one who is perfect, no not one.” But these guys are blameless.

What that means is, if they sin, they repent quickly. If they stray, they correct quickly. These are not men who stack sin upon sin and error upon error and immaturity upon immaturity. They repent and they get back to following Jesus.

There are three scenes in this great chapter. The first is the Lord Jesus Christ standing. And his men standing with him. The finest men. The second scene is that the Lord Jesus sends out an emissary. He sends out an angel into the earth. He gives the nations an opportunity to repent.

Verse 6, “Then I saw another angel flying in midair” – Jesus sends this angel, this representative out into the earth – “and he had the eternal Gospel to proclaim” – the Gospel is simply this, Jesus Christ is God, who lived without sin, died for our sin, rose to conquer sin, and salvation is through him alone. It’s about Jesus.

And the Gospel, it says here, is eternal. It doesn’t change. People were saved 4,000 years ago, and they are saved today, and they will be saved into the future by the exact same Gospel. Paul says, “Woe to me if I preach another Gospel.” There is only one Gospel – Jesus – dead, buried, and raised for your sins, according to the Scriptures. That’s the Gospel; that’s it.

We don’t have a different Gospel for different religions. We don’t have a different Gospel for different ages. People will say things now like, “Well, it’s contemporary times; we need a contemporary message.” No, it’s a contemporary time; we need an eternal message.

The eternal message fits all times. The eternal Gospel. If you can’t preach the Gospel to everyone who has ever lived in every nation, every language, every tribe, every culture, every period of history, it’s not the eternal Gospel.

The angel goes forth, preaching the Gospel, calling people to repentance, telling them, “The Lord Jesus has now stood. He is coming to declare war. If you are unrepentant, you are his enemy. This is your last chance for surrender.”

“He said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God’” – why? Because no one does – “‘and give him glory’” – it’s about God. Say, “What about me?” What about you? What about him? “What’s in it for me?” What’s in it for him? “But what do I want?” What does he want? What about God?

“‘Fear God, give him glory” – the 144,000 men get this. They love God, they follow God, they honor God, they sing to God. That’s what they do. And the angel goes out to all the nations of the earth, all the people, tribes, cultures, languages – everybody. Why? Because God loves the whole world.

And he orders, “‘Fear God, give him glory’” – here’s the rest of his sermon – “‘because the hour of his judgment has come.’” – the time of grace and mercy and patience is waning. The moments are few. Some of you have waited a long time to repent, a long time to become Christians. Some of you are still holding out.

There’s a sense of urgency here, that you’re dealing with God. It’s a very serious thing. The hour of judgment is come. This is your last shot. We could stay your execution if you just turn to Jesus now, everything will work out.

That day, I’ll be out of a job. I can’t wait for that day. This is the last time in human history that the Gospel is preached. At this point, if you don’t repent, there are no second chances, there is no other preacher. There is no next Sunday – come and get yelled at and give it another shot. This is it. You take it, you leave it, one-shot deal, last chance.

The angel gets the final sermon. What does he preach? The Gospel. In the meantime, we – I – need to preach the Gospel. It’ll be the final sermon, and it should be every sermon until that point.

Here’s what you are to do then. Instead of sinning, you are to worship him. This is the theme of our study. This is the theme of our book, that we should stop sinning and start worshiping. That we should stop living as if we were God. We should start living for God. That we should sing. That we should celebrate. That we should give as first fruits. That we should give ourselves as first fruits.

That is what we do gathered as a church. It’s what we do scattered in life. It’s worship. Life is worship. “He says, ‘Fear God, give him glory, the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him’” – why? – “‘it is he who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water.’”

Some of you are asking, “Well, why in the world should I worship God?” Because you belong to him. God made the earth. God made you. God made you to need him, and if you continue living without him, you set yourself up as his great enemy, and he has no option but to crush you.

And he’s extending a hand of friendship, trying to save you from yourself. God does love you. He cares for you. He came for you. He died for you. Before getting off his throne and coming to crush you, he sends the Gospel to invite you to befriend him yet again.

“A second angel followed and said, ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.’” It’s a promise. Sin does not win; Jesus does. Sinners do not win; Jesus does. This is a promise: All the nations, all the cults, all the religions, all the philosophies, all the idolatries, all the perversions, all of the indulgences will not stand at the end.

That Jesus Christ will have his glory, that he will get his victory, it’s a promise. And it goes out to warn all of us that are involved in sin or false religions or in addictions or in compulsions or in idolatries or just self-absorbed, woe-is-me narcissism, that it truly is about God. And that nothing will stand except for that which is holy and true and good.

And if you join the wrong team and you’ve worshiped the wrong God and you’re living the wrong way, it’s an urgent matter.

“A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: ‘If anyone’” – that includes you. You are no exception because you’re winsome or cute or well-intended – “‘If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.’”

Huge, stupid debate over what the mark of the beast is. Just stupid stuff. All we know is this, you’re supposed to worship God. If you don’t, you’re worshiping the beast. That’s it. It’s very simple. You worship God or the beast – that’s it. Say, “I don’t worship the beast, I have another God.” Well, it’s the beast.

“I worship money.” That’s the beast, too. “I worship sex.” Well, that’s the beast. “I worship myself.” Well, you’re the beast. It’s all the beast.

(Laughter)

You worship Jesus or the beast; that’s it. What he says here, that you will experience the full fury of God. You need to know who you’re dealing with. Some of you say, “What are you trying to do, scare the hell out of me?” No, I’m trying to scare you out of hell. Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to do. You have no idea who you’re dealing with. God spoke creation into existence. That was an effortless act.

What he’s talking about here is actually getting riled up to come after you. If he could speak creation into existence, should he get off his throne and decide to come take care of you, you’re in serious trouble. You’re in very serious trouble.

Here’s what happens to those who don’t repent, “‘He will be” – what? What’s your Bible say, Mars Hill? All Scripture is God-breathed – “tormented” – some of you have a stupid view of hell. You think this stupid view of hell is you just cease to exist – nothing. No.

Some of you have a stupid view of hell where Satan’s in charge, and he runs around doing terrible things. No, he doesn’t. Satan’s getting tormented in hell, too. Satan doesn’t rule over hell. When it’s all said and done, Satan doesn’t rule over anything; Jesus does.

He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords. He rules over all. Every knee shall bow; every tongue confess – both on the earth and under the earth – that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That includes Satan in hell, down on his knees – not for redemption, but for justice.

In hell, there’s torment. It’s not just psychological; it’s actual. Torment. You say, “Well, certainly that doesn’t have anything to do with my sweet Jesus.” Keep reading.

“‘He will be tormented with” – what? – “‘burning sulfur” – fire. Literally, it’s brimstone. Some of you guys have heard, “Oh, man, one of those fire and brimstone sermons.” Well, yeah. It’s right out of Revelation. Fire and brimstone. Brimstone was an ancient asphalt they would use to lay down roads.

You ever been around a road crew? It’s hot, and it stinks. Brimstone is times 50. That’s what it is. Hell is you buried up to your neck in brimstone, burning hot, with fire and stench, tormented. Some of you are saying, “Well, I don’t like that.” Then repent! This is incentive. The reason why God tells you what it’s gonna be like is because he loves you and he doesn’t want you to go there.

If you repent, you don’t have to go there. Some of you are looking at me, saying, “This is terrible.” That’s the point.

(Laughter)

It is terrible. The Bible says it’s a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. That’s why you and I need to repent, and that’s why we need to be like this angel, taking the Gospel out into the nations, telling people, “You don’t know who you’re dealing with. This is an urgent matter. You should repent. You have no idea what’s before you.”

Torment, burning sulfur, in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb, the Lord Jesus. “In hell?” Yes, Jesus rules in Heaven; Jesus rules in hell. “I thought Satan was in charge of hell.” Satan’s not in charge of anything. He was already defeated at the cross, and he’ll be destroyed at the white throne, and he is not in charge of anything.

Those of you that are here today, let me be emphatically clear, and because I’m yelling, don’t think I’m angry – I am worried. I am sorely concerned. If you don’t love Jesus, if you don’t follow him, if you have not been redeemed by him, trusted him for your sins, this is where you’re going and this is what you’re getting.

We don’t want you to go there. We don’t want you to be in torment forever, your nostrils filled with stench, your body burning with fire, while you look at angels worshiping Jesus in pure joy.

How terrible will it be for those of you who refuse to worship the Lord Jesus now, to see him worshiped then. To see him in all of his glory, loving, gracious, kind, good, benevolent, affectionate, wonderful, beautiful, kind. And all of the angels celebrating – huge concert, enormous choir, feasting, joy, laughter, grace. No sin. No death. No suffering. No evil. And you being incapable of entering into that because you chose the beast over the Lamb. And there was no choice but to let you have what you had chosen.

I yell, not because I’m angry, I yell because I’m worried. I’m worried that many of our men won’t get to sing that song. And I’m worried that some of you present here today will not join with the angels.

“If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the Lamb and the holy angels. And the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever.”

Hell doesn’t end. You and I are going to live forever. The only question is where. God is eternal. When we sinned against him, we committed eternal sins. There must be eternal consequence for those eternal sins. Either God, who is eternal, dies for our sins, or you and I suffer for how long? Eternally. That’s justice, friends.

You have two choices – you receive Christ, or you stand there and endure what he endured forever. That’s it. “The smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever.” In hell, you’ll want to die, but you can’t – forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever.

“I’ll sleep at night. I’ll take a break. I’ll get weekends off.” No. “There is no rest day or night” – it never stops. You say, “Why?” Because that’s how bad your sin is. That’s how bad you are.

Now, when you compare yourself to the rest of the people that are around you, and you read the paper this week, and you say, “Well, that man who murdered 48 women, he’s an awful man. Praise God I’m better than him.” We have this propensity to compare ourselves to the worst among us. But then you look at the Lord Jesus Christ and you compare yourself to him, and you look worse than that guy.

Your sin is that bad. You are that bad. We’re so bad that God had to die for us. That’s how deep the sin goes. For those of us who don’t repent – forever and ever and ever, no rest day or night. See, we have no problem believing that the Christians will be blessed in Heaven forever. We have no problem believing that.

We have a problem believing that those who don’t love Jesus will be tormented as long as those who do love Jesus will be blessed. Daniel 12:2 says that, “In that day, the multitudes that sleep in the earth will arise, some to everlasting joy, some to everlasting judgment.”

We who love God will be blessed forever. Those who do not love God will be tormented equally as long. This calls for a patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. God’s people are going to need to be patient. They’re going to need to trust God.

Some of you even hearing this are having a hard time trusting God. Does God know what he’s doing? Can God do this? Does God have this right? Patient endurance. Trust God; he knows exactly what he’s doing. Patient endurance.

“Then I heard a voice from Heaven say, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.’”

When you go into God’s Kingdom, when you go into Heaven, your good works will go with you. Now, you’re not saved by good works. You’re saved by Jesus, I want to make that clear. But you’re saved to good works, Ephesians 2:8, 9, and 10.

“By grace you’ve been saved, through faith.” This is not something you’ve done yourself. This is God’s gift to you. Don’t brag about it. Ephesians 2:8, 9. Ephesians 2:10, “You are saved to do the good works that God has prepared in advance for you to do.” Jesus saves you to do good works.

Your life is good works. Loving people, serving, worshiping, praying, giving of whatever you have and are to the forward progress of the Gospel. Some of you wonder if your life is in vain. You’re loving people that aren’t changing. You’re talking to people about Jesus, their hearts aren’t changing. You’re working hard, but you’re not getting promoted. Things aren’t going the way you would anticipate.

You’re looking for sin in your life. You know you’re not perfect, but you’re walking with God, and you say, “Well, why do I do this?” Because here’s the key, your good deeds go with you. You will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Your good deeds go with you.

There’s a lot of things that won’t go to Heaven with you. Your stuff stays here. Your good deeds, they go with you. Nothing that you do that is seen or unseen that is in worship to God, that is in service to God, that is in faithfulness to God, is in vain. It all counts. It all matters. And God loves you. And God keeps score. And God knows. And they’ll go with you.

Everything that you have poured yourself into that was holy and good and worship to God goes with you.

The first scene is the Lord Jesus standing. The second is the angel going out into the earth proclaiming the Gospel, calling everyone to repentance and promising the Christians that what they’re going through is not in vain.

The third scene is the harvest of the earth. Two harvests – the first is salvation. “I looked” – verse 14 – “and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one ‘like the Son of Man’” – who’s that? Jesus. Daniel 7:13, Revelation 1:7, 13. The Son of Man is Jesus. He’s standing in Heaven. You’ve gotta get this picture. This huge white cloud, and the Lord Jesus Christ is standing on it, coming to the earth. No more humble Galilean peasant.

He’s wearing a crown of gold. He’s a King that rules over all of creation. And what’s in his hand? A sickle. What kind of sickle, Mars Hill? A sharp one. He’s been in Heaven for 2,000 years sharpening this blade. It is very sharp. A sickle is a bent, hooked sword. When you go out to harvest, it would have a handle, and then it would bend in a C so that you could get maximum harvesting.

You couldn’t use a regular sword, ‘cause you can’t get a good angle on it. When Jesus comes back to harvest Christians and non-Christians, he comes with a sharp sickle in his hand. Jesus is no pacifist. Jesus loves. Jesus gives commands. Jesus gives opportunity for the nations to repent, to surrender. If they don’t, he declares war.

And when he comes, he comes with a weapon, and the first thing he does is he harvests Christians – those people that have heard this angel preach and have believed his message, and they have turned from sin to Christ. They are harvested. Jesus uses the metaphor in the Gospels frequently about evangelism as harvesting.

He says that the harvest is ripe but the workers are few, so pray that there would be more workers sent out into the harvest. That’s you and me. He comes and he saves people before he judges the ungodly. God’s first work is always the salvation of the repentant, and then the judgment of the unrepentant.

God does that because he’s patient. He’s commanding all men everywhere to repent, and he’s giving them ample opportunity to do so, because he is such a gracious God.

“I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one ‘like the Son of Man’ with a crown of God on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, ‘Take your sickle and reap, because the time has come for the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ So he who was seated on the cloud swung the sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.”

Untold masses of people get saved. In one fell swoop, Jesus just starts gathering people from every nation of the earth. If you belong to Jesus, he has already harvested you. He has cut you out from sin and death and Satan. He has bundled you up with the rest of his people, the Church, and you now have been harvested and belong to him.

And here, before God judges the earth, before God crushes his enemy, he makes sure that he loves and redeems every single one of his children. We love that about God. God never fails to find his people. God never fails to save his people. God never fails to forgive his people. No one is lost.

That’s the parable of the sheep. It’s off; it’s lost, and it’s the shepherd that goes looking and grabs the lost one. None of you who belong to the Lord Jesus will be lost in the end. He will harvest us all.

Today he has brought you here, if you are not a Christian, to harvest you. He has brought you here today so that you can believe this future that awaits you, that you could hear this message that is for you, and that you can give yourself to Jesus as a Christian. You can accept his death for your sin, and his life that he gives to you, and then you can enjoy a relationship with him and the rest of us forever.

You don’t need to be on the other side of that chasm, buried up to your neck in brimstone and sulfur and fire, tormented forever and ever, day and night, paying back God in justice for all of your sins. God has brought you today to invite you to be with him and to be with us. It’s imperative that before you leave today, you do business with God.

You may have this picture of Jesus that is inaccurate and untrue. You may have reduced him to a God that you wish that he was, but he’s not. He’s the King of Kings. He’s the Lord of Lords. He has a sickle in his hand. He stands in Heaven. His judgment is imminent. His justice is promised. Your doom is sealed. This would be the perfect day for you to change teams.

We invite you to that. After this moment, no one is saved. Some of you take it for granted that some day you’ll work things out with God. This is the day when that opportunity comes to the end, and all that’s left is justice.

“Another angel came out of the temple in Heaven” – verse 17 – “and he, too, had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, ‘Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because the grapes are ripe.’”

When it’s harvest season for a wine maker, they carefully wait for the fruit that is on the vine to get to that place where it is mature and ripe, where it is filled with the most juice, and then it’s time to harvest.

“The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered it’s grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.” The winepress is the enormous vat that holds those grapes that have been harvested with a sickle. Those grapes are then cast into that winepress. And what happens to those grapes in that press? They are trampled underfoot. They are crushed and destroyed. And out of them bursts what looks like blood.

This is the judgment of the earth. This is where all who don’t love Jesus, who won’t repent, who won’t stop sinning, who won’t stop rebelling, who won’t stop disagreeing with God – they are harvested. They are picked up and they are thrown. And they are trampled underfoot! And God crushes his enemies! And their blood flows forth for 200 miles as high as the bit in a horse’s mouth! And God gets his glory!

Don’t be one of them. You have no idea who you are dealing with. He invites you to repent. He invites you to his table for a meal. He invites you into his home as a friend. He invites you to have all your sins forgiven. He invites you to rule and reign with him forever. He invites you to sing and dance. He invites you to never sin again. He invites you to see him face to face. You should worship him. And you should start today. Amen.

Lord Jesus, thank you for your Word. Lord Jesus, I thank you that you show us the end. That we see exactly how holy you are. We see exactly how sinful we are. We see exactly what awaits us. We see exactly the great lengths you have gone to, to take all of our sin and to put it upon yourself, to die in our place, to suffer in our place, to rise in our place.

Lord Jesus, I pray that none would leave here being destined for that great vat, where they, too, will be trampled underfoot, and their blood will flow. God, I pray that we would heed this great warning that you have given us in stark and shocking terms. That it would so capture us, that we would be sober, and that we would be honest, and that we would turn to you.

Lord Jesus, we confess we live in a day where the picture of you is completely inaccurate. That somehow you will forgive everyone. That you will wink at sin and sinners. That somehow Satan will get to rule over hell, and only the very worst three or four people that have ever lived will actually go there.

Lord Jesus, I thank you that you are as good as you say that you are. That you are as brutally honest as we need you to be. And that right now, you have extended a hand of friendship to us. That you will forgive all that we have done. That you will love us. That you will welcome us into your presence. That you will hand us a harp. That you will let us raise our voices in song.

Lord Jesus, I pray for our men. Lord Jesus, I want to see our men standing with the 144,000. I want to see our men as pure and godly and holy and good. I want to see them as following the Lamb. I want to see them as undefiled.

And God, I pray that by grace, that I would be there, my sons would be there, and that their sons would be there. Lord God, I thank you that you love us enough to speak truthfully to us. And that when we repent, you’re there with open arms, abounding grace, infinite love – and that goes on forever and ever and ever as well. Amen.