Final Justice: The Return of Christ, Part 1

before we actually to the Word of God I want to talk to you Festa our congregation of people as your pastor my concern for the current racial issues and social justice and all that has unfolded in that realm actually began two years ago it was back in 2018 that I made the statement that this particular issue of social justice and accusations of racism had the potential to do more harm to the Evangelical Church than anything I've ever seen in my life that has played out to be exactly true and over the the last couple of years I've endeavored to address it in numerous ways an extended series from Ezekiel chapter 18 a series of blog articles on the grace to you blog some question-and-answer events some of them prolonged one of them is available from grace to you sermons on the unity of the church from Philippians sermons on the riots sermons on our responsibility and other things I asked for a list of all of the resources that have been directed at this issue and the grace to you guys sent me a very long list of articles blogs short videos sermons we have finally reached a point where it's time for us to move on but there is one more very important thing to be said if I were a prophet and I'm not but if I were a prophet in Israel and the evangelical church was Israel I would declare that the church had gone after Bale I would declare what the prophets of the Old Testament declared about Israel that they had been seduced by false because that is exactly what has happened to the evangelical church it has been seduced by a false god and a false religion the evidence of that is the complete shattering of the unity of the evangelical church the church has gone after bail gone after the contemporary sociological temporal earthly religion that is concerned only with social issues the church has been so seduced by this that it has fallen victim to the point where it looks exactly like a political and social organization rather than the kingdom of God confronting the world the New Testament would say this I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your act of spiritual worship and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may know what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God the evangelical church has been seduced by the world it has bought into that seduction in one translation you would say the world has pushed the church into its own mold Colossians 3 Paul says love not the world because you have been transcended beyond that set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth you belong to a heavenly kingdom John says essentially the same thing love not the world everything in the world is passing away the church has been seduced it has gone after a false god a bale of false religion constructed by ungodly Christ las' people the talk is always about justice well I want to talk about that justice for all certainly is a noble and magnificent ideal perhaps justice is the noblest of all human achievements when it can be achieved as noble as justice is however in this fallen world it is extremely difficult to see it it's even difficult to define it and more difficult to implement it it's even confusing to watch people demanding justice by violating laws perfect justice resides with God alone and humanity struggles to understand that kind of justice to respect it to honor it or they've executed and in the world where light is dark and dark is light and good is bad and bad is wrong and bitter as sweet and sweet is bitter justice is hard-pressed to emerge many attempts to define justice only lead to injustice because they reflect the perversion of the human heart we can have Justice Department's ad infinitum and never really achieve broad-based true justice there has been a measure of justice in our nation based upon biblical morality that stabilized us for two hundred years that is gone now to try to define justice without a transcendent revelation is virtually impossible the Bible anticipates this it was a couple of weeks ago that we looked at the book of Ecclesiastes and I just remind you of a couple of verses there chapter 4 verse 1 then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the Sun that means on the earth and behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them and on the side of the oppressors was power but they had no one to comfort them so he says I congratulated the dead there were the oppressed and the oppressors and there didn't seem to be any way to sort that out justly chapter 5 of Ecclesiastes verse 8 if you see oppression of the poor and denial of justice and righteousness in the province or the region do not be shocked at the sight why it's a fallen world for one official watches over another official and there are higher officials over them in other words we admit there is injustice in the world we're not surprised by it that's why we have to stack officials on top of officials on top of officials to try the best we can to have courts of Appeal that go higher and higher to find their way to justice then there's a comment in verse 9 that I find interesting after all a king who cultivates the field as an advantage to the land the best you can hope for in the struggle for justice is to have a leader who creates jobs so that you have something to give yourself to under the Sun that's a leader who doesn't give himself to war but gives himself to work in Habakkuk the Prophet begins in chapter one the Oracle that came to him from the Lord how long O Lord will I call for help and you will not hear I cry out to you violence yet you do not save why do you make me see iniquity and cause me to look on wickedness yes destruction and violence are before me strife exists in contention arises therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld for the wicked surround the righteous therefore justice comes out perverted there are too many wicked people surrounding the righteous to ever assume you're going to get everyone to justice and God has ordained as we have seen some restraints against this in the human conscience the family the government and the police with all of this this approach of justice and equity is very difficult I did a little search on a government website source and I asked the question how many laws are there in this country and the answer came back no one knows but we do know that if someone spent his entire life counting them he wouldn't be able to count them he went on to say there are 20,000 laws regarding ownership and use of a gun there are fifty four categories of laws no one even knows how many laws there are to enforce law there are a million policemen there are all kinds of threats everywhere from fines to execution and everything in between there are courts the courts in our country face 100 million cases a year trying to litigate the law 400,000 federal courts convene a year with cases there are 30,000 plus judges there are two and a half million people in prison millions of personnel trillions of dollars to try to restrain man and all the restraints have a measure of corruption in their own hearts because there's none righteous no not one man is lawless he will do what you let him do if not restrained and in order to try to restrain him we have countless laws millions of litigating cases a million police spent trillions of dollars at the top of the pile is a Justice Department that we don't trust because it's full of the same kind of mentality as the criminals at the other end of the system so just a little hint if you're trying to get justice in the world that is a fool's errand we do the best we can far above this fallen world on the other hand is God who is perfect righteousness and perfect justice Deuteronomy 32:4 says for ibook claimed the name of the Lord ascribe greatness to our God the rock his work is perfect for all his ways are just a God of faithfulness and without injustice righteous and upright is he you want justice only one way to go and that's directly to adjust and righteous God Romans 939 14 rather says there is no injustice with God no no never listen to Psalm 111 praise the Lord I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart in the company of the upright and in the Assembly great are the works of the Lord they are studied by all who delight in them splendid and majestic is his work and his righteousness endures forever he has made his wonders to be remembered the Lord is gracious and compassionate he has given food to those who fear Him he will remember his covenant forever he has made known to his people the power of his works in giving them the heritage of the nation's the work of his hands our truth and justice all his precepts are sure they are upheld forever and ever they are performed in truth and up rightness he has sent Redemption to his people he has ordained his covenant forever holy and awesome is his name the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom a good understanding of all those who do His commandments his praise endures forever the only hope you will ever have for justice is to know God he is the final Court and the just and righteous God Prophet Zephaniah said the Lord is righteous he will do no injustice back in leviticus and this is by way of a reminder back in leviticus we have the familiar statement that we're to love our neighbor as ourself in the nineteenth chapter and of course that appears in the New Testament but but that is such a wonderful portion of Scripture I want to remind you of it Leviticus 19 we'll start at verse 15 you shall do no injustice in judgment you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great but you are to judge your neighbor fairly you shall not go about as a slanderer among your people you're not to act against the life of your neighbor I am the Lord you shall not hate your fellow countrymen in your heart you may surely reprove your neighbor but shall not incur sin because of him you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself I am the Lord the prophet Micah said what does the Lord require of you but to do justice to love kindness and to walk humbly before your God what does the Lord require of you to do justice love kindness and walk humbly before your God I know I'm reading a lot from the word but I I have no way to improve on this here the word of the Lord once more from Psalm 82 God takes his stand in his own congregation he judges in the midst of the rulers how long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked vindicate the weak and fatherless do justice to the afflicted and destitute rescue the weak and needy deliver them out of the hand of the wicked they do not know nor do they understand they walk about in darkness all the foundations of the earth are shaken I said you are gods and all of you are sons of the Most High nevertheless you will die like men and fall like any one of the princes arise O God judge the earth for it is you who possess all the nations all the human judges are inadequate they're all gonna die only god can judge righteously so the question is will justice ever come will it ever come well the old testament promises that it will and i want to show you some of those promises the prophet jeremiah is a good place to start jeremiah chapter 23 and we'll begin at the beginning of that chapter just a few verses Jeremiah 23 this is an indictment of unrighteous unjust leaders woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the Sheep of my pasture declares the Lord therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending my people this would be kings and priests you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not attended to them behold I'm about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds declares the Lord then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture and they will be fruitful and multiply that is the promise of God for the future restoration of the nation Israel who have been mistreated and misjudged through history I will also raise up Shepherds over them they will tend them and they will not be afraid any longer nor be terrified nor will any be missing this looks even at the restoration of Israel from the Babylonian captivity that they would go back to their land that was the historical fulfillment and they would have judges over them who would be faithful those judges were familiar with they were the ones that were there when Israel came back from captivity but it looks beyond that to the final gathering notice in verse 5 behold the days are coming declares the Lord when I will raise up for David a righteous branch the righteous branch is Messiah he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land in his days Judah will be saved in Israel will dwell securely and this is his name by which you will be called the Lord our righteousness here is the promise to the Prophet Jeremiah not only of a temporal historical restoration of Israel from captivity and some faithful Shepherds would Shepherd them then but the days are coming when the Messiah will come and reign as king and do justice and righteousness in the land and in that sense in the entire earth the 33rd chapter of Jeremiah also makes this promise Jeremiah 33 we can look at verse 14 behold days are coming declares the Lord when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel in the house of Judah in those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch of David to spring forth and he shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth in those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety and this is the name by which she will be called the Lord is our righteousness son of David the Messiah will come and he will reign with justice and righteousness earlier I read Psalm 96 verse 13 of that Psalm says this the Lord is coming to judge the earth he will judge the world in righteousness and the nations in his faithfulness Psalm 97 said the Lord reigns in righteousness and justice is the foundation of his throne and I read from Psalm 98 verse 9 he is coming to judge the earth he will judge the world with righteousness and the nations with equity that promise is not reserved only for the Old Testament turn to the book of Acts for a moment and the tenth chapter of Acts Messiah came but he came the first time not to judge but to be judged by God in our place he came to die under the sentence that belonged to us but now Peter is preaching that he will come again the tenth chapter of Acts you can pick it up about verse 38 you know of Jesus of Nazareth how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him we are witnesses of all the things he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem they also put him to death by hanging him on a cross God raised him up on the third day and granted that he become visible not to all the people but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God that is to us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead and he ordered us to preach to the people and solemnly to testify that this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead of him all the prophets bear witness who was Jeremiah talking about what is this branch of David it is none other than Jesus Christ who came and died and rose again and our responsibility is to preach to the people that this one will return as the judge of the living and the dead 17th chapter of the book of Acts and verse 30 therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent this is Paul's great sermon in Athens that all people everywhere should repent why because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead you better repent because the judge is coming I've heard enough about trying to fix this world haven't you enough of the folly enough of the evangelical worship of the false God the bail of our time it's time to look for the king of justice and with that in mind I want you to open to Revelation 19 now you can start timing me this is the official sermon revelation 19 verse 1 after these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying hallelujah salvation and glory and power belong to our God because his judgments are true and righteous for he has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality and he has avenged the blood of his slaves on her and a second time they said hallelujah her smoke rises up for ever and ever in the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying Amen hallelujah and a voice came from the throne saying give praise to our God all you his slaves you who fear Him the small and the great and I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder saying hallelujah for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns as we come into chapter 19 of Revelation it is time for praise it's time for the ultimate Hallelujah Chorus to be sung Jesus Christ is about to return the actual return begins to be described in verse 11 and we'll get to that next time but by the time we reached chapter 19 we have been through some incredible future history something we will never do historically because we will be taken out before the events of the tribulation but though we will not be there historically we are able to see that period prophetically we are able by reading the book of Revelation to pass through the fascinating Furies of the coming time of tribulation we have seen Jesus Christ the worthy Lamb take the scroll the title deed to the universe from the hand of the Father in heaven and began to unroll the scroll to take back to the universe which the usurper Satan has ruled and as he unrolls the scroll he unleashes furious judgments seal by seal the scroll has been unrolled seven different judgments are unpacked out of the seventh judgment comes seven more judgments described as trumpet judgments in more rapid-fire succession out of the seventh trumpet comes seven more judgments called the bowl judgments which are even more rapid and so seven seals and seven trumpets and seven bowls sequentially mount up the escalating fury of God as his judgment is unleashed in the world and during that period of time the tribulation it is called the gospel of grace will be preached the church will have been raptured the gospel will be preached it'll be preached by a hundred and forty-four thousand twelve thousand from every tribe of Israel will be converted it'll be preached by two living witnesses it'll be preached by angelic beings in Heaven's that all is laid out in the previous chapters through all of the time of God's judgment God is also saving those who come to him following the last Bowl which is the last phase of the seventh trumpet which is the last phase of the seventh seal all the judgment has ended and it's time for Christ to come back and judge and set up his kingdom his coming is described in chapter 19 verses 11 and following and his kingdom has described thousand-year Kingdom in chapter 20 and we're going to look at all of that in the days ahead I think we've all had enough of what's going on down here on earth we'd like to see what the Lord has planned from heaven what's all the rejoicing in chapter 19 what are they rejoicing about the destruction of the world's evil system the judgment of evil unbelieving sinners and the establishing of the victorious kingdom and glory of Jesus Christ this is the moment that all human history has been waiting for this is the moment that all heaven has been anticipating in fact it is a recurring theme in the book of Revelation if you go back to chapter 4 in Revelation and look at verse eight four living creatures this is a view of heaven each one of them having six wings full of eyes around and within and day and night they do not cease to say holy holy holy is the Lord God the Almighty who was who is and is to come and when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne to him who lives forever and ever the 24 elders representing the church will fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever and will cast their crowns before the throne saying worthy are you our Lord and our God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and because of your will they existed and were created [Music] chapter 5 further heavenly praise and I saw verse 6 between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders the lamb standing as if slain having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God or the Sevenfold Spirit sent out into all the earth and he came and took the book out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne when he had taken the book the four living creatures twenty-four elders fell down before the lamb each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints and they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take the book and break its seals for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation you have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God and they will reign upon the earth then all of these beings are saying in verse 12 worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing in honor and glory and Dominion for ever and ever and the four living creatures kept saying amen and the elders fell down and worshiped this is all the praise of heaven mounting up as it gets closer to the return of Christ holy angels Saints triumphant gathered together in heaven anticipating this incredible culmination the return of Jesus Christ chapter eighteen ends with the destruction of the entire world system chapter seventeen of Revelation is the destruction of the false religion of the world chapter 18 is the destruction of the final world economic system so you have the destruction of the religious system a one-world religion chapter 17 the destruction of the economic system the global economic system in chapter 18 chapter 18 verse 9 when this comes about the kings of the earth who commit acts of immorality and lived sensually with her that is with the harlot system the system is seen as a harlot because they worshiped it rather than God the kings of the earth who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment saying woe woe the great city Babylon the strong city for in one hour your judgment has come and the merchants of the earth weep and mourn and it goes on to talk about the products in this global economy this global market that will be destroyed verse 16 whoa whoa the great city in Babylon speaks of the global system economically once she was clothed in fine linen purple scarlet adorned with gold precious stones pearls in one hour with such great wealth has been laid waste even transportation is affected and while there is whoa again in verse 19 woe woe the great city in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth in one hour she's been laid waste the destruction of the entire world system religiously and economically the different attitude comes out of heaven verse 20 rejoice over her o heaven and you Saints and apostles because God has pronounced judgment for you against her my God has pronounced judgment on the sinful world it's religion and it's economics for your sake why for our sake verse 24 for in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who had been slain on the earth they have been slaughtering the Saints this is the end of that this is the end of that by the way more Christians are being persecuted and killed today than any time in human history so we have come through the book of Revelation we have seen heaven begin to rejoice as the Lord sets out to take back his universe the unfolding of those judgments run from chapter 6 through chapter 18 series of seals and trumpets and bold judgments then collectively we see false religion is completely destroyed and world economy is completely destroyed all the world leaders can say is whoa whoa alas babbling full of tears and grief over the collapse of absolutely everything they put their hands on Babel in that great city speaking of world economy from every throne on earth from every power behind that throne from every leader every ruler from every place of trade every business every location where people are employed to produce and distribute and sell every continent every island every city every sea every ship comes the voice of weeping as the entire system falls under the judgment of God but while the earth is gasping in its final breath heaven is rejoicing verse 20 rejoice over her o heaven heaven bursts into hallelujahs as we begin chapter 19 and it's not just the same as verse 20 of chapter 18 that was because of destruction of those who persecuted the Saints chapter 19 the rejoicing comes because the king is coming does this sound strange to you that there would be rejoicing over this that there would be rejoicing over judgment is this not love less is this not insensitive is this not uncaring no people have had opportunity to repent time and time and time again and particularly through all the judgments of the time of the tribulation if you go back to chapter 16 and go back to the final judgment the the final Bowl the seventh angel poured out his bowl verse 17 of chapter 16 a loud voice came out of the temple saying it is done this is the end of the judgments flat of lightning sounds of peals of thunder a great earthquake such as there has not been since man came to be on the earth so great an earthquake was it in so mighty remember the gospel is being preached the whole time in Supernatural ways now you have an earthquake like none in the history of the world the great city is split into three parts the cities of the nation's fell Babel in the great again the unified term for the global system was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of his fierce wrath every island fled away and the mountains were not found and huge hailstones a hundred pounds each came down from heaven upon men noticed this and men blaspheme God because of the plague of the hail because the plague was extremely severe for seven years they've been hearing the gospel for seven years there has been a proclamation of that gospel that has covered the globe and even when the judgments that they're going through are so severe that the entire Earth and the surrounding bodies in the sky are all collapsing they blaspheme God the world will always honor a false prophet but the Elijah's and the Elijah's and the Isaiah's and the Jeremiah's and Stephens and Peter's and Paul and the other faithful preachers who preached the kingdom and preached the gospel they've always been pariahs Jesus himself told a story about how the prophets were killed and even they would kill the son when the father sent him and that's what they did book of Hebrews says that those who were gods were mocked and scourged and stoned and sawn in half and slain with the sword and nailed to a cross and thrown to wild animals compelled to seek refuge they were destitute they were tormented they were afflicted but at last their vindication comes at last in chapter 10 of Matthew the Lord really made a promise verse 16 I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves so be shrewd as serpents innocent as doves but beware of men for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues you will even be brought before governors and Kings for my sake as the testimony to them and to the Gentiles but when they hand you over do not worry about what you are to say for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say it is not you who speak but the Spirit of your father who speaks in you brother will betray brother to death and a father his child and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death you'll be hated by all because of my name but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved but whenever they persecute you in one city flee to the next for truly I say to you you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes just prior Jesus is saying to the return of Christ to set up his kingdom persecution of the Saints will escalate to a fever pitch the shouts of joy are to be expected then aren't they they're anticipated all the way through the book of Revelation chapter 4 chapter 5 chapter 7 chapter 11 chapter 15 chapter 16 you have the shouts of the saints rejoicing over the coming of Christ so I need to be obvious and say this is where our minds need to be this is where our thoughts need to be those who have prostituted the church's role in the world to preach the gospel to try to fix the world have as I said earlier followed a false religion as we come into chapter 19 this is the seventh time we have a vision of heaven in Revelation and what we hear is what we always hear hallelujah verse one hallelujah verse three hallelujah verse four hallelujah verse six hallelujah why all the hallelujah there are several reasons one reason to begin with salvation has come salvation has come secondly justice has come thirdly rebellion has ended fourthly God reigns and fifthly church the bride has been joined to the bridegroom Christ before we look at those reasons for rejoicing look at verse 1 after these things but that covers a lot doesn't it after these things bridges the tribulation to the Millennial Kingdom after the destruction of the false religious system as described in chapter 17 after the destruction of the global economy chapter 18 after demons have led the armies of Hell to the plane of Armageddon after all of that the Lord returns just to remind you of that chapter 16 verse 13 out of the mouths of the dragon and out of the mouth of the Beast Satan and his agents out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs there spirits of demons performing signs they go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them together for the war of the great day of God the Almighty behold I'm coming like a thief blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame and they gathered them together to the place which is in Hebrew called har Megiddo the demons gather the forces to the plain of megiddo which is in the north part of Israel to fight against the returning Christ that battle is about to start that battle will end the time of the tribulation we're at the prelude to that and all heaven is rejoicing now let's look as specific reasons why and will not be able to give them a lot of attention you can do that on your own the first reason is because full salvation has come I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying hallelujah salvation and glory and power belong to our God here is the anthem of full deliverance from sin I heard something like a loud voice a composite of the angelic hosts of heaven and the Saints joining in it's it's a loud voice it's a great multitude saints and angels and by the way there are millions and millions of holy angels there are 200 million demons mentioned in chapter 9 200 million demons and only a third of the demons fell so there's double that number of holy angels so you have millions hundreds of millions of holy angels shouting and add to that the Saints and what are they saying hallelujah that word doesn't appear in the New Testament anywhere but in this chapter it appears about 20 sometimes maybe 24 or 25 times in the Old Testament never appears in the New Testament it's reserved for this chapter hallelujah hallelujah but even in the Old Testament it was connected to the deliverance of God's people from wickedness Psalm 104 35 let sinners be consumed from the earth and let the wicked no more bless the Lord O my soul hallelujah hallelujah even when the wicked are destroyed the word essentially means praise the Lord it's a transliteration praise the Lord and of those 24 25 times in the Old Testament they're all in the Psalms it begins and ends 15 somes particularly those in the great Hallel Psalm 104 to 109 and the Hallel of Egypt 113 to 118 and all of them celebrate deliverance from the wicked it's associated with God's judgment on the wicked oppressors of his people and his glorious rescue of his people hallelujah is reserved for the joy of deliverance from the wicked praise the Lord salvation and glory and power belong to our God the world is never going to be right until it's under the control of God that will be the day of his glory that will be the day of his power that will be the day of his sovereign rule his glory his power and everything will belong to him first cause of rejoicing praise is because the Lord is going to bring full final salvation from all wickedness second justice will be meted out verse 2 because his judgments are true and righteous for the first time in human history since the fall his judgments are true and righteous here is the joy of accomplished judgment you know what we need to be saying to this world we need to be saying to this world forget the issues of justice on a human level and real you will face the justice of God that's the message and this will be a justice that you will not want if he have rejected his son all of you who are working for justice on a human level need to be far more concerned about true justice when it's meted out by God his judgments will be true his judgments will be righteous Saints along for this because we have nothing to fear if you're not in Christ you may think you want justice but you will not want the justice you will receive for rejecting God's Son of course we want a world of justice it's what believers desire good news it's coming it is coming when the Lord establishes his kingdom it will be a kingdom of perfect justice Swift and perfect justice verse 15 of this 19th chapter a little preview of what's to come he will rule with a rod of iron immediate painful if necessary unrelenting justice his judgments are true and righteous we know that because he judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality and he has avenged the blood of his slaves on her by the time we get to these hallelujahs God has already judged the great harlot that's from chapter 17 the false world religious system and he has also judged the system Babylon which is another part of that harlotry that has corrupted the earth with her immorality the harlot had heard a no judgment judgment will come the satanic Antichrist anti God system is being permitted now under the control of Satan to lure and delude and seduce and deceive and debauch and corrupt the world with abominations that will only escalate and get worse and worse but judgment will come and all those who are screaming for justice today will not want the justice they deserve God's ways are absolutely just this language is borrowed from Deuteronomy 32 his judgments are true and righteous those who in this world have caused the moral ruin of so many will themselves be destroyed and the ones who killed the Saints will themselves be slaughtered full salvation for the redeemed and justice for the Christ rejecters and heavenly hallelujahs are unleashed because it's time for truth and righteousness and justice there's a third component to the praise verse 3 because rebellion has ended second time they said hallelujah her smoke rises up forever and ever the whole world system is smoldering kept hearing somebody on the news today say if we don't get what we want we're gonna burn this system down that's exactly what the Lord will do he'll burn it down and the smoke will never be forgotten this is the end of all rebellion that's why all the woes in chapter 18 we pointed them out as the system falls under divine judgment the smoke is because of the fire the fire is the fire of judgment back in verse 18 they saw the smoke of her burning as the Lord torches the world system the destruction is much like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah back in Genesis 19 or even the destruction of Edom that Isaiah talks about in Isaiah 34 the fire will come burn the embers will cool the ash will blow away there will be an eternal fire for those who reject Christ that will never die however it's all over now persecution is over false religion is over materialism is done evolution injustice wickedness immorality up in final flames the end of man's advancing quote unquote world a global disaster as God torches every human institution religious and economic and the rebellion that started with Adam and Eve in the Garden has finally been judged no wonder heaven responds with hallelujah hallelujah salvation has come hallelujah justice has come hallelujah rebellion has ended and fourthly [Music] hallelujah because God reigns verse four and the twenty-four elders representing the church the four living creatures described as angels early in the book fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying amen hallelujah the praise has always belonged to God but it was denied to him now the 24 elders the four living creatures this is the saints and angels fall down worship God who sits on the throne the group of elders has always been on the throne surrounded by them in heaven always been on the throne surrounded by the angels in heaven but now he's established his throne on the earth and in his creation amen hallelujah that combination comes from Psalm 106 48 close to the doxology at the end of book four of the Psalter affirming agreeing praise praise the Lord amen amen means so be it let it happen the volume begins to increase and a voice came from the throne saying give praise to our God all you his slaves you who fear Him the small and the great and then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder saying hallelujah for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns the volume swells the voice comes from the throne no doubt a notable angel saying give praise to God President imperative keep on giving praise to God don't stop all you his slaves refers to believers all of those who were in heaven you who fear Him worshiping Saints small and great in heaven all are leveled right all intellectual abilities social strata all accomplishments all levels of progress in life all distinctions all ranks are all dissipated into nothingness and we all become one in that worshiping community of glory for centuries we have been saying your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven and then when we get there we can say it has been done the redeemed throughout heaven respond immediately to the command to give praise and millions upon millions upon millions of voices at the top of their heavenly glorified capacity are shouting and making noise that can only be described in terms of verse 6 like the voice of a great multitude like the sound of many waters like the sound of mighty peals of thunder just imagine the most loud thunder you have ever heard right on your and having that hit you at the bottom of Niagara Falls and you might have a small idea of the noise adding their praise to the Angels is the praise of the saints hallelujah our Lord God reigns he is king this is another reference to the Hallel in some 113 to 118 the psalms closed 146 to 150 actually with a celebration of God's glory Daniel described this moment when he said I saw in the night visions one like to the Son of man brought to the Ancient of Days and that was given to him Dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples nations and languages should serve Him and when Gabriel announced to Mary the child to be born do you remember what he said he shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest and the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David and he shall reign and Jesus said in Matthew 25 when the Son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him then shall he sit on the throne of his glory tyrants despots petty rulers godless governments shall be no more war shall be no more inequity shall be no more justice and righteousness will rule the earth and the Lord will execute that with a rod of iron truth peace righteousness justice salvation will dominate the kingdom of Christ this is where we need to have our minds and our thoughts the folly of trying to fix the fallen world looks even more stupid when compared to this there will be a day of justice a day of salvation a day when all rebellion is ended when God reigns and there's one final thing to say the rejoicing is also an expression of the joy of the union of believers with the Lord look at verse 7 and we'll just read it make a comment or two let's rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride his bride has made herself ready it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen bright and clean for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints then he said to me write blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb and he said to me these are the true words of God and I fell at his feet to worship Him he said don't do that because it was an angel I'm a fellow slave of yours a fellow servant and your brother to hold the testimony of Jesus worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy so important the Saints give praise because they've finally been joined to their Savior rejoice be glad give glory these are the true words of God the marriage supper of the lamb has come we are joined with our bridegroom the lamb who died for us the last statement the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy what's left for us to do until this time preach Jesus worship is our life the testimony of Jesus is our message father we thank you for your word we thank you for the reality that we have just looked at this is not speculation this is prerecorded history this is the truth just as all that was prophesied concerning Jesus Christ related to his first coming came to pass in detail so we'll all that is prophesied concerning his second coming we rejoice that he came the first time not to judge but to be judged in our place to bear our sins in his own body on the cross but he comes the second time as judge and then there will be justice Lord turn the minds and the hearts of your people back to the gospel back to the return of Christ back to the message of salvation in him and may we proclaim the testimony of Jesus and the testimony of Jesus is that heaven awaits those who embrace him and hell awaits those who reject him protect your church from getting caught up with the bail worship of this day and may we preach nothing [Music] but the testimony of Jesus so that men will be prepared for the ultimate justice which you will render one day as we will see going through the rest of the end of this incredible prophecy of revelation justice will be meted out and it will be final and it will be devastating forever conscious punishment to those who reject your son there is no way that we can be faithful to you and not make that the message may we cry out to sinners who think they want justice that they will receive justice but for most of them it won't be what they wanted the Lord for all of us we we thank you that you give us not justice but mercy that you show us loving kindness that you so loved us that you sent your son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life we want mercy and we long for the day we who have received salvation mercy we have who have received grace and forgiveness we long for the day when Jesus Christ is to be glorified and established as the kingdom of justice and righteousness but in so longing we understand as well that this world will be caught in an irreversible judgment and our responsibility before that happens is to proclaim the glories of the gospel and forgiveness through Christ so that we will never know that final justice but we will know everlasting grace and mercy through Christ we pray amen

Channel: Grace to You

Views: 525,971

Rating: 4.8288989 out of 5

Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ, Grace to You

Id: PmYw6dGEbEw

Length: 67min 6sec (4026 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 30 2020