Payday Someday

Lead Vocalist (Sterling )

Welcome & Announcements (Psalm 34:1-3)

Good morning family!

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Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Psalm 34:1-3)

Prayer of Praise (Zoe Bounds)

Blessed Be Your Name

Grace Greater Than Our Sin

Prayer of Confession (Jim Lewis), Failure to evangelize

Assurance of Pardon (1 Timothy 1:15-16)

We Fall Down

I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)

Scripture Reading (Revelation 14:6-20)—page 1227 in the black Bibles

Pastoral Prayer (Sterling )

Prayer for PBC—Help us to be fruitful in our evangelism

Prayer for kingdom partner—Matt & Samara Wharton (Disciple the Nations)

Prayer for US—For State and Local Courts

Prayer for the world—Qatar

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

One of the most famous sermons in Southern Baptist history was preached by R. G. Lee, the longtime pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN. First preached in 1919, it became Lee’s signature message, and he delivered it more than twelve hundred times—in churches, conferences, universities, stadiums, and other venues across the United States and around the world.

The sermon was called “Payday Someday.”

It told the story of Ahab and Jezebel’s plot to murder Naboth and steal his vineyard. Lee introduced Ahab as “the vile human toad who squatted upon the throne of the nation.” [1] Ahab possessed a nation’s wealth and commanded a nation’s army, but he could not control his own desires.

When Naboth refused to sell his vineyard, Ahab went home and pouted like a child. His wife Jezebel saw him sulking and decided to get the vineyard for him. She had Naboth taken outside the city and stoned to death. Afterward, Ahab went down to claim the vineyard.

From all appearances, Ahab and Jezebel had gotten away with it. Naboth was dead. The vineyard belonged to the king. No court would prosecute them, and no army would remove them. It appeared that power had triumphed over righteousness and that wickedness had won.

But God had not forgotten Naboth.

Elijah confronted Ahab and warned him that judgment was coming. For a time, Ahab and Jezebel continued living as though they had escaped. Days passed, and then years. But the passage of time did not cancel the word of God. Payday eventually came.

R.G. Lee put it like this: “Payday always comes. It is written in the constitution of God’s universe.” [1]

That is also the message of Revelation 14.

In Revelation 12, John showed us the dragon behind the conflict between God and His people.

In chapter 13, the dragon wages his war through two beasts who deceive the world, demand its worship, and persecute those who refuse to wear the mark of the beast.

By the end of chapter 13, the dragon appears to be winning.

Then, at the beginning of chapter 14, the scene suddenly changes. Last week, John gave us a glimpse of the future God has promised His people. The Lamb stands victorious on Mount Zion, and all who belong to Him are safely gathered in His presence. The dragon has not defeated them. The beasts have not claimed them. Jesus has not lost even one of His people.

But from where we stand, that promised future seems to be taking a very long time.

Followers of Jesus believe what God has promised. But sometimes, when the delay feels long, we can begin to wonder if remaining faithful is really worth it. Does my obedience matter? Does my service accomplish anything? Does it make a difference if I resist temptation? Or if I tell others about Jesus?

Those who do not follow Jesus can draw the opposite conclusion from the same delay. Because judgment has not yet come, they assume it never will. They mistake God’s patience for God’s absence and live as though they will never answer for whom they worship or how they live.

Revelation 14:6-20 speaks to both responses.

The final harvest is coming.

Those who reject God will face judgment.

Those who belong to Christ will enter His rest, and their faithfulness will not be forgotten.

Evil will not escape, and obedience will not be wasted.

Payday is coming for everyone. The question is whether that coming day is shaping the way you live this day.

Because payday is coming someday, make your life count for eternity today.

With God’s help, I want to show you three truths that will help us make our lives count for eternity today:

In verses 6-8 we’ll learn There are only two ways to live.

In verses 9-13 we’ll see There are only two eternal destinations.

And from verses 14-20 we’ll conclude that There is only one time to respond.

1) There are only two ways to live.

“Anyone can be anything.” That is the promise at the heart of Zootopia, but it is hardly limited to a Disney movie. It is one of our culture’s deepest convictions: your life is an open field of possibilities, and freedom means defining yourself and choosing your own path.

“Be whoever you want to be. Follow your heart. Live your truth. Choose your own path. You are the master of your own fate, you are the captain of your soul.”

But what if, underneath all the countless choices in our world today, there are really only two ways to live?

Verses 6-7 present the first option...

A) Live for the glory of God

Revelation 14:6–7—Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

This angel that John sees flying above the earth represents God’s invitation to live for Him now.

Notice he is proclaiming “an eternal gospel.”

That word gospel literally means “good news.”

It’s the good news about how undeserving sinners can be made right with God.

But what is that good news?

The good news begins with God.

He deserves glory and praise and worship because, as verse 7 says, He “made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

And yet, even though God made this world and everything in it, people do not fear Him and give Him the glory He deserves.

What went wrong?

Long ago, humanity rebelled against Him.

Adam did not sin merely as a private individual. He stood as the representative head of humanity, so his rebellion brought guilt, corruption, and death to all who belong to him.

It’s kind of like when the president engages in a military conflict, it affects the entire nation. Whether you agree with his decisions or not, they affect you. He represents the USA, so his decisions affect us.

Even if you feel like you’re a pretty good person, you were born at war with God because Adam is our representative.

Which is why we need another representative.

The Bible tells us God loved the world so much, He sent His son Jesus to rescue us.

Jesus lived the life we should have lived and died the death we deserved to die.

Then on the third day He rose from the dead so that whoever believes in Him can have eternal life.

The good news is that the Judge before whom we are guilty has provided salvation through His Son. That is why the angel’s warning is also an invitation: fear God, give Him glory, and worship Him while there is still time.

That’s the “eternal gospel” verse 6 is talking about. And it’s offered to people from “every nation and tribe and language and people.”

It’s offered to you, friend. Would you turn from your sins and trust in this Good News? You can do so today.

If you refuse, you’re not neutral.

There are only two ways to live. You either live for the glory of God or you…

B) Live for the glory of this world

Revelation 14:8—Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”

We’ll talk a lot more about Babylon in the coming weeks, but for now you need to know this.

Like most things in the book of Revelation, Babylon is a symbol.

The city of Babylon still existed in John’s day when Revelation was written, but it was a shell of its former glory.

So when John talks about “Babylon the great” he’s not referring to the physical city in modern day Iraq. He’s referring to this world system.

Robert Mounce explains: Babylon is “the spirit of godlessness which in every age lures men away from the worship of the Creator.” [3]

And notice what this world system does. It entices people all over the globe to fall in love with it.

Like a wife who takes a lover while her husband is away, people all over the world look to other lovers for the pleasure, security, comfort, and acceptance that we should find in God alone.

We have everything we could ever want or hope for in God, but we look everywhere else but Him.

I think it’s interesting too that living for the world is compared to drinking wine.

Don’t mishear me, I’m not suggesting that wine is wrong in and of itself.

Contrary to how some Baptists act, Jesus’ first miracle wasn’t turning water into grape juice.

But just like drinking too much alcohol leads to a hangover, so too does drinking too deeply of the world’s pleasures.

Friend, you can live for the glory of this world. You can look for pleasure in sex, drugs, alcohol, video games, podcasts, movies, TV shows, social media, sports, cars, the stock market, or a thousand other things under the sun.

But all of them come with a hangover. All of them will leave you feeling unsatisfied, ashamed, afraid, or numb in the end.

None of these things can bear the weight of your worship. Make a good gift your god, and eventually it will disappoint you, control you, or destroy you.

Only Jesus can truly satisfy!

And in the end, this world with all its empty promises will pass away.

The angel says, “fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!”

As the Apostle John says…

1 John 2:17—And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

C.S. Lewis famously wrote that “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’” [4]

There are only two ways to live.

We can live for the glory of God or we can live for the glory of this world.

There is no middle ground.

Because payday is coming someday, make your life count for eternity today.

If we want our lives to count for eternity, we need to understand there are only two ways to live.

But also, we need to understand…

2) There are only two destinations.

Our culture has imagined almost every kind of afterlife.

In Star Wars, the dead become one with the Force, and some return as spirits to guide the living. In The Lion King, departed kings watch over us from the stars. In Harry Potter, the dead remain present and can return to accompany those they love. Other stories tell us we become angels, return in another body, merge with the universe, or simply live on in the memories of those who knew us.

We are willing to believe almost anything about what happens after death.

Yet at nearly every funeral, all those possibilities collapse into the same confident conclusion: “They’re in a better place.”

Revelation 14 confronts both assumptions.

There are not endless destinations from which we may choose. There are only two.

And heaven is not everyone’s automatic destination.

According to the Word of God, every human life is moving toward one of only two eternal destinations.

The first destination is…

A) Eternal punishment

Revelation 14:9–11—And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

I realize many people in our world today find these verses to be morally repugnant.

The idea of an angry God, pouring out His wrath against sinners for all eternity seems primitive and outdated at best and positively harmful at worst.

And yet, anyone desiring to take the Bible seriously cannot ignore its teaching on hell.

Some people imagine that hell belongs to the harsher religion of the Old Testament and that Jesus came with a gentler message.

But no one in Scripture warned more clearly, repeatedly, or vividly about hell than Jesus.

The same Jesus who welcomed children into His arms spoke of outer darkness, unquenchable fire, weeping and gnashing of teeth, and eternal punishment. Those warnings did not come from cruelty. They came from the Savior who loved sinners enough to tell us the truth—and who would soon endure judgment Himself to rescue everyone who trusts in Him.

So when Revelation 14 speaks about the wrath of God, John is not introducing an embarrassing doctrine that is foreign to Jesus.

He is repeating the warning of Jesus Himself: there are only two eternal destinations, and one of them is absolutely horrifying.

In case you’re wondering, there is symbolism here just like everywhere else in Revelation.

I don’t think God’s wrath is literally wine in a literal cup.

Commentators are divided as to whether the language of smoke, fire and sulfur is literal or symbolic.

But even if some of the images are symbolic here, that’s only because the reality is too terrible for ordinary language.

As Tim Keller said, “To say that the Scriptural image of hell-fire is not wholly literal is of no comfort whatsoever. The reality will be far worse than the image. What, then, are the… symbols for? They are vivid ways to describe what happens when we lose the presence of God. . . . Away from the favor and face of God, we literally, horrifically, and endlessly fall apart.” [5]

Here’s what is not symbolic: hell is eternal.

Verse 11 says “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night.”

This agrees with references all over the Bible that depict hell as an eternal reality. [6]

As J.I. Packer said, “An endless hell can no more be removed from the New Testament than an endless heaven can.” [7]

But why? How can God be just and holy while punishing people in hell forever?

Jesus repeatedly says that hell is a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” [8]

I think we can understand the weeping part. People weep in hell because it’s a place of torment, a place of suffering, a place deprived of everything good forever.

But what does Jesus mean when He talks about “gnashing of teeth”? That’s what we do when we’re angry.

Sinners aren’t repentant in hell. They’re indignant. They’re furious. “How dare you send me here, God?!?” And they go on, cursing the God who made them, for all eternity.

That’s why hell is eternal. Because sinners in hell don’t stop sinning.

As C.S. Lewis writes, “The damned are, in one sense, successful rebels to the end. . . the doors of hell are locked on the inside.” [9]

Hell is not filled with innocent people begging to love God and being refused. It is the final destination of rebels who remain eternally opposed to the God who made them.

Christian, I know what the Bible teaches about hell is troubling. But we cannot avoid or ignore it.

Let it move us to sacrificial giving so that more might hear the Good News of the gospel.

Let it move us to courageously speak the truth to our children, grandchildren, friends, and neighbors.

And let it move us to gratitude that we have been rescued from the wrath to come.

Praise God that eternal punishment is not the only final destination. The Bible also promises those who believe in Christ the reward of…

B) Eternal life

Revelation 14:12–13—Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

Notice these verses are meant to comfort the saints. These are not stained-glass super-Christians, but those “who keep the commandments of God” and put “their faith in Jesus.”

If you belong to Jesus, when you “die in the Lord” you will be blessed. What awaits you is rest.

Don’t think of rest here as some unconscious existence. Think of it as a rest from all the sorrows and suffering of life.

Like the final scene of The Return of the King, when Sam completes his long journey, returns to his family, and steps through his front door. His journey is over. He is finally where he belongs.

For the Christian, life is a long, hard journey with many dangers, toils, and snares. But when life ends here, we can finally rest.

We’ll talk a lot more about heaven in the coming months, but I want you to notice one thing here before we move on.

Notice the text says of believers that “their deeds follow them.”

Some of you think of good works like a badge granting you entrance into a top secret area. I’ve never had that kind of clearance, but I’ve seen enough movies to know how it works. You hold the badge out in front of you to prove you have access to enter.

That is not the way our good deeds work. They are not the reason we have access into heaven.

If you try to get into heaven on the basis of your good works, your access will be denied. You can never do enough good works to get in.

Let Christ be your access! Trust in the work of Christ! He lived a sinless life, He died a sinner’s death in your place, He rose from the dead.

When your faith is in Christ, your good works follow you. They’re something you do because you’ve been forgiven not in order to be forgiven.

And the fact that they follow you means that not one act of obedience will be overlooked. Every unseen sacrifice, every resisted temptation, every quiet act of service, and every faithful witness follows you into eternity. Grace does not make your obedience meaningless; grace ensures that none of it is wasted.

Because payday is coming someday, make your life count for eternity today.

If we want our lives to count for eternity, we need to understand there are only two destinations.

But finally, we need to understand…

3) There is only one time to respond.

Revelation 14:14–16—Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Like every other cycle in Revelation, this cycle ends with a depiction of the return of Christ.

And the analogy John uses to depict the return of Christ is a farmer at harvest time.

By the way, if you’re counting the seven signs of cosmic conflict in the 4th cycle of Revelation, number four is the harvest.

SHOW SEVEN SIGNS IMAGE

When Jesus returns, He will gather His people, like a farmer using a sickle to gather grain.

He is returning on “a white cloud,” just like He promised His disciples.

He is like “a son of man,” which was Jesus’ favorite title for Himself.

It comes from a prophecy in Daniel 7, where the Son of Man comes with the clouds to receive an everlasting kingdom.

And He wears “a golden crown on His head” because He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

This harvest is a reference to the return of Christ when He gathers His people to be with Him forever in a world without suffering, sin, and death.

If you have already surrendered to the King of Kings, you don’t need to fear the reaper when He comes.

Blue Oyster Cult was right!

But if you haven’t surrendered to Jesus, beware because there’s another harvest…

Revelation 14:17–20—Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

This second harvest is a reference to the final judgment.

Like a farmer using a sickle to gather grapes for a winepress, when Jesus returns He will gather all the wicked for judgment.

No one will be overlooked. No one will escape. Every injustice will be answered, every secret will be exposed, and every person will stand before the Judge.

A farmer may wait patiently for months, but he does not wait forever. Eventually, the crop becomes ripe, the hour arrives, and the sickle begins to swing.

That is how the Bible describes the return of Christ.

The Apostle James writes…

James 5:7–9—Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

I know it might feel like Jesus is never going to return.

Just like a young child feels like the harvest is never going to come.

But Jesus has not forgotten his promise.

A day is coming when the final person will be saved, the final gospel invitation will be given, and the Father will say, “The hour has come.”

But here’s what we all need to understand: Nobody knows when the harvest will come.

It could be next year. It could be next millennium.

And even if Jesus tarries, none of us knows when our own lives will end. Any one of us could breathe our final breath before this day is done.

But you know what time it is right now? It is time to respond.

Once the sickle begins to swing, there will be no time to reconsider, no opportunity to repent, and no chance to change whom you worship.

The time to prepare for the harvest is before the harvest begins.

As the Apostle Paul writes...

2 Corinthians 6:2—… Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

You can’t change yesterday. You’re not guaranteed tomorrow. Today is the only time God has placed in your hands.

If you have never trusted in Jesus, respond today. Do not merely admire Jesus, attend church, or assume you are safe because you once prayed a prayer. Turn from your sin and place your trust in the crucified and risen Christ today.

If you belong to Jesus but have grown spiritually sleepy, wake up today. Return to the obedience you have postponed. Speak the gospel to the person God has placed on your heart. Do not presume you’ll have another opportunity.

Because payday is coming someday, make your life count for eternity today.

When Elijah confronted Ahab for killing Naboth and stealing his vineyard, Ahab did not immediately fall dead.

The sun rose the next morning. Ahab still sat on the throne. Jezebel still lived in the palace. The vineyard still belonged to them.

Days passed. Then months. Then years.

But the passage of time did not cancel the word of God.

Three years later, Ahab was killed in battle and the dogs licked up his blood—just as God had said.

Payday did not come immediately. But payday came.

Jezebel lived even longer. But eventually she was thrown from a tower, and the dogs consumed her body—just as God had said.

Payday did not come immediately. But payday came.

Brother, sister, friend: do not doubt the promises of God.

When Christ returns, there will be no more time to reconsider. No more opportunities to proclaim the gospel to our loved ones. No more second chances.

There are only two ways to live: for the glory of God or for the glory of this world.

There are only two eternal destinations: eternal punishment or eternal life.

And there is only one time to respond: today.

So because payday is coming someday, let’s make our lives count for eternity today.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Come Let Us Return to the Lord

Benediction (Hebrews 12:28-29)