The Glory of Righteousness
Notes
Transcript
1 After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! 2 For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.” 3 Again they said, “Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!” 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, “Amen! Alleluia!” 5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!” 6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.” 10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Introduction:
I’m going to preface this section of scripture with some Biblical teachings that I believe are taking a back seat in the body of Christ.
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
As we strive to be like Christ in the world, and treat people the way Jesus did, we seem to find it difficult navigate around the separation part.
There is a tendency toward worldliness for the sake of relating to the unsaved.
But, there has always been a tendency toward ultra piousness that destroys any hope of relating to the unsaved.
What’s the answer?
The passage before us in Revelation 19 shows the bride of Christ in heaven, holy and prepared for the marriage supper of the lamb.
We are married to Him.
Thus, we are part of Him!
I. Praise for the Destruction of Babylon.
I. Praise for the Destruction of Babylon.
It is not always comprehensible to us when we see God’s people taking pleasure in another’s demise.
5 He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker; He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.
We are encouraged and commanded in scripture to have compassion on all.
We are told to love our enemies.
We are to be the light and salt of Christ.
How then can we take pleasure in this scene that we are viewing?
And how do we praise God for it?
The answer is understanding who we are, and our purpose on earth.
A. We are followers of Christ.
A. We are followers of Christ.
It goes without saying that the commands to love are given because our fallen nature will gravitate toward wickedness.
We must control ourselves, exercising temperance when it comes to these things.
God knowing that we would not naturally gravitate toward love and holiness, gave us commands, that through the power of Christ, we could live unto God.
Without Christ, we would live unto ourselves.
So while we are here in the body, we live in obedience to His commandments, that we would shine brightly for the Savior.
In short, we emulate Him.
B. We are a new creation in Christ.
B. We are a new creation in Christ.
We have been Raised from the dead into newness of life, have the indwelling Spirit of God, and the old man has been crucified with Christ.
But one day, we will no longer be harnessed to this sinful flesh, and we shall see everything through God’s eyes.
We will see wickedness for what it truly is.
We will understand the gravity of sin better, and just how diseased it is.
We will rise up and praise God for His judgment of it, without remorse or repentance.
II. Praise for the Holy Standard.
II. Praise for the Holy Standard.
Because there is a holy standard here in this scene -
And that standard is - Purity!
It doesn’t sound so appealing now, because we are still tainted by sin. We can only catch a glimpse!
We know we should desire it more, but our humanity gets in the way!
But one day, we shall know it the way God does, and we shall see it for what it is.
A. Purity is found in Jesus.
A. Purity is found in Jesus.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
B. Purity is not polluted from without.
B. Purity is not polluted from without.
The ultra pious, fundamentalist, believes he is tainted by being around sin. Thus he keeps his distance.
They are like the Priest and the Levite, who in the story of the “Good Samaritan” walk on the other side of the street from the wounded man.
But, what did Jesus say about this?
We know that He condemned their actions in the parable, but also says elsewhere -
11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”
What was He saying here?
That nothing we eat of drink can defile us, just as nothing we touch can contaminate us.
There is no better illustration in the Bible than this in...
3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
III. Praise for the Plan of Redemption.
III. Praise for the Plan of Redemption.
Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Praise dispels all attention on self!
At first glance it seems that the attention is on the bride who has made herself ready.
Many have thought this to mean our own exercise of faith realized through good works.
But although the verses may give that impression, we know from the weight of scripture that this is not the case.
There is no righteous act (Verse 8) that anyone could do, outside of Christ.
There is no granting of fine linen to anyone who is not the bride.
The bride has made herself ready because she is the wife, not will be.
So when we speak of God’s plan of redemption, there are a few things to keep in mind:
A. God’s grace chooses us.
A. God’s grace chooses us.
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
The Bible is littered with examples of this, but I find that Hosea is extraordinary.
2 When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
This is why we praise Him!
I mean, I cannot possibly understand why He would choose me!
If I were God, I would not choose me! and don’t laugh, I wouldn’t choose you either.
B. God’s love sustains us.
B. God’s love sustains us.
1 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.”
Notice that Hosea is commanded to love this woman who is an adulterous harlot!
This is just a picture of you and me.
God loves us despite our sin and unrepentance at times.
This is what keeps me going!
And the more we see and realize His love, the more we love to praise and worship Him.
Conclusion:
As the bride of Christ, we are simply peering into our own future in this passage of scripture today!
We will one day be at the throne in heaven, clothed with the fine linen of righteousness, a bride prepared for the Bridegroom, our beloved Lord Jesus.
Right now, we are preparing ourselves for this glorious day, and have been given the responsibility to tell the world, that others would come in!