We're going to read from Revelation 15, and we have turned the corner in this book. We've gotten to the very point in chapters 12 through 14. Now we're heading Backwards, so chapter 14 dealt with the definitive ending of Israel, which is a big part of what this book was about, and we're gonna be looking at the definitive ending of the seventh head of Rome in the future. But each of these sections has a glorious introduction, so we're gonna spend about three Sundays on what we're gonna read today, Revelation 15, one through eight. And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues. In them the fury of God is completed. And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who prevailed over the beast and over his image and over the number of his name standing on the glassy sea having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the slave of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who could not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? Because you alone are holy, because all the nations will come and do obeisance before you, because your righteous judgments have been manifested. After these things I looked, and the sanctuary, the tabernacle, the testimony in heaven was opened, and out from the sanctuary came the seven angels, the ones having the seven plagues, They were clothed in pure, bright linen, and were girded around the chest with golden belts. When one of the four living beings gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the fury of God, the one who lives forever and ever, the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one was able to go into the sanctuary until the seven angels' plagues were complete. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word, and as we dig into it, It is our desire that our hearts would be drawn to you the closer. So we pray for your presence as we continue to worship in Jesus' name, amen. Well, over the past 15 chapters, we have been seeing both the good and the bad sides of life. And I would like to compare what we have been looking at to sand. Sand on the beach is wonderful. until you get it into your shoes and your hair and under your fingernails and your kids track it into every nook and cranny of your car and your house. And then it can be a little bit irritating. After a day on the beach you're vacuuming and you still find sand and you got sand in your bathtub and you never seem to be able to shake all of the bits of sand out of your shoes that you've been walking on the beach in. And sand does not make a very good foundation. It's not stable, it's shifting. It is not give very good support. Don't get me wrong. I love to dig my toes into the sand on the beach. I love to make sandcastles. Yes, even as an adult, that's my favorite thing to do at the beach. You can swim. I don't care for the swimming. I like making sandcastles. I find that a lot of fun, but those don't last very long. Within 24 hours they are wiped out by the waves. And I think that is a perfect description of what many times happens here on Earth. Things that we do here on Earth can very easily just evaporate. I think sand is a good metaphor of the mixture of pleasure and irritation that we experience on Earth and the sandcastles of the way in which the things that we do on Earth, we many times wonder, are they just going to disappear, be washed away with the waves of time? But the things that we do on earth can last if they are done in the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 2 we have a sea of glass mingled with fire. When you heat sand up it becomes very durable, very beautiful, very long-lasting glass. I watched a video sometime back where it showed the process of making glass from the scooping out of all of the sand, melting it down, and then turning it into something very usable and very beautiful. Back in 1945, the Trinity bomb, it was a kind of plutonium nuclear bomb, was experimented with in New Mexico and the area that exploded in was all sandy and after the explosion the immediate area was just a pool of glass. It was pretty remarkable. So glass is sand that is transformed by heat and the heat part is not very fun. But our master craftsman, Jesus Christ, is making all things new in His creation. And this is just one of many images in this book of the glory of this newness that is invading earth. Eventually all of the earth will conform to the image of heaven. So let's dig into the text. Verse 1 says, And I saw another sign in heaven. Sprinkled throughout this book are these visions that are so encouraging in the midst of troubling times, very troubling times. And when you get discouraged, I think it's good for you to take your eyes off of your discouraging events for at least a moment of an upward glance at God, His promises, thinking a bit about heaven or the victory of his kingdom or the sufficiency of his grace for the problems that you were facing. I don't know how many times that my spirits have been lifted by looking at the Scriptures. The Scriptures I liken to glasses. It helps you to see straight, to not stumble when you're walking through the difficulties of life. And when John looked at this inspired vision from God, he said that the sign in heaven was great and marvelous. Now he already knew about the greatness of the opposition down here on earth, but the provision that God had was great and marvelous. Anytime there is something that's great and marvelous, it's going to lift your spirits, okay? It's going to be good. And I have frequently had to rebuke myself When I have found myself getting discouraged and tell myself, Phil, cut it out. You are not going to kill your faith with discouragement. Look at the promises of God. Look at the good things he's done in your past, but look at the promises of God. And as I've done that, I have found the discouragement evaporating. Now, I can relate to people who get discouraged easily. It's very easy to get discouraged, but I still want to admonish you to cut it out. Get rid of your discouragement. And I have to admonish myself to cut it out. Now, you may not think of discouragement as a sin, but I do. I take it very, very seriously. Let me give you William Ward's reasons for why discouragement must be cast behind our backs immediately with an upward glance at God. Do not nurse discouragement. That's what we tend to like to do. We like to kind of harbor it for a while. Let me read what he had to say. Discouragement is dissatisfaction with the past, distaste for the present, and distrust of the future. It is ingratitude for the blessings of yesterday, indifference to the opportunities of today, and insecurity regarding strength for tomorrow. It is unawareness of the presence of beauty, unconcern for the needs of our fellow man, and unbelief in the promises of old. It is impatience with time, immaturity of thought, and impoliteness to God." Wow. After I read that analysis of discouragement, I have never been able to look at discouragement the same way. I used to think I had a right to be discouraged. Things are bad after all, right? I have a right to be discouraged. But I've come to realize that discouragement is an enemy that must be destroyed by faith immediately. So before I give some of this passage's antidotes to discouragement, let me read his analysis once more. This is by William, He said, "...discouragement is dissatisfaction with the past, distaste for the present, and distrust of the future. It is ingratitude for the blessings of yesterday, indifference to the opportunities of today, and insecurity regarding strength for tomorrow." It is unawareness of the presence of beauty, unconcern for the needs of our fellow man, and unbelief in the promises of old. It is impatience with time, immaturity of thought, and impoliteness to God. So when you get discouraged, I would encourage you to remember seven things from this passage, and actually there's a whole lot more things you can remind yourself from the scripture, but I'm gonna go through these seven as an exercise to show you how I deal with discouragement in my own life. First, remember that the visible world is not the only world that is out there. John looks at this inspired vision and he sees what? He sees seven angels. This is not the first time that angels have appeared in this book. There are some 70 times that angels are mentioned in the book of Revelation. From previous chapters you get the impression that the angels that are mentioned are leaders of huge armies. So there's this whole world of angels who work for us and who fight against Satan's kingdom. And the reason that this bit of theology is important is I think we generally tend to get discouraged, not by thinking about the invisible world, we tend to get discouraged by looking at the world around us. And we look around us, it's what's happening in America, and it ain't very pretty. It's very easy to become overwhelmed with the circumstances, just like the servant of Elisha became overwhelmed with the circumstances they found themselves in. You remember that story, right? Elisha and his servant are in a village, and they are surrounded by the enemy who have come to capture them, and the servant is really stressed out about it. And so Elisha says to him, do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. 2 Kings 6 verse 16, and the servant looks at Elisha with incredulity, like Elisha's crazy or something, because all he has done is he's evaluated life based on what his five senses are taking in. In contrast, Elisha, by faith, knows that there are angels who are around, who are sent by God as ministers for us. They're on our side. They are far more numerous than the ones that are out there. So his servant was discouraged because he didn't know that, but as soon as his eyes were opened to see the myriads of angels and the fiery chariots and the fiery angelic horses that were around him, he's given faith. His discouragement evaporates. Why? There's been no change in his environment. The angels were there before and after. What changed was his realization that the angels were there, that they were fighting on his behalf. And you might think, well, that's fine for him. I wouldn't be discouraged either if I had a vision like that, right? I don't have visions like that. But see, that's the whole point of Scripture. Scripture is the collection of the visions of prophets that are given to us to give us faith and to remove our discouragement. It's just the visions that are recorded in an objective way. In fact, in 2 Peter chapter 1, Peter tells us, that the Scriptures are far better at accomplishing that in our lives than any vision ever would be. Read it for yourself sometime. It's 2 Peter 1, 16 through 21. He tells us that Peter, James, and John, they were on the Mount of Transfiguration, and they were seeing this incredible vision of Jesus being transfixed. And there's Moses and Elijah, and they hear this voice from heaven speaking to them. And then he goes on in the next verses and says, but he downplays that. He says, but we have a more sure word of prophecy. Okay. He's saying, don't envy me for my vision. You got something far better than any visions out there. You've got the recorded objective testimony of the scriptures. So I find it incredibly encouraging when I look to the Bible and the Bible that cannot lie tells us that we have angels who are ministering spirits sent deliberately to minister to every one of you, to the heirs of salvation. That's Hebrews 1 verse 14. I find it incredibly encouraging to realize that the good angels outnumber the bad angels two to one. And actually it might be more than that because there's a lot of angels that are already bound in the pit. I find it incredibly encouraging that God has sent an angel for every one of our covenant children. In other words, the more you study the doctrine of angels, the more basis you have for realizing we've got nothing to be discouraged about. We really are in the majority, not in the minority. With the eyes of faith, we realize that. Second, when you are tempted to get discouraged, remember that the enemy's days are numbered. Revelations already told us about the seven trumpet judgments against the church's persecutors, and that's in history, by the way. But this chapter and chapter 16 are going to introduce us to seven more angels, quote, having the seven last plagues. These are going to be the last plagues upon that generation. And the word last indicates that there is an end to God's patience in any given generation, in any given society. Humanism was not destined by God to thrive forever, at least not in the time of the New Covenant. In the New Covenant, God does not allow the humanists to dominate. Israel's days of persecution were numbered. Rome's days of persecution were numbered. God does not allow evil to triumph indefinitely when the church exercises faith. We're going to be seeing in a moment that without faith you do not have any remedy whatsoever for despondency and discouragement. Third, when you are tempted to get discouraged at the evil around you, Just remember that God's fury shows that God is far more upset with the evil that is in society than you ever have been. You may be upset with how things have gone. God's far more upset than you have been. One of the temptations to discouragement, at least if you're anything like me, is the temptation to think that God does not care. Have you ever been tempted to think God does not care about the circumstances in your life? I mean, I have. Now, I know intellectually God does care. I know that my emotions are a lie. But I feel like it just didn't feel like God cares about what is happening in my life. Well, this verse here tells us God cares a lot. Verse one, goes on to say, in them the fury of God is completed. He is reminding the Apostle John that God was far more furious about the evil in the world than John had ever been. And to me, that is so encouraging because it means my prayers are not designed to motivate God. God's already infinitely motivated to deal with evil. He hates evil, right? What he is doing when he is patiently waiting, he's stirring up the church to align its desires, its motivations, together with God's motivation. Until the church does so, we continue to suffer. Psalm 73 is very instructive on this account. The author Asaph knew that God was good to those who are pure of heart. That's verse one. But he goes on to say in the next verses that he had almost stumbled because he said, the wicked have it so good. And the righteous have it so bad. And he said he was tempted to be discouraged at how life did not seem fair. In verses 13 through 14, he was tempted to give up because it just didn't seem like it was worth fighting for. And in the next three verses, he said, here's his confession. If I had said, I will speak thus, as he had just been talking, behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of your children. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their end." And he goes on to describe how in the worship service, as he's hearing the Word of God being proclaimed, He comes to the realization, no, God is on the throne and it's the wicked who have things bad in this life and in eternity. And it's the righteous who have things good in this life and in eternity. And Asaph gives repeated examples of how God judges men in time and in eternity in response to the prayers of God's people. So the bottom line is that God cares. He is motivated. God is furious over abortion in America as one example. It's not because he is unmotivated that abortion is not dealt with. If the church would wake up and put their faith in him, God, I believe, would be willing to send his angels to advance Christ's kingdom in America. We cannot pit God's sovereignty over against human responsibility. We cannot pit God's motivation and his care against the church's need to care. Next, when you're discouraged, remind yourself that God is on His throne. Verse 2 says, And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire. Now he does not describe that sea of glass in detail because he's already spent two whole chapters on that sea of glass. It's chapters 4 and 5, and it's describing his throne room. Anybody who's read Revelation already knows, OK, the sea of glass they're standing on is God's throne room. And it's exactly the same sea of glass that Moses saw in Exodus chapter 24. And in Exodus 24, he's so encouraged because he knows without any shadow of a doubt that God is totally on his throne. That's why in verse 3 of our chapter here, they're going to be singing the song of Moses. Okay, it's connecting this passage with Exodus chapter 24. They too are convinced God is on His throne. And I want to devote a whole sermon to that song of Moses next week. But what an encouraging thing it is to know your eschatology. to know that Jesus is right now on His throne with a rod of iron ruling over the nations. It's not that He does not care. He's not ignoring what is going on. But as Revelation chapter 2 insists, He wants the church to have faith in His kingship, to sit with Christ in the heavenlies, and to be overcomers. And when we are overcomers, chapter two says, we have the right to wield that rod of iron that Christ has in his hands against the nations. To me, it's just, it's staggering the kind of privilege that God has given to his saints. And the whole point of going through the book of Revelation is to increase your faith in Christ's present kingship. A victorious eschatology is the only thing that will restore to the church in America a victorious faith. And without a victorious faith, the church is not going to gain any victory. So cast off your discouragement and remind yourself, hey, Christ is on his throne. Value the post-millennial eschatology of this church. I think it is a remedy for discouragement. Next, remind yourself that even martyrs, even martyrs are more than overcomers. Even martyrdom should not discourage us. They were conquerors in life, they were conquerors in death. Verse two goes on. And those who prevailed, and the word prevailed literally means were victorious. So those who were victorious over the beast and over his image and over the number of his name. Now many people believe that this at least, if it's not exclusively martyrs in heaven, at least includes them. I think it's both. How could martyrs in heaven be victorious when the beast has successfully killed them? Well it's because 1 Corinthians 15 says that with the resurrection of Jesus, with his ascension to the right hand of the Father, God the Father guarantees that your labors in the Lord are not in vain. Everything we do in life, if it is done in faith, Everything we do in life accomplishes the advancement of heaven to earth. And even our death is used by God to advance Christ's kingdom. And I love the way that Romans 8 ends. Let me read verses 31 through 39 of Romans 8, because I think it expands on this point and gives us reason after reason why we should not be discouraged. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. When you're being opposed, remind yourself you are more than conquerors through Christ. In 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14, Paul said, now thanks be to God, get this, who always leads us in triumph in Christ. You're thinking, now wait a second. Paul went through all kinds of persecutions and almost gets drowned and he gets stoned. No, he says, now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. So you can remind yourself that even if you die as a martyr, God guarantees that your death will not be in vain. Satan is the one who really ought to be discouraged because bit by bit we are conquering his kingdom. Amen? Next, remind yourself you've got a glorious destiny. Speaking of these martyrs in heaven, it says, they were standing on the glassy sea, or on the sea of glass. Not just in front of it. Your picture, I couldn't find a better picture. They got them standing in front of the glassy sea. No, no, no, no. They're standing right on the sea of glass, right? Right on it. The sand of their life has been transformed into glass. Beautiful glass. Glass that will last for eternity. Glass that will bring forth glory. to God for all of eternity. And the fact that they are standing on the glass means that they have joined Christ in God's throne room. As other portions of Revelation remind us, they are ruling with Christ as victors. In fact, there are many commentators who point out that this has to include not just the martyrs, but it has to include saints on earth who are overcomers. Not all saints are overcomers, by the way. But it has to include them because it says here that the people who are standing on that glassy sea are all overcomers. All overcomers. Well, earlier in Revelation, it describes people on earth who were overcomers. But either way, it means two things. First of all, it means that no matter how discouraging life might be here on earth, when we think about heaven, it is worth it. It is worth it. Meditating on our heavenly heritage sometimes lifts our spirits, gives us renewed energy to keep on keeping on. But certainly being convinced that you are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, that you're already ruling with Him can enable you to pray with authority, pray with faith. Now I'll have to admit There's probably more of my prayers that are not prayed with that authority, not prayed with that kind of a faith than the ones that are, but I've had that sense of being with Christ in the heavenlies enough times it makes me long to have that more, to really be praying with the authority that I have, with my position in Christ and with the faith that I have there. And when you have that perspective, it transforms what you're doing on earth. When you get to the place where you can see yourself with Christ in the throne room, it is a remedy for discouragement. Lastly, remind yourself that the sorrows of earth will be replaced with the joys of heaven. Okay, symbolized by the sea of glass purified by fire, but it's also symbolized by the last phrase of verse two where it says they're having harps of God. Now harps were symbols of worship and praise and adoration and joy. And the next verses will give fuller expression to the incredible joy that they have. But no matter how sad the events of earth make me feel, and sometimes they do make me feel, I have to admit, I get discouraged. As many times as I know I should not, I get discouraged, I get sad. What I do is I try to buoy my spirits with a reminder that God has stored up for his saints. Pleasure is forevermore in his presence. Pleasure is forevermore. What Paul said is the miseries we go through on earth are nothing, absolutely nothing to be compared with the infinite glories that we're gonna be having in heaven. And by the way, we get down payments of that joy down here on earth because it says in his presence is fullness of joy. Well, there's many scriptures indicate we can experience his presence right here on earth, which means we can have his fullness of joy right here on earth as well. Now of course God does allow outward circumstances to be such that without faith and without a proper focus we can lose our joy. You've probably lost your joy just as many times as I've lost my joy down here below and most of us need to fight for joy as John Piper words it. And these seven steps have helped me numerous times to re-find my joy in the Lord. And of course, there's many other ways in which we force ourselves. We don't feel like worshiping, but we start worshiping and it kindles that joy once again. Or we start getting into the scripture, start getting into thanksgiving to God. So there's many different ways in addition to these seven in which you can rekindle that joy. The Spiritual Disciplines book that Gary Rodney and I handed out, what was it, a year or two ago? One year ago, this year, you're supposed to have read it already. It can fan the embers that are almost going out in your life. It can re-fan those. And this has happened to me so many times I wonder, why is it a struggle to do it? You'd think you'd instantly do it. but we do have to fight for joy. So brothers and sisters, if the sand in your life brings more pain than pleasure, ask Christ to turn the sand into beautiful glass. Ask Christ to help you to respond to the refining fires in faith, And in a way that brings glory to him with a realization, thank you, Lord, for these trials, because I know you're going to bring glass out of my life. Ask him to invade your life with his heavenly kingdom. As you pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. Father, we thank you for the promises that you have given to us. And these are all promises right here that take faith to be able to embrace. Father, may each one here have the God-given faith to be able to put off discouragement, to live by faith, and to have a victorious faith that takes on this world. You have said, Father, this is the heritage of everyone who was born of you. You said in the last chapter, Father, of 1 John, that everyone who was born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. So, Father, help us to live by faith and not by our sight, which so often makes us discouraged. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.