Reading from Revelation 14 verses 6 and 7, And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to be proclaimed to those who reside on the earth, and to every ethnic nation and tribe and language and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give him glory, because the hour of his judging has come. and do obeisance to Him who made heaven and earth, the ocean and springs of water. Amen. Father, I pray as we look at Your Word that our hearts might be gripped with the reality of both the visible and the invisible world that You have created. and the destiny of planet earth that you have ordained and the part that we have to play in that. I pray that you would enable me to faithfully preach your word and each of us to continue to worship you through it. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm glad I get to talk about angels again. This is one of my favorite topics. Charles Spurgeon once told his congregation I do not know how to explain it. I cannot tell how it is. But I believe angels have a great deal to do with the business of this world. And I think he is absolutely right. Now here's the problem. Because we don't see angels, we tend to you know, disregard their critically important role that they have in planet earth, unless of course we're living by faith. But we saw in a previous sermon that angels play a very central, critical role in God's day-to-day providence. And this chapter shows that they play a very critical role in his missions. Verse 6 says, And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to be proclaimed to those who reside on the earth. And we're going to be seeing five more angels in this chapter who prepare men for the gospel. So why is it that so many commentaries are either skeptical that this is a real angel. Some of them just say well it's a metaphor for the missions movement of humans. Or they are skeptical that this is the real gospel. This must be some other kind of good news that the angel brings. Now obviously not all commentaries do that. In fact, a majority of my commentaries say grammatically, you just can't do that. There really is some role that this angel has in terms of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, people are nervous about an angel speaking anything related to the gospel because they mistakenly think that that would be a blatant contradiction with Romans 10 verses 14 through 15. Piper and many others have pointed out that the gospel must come through human preachers. It must. And I agree. It must. There is an order in these verses. This chapter started with the 144,000 who are going to once again jump start this amazing missions push around the world after AD 70. But verses 6 and following show that angels must be active or it won't happen. So humans must be active or missions won't happen. Angels must be active or it won't happen. And we're going to be seeing Christ must be drawing souls into the kingdom, verse 1 and verses 14 through 16, or missions is not going to happen. We can't change anybody's heart. So it's not either or, it's both and. All must be involved. So there is an order and a flow in this chapter, but let me read you the verses in Romans 10 that make people skeptical that angels can be involved in any aspect of the proclamation of the gospel. Romans 10, 14 through 15. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings. Glad tidings is also the euangelion, the gospel. glad tidings of good things. Now the key phrase that they look at is, how shall they hear without a preacher? And the grammar suggests to us that the answer is, they can't hear without a preacher. Their argument is that only humans can bring the gospel. As one commentator worded it, the preaching of the gospel is committed to men, not angels. This gospel is communicated by men. I happen to agree with them, but there's a potential problem. I want you to notice what the text very clearly says. I saw another angel flying in midheaven. So this is not a human. Humans don't fly in midheaven. This is a real angel flying in midheaven having an eternal gospel to be proclaimed to those who reside on the earth. So how do we reconcile those two strains of thinking? Well, I would say that while it is true that angels seem to consistently leave the full message of the gospel to humans to preach, they still seem to be involved in directing people to that gospel, whether verbally or non-verbally. They direct people to the gospel that will be brought by others. For example, at the birth of Jesus, angels appeared to the shepherds in the field. And in the Greek they are said to bear glad tidings, same word for the gospel. It says, Now there were in the same country shepherds living out on the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy." Literally, I bring you a gospel of great joy which shall be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. I find it interesting that these angels did not communicate the specific way of salvation. They just communicated that the Savior has been born. They directed them, if you go to travel to Joseph and Mary, you can hear the whole story about how this all happened. Likewise, Gabriel brings the gospel, or what the new King James renders as glad tidings, to Zacharias in Luke 1.19. And the whole story gives information that Zacharias can be looking forward to, but only so much information. He still had to go to the Scriptures for the full message. So though the fullest message of the good news is found in the Scripture alone, the angel at least gives the good news that the good news is at hand. Okay, Piper is rightly skeptical of any reports of visions or angelic visitations that purport to bypass man and purport to give the full gospel through a vision or through an angel alone. And I too am skeptical of that. That does not follow the scriptural pattern. But I find it interesting that the vast majority of stories that I keep hearing coming from third world countries and from Muslim countries are stories that an angel appears to somebody and tells them, you need to find the Bible, and you need to read it. Or telling them, you need to go to a specific address, and the person at that address will be able to show you how you can find peace with Jesus. Or there is a missionary coming through here, and you need to go to such and such a place, and you will meet up with him, okay? So they, They motivate, they direct people to the gospel, but they do not give the plan of salvation itself. That seems to be left up to humans. And this is the paradigm I see over and over again in Scripture, in the book of Acts. Angels paved the way for the gospel. For example, in Acts 10, An angel appears to Cornelius and tells him, Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa and send for Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do. So the angel doesn't give him the way of salvation, he lets Peter do that. but he directs Cornelius to Peter. And so the angel does indeed give good news in a sense, but it's only the preparatory side of the gospel. Likewise in Acts 8, Philip is sent by an angel to a specific place in order to preach the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch. The angel is involved in missions, but it's Philip who must preach the way of salvation. Likewise in Acts 12, an angel wakes up Peter, frees him from prison, tells him he needs to get back to the gospel ministry. He doesn't take over the gospel ministry for Peter. Peter has to do that. So never in Scripture do you have angels substituting for humans in the work of the gospel. Instead you have angels who were directing the work of the gospel, protecting that work, getting people to pay attention to the work, pointing people to the work, preparing people for the work. So Sutcliffe says in his commentary that this angel in Revelation 14 was quote, superintending the revival of preaching and of the spreading of the everlasting gospel. Vic Reasoner says, just as the dragon worked through the Roman Empire, so the heavenly angel directs the evangelism of the church. The preaching of the heavenly angel, therefore, is actually carried out through human angels. An angel is a messenger, whether supernatural or human, and the characteristic of a messenger is that they are sent. We are commanded to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. The early church did just that. And that is why Verses 1 through 5, you know, starts with the human equation of evangelists. They are Christ's ambassadors of the gospel. Indeed, without preachers being sent out, no person can be saved, period. It's impossible. You cannot have salvation without humans preaching or sharing the word of the gospel. But we could just as truly say that without the work of these angels in verses 6 through 20, no one's going to be saved. Their missions is not occurring. And without the work of Christ in verse 1 and in verses 14 through 16, drawing people supernaturally, no one's going to be saved. See, it's not just a human activity. We're part of a marvelous orchestrated drama of heaven and earth. We're the forward troops, angels are the support troops. And you'll notice in verse 6 that they actually do possess, they're involved with an eternal gospel. It doesn't say they proclaim it. Their message in verse 7 does not give the way of salvation. It's preparatory to the gospel, but in a sense it is a part of that gospel even though it's the preparatory side. And Beal and a number of other commentaries point out it's the negative side. It's the side that's waking people up to it. So it's a message designed to turn people around, get their attention, bring repentance, and we'll look at that in a bit, but it's the missionaries of verses 1 through 5 who actually proclaim the full gospel. Now is it good news in a sense? Yes, it is. because it's directing people to pay attention to the gospel. But they have the eternal gospel. In other words, they're having something to do with that gospel, and the eternal gospel is to be proclaimed by others. So if humans are doing the work of gospel proclamation, what are the angels doing? Well, when angels command people to be saved in these verses, it has an impact on the success of the human agents. When angels pronounce judgment on the negative side of the gospel in verses 8 through 13 and again in verses 17 through 20, those judgments are going to happen to any people who reject the gospel of Jesus Christ. But those judgments also motivate the elect to seek out the message of the gospel and to believe it. It is a preparatory work. In other words, missions is not simply the work of man on earth. It is Always the kingdom of heaven invading earth more and more. John Frame says that these angels are probably around us every day of our lives, constantly working in us and through us. They are opening up opportunities for ministry. I think we are sadly blind to those opportunities that angels are opening up for us. But they are there. They are working. First Corinthians 11 says they're right here in this worship service. We don't know how many. Maybe there's a thousand angels in here. We have no idea. But there are angels right here in this worship service. Martin Luther says, The angels are near us. Although they stand before the face and the presence of God and His Son Christ, they are hard by and about us in those affairs which by God we are commanded to take in hand. So they are involved. So the answer, the short answer to The question I've put into your outline, what does an angel have to do with missions? He has everything to do with missions. Missions could not happen without their backup support. I believe there is no such thing as genuine, true human missions without angelic missions accompanying it. Why can I say that? Well, it's because a number of scriptures. Jesus said every single person who gets saved has angels, plural, rejoicing in that salvation. Let me read that. That's Luke 15, verse 10. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Every single sinner. So it appears that angels are somehow involved in and rejoicing in every elect sinner's coming to repentance. That implies that those angels are hanging around. They're somehow around when that sinner gets saved. 1 Peter 1.12 says angels have an intense interest in the gospel realities that we preach. So in the book of Acts you've got this Ethiopian eunuch who has come all the way to Jerusalem. God has prepared him to hear the gospel and he hasn't heard it from anybody. He's heading back to Ethiopia without ever once having heard the gospel. Somebody's dropped the ball here. So an angel motivates Philip, you've got to go and talk to that Ethiopian eunuch before he gets back to Ethiopia. So he goes back there and Philip preaches. The angel doesn't preach to him. Philip preaches to him. Luke 12, 8 through 10 says that those who deny Christ will be denied by Christ in the presence of the angels. And those who confess Christ before others, that's what missions is, right? It's confessing Christ before others. Those who confess Christ before others, Christ will confess them before the angels. What does he say before the angels? Because angels are the main invasion forces of heaven, the kingdom of heaven, here upon the earth. That statement would make no sense at all if angels were not intimately involved in all mission's work. Hebrews 1.14 says of angels, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? That verse indicates that those angels are already at work in an unbeliever's life, if he's the elect, even before he believes, that angel is at work because it's using the future tense. They're at work, they're ministering in the lives of those who will, future tense, inherit salvation. And by the way, every time a person is converted, there are angels that are coming into that home, invading that home. It says every time a covenant child is born into that home, Matthew 18, verse 10, God gives an angel to protect that child. So very literally, when Kathy and Grandma and I moved into that new neighborhood a few weeks ago, there were a bunch of angels that invaded that neighborhood. we established a beachhead, as it were, for the kingdom of heaven invading earth. And that means Kathy and I need to get busy in figuring out how can we get on board with what the angels are intensely interested in, what they're involved in, in that community. This is, we need to cooperate with the invasion from heaven. Now, we weren't the best evangelists in our last neighborhood. We tried to meet people and whatnot. I don't have the gift of evangelism, but I think that our presence in that neighborhood did make a profound difference. I think Kathy unsubscribed from the Neighborhood Watch thing, but I haven't gotten around to unsubscribing. I'm kind of glad because I keep getting these reports. When we moved into that neighborhood, We dedicated the neighborhood to Christ and we regularly prayer walked that neighborhood saying, Lord, every place that we stand on, would you please take this? Would you guard it? Would you send your angels to protect this neighborhood? And I think over the 18 years that we were there, we saw a phenomenal difference that our presence made. Very, very little crime in that neighborhood, even though it was kind of not the greatest neighborhood. Now I'm not kidding. I checked again this morning. I checked yesterday. There has been hardly a day that has gone by in the last six months that we left that neighborhood when we have not seen serious crime. Every day. We never saw that before. Why is there a serious crime going on? My guess, my best guess is that the angels that accompanied us left that territory and demons moved in to fill the void. That's my guess. We are not dealing with inconsequential stuff. This stuff is real. It's happening. We need to be aware of it. Anyway, back to our text. Robert Wall in his commentary points out that angelic involvement in missions is one of the consistent themes of the book of Revelation. He says the function of angels throughout Revelation is to facilitate God's redemptive program. Let me read that again. The function of angels throughout Revelation is to facilitate God's redemptive program. This is the roll van of another angel that John saw flying in mid-air. Also compare chapter 8 verse 13 and chapter 19 verse 17. In particular, this first of a triad of angels proclaims the eternal gospel to those who live on earth. John uses the technical word for gospel only here in Revelation. Its use is made more striking since the angel intends it for the lost inhabitants of earth rather than for the saints who have trusted its claims and have been redeemed from the earth. More specifically, the audience for this angelic proclamation of good news are those on earth who worship the beast. Compare chapter 13 verse 8. They are the enemies of God. This surprising point is further sharpened by John who distinguishes the 144,000 who have been redeemed from the earth from those unredeemed who dwell on the earth. Okay, so it makes sense that there would be angelic armies accompanying these 144,000. We have angels that accompany us all the time. And they're normally invisible because they are spirits. They don't have bodies. And that's not always the case. From Genesis chapter 3 to From Genesis 18 with Abraham to the disciples at the tomb of Christ in Mark 16, there are times when angels visibly manifest themselves so that people can see them. And actually Hebrews seems to imply that this is rather common, not an uncommon thing. He said, the reason I think it's not uncommon is he's trying to encourage you guys. Hey guys, really, you need to be involved in entertaining strangers because, he says, some have unwittingly entertained angels. Well that would be a lousy argument if you're never going to entertain angels. He's using this as a motivation that you ought to be involved in entertaining strangers because some have unwittingly entertained angels. Kathy and I have both seen angels, but usually they're invisible. Thankfully. They're invisible. And it's not until God opens our eyes, like Elisha's servant had his eyes open, that we can see them visibly. 1 Timothy 5.21 says they are constantly observing us as we live out our salvation. Now I've given you that background worldview of angels to show that this chapter definitely does not contradict, it follows the pattern that you find in other scriptures. Without the work of humans and evangelism, that's verses 1 through 5, salvation won't happen. Angels cannot do that for you. You must be involved in strategizing how to make the invasion of heaven into your neighborhoods to be more effective. So there is a human element. But without the work of angels and evangelism, that's verses 6 through 20, salvation won't happen. And without the work of Christ himself harvesting souls, verses 14 through 16, salvation won't happen. Verse 6 words it that the angel has an eternal gospel. This is not just general good news, which is the way some people take it. It's the one and only eternal gospel. He's intimately involved in its promotion, or as I've already quoted Sucliff as saying, he was superintending the revival of preaching and of the spreading of the everlasting gospel. Okay, enough on angels for a moment. Notice the imperative of the gospel reaching every people group on planet earth. Verse 6 says, having an eternal gospel to be proclaimed to those who reside on the earth and to every ethnic nation and tribe and language and people. Notice the and. Actually, I changed Pickering's translation. He just left the and out. But it's a chi in the Greek. There's an and that occurs after the earth, which we have been seeing as Gase. Consistently, that is the land of Israel. So he's saying, not only is the gospel going to Israel, it is also going to every ethnic language. Every ethnic, how does he word it? Ethnic nation and tribe and language and people. And let's think about that first phrase first. Israel had stubbornly refused to believe the gospel, had been hatefully persecuting Christians from the time of Christ all the way up through the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and yet God in His infinite mercy continues to give an imperative that the gospel go forward to these Talmudists. Okay, now I've been calling them Jews. Somebody reminded me, you know, Revelation 2 and Revelation 3 says they're really not truly Jews. They may call themselves Jews, but they're really not. So it's probably better to call them Talmudists. But to me, this is a staggering example of God's infinite mercy. God insists on redeeming individuals out of that people group, even after all of this obstinacy. According to Romans 11, there will never be a time when God would not convert some of these Christ-hating Talmudists to a Christ-centered Christianity. Now the point is the church never died in the geographical location of Israel. I have in my notes here a list of 114 bishops of Jerusalem, what I call the moderator of that presbytery. A bishop didn't have some point he had or anything special about him. He was the moderator of presbytery just like we have. But there were 114 from the time of Acts up to the time of the Reformation. And just to show that there was actually a lot of turnover in the 200 years after James the Just died, there were 35 bishops of Jerusalem over the next 200 years. God's witness in Israel was not snuffed out despite their rebellion. Where sin abounded, God's grace abounded much more. And when I think of God's infinite mercy to Israel in those years following AD 70, I think of the words of the hymn that we sang, Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. We're no better than they are. We're all deserving of hell. When you study the doctrine of total depravity, you will never again doubt that people deserve hell and deserve God's earthly judgments. We all deserve hell. And if you study the doctrine of total depravity in depth, you will never again want to take credit for any aspect of our salvation. It is 100% of grace. Even our faith is a gift of God's grace. It is heaven invading earth. But as we read earlier, this message did not just go to Israel, it also went to every ethnic nation and tribe and language and people. And if you track the growth of the church worldwide from 80, 70 and on, you see a massive spread of the gospel to regions like China and Africa and yes, even North America. There were missionaries that came to North America. Some people think as early as the second century. There is archaeological evidence all along the Tennessee Valley of Jewish money and Jewish burial customs. in the Tennessee Valley. They traveled all over the earth to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Later, Irish missionaries came to North America. Anyway, we live in an age of missions, but we can never neglect the human component. If the missionaries of verses 1 through 5 are not prepared to act, the angels of verses 6 through 20 will not be able to act. Okay. Verse 7 says, the angel was saying with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judging has come and do obeisance to him who made heaven and earth, the ocean and the springs of water. Now, first of all, is there a historical record of a loud voice from heaven after Jerusalem fell in AD 70? Because that's the point that we're in. And I will say I don't know. And in one sense it really doesn't matter because the only record we need is the record that God has given in His Word. But if you insist on having some historical record there actually is something that is in the Talmud where the Talmud says that there was a loud voice that came from the vicinity of the glory cloud on the Mount of Olives. And we have seen in the past that the glory cloud was just filled with angels. But the Talmud claims that this loud voice said this, return, oh backsliding children, return unto me and I will return unto you. Give glory to the Lord your God before it grows dark, before it becomes dark to you for lack of words of Torah, before it becomes dark to you for lack of words of prophecy, and before your feet stumble upon the mountains of twilight. I don't think a whole lot of the Talmud, so I don't put a lot of stock or a lot of weight in that quote. But if you insist on a historical quote, yes, we have one. Now here's the thing. There are other places in the Bible where a loud voice came from heaven and some of the people were able to make out the words that were being said by that loud voice. and other people could not. For example, in John 12, verse 27, Jesus prays that the Father would glorify his name. And verse 28 says, then a voice came from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Now what did the onlookers hear? Here's what verses 29 through 30 say. Therefore, the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, no, an angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered and said, this voice did not come because of me, but for your sake. So certain people were able to make out the words and other people just thought that there was thunder that was out there. Same thing happened when Saul of Tarsus was converted in Acts 9. Let me read you that account. As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? Then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It's hard for you to kick against the goads. So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do? Then the Lord said to him, arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no one. Now, I find it interesting that even though it was Jesus himself speaking, This vision, he didn't give enough detail for Saul to be saved. He had to hear those words from Ananias. Okay, so Jesus only gives so much information just like angels only give so much information. He wants people to be restricted to the message of the Bible in order to get saved. But in any case, Acts 22 9 clarifies that though they heard the sound of the voice and it frightened them, Acts 22 says they couldn't make out the words. They didn't understand. They could not hear what was being said. So it's possible that this angel in Revelation chapter 14 spoke in such a way that the elect were able to hear it and the others maybe only heard thunder, or it's possible that all of them were able to hear the words quite clearly, or it's possible only other angels heard those words and these commands from the leading angel drove those angels into action to prepare the as yet unconverted elect for the gospel. Okay, so they're involved in making the imperatives of verse 7 take place. Let's take a look at some of the elements that are said to accompany the true gospel. And I think these words actually need to be heeded by modern missions. I think they're a rebuke, an incredible rebuke to modern missions. Notice that the first words out of the angel's mouth were definitely not, smile, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. They were definitely not that. First words are, fear God. And I think this is such a wonderful corrective to why some of these people did not put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. They were so fearful of the repercussions from their Jewish leaders. But this angel is preparing them somehow to fear God more than they fear the beast. And sometimes this is an absolute prerequisite to Muslims coming to Christ. They have been so indoctrinated that Christianity is heresy. They won't even listen. to the gospel. When an angel appears to them and instills a holy terror of God's wrath and says that it is in Jesus alone that they can have safety, they're prepared to listen to the gospel from another Christian. Why? Because fear has been instilled in them. Sometimes the fear is generated simply from a visible manifestation of the angels. By the way, you can talk to Grandma about this. This happened many times out in Ethiopia where I grew up. But if you read many missionary biographies, you will find hundreds of stories of angels who protected missionaries by instilling fear in those who were about to kill them. John Payton was a Reformed missionary to the New Hebrides Islands, and one night, hostile natives surrounded his house, and they were going to burn the house down and kill them. And so, he and his wife, they were in prayer all night that God would deliver them and spare them from this attack. When daylight came, they were amazed to see everybody leaving. A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Christ, and remembering what had happened, Payton asked the chief what had kept them from burning the house down and killing them. And the chief looked surprised like he didn't know. He said, well, who were all those men who were there? Payton said, there were no men there. But he said, oh, yes, there were. Chief said he was afraid to attack because he saw hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords circling the mission station. Okay? I think those were angels. Fear of God is often a necessary preparation for the gospel. Sometimes the fear that's generated in people's hearts is just an awareness that their sins are deserving of hellfire. Other times the fear arises through a close call or a near accident that they were miraculously spared from. But there needs to be more fear of God in missions. We've got such a man-centered gospel nowadays that people have no fear of God. It's all about feeling good and being fulfilled in life and God's wonderful plan for you. It's all about you, you, you. When you look at the gospel and the scripture, it's all about God. It's fear of God. The next thing this angel is concerned to produce in an as yet unbelieving elect population, so there are still elect there, is a change in whom they would glorify. This is not a message of self-esteem. The heresy, and it is a heresy, of the self-esteem movement is rife in the church of Jesus Christ. It's a gospel of psychology. It has nothing to do with the scripture whatsoever. In fact, Schuller wrote a book declaring that this is going to be the next Reformation, a replacing of total depravity with the gospel of self-esteem. It is heresy. But what does this angel say? He says, fear God and give Him glory. This is the antithesis of what the natural heart wants to do. The natural heart wants to glorify itself. And since we've got bazillions of natural hearts around you, everybody's competing as to who gets the most glory with the beast being at the top of the heap. As John Phillips words it in his commentary, the one basic evangel in whatever form it is cast is fear God, glorify God, worship God. The special significance of the everlasting gospel lies in the fact that the beast is saying to men, fear me, glorify me, worship me. See, angels prepare the way for men to glorify God, but as we're going to be seeing in upcoming sermons, the only way even angels can succeed is if God, the triune God, is at work in these people's hearts and if Christ is drawing them to Himself. Idols must be destroyed before men will be willing to glorify the sovereign of all of creation. And the idol of self-esteem must be ground to dust before people will believe the true gospel. The next phrase that the angel says is, because the hour of his judging has come. Now the tense of that verb is aorist. So it technically should say, because the hour of his judgment came. That would be a little bit more clear. And this is not inaccurate, because it can still be past tense. But it is very literally past tense. We saw in the chronology of this chapter, Jerusalem's already toast. It's already been judged. And these events came after Jerusalem had already fallen. and after the judgment had happened. So here's my question. What on earth does judgment have to do with the gospel? Isn't the gospel about getting people to heaven? You know, the self-esteem movement says judgment has nothing to do with it. We're getting people to heaven. We're making them feel good. And the resounding answer that the scripture gives to that movement is absolutely no. Ray Comfort points out that if you do not preach sin and law and judgment and hell, you have done an incredible disservice to people. You are not preparing them for the gospel. In fact, the analogy he uses is actually quite good. He said in his tape, Hell's Best Kept Secret, he said, just imagine that you're on an airplane The voice comes over the loudspeaker. It's the pilot saying very sweetly, we thank you for flying with us, and we hope you enjoy your trip. For your flying comfort, we have placed parachutes under your seat, and we encourage you to put those on right now. We hope these help you to enjoy your trip. So you dutifully put the parachute on your back, and you try to pretend like you're enjoying life and that you're being fulfilled. After all, that's what self-esteem movement says you're supposed to feel like, right? But after a while, that hump in your back is giving you cramps in your muscles, and it's heavy, and it's hot. And to make matters worse, everybody else on the plane is mocking you. What is wrong with you putting on a parachute, you idiot? You're on a plane. You shouldn't be wearing a parachute. And you say to them, no, the pilot said that if I put on this parachute, I'm going to find peace and joy and comfort and encouragement. And they ask you, are you comfortable? No. Do you have joy? No. Do you find encouragement? And you see the problem here is that it's a discouraging message that they give because it gives a false expectation. It is a false gospel. Now contrast that with the message that comes over the speakers announcing that we are all in deep trouble. Both engines have quit. We're going to be crashing soon with no hope of survival unless you put a parachute on your backs. And thankfully, the company has thought through this, and they've put a parachute under every seat. So you must strap on your parachute. Now, as you strap on your parachute, you're still hot. It's still heavy. You've still got that lump in your back. It's uncomfortable. But you've got tremendous hope and peace and encouragement because now you have an escape from certain judgment, from certain destruction. The message of the cross is not a happy message until people realize that they are lost. Without judgment, it is not good news. Those who tell you to quit preaching judgment are unwittingly robbing the world of the good news. The angels in this chapter speak the warning, but they don't provide the parachute. In verse 8 it says, and another, a second angel followed saying, it fell, it fell, Babylon the great. That's a message of judgment, but it fits perfectly into this chapter on missions. In verse 9, a third angel promises destruction to anyone who has the mark of the beast on their forehead or on their hands. It's a message of judgment. in a chapter on missions. Now yes, verse 13 promises blessing, and yes, the angel in verse 15 helps Jesus in reaping souls, but the angel in verse 17 preaches judgment again. In other words, they give the warning, they do not give the parachute. The parachutes are provided by the 144,000. G.K. Beal says, the angel is a messenger not primarily of grace but of judgment. He preaches to the unbelieving world. His announcement emphasizes the judicial side of the gospel more than the offer of grace. Now the next thing that the angel directs the people to do is to worship the one true God and not the beast and do obeisance to him who made heaven and earth, the ocean and the springs of water. On says in his commentary, the context of this euangelion is given in verse 7. It is an appeal for repentance and conversion to the God who created heaven and earth in the context of impending judgment. In other words, people don't get converted so that they can be at ease, continue to sin and be comfortable to serve themselves. No, they get converted Because they are called to worship and serve God with everything that they have and everything that they are for the rest of their lives. He now is their sovereign. They must bow down and acknowledge that God is the Lord of their lives. And too many gospel presentations are simply handing out free airplane tickets to heaven. That false gospel is such a caricature of the true gospel that it just makes you upset because it's insulating people from the true gospel. The true gospel is good news indeed because it declares rescue from an evil sovereign, Satan, and slavery to a wonderful sovereign. But being under a sovereign is inescapable. You will always be under some sovereign. That's why we have, by the way, statism constantly grows in a non-Christian nation, because the human heart always needs some sovereign. You either worship the true God and bow your neck beneath His feet, or you worship Satan and bow your slave's neck beneath his feet. The sovereignty and lordship of God leading to worship is an essential component of the true gospel. It's not the full message. but it's an essential part of it. And this is one of the reasons why the angel adds the fact that God is the creator, owner, and the governor of all things. He's not a vending machine in the sky that's there for your pleasure whenever it's convenient for you to put the quarter in. You know, that's a prayer, and you get out something that you need. No, He is not that. That is such a phony counterfeit of the gospel. He is Lord. Do obeisance to Him who made heaven and earth, the ocean, and the springs of water. Now, America has drifted so far from its scriptural roots that we cannot even assume that they know that there is a God or that this God has created all things. Evangelism explosion really no longer makes sense to post-modern man in America. You can't even get past the first question with most people. You know what the first question of EE is. If you were to die today, and stand before God, and God were to say to you, why should I let you into my heaven, what would you say to him? Now for D. James Kennedy and his situation of retired people, it was a perfect question to ask, because they still had quite a bit of the worldview, even though they were pagans, they still had a lot of the Christian worldview. But they have found, as the population becomes more and more postmodern, people, they just say, I don't even believe there is a God. And when I die, I'm just going to become nothing. You can't even get past the first question. So what evangelism explosion has had to do, they've had to completely revamp. In fact, Coral Ridge Ministry started a brand new program that deals with creation. You owe your creator. You cannot live for a moment without your creator sustaining you. And God's law and repentance, they've really had to beef up their gospel message. So this is why Dr. Crobendom always starts with Genesis 1 in all of his gospel presentations. And it's only after describing Genesis 1 that he moves on to Genesis 3 and shows people that they have a bad heart, a bad record, and a bad life. You know, a bad heart means that you cannot do anything that is pleasing to God whatsoever. All you have is filthy rags in God's sight. A bad record means that the judge of this universe has to throw the books at you. He has to send you to hell. You are deserving of eternal judgment. And a bad life means you are a slave to sin. You cannot get over your sin unless you accept salvation and become a slave to God and righteousness. But he starts with the fact that God created everything and that your every breath comes from God and you owe God your life. You could not so much as oppose God unless He permitted it. In our postmodern world, it is critical that we start with creation. And this is one of the reasons it has grieved me so much to see so many even Reformed people jettisoning sixth-day creationism. and embracing evolution. Evolution completely undercuts the gospel. Do not treat it as a trivial thing. I preached last Sunday about how Tim Keller has doctrines straight from the pit of hell. Well, that is one of the doctrines, straight from the pit of hell. Evolution undercuts the gospel. It undercuts many other aspects of our life as well. Now the point is, this angel did not have a trite message. It was a message that if heeded would turn people's lives upside down. It was the warning over the airplane speakers that everyone is going to crash and everyone will be in a world of hurt if they do not put their parachutes on. But it is men alone who have been entrusted with providing the parachutes to others through the sharing of the Scriptures. Now if everything I've said this morning is true, then that means you and I have some responsibilities to do. Our responsibility is to take advantage of the preparatory work of the angels and do something about it in our neighborhoods. And here's the plan that I would recommend to each of you. First of all, hopefully you've already done this. You should have. The moment you move into a new territory, you need to prayer walk that territory, dedicate it to Christ, ask God to send His angels into that place, not only to protect but also to prepare people for the gospel. Start strategically praying for the people there. Secondly, draw two maps, one of your work associates. that you interact with on at least a monthly basis and one of your, all of the neighbors around your house. Try to get all of the information you can about those neighbors. Write it down on those maps. And this will help you to be more strategic in your prayers for them. But it will also help you to be more natural in your conversations with them, realizing, oh yeah, yeah, that person's dog just died two weeks ago, so I can ask, how do your kids, you know, handle the loss of that dog? And in other ways, it can make conversation easier, but the more you remember, the better. But most importantly, gaining information on these people will help you to be faith-focused on their salvation. It'll make you more and more strategic, in your prayers, your words and your actions. Third, ask God to send his angels to open up opportunities to speak to the elect people whom God has prepared. Now it could be God will use the angels to bring some disaster into a neighbor's life and you could be right there to minister to him in the midst of disaster. Maybe there's a sickness that comes into his life, and you say, oh, I heard you're really sick, and our church has prayed for people who are sick. In fact, I'd love to pray for you right now. Would you mind if I prayed for your healing? Or it could be they've had a baby that's born, and you rejoice with them, and you ask them, you know, if you've dedicated this baby to Christ. You know, the Lord will open up the opportunities. You ask Him for the wisdom on how to take advantage of it. It could be motivating them to join you and join forces with you in opposing some tyrannical act of the city council or something like that. But ask God to send his angels into your neighborhood to stir things up. Lord, we don't want the status quo anymore. Send your angels to stir things up in people's lives and make me sensitive to make the most of what is happening. Divine appointments. That's what you're praying for. A divine appointment was God, by His providence, has orchestrated events into people's lives so that they are prepared to hear the gospel from you. But praying regularly like this focuses your faith and expectation that something will indeed happen. Expect nothing. Nothing will happen. Have great faith to expect great things from God in your neighborhood. You might have the faith to attempt great things for Him in your neighborhood. And I would especially recommend you regularly prayer walk your neighborhood with those facts in mind as you pray. Fourth, ask others to join you in believing God for converts in your neighborhood. You know we all tend to need accountability. So you ask other people to join you. They're going to follow up and say, well, you asked me to pray. Did you guys do anything this past week? Ah, well, pray for me some more that I will, you know. But accountability is a good thing. So ask them to help you strategize ways in opening up conversations, whether that means starting a block party, or joining the neighborhood watch, or inviting somebody over for dinner, or after somebody's finished mowing, you walk over to them and hand them a cold Coke, a cola, or something. But the two minds are better than one. But here's the point. Don't let God bypass you as an instrument of salvation by being lazy. OK, let's pray that every family in our church would have the opportunity to lead one soul to Christ in the next year. It'd be awesome. It'd be so tremendous. Treat yourself as part of heaven's invasion of your neighborhood. Now you might be intimidated by this and say that idea just scares me to death. Well think about it this way. Your discomfort is not anything like the discomfort of 144,000 who were shortly going to be persecuted and martyred for their faith. And so when you consider all of the tools that are at our disposal, you know, we've got phone, we've got texting, we've got emails, we've got snail mail, we've got party, we've got all kinds of different ways. You gotta be able to figure out something to communicate with them on. God's made it easy for us. And as we go through this chapter, may God open our eyes to see wonderful opportunities for heaven invading earth. That's our ultimate goal, to be sensitive to the divine appointments that God, that heaven provides for us to get involved. So please, here's my final admonition, please, don't disappoint the angels. by neglecting their numerous attempts to nudge you forward. Be part of this divine plan for conquering planet earth. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word, and I pray that we would get on board with what heaven is doing on earth. We keep praying, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Father, may we be sensitive to what heaven is doing in our neighborhoods, and I pray that we would get on board with rejoicing in faith that these angels can indeed stir things up in such a way that people will be prepared to hear the Word from us, or will even ask us a question of the hope that lies within us. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.