Hi, this is Pastor William. On behalf of the members of Providence Baptist Church, I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and thank you for joining us. It is our joy to share God's truth, and we trust that the preaching of God's Word will always bless His people. But we humbly remind you that no recording can ever replace biblical corporate worship or true Christian fellowship. So we encourage everyone everywhere to commit themselves to the service of God's kingdom in a local church. And we pray that the Lord keep and bless you as you continue to earnestly seek Him. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. And open with me again to Revelation chapter 19. Revelation chapter 19. I'm sure you've probably heard that repetition is the key to learning. Repetition is the key to learning. And the themes of Scripture are often repeated. And you will see that by the time we get to the end of our sermon today, that these are some themes that we have discussed numerous times. That used to be a pleasant surprise to me as I studied God's Word, and I see some theme, some aspect of Christ, or some aspect of God, or of a Christian walk, or history, or some doctrine. To see that theme repeated in Scripture, it used to come as a pleasant surprise. Today it comes as a comfort. It comes as a comfort to know that the Lord repeats Himself for our benefit because we are such leaky sieves, such leaky vessels. So, Revelation chapter 19, and we are going to focus on verses 17 through 21. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun. And with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet, who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur, and the rest were slain by the sword that came out from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. That's a bit gruesome, is it not? A gruesome description of what actually has taken place numerous times on the battlefields across the history of man and across the lands of the earth. But it's meant to be gruesome because It is symbolic language for a battle and an outcome that is far more gruesome than what we have truly experienced here physically. So let's put this in context. Recall, if you will, in chapter 4 where the angel tells John, and he's taken up to heaven, and he gets a view from that perspective. He gets a number of visions, but in particular, he gets visions of the ongoing spiritual battle, and what that, he has from his experience as man living in first century Roman Empire, what it looks like on the earth, but he gets this vision from heaven of what it looks like from the spiritual perspective, what it looks like from heaven. And what he sees is this promised Messiah, which he had a vision of on the island of Patmos. He sees this promised Messiah caring for his people and also showing compassion for his people. in warning his enemies, warning his enemies of the wrath to come. And now we come, or then we come to chapter 17, and again the angel tells John, come. and he moves, if you will, just a different perspective of what is happening, and he gets a vision of this final battle, the final battle, the final battle from both a physical and a spiritual sense. And what we see in this, or what John sees, and he recounts for us, is this promised Messiah, blessing, rewarding, vindicating his people and defeating his enemies. And it starts in chapter 17 and goes through chapter 18 where you see the fall of Babylon, the great prostitute, where she is defeated, which represents the destruction of this world. It is the destruction of this world and God uses man's sin against him to bring about this destruction. It's true, we destroy ourselves when we completely deny God and try to live without Him. That's not how we are created. That's not how any part of this creation is meant to be. So God gives the ungodly what they want, and they destroy themselves and all that they love. because their worship, their passions in their life, their love is misplaced. And you get to the end of chapter 18 and you see all the people of this world mourning the loss of the things that they worship. Power, pleasure, wealth, beauty. Now, it's not to disparage beauty. but we often put it and elevate it to a place where it's never meant to be. And so now we come to chapter 19, and we see the actual return of Christ. And we see His people rejoicing in this. We see them rejoicing. And as we spoke, they rejoice over the fall of Babylon, not because they rejoice the destruction. But they rejoice the fact that the battle is over, that they no longer fight with sin, that they no longer have to live in the presence of it, that they no longer have to deal with the temptations of it. They rejoice because their Savior has come. They rejoice because He has conquered all the enemies that He has promised that He would conquer. And so we come to the end now of chapter 19, and we see Christ comes now to defeat the other enemies that are on earth, which are the beast and the false prophet. And we'll talk about what they represent as we move on. So let's take a closer look at this text. Verse 17. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun and a loud voice. with a loud voice, he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, come and gather for the great supper to eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and their riders and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great. He says, then I saw an angel standing in the sun. This is, remember this is symbolic language, so this is not an angel standing in the sun, but he's standing, I guess, possibly with the sun as a backdrop, but he's outshining the sun, and that's what matters. He can see it. I don't know if you've ever looked towards the sun, but it's pretty bright, and it can burn that spot in your eye for, I don't know how long. But you can't see anything in front of that. The light is so incredibly bright. But this angel is outshining that. He's able to stand and silhouetted in the sun and still outshine it. But what I want you to do is I want you to compare this language with that of 18 verses 1 and 2, where we see John says, after this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. The earth was made bright with his glory. And he says, with a mighty voice, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. And it goes on to give that description. But what I want you to note here is the similar language that I saw an angel standing and an angel with authority, a loud voice calling out. And then it's followed by judgment against God's enemies. In the first, the angel is calling out the fall of Babylon, the whore of Babylon, the great prostitute. And you recall in 17.6, chapter 17, verse 16, it says that the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute and they will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire. This is the beast that God uses the beast and the false prophet to destroy the prostitute. He's putting on display his sovereign control even over the actions of his enemies in that they battle with one another until they destroy one another. But we come here to the second angel now in chapter 19 and he's going to bring about the fall of the beast and the false prophet and their armies that have gathered together. So now, instead of using them to fight one against another, God brings His promised Messiah into the scene to actually destroy His enemies now. And this is a lot like what we read this morning, or it should bring to memory what we read this morning in Ezekiel chapter 39. where God is speaking of destroying Israel's enemies. And yes, it does speak of destroying Israel's enemies, speaking of the nation of Israel. And the Lord is going to destroy the actual historic empire of Babylon and bring his people back. But that was also a prophecy that was pointing to the end times. It speaks of Gog and Magog, which is really an indefinite king, an indefinite land, but it speaks of all of the enemies of God, especially at the end when the Messiah returns to destroy all of his enemies. But we do know that although we can't place this kingdom or this person specifically in history, They are presented in these battles as the enemies of God. And so the promised Messiah comes back to battle there. And in verse 18, the angel calls the birds to feast on the fallen. This is just like what we read this morning in Ezekiel 39. This is exactly what happens in actual, or it has happened in actual battle in history. It is the victor that decides what happens after the battle is over. It should also bring to mind, 1 Samuel 17, 47, when David and Goliath are about to battle, and they are talking about which one is gonna give the other to the birds of the field. And David tells Goliath that he is gonna be victorious, and he will turn the Philistines over for their flesh to be eaten by the birds of the fields, and that all the world will know that there is a God in Israel. And that's what we read in Ezekiel 39, 6. And the Lord says He's going to destroy Israel's enemies and leave their carcasses on the field for the birds to consume. And they will know that I am the Lord. He is making His name known by conquering His enemies, by vindicating His word. by fulfilling the promises that he's given to his people. In Revelation 19, 12, we read about this Messiah as he come in on this horse, and his eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadem, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. But as He conquers the world, as He conquers His enemies, He's making His name known. He is this promised Messiah. He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. And the world will know this. And at the end of verse 17, He says, Come and gather for the great supper of God. Now compare that to verse 19, 9, where it says, where the Lord or the angel is calling the redeemed, calling those who worship God, calling them to the marriage supper of the Lamb. The angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And these are the true words of God. As always, this contrast, this comparison, this binary, if you will, all through Scripture. There are two kinds of people, we've talked about that. The lost, the saved, the goats, the sheep, the good fish, the bad fish, the wheat, the tares. All through scripture, there's only two kingdoms. The kingdom of this world, there's only two kingdoms that really matter. Kingdoms rise and fall, we see that throughout history. But there's only two kingdoms that really matter. The kingdom of this world, and the kingdom of heaven, and you are a citizen of one or the other, and there are only two eternal destinies." There's the fall of Babylon, and there's the wedding feast, and that's it. There's no middle ground. So this is another expression of this reality. the supper of God and the supper of the Lamb. It's an expression of this reality that there are only two eternal destinies that lay ahead of us. And one of them you will be a part of the bride, you will be a part of the marriage supper of the Lamb where you will feast upon the pleasures and the joys of our reconciled relationship with God, or you will be a part of that supper of God where you will be feasted upon. It's just a graphic symbolic expression of eternal salvation compared to eternal damnation. Now we have talked about hell and heaven and what those two things, what those two realities are. And this expression that we've seen here, that we read through scripture, these expressions such as the Babylon falling and burning and those mourning, the beast of the air and the field feasting upon the flesh, the lake of fire, the bottomless pit, the outer darkness, the abyss, all of those things speak of the same thing, eternal damnation, eternal condemnation. And the other one is the beast of fire, Speaking of heaven, speaking of the pearly gates, the streets of gold, the wedding feast, eternal bliss, however you want to say it, it's speaking of heaven and that reconciled relationship. And that's what it boils down to. Those are the two destinies that I'm talking about. You are either forever locked in a relationship that is rebellious hatred towards your creator, or you are locked into a reconciled relationship that can never be broken, and that you live in peace and joy with him. Whatever else that means, if we truly walk on the streets of gold, or if there's truly a lake of fire, I cannot say for sure. because the message in scripture is that these are descriptive terms. What I can say is that those who are reconciled, those who are saved, those who are a part of the wedding feast, they will be at peace and enjoy with their creator. those who reject the gospel, those who continue to choose to worship other things over the one true and living God, well, they will stay there. They will stay forever separated from the joys, not just a passive Condemnation though, it is active. They understand and feel the wrath of God, but they also desire all the things that they put before Him in this life, but they're never satisfied. This is what we're talking about here. This reality, the supper of God, the supper of the Lamb, eternal damnation or eternal salvation. I want you to recall Revelation 6, verses 15 and 17. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand? Verse 15, kings, generals, mighty ones, rich, powerful, free, slave, great, small, all of the wicked in the world, all those who mourn the fall of Babylon because they worship the creation and not the Creator. And then in verse 16, they want to hide. They're crying out for the mountains and the rocks to fall on them. They're willing to die a death if they can simply be out of the presence of this lamb when he returns. And then finally, at the end of verse 17, it says, who can stand? Who can stand in the presence of this lamb, of the presence of this promised Messiah when he comes back in his full wrath? We've answered that question before. Who can stand before the Lamb? Psalm 130 verse 1 says that, pray unto the Lord if you count iniquities, who can stand? And the answer is, it's sort of a rhetorical question because no one can stand if he counts your iniquities against you. We move on to the next chapter, chapter 7, and in chapter 7, verse 9, we see that those who can stand before the Lamb are those who stand with the Lamb. And we see here in Revelation 19 how this all ends. Those who stand with Him, those who worship Him, those who cast their allegiance with Christ, Those who obey His commands will join Him at the Supper of the Lamb. But those who continue against Him, those who stand in opposition to Christ and His law, who stand in rebellion, who stand in idolatry, they will be a part of the Supper of God. another expression of this separation and these two eternal destinies because, brothers and sisters, there is no third option. There's no gray area in this. There's nobody who can sit on the fence and wait. And how do you know? How do you know where you're standing? How do you know where you will stand on that day? Well, you look at your life now. What do you worship? It's important that you pause from time to time, day to day, and consider that. Consider what is drawing your attention. What is drawing your affection? What do you worship? Because if you're just coasting along and you don't think about it, the fact of the matter is you will fall into worship something. But if you struggle with it, the world will make you decide. They will make you decide who you will worship. The whore is always tempting us with the things of her cup. In verse 19, verse 19, I saw the beast and the kings I'm sorry. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. Now, can we just go ahead and lay this out that the one sitting on the horse is the one that we've already spoken about. That's the promised Messiah. That's Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. This is the second coming. He has returned and his army That's His church. That's us. That's His angels. That's all those who worship Him properly. So now this is the final battle. This is the final battle that we have come to. Revelation 16, verse 12, recall that the final angel the sixth angel, shall I say, the sixth angel poured out of his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. Remember, we talked about this, the Euphrates, it represents a boundary, a boundary between kingdoms, and which kingdoms are we talking about? The kingdoms of, and the kingdoms of this world and the kingdom of heaven. Now, this is a real river. It does represent, and it did represent at that time, boundaries between nations. But this is symbolic language that first century Israel would have understood. You know, the Parthians are on the other side of the Euphrates, and that's the greatest threat to the Roman Empire at this time. It was a division, a boundary, and it's used here as the same thing. It's a boundary between the kingdoms of this world, which represent the enemies of God, and the kingdom of heaven. And the Lord is drawing it up. He's removing this boundary. He's making way. He is luring his enemies to their doom. And in Revelation 16, 14, it says, for they are demonic spirits performing signs who go abroad to the kings of the world to assemble them for battle on the great day of the Almighty. The kings of the world are gathered. This is a recurring theme in Scripture. Is that not what we just read a few moments ago in Psalm 2? Why do the nations rage? Why do they gather together? The kings rebel. They want to be free. They want to be on their own so they can achieve their own glory. But this is all about God's glory and not the glory of man. So it is rebellion that is in their hearts. But they are just pawns. As Romans says, they think they are wise, but they make themselves out to be fools, and fools will be used and manipulated. What does it say? How does it say? The ESV says that these demonic spirits are sent out to assemble the kings, to gather the kings. But who are they gathered by? these demonic spirits. And where did they come from? Verse 13, 16, 13, and I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits, like frogs, unclean animals, representing unclean spirits. The Israelites They weren't like the Cajuns. They didn't look at frogs and think of a delicacy. This was an unredeeming creature. It was unclean. They would have nothing to do with it. And so it's an apt expression or a description of these unclean spirits. But it's out of the mouth of the beast and the false prophet, but ultimately from the dragon. And he assembles them. Now I want you, or gathers them, the Greek word there is, Sinago, and it's the same word that's used in 1919 right here for the armies that are gathered to make war. And it's the same word that's used in chapter 20, verse eight, when Satan is let loose so that he can gather the kings to make battle with the church. But in chapter 16, when it's speaking of the dragon and the beast and the false prophet and these demonic spirits going out to gather the kings, it is an active verb. In chapter 20, verse 8, it's an active verb when it's speaking of Satan do it. But right here in verse 19, it's a passive verb. The kings are pawns. They're being manipulated. They're just pawns in this battle. But it's not something that they do against their will. Don't get wrapped around that axle about the free will and stuff. They're doing exactly what they want to do. They're doing exactly what they want to do. It's just that there are spiritual forces that are gonna use that. So look again now at Revelation 16, 16. And what does it say? They are assembled at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. This is the final battle that we're talking about. And when does this take place? Well, when the second coming happens, we see that in Revelation 19, 19, or the end of Revelation chapter 19, but we also see it described over in Revelation chapter 11, Revelation chapter 11, in verse seven, I believe, verse seven. Yes. Speaking of the two witnesses, which represent the church, when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them. This is the final battle. When the witness of the church is complete, when the witness of the church is complete, that's when we will see Armageddon. When the Lord has gathered in all of his lost sheep, When the church age is complete and all of God's elect are saved, God will clear the way for his enemies. And the world will think that they are freeing themselves finally from these intolerant, judgmental Christians. They are freeing themselves from the church. This is what they want, remember? Yes, their pawn's being used for a purpose, but that's what they want. They want to be free of these intolerant Christians who speak about sin and salvation. What did it say in Psalm 2? That they wanna burst the bonds. They want to cast away the cords of God so they can be free. The world will think that it is finally freeing itself from God, from oppressive religion. And Scripture tells us what's really happening, that God is letting the world fill up the cup of His wrath, and then He's going to make them drink it. We say that we're gonna give them enough rope to hang themselves. But Scripture says that the wicked will be caught in their own snares. Deuteronomy 19 says that, Deuteronomy 19.19 says that a false witness, if he is found to be false, I'm paraphrasing here because I didn't memorize this before I caught up here this morning. In Deuteronomy 19.19, if a false witness is found in court to be a false witness, to be lying against someone, then the punishment that he had intended on this brother should be imposed upon him. And this is what's happening. The whole world is gathered together to destroy the church. to destroy the people of God, to destroy the Lamb's bride. And once they are gathered, then the Lord sends back the Lamb and says, defend your bride. And so He returns. And He puts down the rebellion. He puts an end to sin. He puts an end to the suffering. And so you come to this and you read and you wonder, am I a part of the bride? Are you a part of this bride? We'll go back to the previous question. Will you stand with Christ when He returns? That can be answered here and now, because you can know what you will do then by what you're doing now. You cannot count on the fact that, well, I just need to finish something, and then. You know, Scripture addresses that. There is no and then. Today is the day of salvation. You cannot wait until tomorrow because you're not guaranteed tomorrow. What you're guaranteed is right now, and you're guaranteed salvation if you bend the knee to this King. In everything, we pursue the pleasures of this world, the wealth of this world, the beautiful things of this world. We want to own them, possess them, use them for our own pleasure and joy. And the Lord says, all those and more will be yours if you just put me in my proper place and put them in their proper place. How do you know if you'll stand with him? Are you standing with him now? Are you standing with him now? Or do you seek like the kings to break the bonds? Do you look for loopholes in the laws of God? ask yourself, are the shackles of your sin more comfortable? If you're not standing with Him now, then you have no guarantee that you're going to stand with Him when He returns. Verse 20, And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet. who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. Those two were thrown alive into the lake that burns with sulfur. Now, this is the actual judgment here being described, and it occurs in two parts. Part is seen in verse 20 with the beast and the false prophet, and then part two is seen in 21 with everyone else, with all the armies, with the followers. So we know that the beast and the false prophet, they are part of this counterfeit trinity, along with the dragon, which represents Satan. And the beast, he was introduced in chapter 13, and he represents all of the ungodly worldly governments. And remember in chapter 13, the language that was used to describe him. It was the same descriptive language used to describe the great red dragon, which was Satan. So this is similar to how Jesus is the express image of God. So the beast is the express image of Satan. It is symbolic language for how Satan tries to conform all of the earthly kingdoms into his image and have them doing his will. So Jesus does the will of his father who is in heaven and the earthly kingdoms do the will of their father, which was cast out of heaven. It's part of this counterfeit trinity. It's a counterfeit image. And the false prophet also introduced, this is the second beast introduced in chapter 13, represents all of the lies and deceit in the world. It is not just false religion. People often preach that, that the false prophet represents false religion. Yes, he does, that doesn't go far enough. because it's not just false religion that draws people away from worshiping Christ. It's money, power, fame, fortune, whatever it is. There's lots to entice people in the cup. It includes this vision, this beast, the false prophet, includes false religion, but it also, but it copies, excuse me, it copies the work of the Holy Spirit in this counterfeit trinity. Remember, the work of the Holy Spirit is to conform us with the gospel, to convict us of our sin, and to convince us of the truth of Scripture. The false prophet counterfeits all of this. The Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus Christ and draws us to worship the one true and living God. The false prophet bears witness to the beast and calls us to worship anything but the one true and living God. And usually that will manifest itself in some obsession that a person has, or it will manifest itself in false religion, or it will simply manifest itself in a complete trust of government and science. Now you guys that know me know that I'm a fan of science. I have an engineering degree and I'm not opposed to science. But science is a body of knowledge. It is a process towards a body of knowledge. And it is something that can be manipulated and wrecked just like everything else. Look, man ruins everything. Sinful man ruins everything. And they have ruined A lot in science, a lot in government, we know that. But this is the business of the false prophet, to bear witness to the beast and to draw people to worship anything but the one true God. And behind all of this is Satan, the great red dragon. And we'll see that, we'll get to him in chapter 20. But He's the one that gives them power to perform the wonders and the signs to deceive the world. And who is it? Who is it that is deceived? Those who received the mark of the beast and those who worship its image. Now this is really one and the same people. This is expressed in two groups, but it's one and the same. I mean, possibly you could say that one group are active participants while the other group are passive participants in the worship of the beast. But what we know is that they are all actively pursuing idolatry. They're all actively pursuing something other than Christ. So these two, the beast and the false prophet, they are captured and they are thrown. Again, this is passive, indicative verbs, meaning that they are captured, like I take this. And I do with it as I choose. So when the Messiah comes back, He takes the beast and the false prophet, and He handles them as He chooses. And He chooses, it says, they are thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. Now, the text makes the point of saying alive. emphasizing the speed and decisiveness of the decision and the power with which it is executed. Now, before David could cast Goliath's corpse into the field for the birds of prey, he had to kill him. David didn't have the strength to overpower him and toss him to the beast alive. But when the Lord comes back, he has the power to overpower all of his enemies. It expresses here this fact that they're alive. It expresses this conscious, enduring punishment. And it's important to remember, brothers and sisters, that this is symbolic language. Don't go looking through the pages of the newspaper looking for the individual that's going to be the beast, or that's going to rise up and be the false prophet. It's not an individual, it is the system. The individuals pass, they come and go. They come and go and this is not unique. ISIS hates America. And whatever president is president at the time, they point the finger at him because he represents all of us. But it's the system that they hate. It's the system. tossed into a lake of fire. Again, a terrifying vision of eternal punishment that is to come. We've discussed hell before. We've discussed it a few moments ago. This place was prepared for Satan and his followers. Matthew 25, 41 states that it's prepared for them. And then verse 21 says, all the rest, all the rest, all those people who side with God's enemies, the armies, the kings, the generals, the leaders, the slave, the free, the great, the small, all of those who continue in their sin and mourn over the loss of Babylon, because they enjoyed their sin, the ones who rejoiced The ones who are rejoicing at the fall of Babylon are the ones who are battling with their sin day in and day out. They didn't want to live with the temptation. They were tired of falling into it. They were tired of being drawn into it. But those who worship it and enjoy it, they continue. And it says that they are slain by the sword. This is the same image that we saw in chapter one when John got his first image of the promised Messiah there before him, and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. This is Christ that returns. And this two-edged sword is symbolic language again for the decree that He casts when He comes, that He speaks when He comes. When the Lord said, this is the same God that created everything. So when He said, let there be light, there was light. Nobody had to do anything. If it goes dark here and I say, let there be light, we got to get up and move around and start looking for the fuse box and figure out that's not how God works. He simply speaks things into existence. So with just his word, he will pass judgment. When he returns, he will either with just his word, condemn or vindicate you. In the Apostles' Creed, it says that He will come again to judge the living and the dead. In our own confession, in chapter 32, it says that Christ will return to judge the entire world. And that's what He does. And that's what we see Him doing here. He comes to judge His enemies and all those who stand with his enemies. Now I want you to note one thing here, and that is, one thing that I didn't mention, one thing that the scripture didn't mention, and that is that there's no mention of any real combat in this final battle. It's called the final battle, the battle of Armageddon, but there's no combat, there's no warfare. Why? Because no one can stand against God's promised Messiah. He has overcome the world. and he will conquer all of his enemies. So I want to conclude here this morning by asking you a couple of questions, the same questions that we've already asked, the same questions that we asked this morning, that we've asked a number of times in the past. When you meet him, will you stand before him as one who has been conquered by his grace, or will you stand before him as one who is conquered by his wrath? Because there's no other option. Your eternal soul is at stake. You will attend the supper of the Lamb, or you will attend the supper of God. You will consume the joys of eternal salvation, or you will be consumed by the fires of eternal damnation. There's no other choice. And what happens on that day can be determined by what happens on this day. Which mark, brothers and sisters, which mark is upon your life right now? We've talked about that before too. As we're coming to a close, we've only got a few more chapters in Revelation. And so I hope you've got a sense of what this book is telling us. And what is the mark of the beast and how it compares to the seal of the Holy Spirit? What is the mark upon your life? Is it the seal of the Spirit? Is it a seal of Jesus Christ? Or is it the mark of the beast? How do you know? You know by what you worship. There's good hope for those that are here now because it's some indication of what you worship. Jesus Christ, the one true promised Messiah, the creator of all things, the one for whom and by whom and through whom all things are created. And then the other option is Satan, Babylon, the beast, the false prophet, the great prostitute. And behind them both lie God, working out His plan, orchestrating all of this. The one true and living God we can worship, or this false dragon, Satan, the liar, deceiver. One, the Lord Jesus Christ offers salvation. He offers reconciliation with the God that we offend by our sin. And the other one, He just offers more sin. He lies about it, though. He tells you that you don't have to worry about it. Or if maybe your conscience is a little convinced that there is a God and that Christ will come back, well, then you've got time. You're still young. There's so much pleasure to be had in this world. And let me say this again. There is. Sin brings pleasure for a season. but nobody who's caught in sin has an abiding joy with it. And if they do, well then scripture talks about that too because they've been turned over to it. They've been turned over to it. I don't know of too many people that enjoy their drug addiction, but there are a few and it always consumes them and it always kills them. but there's a vast majority of them who struggle with it, who struggle with their addiction. And when you catch them in a moment of sanity, they'll tell you that it's wrong and they don't want it and they want to be free from it, but they're drawn back to it. This is a picture of our sin and how we battle with it. There's Jesus Christ who offers hope and reconciliation. And then there's the Satan, this red dragon, who offers a false hope that only ends in condemnation. What do you worship? What do you pursue? Do you pursue righteousness and joy now? Reading scripture, fellowship with Christians, knowing God, knowing Him more. Or do you pursue the pleasure, the power, the wealth, the beauty of this world? What are you seeking, brothers and sisters? Because that will give you a pretty good indication of what your heart desires, which is a pretty good indication of which mark you bear, the mark of the beast or the seal of Christ. Remember, there are no other options. And as we've said in the past, when we looked at this more closely, everybody bears the mark of the beast until the Lord Jesus Christ saves them. It's not something that you're gonna have to look for and watch out for so you don't accidentally get it. It's not embedded in the mRNA virus or the vaccine for COVID-19. I listened to a guy this week trying to convince people that that's the mark of the beast. Like what a fool. Really? So all the poor countries that don't have the kind of healthcare we have, they don't have to worry about the mark of the beast because it's not going to be down there for probably another 20 years. Foolishness. This is what Satan does. These are the lies that flow out of the mouth of the false prophet. The mark of the beast is what you worship and you worship this world and creation or something in it until the Lord saves you. So what is the mark upon your life? I leave you with that and I pray that you will seriously consider it. Let's pray.